By Marla Eggar

Contrary to popular belief my favorite gangster of all time isn’t John Gotti. It’s true, I admire him for his principal’s, demeanor and charismatic charm. However, the man I marvel at isn’t even considered a gangster at all!! Yeah you heard me!! It wasn’t a typo. Even though he isn’t a gangster his character embodies the very definition. Wait for it – Cesare Borgia!! I know some of you are scratching your heads. Who?? For those of you know who have no clue who he is. Let me make the introduction.

Cesare was the illegitimate son of Rodrigo Borgia’s and his lady love Vannozza dei Cattanei. This was during the Renaissance era. His estimated birth is sometime around 1475. Cesare was of Spanish-Italian heritage and was geared from birth to become a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church but this was not his desire it was his father’s.

However, in time and with his father’s blessing, he resigned from his church office to become a military commander and a prominent figure in politics.
After his father became Pope, Cesare Borgia’s advanced his ambitions. Cesare’s titles included Duke of Valentinois and Romagna; Prince of Andria and Venafro; Count of Dyois; Lord of Piombino, Camerino, and Urbino; Gonfalonier; and military Captain-General of the Holy Church. This is why he is my all-time favorite gangster (kinda sorta). He was deliberate and intentional.

As a commander, Cesare was brilliant, resourceful and well informed. He employed Leonardo Da Vinci’s to design an elaborate fortification and some siege weapons. The ancient tank prototype is one of them although from what I’ve read, he was never able to use it.

Niccolò Machiavelli thought so highly of Cesare he used many of his exploits and tactics as examples in his works “The Prince” and advised politicians to imitate Cesare.

By 1500, Cesare had everything a man in his day could want. Respect (he earned on and off the battle field), beautiful estates and a loving wife.

Unfortunately, Cesare would inevitably pay a high price for his ambitions. First, by allying with France his family lost the friendship and protection of the Spanish king. Then his sister Lucrezia husband, a Neapolitan nobleman Alfonso Duke of Bisceglie, is murdered under the Borgia family’s care. Alfonso’s murder in a Borgia-controlled Rome angered the Neapolitans and the Spanish and permanently ended any alliance the family once had.

Cesare downfall came in 1503 when the Spanish forces turned on the French and drove them out of southern Italy. Although Cesare accepted the defeat, the death of his father Alexander VI on August 18, ultimately proved too much for Cesare to endure. Speculations on how Pope Alexander died is the subject of debate until this day.

Tragically, on March 11, 1507, Cesare Borgia died in battle in Navarre. He was trapped and ambushed then stripped of all his clothes. He left behind a wife Charlotte d’Albret and daughter, Louise Borgia, (1500-1553) Cesare was also father to at least 11 illegitimate children, some of whom became well known. There is speculation that he fathered a daughter with his sister but these rumors are considered unfounded. In his lifetime, Cesare Borgia not only walk the walk, he talked the talk. Eliminating any threat of competition or anybody who got in his way.

He honored his God, loved his woman and defended his land- and that my friends is why he’s my favorite gangster of all time!

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