The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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gave him my ‘no’ with all courtesy. I told him his business would not interfere with mine, 
that I had no objection to his earning his living in this fashion. He took it ill and brought 
misfortune down on all our heads. Well, that’s life. Everyone here could tell his own tale 
of sorrow. That’s not to my purpose.” 
Don Corleone paused and motioned to Hagen for a cold drink, which Hagen swiftly 
furnished him. Don Corleone wet his mouth. “I’m willing to make the peace,” he said. 
“Tattaglia has lost a son, I have lost a son. We are quits. What would the world come to 
if people kept carrying grudges against all reason? That has been the cross of Sicily, 
where men are so busy with vendettas they have no time to earn bread for their families. 
It’s foolishness. So I say now, let things be as they were before. I have not taken any 
steps to learn who betrayed and killed my son. Given peace, I will not do so. I have a 
son who cannot come home and I must receive assurances that when I arrange matters 
so that he can return safely that there will be no interference, no danger from the 
authorities. Once that’s settled maybe we can talk about other matters that interest us 
and do ourselves, all of us, a profitable service today.” Corleone gestured expressively, 
submissively, with his hands. “That is all I want.” 
It was very well done. It was the Don Corleone of old. Reasonable. Pliant. Soft-spoken. 
But every man there had noted that he had claimed good health, which meant he was a 
man not to be held cheaply despite the misfortunes of the Corleone Family. It was noted 
that he had said the discussion of other business was useless until the peace he asked 
for was given. It was noted that he had asked for the old status quo, that he would lose 
nothing despite his having got the worst of it over the past year. 
However, it was Emilio Barzini who answered Don Corleone, not Tattaglia. He was curt 
and to the point without being rude or insulting. 
“That is all true enough,” Barzini said. “But there’s a little more. Don Corleone is too 
modest. The fact is that Sollozzo and the Tattaglias could not go into their new business 
without the assistance of Don Corleone. In fact, his disapproval injured them. That’s not 
his fault of course. The fact remains that judges and politicians who would accept favors 
from Don Corleone, even on drugs, would not allow themselves to be influenced by 
anybody else when it came to narcotics. Sollozzo couldn’t operate if he didn’t have 
some insurance of his people being treated gently. We all know that. We would all be 
poor men otherwise. And now that they have increased the penalties the judges and the 
prosecuting attorneys drive a hard bargain when one of our people get in trouble with 
narcotics. Even a Sicilian sentenced to twenty years might break the omerta and talk his 

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