The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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under the gun, man, we gotta fight. I’m just afraid they won’t let Tom go.” 
Michael was surprised at this. “Why not?” 
Again Sonny’s voice was patient. “They snatched Tom because they figured the old 
man was finished and they could make a deal with me and Tom would be the sit-down 
guy in the preliminary stages, carry the proposition. Now with the old man alive they 
know I can’t make a deal so Tom’s no good to them. They can turn him loose or dump 
him, depending how Sollozzo feels. If they dump him, it would be just to show us they 
really mean business, trying to bulldoze us.” 
Michael said quietly, “What made Sollozzo think he could get a deal with you?” 
Sonny flushed and he didn’t answer for a moment. Then he said, “We had a meeting a 
few months ago, Sollozzo came to us with a proposition on drugs. The old man turned 
him down. But during the meeting I shot off my mouth a little, I showed I wanted the 
deal. Which is absolutely the wrong thing to do; if there’s one thing the old man 
hammered into me it’s never, to do a thing like that, to let other people know there’s a 
split of opinion in the Family. So Sollozzo figures he gets rid of the old man, I have to go 
in with him on the drugs. With the old man gone, the Family power is cut at least in half. 
I would be fighting for my life anyway to keep all the businesses the old man got 
together. Drugs are the coming thing, we should get into it. And his knocking off the old 
man is purely business, nothing personal. As a matter of business I would go in with 
him. Of course he would never let me get too close, he’d make sure I’d never get a 
clean shot at him, just in case. But he also knows that once I accepted the deal the 
other Families would never let me start a war a couple of years later just for revenge. 
Also, the Tattaglia Family is behind him.” 
“If they had gotten the old man, what would you have done?” Michael asked. 
Sonny said very simply, “Sollozzo is dead meat. I don’t care what it costs. I don’t care if 
we have to fight all the five families in New York. The Tattaglia Family is going to be 
wiped out. I don’t care if we all go down together.” 
Michael said softly, “That’s not how Pop would have played it.” 
Sonny made a violent gesture. “I know I’m not the man he was. But I’ll tell you this and 
he’ll tell you too. When it comes to real action I can operate as good as anybody, 
short-range. Sollozzo knows that and so do Clemenza and Tessio, I ‘made my bones’ 
when I was nineteen, the last time the Family had a war, and I was a big help to the old 
man. So I’m not worried now. And our Family has all the horses in a deal like this. I just 

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