The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
249
Hagen nodded. “I called Clemenza as soon as I got home.” 
Corleone turned to the massive Clemenza. The caporegime nodded. “I released them. 
Tell me, Godfather, is it possible for a Sicilian to be as dumb as the Bocchicchios 
pretend to be?” 
Don Corleone smiled a little. “They are clever enough to make a good living. Why is it so 
necessary to be more clever than that? It’s not the Bocchicchios who cause the troubles 
of this world. But it’s true, they haven’t got the Sicilian head.” 
They were all in a relaxed mood, now that the war was over. Don Corleone himself 
mixed drinks and brought one to each man. The Don sipped his carefully and lit up a 
cigar. 
“I want nothing set forth to discover what happened to Sonny, that’s done with and to be 
forgotten. I want all cooperation with the other Families even if they become a little 
greedy and we don’t get our proper share in this. I want nothing to break this peace no 
matter what the provocation until we’ve found a way to bring Michael home. And I want 
that to be first thing on your minds. Remember this, when he comes back he must come 
back in absolute safety. I don’t mean from the Tattaglias or the Barzinis. What I’m 
concerned about are the police. Sure, we can get rid of the real evidence against him; 
that waiter won’t testify, nor that spectator or gunman or whatever he was. The real 
evidence is the least of our worries since we know about it. What we have to worry 
about is the police framing false evidence because their informers have assured them 
that Michael Corleone is the man who killed their captain. Very well. We have to 
demand that the Five Families do everything in their power to correct this belief of the 
police. All their informers who work with the police must come up with new stories. I 
think after my speech this afternoon they will understand it is to their interest to do so. 
But that’s not enough. We have to come up with something special so Michael won’t 
ever have to worry about that again. Otherwise there’s no point in him coming back to 
this country. So let’s all think about that. That’s the most importunt matter. 
“Now, any man should be allowed one foolishness in his life. I have had mine. I want all 
the land around the mall bought, the houses bought. I don’t want any man able to look 
out his window into my garden even if it’s a mile away. I want a fence around the mall 
and I want the mall to be on full protection all the time. I want a gate in that fence. In 
short, I wish now to live in a fortress. Let me say to you now that I will never go into the 
city to work again. I will be semiretired. I feel an urge to work in the garden, to make a 

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