Corleone origins plumbed for Godfather prequel

How did Vito Corleone become The Godfather? The rise of the fictional Donwill be explored in a prequel to Mario Puzo's original novel, according to Grand Central Publishing.

Author Ed Falco will revisit the iconic mafioso in The Family Corleone, based on an unproduced screenplay written by Puzo, who died in 1999.

The novel "thrillingly brings back Puzo's classic characters in a prequel that both honours the original and stands on its own," the publisher said in a statement on Wednesday.

Falco grew up in a Catholic,Italian-American family in Brooklyn, where Puzo's fictional mob boss Vito Corleone rose to power in the 1930s.

An award-winning author, playwright and poet who also serves as director of the creative writing program at Virginia Tech, he has regularly tackled violence in his fiction. Falco is also the uncle of Edie Falco, the Emmy-winning actress who starred in the acclaimed mob series The Sopranos.

Set for release in June 2012, The Family Corleone has the blessing of the Puzo estate, which previously authorized two sequels to the Corleone tale 2004's The Godfather Returns and 2006's The Godfather's Revenge, both penned by Mark Winegardner.

Tony Puzo described the forthcomingwork as true to his father's legacy.

Mario Puzo began his saga of the Corleone family with the bestselling novel The Godfather in 1969 and continued with The Sicilian in 1984 and Omerta, which was published posthumously in 2000.

He and Francis Ford Coppola won a pair of adapted screenplay Oscars for the latter's film adaptations The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II.