The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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business, they give us a bad name. Tom, let’s get that project moving right away. 
Everything else will fall in line as soon as you send out the word that the lid is off.” 
Hagen said, “There are some very tough boys up in Harlem. They got a taste of the big 
money. They won’t go back to being runners or sub-bankers again.” 
Sonny shrugged. “Just give their names to Clemenza. That’s his job, straightening them 
out.” 
Clemenza said to Hagen, “No problem.” 
It was Tessio wbo brought up the most important question. “Once we start operating, the 
five Families start their raids. They’ll hit our bankers in Harlem and out bookmakers on 
the East Side. They may even try to make things tough for the garment center outfits we 
service. This war is going to cost a lot of money.” 
“Mabe they won’t,” Sonny said. “They know we’ll hit them right back. I’ve got peace 
feelers out and maybe we can settle everything by paying an indemnity for the Tattaglia 
kid.” 
Hagen said, “We’re getting the cold shoulder on those negotiations. They lost a lot of 
dough the last few months and they blame us for it. With justice. I think what they want 
is for us to agree to come in on the narcotics trade, to use the Family influence 
politically. In other words, Sollozzo’s deal minus Sollozzo. But they won’t broach that 
until they’ve hurt us with some sort of combat action. Then after we’ve been softened up 
they figure we’ll listen to a proposition on narcotic.” 
Sonny said curtly, “No deal on drugs. The Don said no and it’s no until he changes it.” 
Hagen said briskly, “Then we’re faced with a tactical problem. Our money is out in the 
open. Bookmaking and policy. We can be hit. But the Tattaglia Family has prostitution 
and call girls and the dock unions. How the hell are we going to hit them? The other 
Families are in some gambling. But most of them are in the construction trades, 
shylocking, controlling the unions, getting the government contracts. They get a lot from 
strong-arm and other stuff that involves innocent people. Their money isn’t out in the 
street. The Tattaglia nightclub is too famous to touch it, it would cause too much of a 
stink. And with the Don still out of action their political influence matches ours. So we’ve 
got a real problem here.” 
“It’s my problem, Tom,” Sonny said. “I’ll find the answer. Keep the negotiation alive and 
follow through on the other stuff. Let’s go back into business and see what happens. 

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