10 More Smartest Villain Plans In Movies
9. Frank Costello Made Himself Untouchable - The Departed
Sometimes the genius of a villain doesn't necessarily come through in their actions or their schemes. In the case of The Departed's Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), it was the infrastructure of defence he built around himself to ensure his own protection.
Costello was involved in some pretty heinous things, and naturally became a high-priority target of the Massachusetts State Police, so what better way to stay ahead of the curve than to have someone on the inside? Instead of buying someone already on the force, Frank took a young Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) under his wing and sent him to the academy for the sole purpose of being his mole.
Sullivan rose through the ranks and was able to misdirect investigations from within, tip his boss off about would-be career-ending sting operations, and give him a layer of protection that saved him and his operation on more than one occasion. Aside from Sullivan, Costello also protected himself with the smart move of becoming a protected FBI informant, trading information for even more grace from the Feds.
All movie gangsters have a shelf life and are eventually stopped, but Costello's intelligence and contingency plans allowed him to operate and enjoy the life a lot longer than most. Who knows how long he would have gone on unbothered had Sullivan not found out he was an informant and killed him for it?