The Godfather

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 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
179
Vito Corleone was now a “man of respect” in the neighborhood. He was reputed to be a 
member of the Mafia of Sicily. One day a man who ran card games in a furnished room 
came to him and voluntarily paid him twenty dollars each week for his “friendship.” He 
had only to visit the game once or twice a week to let the players understand they were 
under his protection. 
Store owners who had problems with young hoodlums asked him to intercede. He did 
so and was properly rewarded. Soon he had the enormous income for that time and 
place of one hundred dollars a week. Since Clemenza and Tessio were his friends, his 
allies, he had to give them each part of the money, but this he did without being asked. 
Finally he decided to go into the olive oil, importing business with his boyhood chum, 
Genco Abbandundo. Genco would handle the business, the importing of the olive oil 
from Italy, the buying at the proper price, the storing in his father’s warehouse. Genco 
had the experience for this part of the business. Clemenza and Tessio would be the 
salesmen. They would go to every Italian grocery store in Manhattan, then Brooklyn, 
then the Bronx, to persuade store owners to stock Genco Pura olive oil. (With typical 
modesty, Vito Corleone refused to name the brand after himself.) Vito of course would 
be the head of the firm since he was supplying most of the capital. He also would be 
called in on special cases, where store owners resisted the sales talks of Clemenza and 
Tessio. Then Vito Corleone would use his own formidable powers of persuasion. 
For the next few years Vito Corleone lived that completely satisfying life of a small 
businessman wholly devoted to building up his commercial enterprise in a dynamic, 
expanding economy. He was a devoted father and husband but so busy he could spare 
his family little of his time. As Genco Pura olive oil grew to become the bestselling 
imported Italian oil in America, his organization mushroomed. Like any good salesman 
he came to understand the benefits of undercutting his rivals in price, barring them from 
distribution outlets by persuading store owners to stock less of their brands. Like any 
good businessman he aimed at holding a monopoly by forcing his rivals to abandon the 
field or by merging with his own company. However, since he had started off relatively 
helpless, economically, since he did not believe in advertising, relying on word of mouth 
and since if truth be told, his olive oil was no better than his competitors’, he could not 
use the common strangleholds of legitimate businessmen. He had to rely on the force of 
his own personality and his reputation as a “man of respect.” 
Even as a young man, Vito Corleone became known as a “man of reasonableness.” He 
never uttered a threat. He always used logic that proved to be irresistible. He always 

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