The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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taken him on outings when the Don had been too busy. He could not believe that 
Clemenza was guilty of treachery. 
But, on the other hand, Sollozzo would want Clemenza in his pocket more than any 
other man in the Corleone Family. 
Michael thought about Paulie Gatto. Paulie as yet had not become rich. He was well 
thought of, his rise in the organization was certain but he would have to put in his time 
like everybody else. Also he would have wilder dreams of power, as the young always 
do. It had to be Paulie. And then Michael remembered that in the sixth grade he and 
Paulie had been in the same class in school and he didn’t want it to be Paulie either. 
He shook his head. “Neither one of them,” he said. But he said it only because Sonny 
had said he had the answer. If it had been a vote, he would have voted Paulie guilty. 
Sonny was smiling at him. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Clemenza is OK. It’s Paulie.” 
Michael could see that Tessio was relieved. As a fellow caporegime his sympathy would 
be with Clemenza. Also the present situation was not so serious if treachery did not 
reach so high. Tessio said cautiously, “Then I can send my people home tomorrow?” 
Sonny said, “The day after tomorrow. I don’t want anybody to know about this until then. 
Listen, I want to talk some family business with my brother, personal. Wait out in the 
living room, eh? We can finish our list later. You and Ctemenza will work together on it.” 
“Sure,” Tessio said. He went out. 
“How do you know for sure it’s Paulie?” Michael asked. 
Sonny said, “We have people in the telephone company and they tracked down all of 
Paulie’s phone calls in and out. Clemenza’s too. On the three days Paulie was sick this 
month he got a call from a street booth across from the old man’s building. Today too. 
They were checking to see if Paulie was coming down or somebody was being sent 
down to take his place. Or for some other reason. It doesn’t matter.” Sonny shrugged. 
“Thank God it was Paulie. We’ll need Clemenza bad.” 
Michael asked hesitantly, “Is it going to be an all-out war?” 
Sonny’s eyes were hard. “That’s how I’m going to play it as soon as Tom checks in. 
Until the old man tells me different.” 
Michael asked, “So why don’t you wait until the old man can tell you?” 
Sonny looked at him curiously. “How the hell did you win those combat medals? We are 

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