The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
185
damp; unhealthy for Neapolitans, and you are advised never to visit it.” 
The arrogance of this letter was a calculated one. The Don held the Capones in small 
esteem as stupid, obvious cutthroats. His intelligence informed him that Capone had 
forfeited all political influence because of his public arrogance and the flaunting of his 
criminal wealth. The Don knew, in fact was positive, that without political influence, 
without the camouflage of society, Capone’s world, and others like it, could be easily 
destroyed. He knew Capone was on the path to destruction. He also knew that 
Capone’s influence did not extend beyond the boundaries of Chicago, terrible and 
all-pervading as that influence there might be. 
The tactic was successful. Not so much because of its ferocity but because of the 
chilling swiftness, the quickness of the Don’s reaction. If his intelligence was so good, 
any further moves would be fraught with danger. It was better, far wiser, to accept the 
offer of friendship with its implied payoff. The Capones, sent back word that they would 
not interfere. 
The odds were now equal. And Vito Corleone had earned an enormous amount of 
“respect” throughout the United States underworld with his humiliation of the Capones. 
For six months he out-generaled Maranzano. He raided the crap games under that 
man’s protection, located his biggest policy banker in Harlem and had him relieved of a 
day’s play not only in money but in records. He engaged his enemies on all fronts. Even 
in the garment centers he sent Clemenza and his men to fight on the side of the 
unionists against the enforcers on the payroll of Maranzano and the owners of the dress 
firms. And on all fronts his superior intelligence and organization made him the victor. 
Clemenza’s jolly ferocity, which Corleone employed judiciously, also helped turn the tide 
of battle. And then Don Corleone sent the held-back reserve of the Tessio regime after 
Maranzano himself. 
By this time Maranzano had dispatched emissaries suing for a peace. Vito Corleone 
refused to see them, put them off on one pretext or another. The Maranzano soldiers 
were deserting their leader, not wishing to die in a losing cause. Bookmakers and 
shylocks were paying the Corleone organization their protection money. The war was all 
but over. 
And then finally on New Year’s Eve of 1933. Tessio got inside the defenses of 
Maranzano himself. The Maranzano lieutenants were anxious for a deal and agreed to 
lead their chief to the slaughter. They told him that a meeting had been arranged in a 

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