Billy Van Arsdale

Billy Van Arsdale is born in New York City in 1935. His family makes a fortune selling citrus juice for many businessmen, including Mafia boss Vito Corleone. He meets Vito Corleone's granddaughter, Francesca, in college in 1955, and they are married a few years later; Francesca soon gives birth to their son, William Brewster Van Arsdale IV, whom they call 'Sonny', after Francesca's late father, Sonny Corleone. Van Arsdale starts working as a law assistant in the Attorney General's office after graduation due to his family connections, but he believes he is entitled to a more prestigious job. Determined to be promoted, he begins gathering information on the Corleone Family, without his wife's knowledge. His motives are personal, as well; he wants revenge against Francesca's uncle, Don Michael Corleone, who ordered his leg broken as punishment for cheating on Francesca.

By 1961, he begins an affair with one of Danny Shea's secretaries. Francesca never knows about this and believes he will not have sex with her because she is pregnant. In early 1962, Francesca learns about her husband's infidelity and his spying on her family. Distraught, she follows him in his own car one night. She finds him drunkenly stumbling out of a local bar, and runs him down in a fit of rage, literally cutting his body in half. She leaves the scene and calls Michael for help.

It is later revealed that Van Arsdale's mistress is eventually convicted of second-degree murder for his death; it is implied that the Corleone family framed her to protect Francesca.