The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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waitress sat on another chair in a line of vision so that she could see any of Nino 
Valenti’s gestures. 
Nino rapped on the green baize with his knuckles. “Chips,” he said. 
The pit boss took a pad from his pocket and filled out a slip and put it in front of Nino 
with a small fountain pen. “Here you are, Mr. Valenti,” he said. “The usual five thousand 
to start.” Nino scrawled his signature on the bottom of the slip and the pit boss put it in 
his pocket. He nodded to the dealer. 
The dealer with incredibly deft fingers took stacks of black and gold one-hundred-dollar 
daps from the built-in racks before him. In not more than fire seconds Nino had five even 
stacks of one-hundred-dollar chips before him, each stack had ten chips. 
There were six squares a little larger than playing card shapes etched in white on the 
green baize, each square placed to correspond to where a player would sit. Now Nino 
was placing bets on three of these squares, single chips, and so playing three hands 
each for a hundred dollars. He refused to take a hit on ail three hands because the 
dealer had a six up, a bust card, and the dealer did bust. Nino raked in his chips and 
turned to Johnny Fontane. “That’s how to start the night, huh, Johnny?” 
Johnny smiled. It was unusual for a gambler like Nino to have to sign a chit while 
gambling. A word was usually good enough for the high rollers. Maybe they were afraid 
Nino wouldn’t remember his take-out because of his drinking. They didn’t know that 
Nino remembered everything. 
Nino kept winning and after the third round lifted a finger at the cocktail waitress. She 
went to the bar at the end of the room and brought him his usual rye in a water glass. 
Nino took the drink, switched it to his other hand so he could put an arm around the 
waitress. “Sit with me, honey, play a few hands; bring me luck.” 
The cocktail waitress was a very beautiful girl, but Johnny could see she was all cold 
hustle; no real personality, though she worked at it. She was giving Nino a big smile but 
her tongue was hanging out for one of those black and gold chips. What the hell, Johnny 
thought, why shouldn’t she get some of it? He just regretted that Nino wasn’t getting 
something better for his money. 
Nino let the waitress play his hands for a few rounds and then gave her one of the chips 
and a pat on the behind to send her away from the table. Johnny motioned to her to 
bring him a drink. She did so but she did it as if she were playing the most dramatic 
moment in the most dramatic movie ever made. She turned all her charm on the great 

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