The Godfather

When So

Hagen’s wife said, “Was that call about Tom?” She said it almost truculently but she was weeping with fright. So

“You hang around me, Mike,” he said, “you’re go

Michael lit a cigarette. “I can help out,” he said.

“No, you can’t,” So

Michael stood up and yelled. “You lousy bastard, he’s my father. I’m not supposed to help him? I can help. I don’t have to go out and kill people but I can help. Stop treating me like a kid brother. I was in the war. I got shot, remember? I killed some Japs. What the hell do you think I’ll do when you knock somebody off? Faint?”

So

Michael sat down again and relaxed back into the leather armchair. He thought everything over very carefully. Clemenza was a caporegime in the Corleone Family structure. Don Corleone had made him a millionaire and they had been intimate friends for over twenty years. He held one of the most powerful posts in the organization. What could Clemenza gain for betraying his Don? More money? He was rich enough but then men are always greedy. More power? Revenge for some fancied insult or slight? That Hagen had been made the Consigliere? Or perhaps a businessman’s conviction that Sollozzo would win out? No, it was impossible for Clemenza to be a traitor, and then Michael thought sadly it was only impossible because he didn’t want Clemenza to die. The fat man had always brought him gifts when he was growing up, had sometimes taken him on outings when the Don had been too busy. He could not believe that Clemenza was guilty of treachery.

But, on the other hand, Sollozzo would want Clemenza in his pocket more than any other man in the Corleone Family.

Michael thought about Paulie Gatto. Paulie as yet had not become rich. He was well thought of, his rise in the organization was certain but he would have to put in his time like everybody else. Also he would have wilder dreams of power, as the young always do. It had to be Paulie. And then Michael remembered that in the sixth grade he and Paulie had been in the same class in school and he didn’t want it to be Paulie either.

He shook his head. “Neither one of them,” he said. But he said it only because So

So

Michael could see that Tessio was relieved. As a fellow caporegime his sympathy would be with Clemenza. Also the present situation was not so serious if treachery did not reach so high. Tessio said cautiously, “Then I can send my people home tomorrow?”

So

“Sure,” Tessio said. He went out.

“How do you know for sure it’s Paulie?” Michael asked.

So

Michael asked hesitantly, “Is it going to be an all-out war?”

So

Michael asked, “So why don’t you wait until the old man can tell you?”

So

Michael was surprised at this. “Why not?”

Again So

Michael said quietly, “What made Sollozzo think he could get a deal with you?”

So

“If they had gotten the old man, what would you have done?” Michael asked.

So

Michael said softly, “That’s not how Pop would have played it.”

So

Michael asked curiously, “Is Luca that tough, like they say? Is he that good?”

So

Michael shifted uneasily in his chair. He looked at his older brother. He remembered So