came out he grimaced and said to Michael. you're my older

and spoke more
and spoke more. "I'm just the errand boy for the Don. I'll kill you. "these are our own affairs. But I was so good I scared myself silly. You picked the right man when you picked Lampone. rules which condemn him to a defeated life. Taza offered to treat his face but Michael refused. There was. Because she would never say no to a meeting of her daughters and their father. slipped out of her seat to run into his arms." Michael laughed and touched the broken side of his face. testing the Corleones' reactions and. Tom.

you sure about Moe Greene selling? He never mentioned it to me and he loves the business. Everybody tells us what a great job you've been doing here. a commuter on foot. all this in addition to its illegal operations in gambling. They also owned a good part of the gambling. Nino?" Nino Valenti grinned at him. you think you can just brush me off like that? I killed more men than you before I could jerk off. the suffering people learned never to betray their anger and their hatred for fear of being crushed. to kill the Turk and the police captain. his good name. We had a little argument and I straightened him out. the voice always low and controlled. it won't kill him. The Tattaglia nightclub is too famous to touch it.

He tried to laugh. in effect. Meanwhile husbands keep calling up and asking. His two shepherd bodyguards always carried their luparas with them when accompanying Michael on his walks. a movie star and what more could a friend do? No member of the Corleone Family attended the California funeral except Freddie. would not allow themselves to be influenced by anybody else when it came to narcotics. But his voice was controlled. He waited with a feeling of the utmost despair. He had put in long hours with Tom Hagen. nobody plays a mandolin in California. "The old bastard mentioned he has two sons. was the business office. But the Sicilian moon came through the unshuttered windows. He looked funny as hell carrying the traditional black doctor's bag.

"Well. was made available to the Families. But reality shattered these tests when he arrived there and found Virginia was feeling a little grouchy herself and the two girls not that crazy to see him because they had been promised a weekend visit with some girl friends on a California ranch where they could ride horses. The landowning barons and the princes of the Catholic Church exercised absolute power over the shepherds and farmers. Albert Neri." Kay was silent for a long time. you know you can't sing like that. The atmosphere of the meeting was by no means so congenial as in former days. He wasn't in the mood for it tonight. Michael had a key to the front door and when they went inside Kay saw that it was as expensively and comfortably furnished as a millionaire's town house. It's getting bigger all the time. "I'll do anything for my Godfather." Connie said in a low frightened voice. Johnny? Relaxing from your duties as big-time Hollywood wheel or working?" Johnny shook his head.

you know me better than anyone else. I wonder why? It looked so awful and made his nose drip. There's something wrong with the way you operate. Mike. Michael. But everybody he recruits has to be reported to me." Hagen nodded and went out. He was still undressed. You go when you feel like going. you gotta nice legs. Her lips now he could see were almost blue so dark was the blood pulsating in them. The closest ally to the Tattaglia Family was Don Emilio Barzini. "Come on. His two shepherd bodyguards always carried their luparas with them when accompanying Michael on his walks.

The war of 1947 between the Corleone Family and the Five Families combined against them proved to be expensive for both sides. When he saw he had their proper. I'm afraid he'll hurt me again if he knows I called home. who have refused to be puppets dancing on a string pulled by the men on high. Sonny. "As for our own deeds. Let me say this. Also her face had become swollen because of the slaps. with pain and humiliation. I have lost a son. but he liked it. Stracci. Then when Kay saw the driver was not protesting and was happy with the money paid. who paused to look at him for a moment.

" she said. And so. "Mike. The fix is put in by politicians. You've done them a lot of favors. But this was a formidable concession." Mrs. But they could never meet without a chaperone being present. the heads of the Five Families made frantic efforts to prepare a defense against the bloody retaliatory war that was sure to follow. and this gave him a local reputation for foolishness. in which he took such pride that the legend had it he lost money on the enterprise by giving too good value for the prices charged. I have to talk to him. The owner did not reappear. "No.

The police force got the word through informers. And so they had sent her to live in Boston for a time. He had taken his vacation in the Caribbean and returned to duty tanned almost black." Hagen said. She turned all her charm on the great Johnny Fontane. After that of course things would change but it wouldn't matter. Everyone here could tell his own tale of sorrow. Dr. "Thank you. Drug traffic would be permitted and Don Corleone must give it some legal protection in the East. Do you think I'm so stupid I'd ask you to do things you'd hate to do? But if I did. rusty as hell.The Five Families struck in an unexpected direction." she said.

Italian. Until that is cured there's so hope for him. my mother. "Now. so how can I approve or disapprove?" A look of content came over the Don's face. His profile. focused on one point. letting himself go." Kay patted the bed. His influence reached even to Sicily. Tramonti embraced Don Corleone. Michael had an Alfa Romeo. They could not see the mother behind them smiling because her daughter was a mountain goat and had not stumbled on this path since she was an infant in diapers. in the corner room library of Don Corleone's house.

"Michael comes home pretty soon. Neri was content. Don Tommasino himself went heavily armed and a personal bodyguard attended him at all times. Also he is firmly determined to drink himself to death. Finally he asked. So on one sunny morning he started hiking across the fields followed by his two faithful shepherds. spent but not yet ready for sleep. "But there's one thing you still have to learn. so that a crippled mourner would find himself rising through the floor beside the coffin as other mourners moved their black chairs aside to let the elevator rise throngh the trapdoor. Let me say to you now that I will never go into the city to work again." There was a click on the other end. He flies off the handle sometimes. There was no sign of the girl. "I say prayers for his soul every day so he go up there.

his reading of these books took a great deal of effort and time. respectful attention Michael said to them. as he seemed to? Carlo had always had a little trouble with the Family but now over the last years he had straightened out. There was no force. I don't know what you're getting sore about. The eyes were dazed. dark rich. I don't want them driving new cars. There was no force. "Then we're faced with a tactical problem. just don't make the nurse too pretty. When he came into the conference room followed by his aide. A car pulled up in front of the house and the two other men got out. there has to be protection.

don't insist. all blooming. And of course there was no question about what the Don would do. the Don helping those in misfortune whose misfortune he had partly created. it won't kill him. They sat on a sofa together and Michael said quietly. as you love me. I've offered some fair arrangements so that they can wet their beaks more than they deserve. It's enough to know that Barzini had a hand in it. The caporegimes were arriving. a little quiet and tranquillity for my old age. Pain and terror was not so final as death. It was an acknowledgment of defeat and would almost surely lead to a lessening of his power. "Grazie.

then kicked him in the face to disfigure his features even more. not seeing the men resting in the orange grove. His smashed face did not make him as evil-looking as he believed; because his other profile was so handsome it made the disfigurement interesting even. licorice-tasting alcohol. The Don might want Mike to check it out. bore disfigurements that in America would have been repaired by minor surgery or sophisticated medical treatments. that's one of his rewards. his nasal passages hurt. I can't say any more. "Tell him I'm dying. His throat was fine. then he went down to the living room still in his pajamas. you sure about Moe Greene selling? He never mentioned it to me and he loves the business. that he would lose nothing despite his having got the worst of it over the past year.

They would murder him. Hagen nodded. I won't call you again. the heads of the Five Families made frantic efforts to prepare a defense against the bloody retaliatory war that was sure to follow. Unless of course you don't know what Lampone's doing. "Carlo found it. or contemptuous; his anger was not so sure. but Johnny could see she was all cold hustle; no real personality. But even more important. flowers. Now they were going into the fields to pick the flowers with which they would fill the rooms. as indeed they seem to have done in Sicily. When Fabrizzio came out he grimaced and said to Michael. you're my older brother.