Don Corneo

Don Corneo (ドン・コルネオ) is a character in Final Fantasy VII. He is an obese, blond, mafioso-style leader who resides in Sector 6's Wall Market in Midgar, an area filled with shops, restaurants and a brothel known as the Honey Bee Inn, which Don frequents. He is almost certainly named after, and partially inspired by The Godfather character Don Corleone, although his name might be a language pun as well; "Corneo" is Italian for "horny." It may also be a wordplay on poet Lord Byron's Don Juan, a story about a ladies' man with a dark past.

Story
Don Corneo is a lonely, perverted man looking for love. During Cloud and Aeris's visit to the Wall Market, they discover Tifa has gone into Don's mansion, and decide to rescue her. What they do not know is that Tifa entered on her own accord, trying to get answers out of Corneo about Shinra. Cloud's attempt to enter the building is blocked due to Don's rule of "no males allowed" (apart from his underlings). Cloud and Aeris devise a plan that involves Cloud dressing up as a girl to enter the palace. They threaten Corneo (by saying they will "chop 'em off," "rip em off," and/or "smash 'em") to make him reveal his connection to Shinra and their plans. The scene is one of the many comedic scenes in the game that also serves to form player attachment to the characters. Don releases a trap door and the party falls down into the sewers.

Don Corneo lives in a large house that looks rather like a palace with a Chinese inspired décor, split into five rooms: The main room is a reception area; Don Corneo's "throne room" has a red carpet walkway and is where he lines up prospective girls for interview; Don's bedroom, through a door behind the throne room; a dungeon room, which includes a torture rack (not unlikely to be for S&M); and the last room, a room for Don Corneo's underlings to stay and do as they wish with the girls Don has rejected.

The mansion interior has a Chinese-inspired design -- possibly consisting of souvenirs from Wutai -- and there are many mysterious kanji phrases scattered around, such as: 古留根屋 (‘old remaining root house’ [koruneo = Corneo]) and 業座 (‘work seat’ [gyouza = Chinese dumplings]). The concept behind the phrases being read one way, yet meaning another, is 'ateji', which means using kanji/Chinese characters based on how they are read, and not what they mean, which means one can't tell the meaning at all by looking at how the characters are written.

Don's connection to Shinra is that he was hired to reside in the slums and collect as much information about AVALANCHE as possible. After he reveals Shinra's plan to destroy Sector 7, Don Corneo flees Midgar to Wutai with the Turks in hot pursuit. He manages to hide until his lust drives him to kidnap Elena (of the Turks) and Yuffie, taking them to the statue of the god Da Chao, where he ponders whom he desires the most. He is stopped by the player party and Rude and Reno of the Turks. While the conversation proceeds, Rude shoots Don, who hangs on, but Reno steps on the Don's fingers and he plummets off Da Chao, presumably to his death.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Don Corneo is not seen in the game, but he is referenced by a young girl in the slums of Midgar. She claims her uncle dresses nicely, is kind to women, and his profession is a "Don." Later in the game, a series of missions can be unlocked that pit Zack Fair against Corneo's forces in the slums.

Final Fantasy Tactics
The name Corneo makes a brief appearance in the Tale of Nanai, one of the three stories in the Zodiac Brave Story Sound Novels.