William Brewster Van Arsdale was the heir to Van Arsdale Citrus fortune and the husband of Francesca Corleone.
Biography
William Van Arsdale was born in New York in 1935. His family made a fortune selling citrus juice for many businessmen, including Vito Corleone. He met Vito Corleone's granddaughter and Santino Corleone's daughter, Francesca, in college in 1955. They were married a couple of years later when Francesca became pregnant after a rendezvous. She gave birth to William Brewster Van Arsdale IV, whom they called 'Sonny'. Shortly after, it was revealed that William had secretly been collecting evidence against the Corleone family.
By 1961, he began an affair with one of Daniel Shea's secretaries. Francesca never knew about this and thought he would not have sex with her because she was pregnant. By early 1962, Francesca learned of her husband's infidelity and spying against her family. Distraught, she followed him in her car one night and hits him, literally cutting him in half.
Van Arsdale's mistress was eventually convicted of second-degree murder for his death.
Behind the scenes
William van Arsdale is an exclusive character to The Godfather Returns. In a deleted scene of The Godfather Part II Francesca Corleone is asking permission from Michael Corleone to marry Gardner Shaw.