Francis "Frank" Costello
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| Frank Costello | |
|---|---|
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| First appearance | The Departed |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 70 |
| Occupation | Crime boss as well as an FBI Informant |
| Relationships | Prostitutes |
| Children | None |
| Portrayed by | Jack Nicholson |
| Created by | William Monahan |
Francis 'Frank' Costello, the fictional Irish American crime kingpin based in South Boston, Massachusetts from the Academy Award winning movie, The Departed. He is portrayed by Jack Nicholson.
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[edit] Opening
The movie opens in Boston "some years ago". Frank's voice is the first voice heard in the movie. His voice is dubbed over the Boston busing riots and talking about the racial history of the city. He next is seen going into a local grocery store, where he is requesting money for what appears to be a protection racket. There he meets a young Colin Sullivan. He offers Colin food to bring home but before letting him leave, he lets Colin know if he wants to make some extra money, he should know to come see Frank. Colin is then seen in a mechanic shop talking with Frank and he is taken by Colin's intelligence, when the young lad understands a reference to James Joyce. Frank tells him of his past and also tells him how Costello gunned down the leader of the Italian North End mafia because "they were telling him what to do." This allowed him to take over their area and became de-facto boss of Boston.
[edit] Years later
Frank is next seen driving by Colin's state police graduation where he secretly picks him up after the ceremony and gives him a graduation present. Immediately upon joining the police, Colin starts leaking information to Costello thus showing the viewer that Frank's whole plan for Colin was for him to become a mole. It's during this time that Colin moves into an expensive apartment, claiming to the concerned real estate agent that he has a "co-signer" which is never officially confirmed as Frank, but assumed.
Meanwhile, another state police graduate, William Costigan, has been secretly assigned to infiltrate Frank's crew. He comes to Frank's attention when he starts selling drugs with his lowly cousin, breaks a glass over the head of a man at his bar as well as severely beat two mafiosos from Providence, Rhode Island. Frank, obviously interested in him, approaches him at the bar and interrogates him. Frank lets William know that without his protection, he will die at the hands of the mafia for beating the mafiosos. After a thorough investigation to make sure he isn't a cop, he accepts William into his crew. The bloody, dead bodies of the mafiosos show up later, giving the viewer a sense of how ruthless Frank is. With Frank's assistance, Colin pins the crime on a local hood named Jimmy Pappas, who for Colin and Frank's convenience suffers a heart attack and is then knifed at the nearby hospital. Soon after, William begins committing crimes with Frank's right hand man, Mr. French and reports to the police what he finds out.
[edit] Suspicion
A year later, Frank gets his hands on stolen missile-guidance microprocessors, which he plans to sell to Chinese buyers. Even though the microprocessors turn out to be fake, Frank starts to feel as if there is a rat in his crew. He comes down hard on Colin to find who it is, warning him that there will be hell to pay if Colin is unsuccessful in finding him. The police also believe that there is a mole in their office and, ironically, assign Colin to find him.
Later, we cut to William violently beating a drug addict in his apartment trying to get information out of him. After blowing off the addict's knee cap, he tells William, much to Williams surprise, that Frank is a protected FBI informant, which helps explain why the state police have never been able to build a successful case against Frank. At a hideout, later, Mr. French is then asking everyone in Costello's crew for all of their personal information (social security number, bank account numbers, etc.). William, angered by this and hesitant at first, obliges and does what he's told. He even correctly spells "Citizens" on the envelope where the crew's information was held.
We next see Frank carrying the envelope to see Colin at an adult movie theater. Unbeknownst to Frank, he was followed to the theater by William who was trying to make a visual confirmation of the mole in the police. Frank walks into the theater, sits in the row in front of Colin, and while there makes noises as if masturbating to the adult film. He then runs to Colin pretending to ejaculate on him, revealing a strap-on dildo. After a conversation in which Frank reminded Colin that his ass is on the line, he hands him the envelope and left. William is then instructed via text messaging on his phone, to make an arrest after visual confirmation. But Colin is able to escape his grasp and in turn, accidentally stab a man whom he believes was William.
In an attempt to finally uncover the rat in Frank's crew, Colin orders that Captain Queenan be tailed by other police officers. One day, Frank (covered in blood) orders William to take the day off, telling him that he is working with a new crew for the day. William, afraid for his safety calls up Captain Queenan to meet. They meet on a rooftop to talk about getting William out of Frank's crew but their meeting is cut short because Colin's tail reported back to him where Queenan and "the rat" were meeting. Colin then called Frank to tell him where he can find his rat. Frank orders his troops to take care of the problem but by the time they get there, William has escaped down the fire escape. They kill Captain Queenan instead, who covered for William to have just enough time to evade capture. A shoot out between the police & Frank's crew ensues where one of Frank's crew members is mortally wounded and one of the police officers are injured. Once dead, he is later revealed on the news as an undercover police officer working in Frank's crew. Frank does not believe him to be the rat and thinks this was just a ploy by the police to make him think that the rat in his crew was killed. As a result, Colin is upset with Frank's reaction, who dismisses it and their relationship becomes strained.
[edit] Frank's demise
A few days after the murder of Captain Queenan, Frank and his crew go to a warehouse to retrieve a huge supply of cocaine. It was during this time that Colin has discovered that Frank is an FBI informant in Queenan's notebook. Afraid that Frank has given him up to the FBI, Colin sets up a police ambush at the warehouse where most of Frank's main crew, except William, is killed. Wounded by a gunshot, Frank escapes momentarily only to run into Colin. After being pressured to answer, Frank reveals that he is indeed an informant. Colin then demands whether or not Frank gave him up to the FBI. Frank swears that he would never give him up, but at the same time, tries to shoot Colin. After missing, Colin returns fire, killing Frank.
It's later revealed that Frank did indeed, gather information that Colin is working for him as an undercover mole. A fact that Colin discovers over the phone with William, after a conversation with Frank's lawyer, who gave audio tapes of recorded conversations between Frank and Colin. Frank used the tapes as his own kind of insurance policy: an immunity to avoid prosecution if he were to be arrested.
[edit] Trivia
- Frank Costello is said to be largely based on James "Whitey" Bulger.
- Robert DeNiro was considered for the role of Frank. Preoccupied with directing his own film, The Good Shepherd, he turned the role down.
- Jack Nicholson has mentioned that he considers his character of Costello to be an "ultimate embodiment of evil".
- Leopards seem to be a recurring theme with Frank, as in some way, he would often wear a piece of attire that featured a leopard print such as a tie or a bathrobe.
