The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
71
immediately, there was a pause, and then he said, “Excuse me, Sonny, I say this as 
your father would say it. Don’t move too fast. I can’t believe Clemenza would betray us.” 
“Thanks,” Sonny said. “I don’t think so but I have to be careful. Right?” 
“Right,” Tessio said. 
“Another thing,” Sonny said. “My kid brother Mike goes to college in Hanover, New 
Hampshire. Get some people we know in Boston to go up and get him and bring him 
down here to the house until this blows over. I’ll call him up so he’ll expect them. Again 
I’m just playing the percentages, just to make sure.” 
“OK,” Tessio said, “I’ll be over your father’s house as soon as I get things rolling. OK? 
You know my boys, right?” 
“Yeah,” Sonny said. He hung up. He went over to a small wall safe and unlocked it. 
From it he took an indexed book bound in blue leather. He opened it to the T’s until he 
found the entry he was looking for. It read, “Ray Farrell $5,000 Christmas Eve.” This 
was followed by a telephone number. Sonny dialed the number and said, “Farrell?” The 
man on the other end answered, “Yes.” Sonny said, “This is Santino Corleone. I want 
you to do me a favor and I want you to do it right away. I want you to check two phone 
numbers and give me all the calls they got and all the calls they made for the last three 
months.” He gave Farrell the number of Paulie Gatto’s home and Clemenza’s home. 
Then he said, “This is important. Get it to me before midnight and you’ll have an extra 
very Merry Christmas.” 
Before he settled back to think things out he gave Luca Brasi’s number one more call. 
Again there was no answer. This worried him but he put it out of his mind. Luca would 
come to the house as soon as he heard the news. Sonny leaned back in the swivel 
chair. In an hour the house would be swarming with Family people and he would have to 
tell them all what to do, and now that he finally had time to think he realized how serious 
the situation was. It was the first challenge to the Corleone Family and their power in ten 
years. There was no doubt that Sollozzo was behind it, but he would never have dared 
attempt such a stroke unless he had support from at least one of the five great New 
York families. And that support must have come from the Tattaglias. Which meant a 
full-scale war or an immediate settlement on Sollozzo’s terms. Sonny smiled grimly. The 
wily Turk had planned well but he had been unlucky. The old man was alive and so it 
was war. With Luca Brasi and the resources of the Corleone Family there could be but 
one outcome. But again the nagging worry. Where was Luca Brasi? 

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