Illicit gambling houses that ran poker games, the policy or numbers racket of Harlem.

This man's name was Salvatore Maranzano and he was one of the acknowledged

pezzonovante, .90 calibers, or big shots of the New York underworld. The Corleone

emissaries proposed to Maranzano an equal partnership beneficial to both parties. Vito

Corleone with his organization, his police and political contacts, could give the

Maranzano operations a stout umbrella and the new strength to expand into Brooklyn

and the Bronx. But Maranzano was a short-sighted man and spurned (to spurn –

отвергать с презрением) the Corleone offer with contempt. The great Al Capone was

Maranzano's friend and he had his own organization, his own men, plus a huge war

chest (ящик; казна). He would not brook (терпеть, выносить) this upstart (выскочка)

whose reputation was more that of a Parliamentary debator than a true Mafioso.

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

Maranzano's refusal touched off (его отказ вызвал, привел к) the great war of 1933

which was to change the whole structure of the underworld in New York City.

At first glance it seemed an uneven match. Salvatore Maranzano had a powerful

organization with strong enforcers. He had a friendship with Capone in Chicago and

could call on help in that quarter. He also had a good relationship with the Tattaglia

56

Family, which controlled prostitution in the city and what there was of the thin drug traffic

at that time. He also had political contacts with powerful business leaders who used his

enforcers to terrorize the Jewish unionists in the garment center and the Italian

anarchist syndicates in the building trades.

Against this, Don Corleone could throw two small but superbly organized regimes led

by Clemenza and Tessio. His political and police contacts were negated by the

business leaders who would support Maranzano. But in his favor was the enemy's lack

of intelligence about his organization. The underworld did not know the true strength of

his soldiers and even were deceived that Tessio in Brooklyn was a separate and

Independent operation.

And yet despite all this, it was an unequal battle until Vito Corleone evened out the

odds (сравнял счет) with one master stroke.

Maranzano sent a call to Capone for his two best gunmen to come to New York to

eliminate the upstart. The Corleone Family had friends and intelligence in Chicago who

relayed the news that the two gunmen were arriving by train. Vito Corleone dispatched

Luca Brasi to take care of them with instructions that would liberate the strange man's

most savage instincts.

Brasi and his people, four of them, received the Chicago hoods at the railroad station.

One of Brasi's men procured and drove a taxicab for the purpose and the station porter

carrying the bags led the Capone men to this cab. When they got in; Brasi and another

of his men crowded in after them, guns ready, and made the two Chicago boys lie on

the floor. The cab drove to a warehouse near the docks that Brasi had prepared for

them.

The two Capone men were bound hand and foot and small bath towels were stuffed

into their mouths to keep them from crying out.

Then Brasi took an ax (топор) from its place against the wall and started hacking at

one of the Capone men. He chopped the man's feet off, then the legs at the knees, then

the thighs where they joined the torso. Brasi was an extremely powerful man but it took

him many swings to accomplish his purpose. By that time of course the victim had given

up the ghost and the floor of the warehouse was slippery with the hacked fragments of

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

57

his flesh and the gouting (gout – сгусток крови) of his blood. When Brasi turned to his

second victim he found further effort unnecessary. The second Capone gunman out of

sheer terror had, impossibly, swallowed the bath towel in his mouth and suffocated. The

bath towel was found in the man's stomach when the police performed their autopsy to

determine the cause of death.

A few days later in Chicago the Capones received a message from Vito Corleone. It

was to this effect: "You know now how I deal with enemies. Why does a Neapolitan

interfere in a quarrel between two Sicilians? If you wish me to consider you as a friend I

owe you a service which I will pay on demand. A man like yourself must know how

much more profitable it is to have a friend who, instead of calling on you for help, takes

care of his own affairs and stands ever ready to help you in some future time of trouble.

If you do not wish my friendship, so be it. But then I must tell you that the climate in this

city is damp; unhealthy for Neapolitans, and you are advised never to visit it."

The arrogance of this letter was a calculated one. The Don held the Capones in small

esteem as stupid, obvious cutthroats. His intelligence informed him that Capone had

forfeited (to forfeit [‘fo:fıt] – расплатиться, потерять право /на что-то/; forfeit –

расплата /за проступок/; конфискация) all political influence because of his public

arrogance and the flaunting (to flaunt – гордо развеваться /о знаменах/; выставлять

напоказ, щеголять) of his criminal wealth. The Don knew, in fact was positive, that

without political influence, without the camouflage of society, Capone's world, and

others like it, could be easily destroyed. He knew Capone was on the path to

destruction. He also knew that Capone's influence did not extend beyond the

boundaries of Chicago, terrible and all-pervading as that influence there might be.

The tactic was successful. Not so much because of its ferocity (жестокость) but

because of the chilling swiftness, the quickness of the Don's reaction. If his intelligence

was so good, any further moves would be fraught (полный, чреватый) with danger. It

was better, far wiser, to accept the offer of friendship with its implied payoff (с

предполагаемой, подразумеваемой компенсацией; to imply – заключать в себе;

предполагать, подразумевать). The Capones sent back word that they would not

interfere.

The odds were now equal. And Vito Corleone had earned an enormous amount of

"respect" throughout the United States underworld with his humiliation of the Capones.

For six months he out-generaled Maranzano. He raided the crap games under that

man's protection, located his biggest policy banker (держатель игорного дома) in

Harlem and had him relieved of a day's play not only in money but in records. He

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

58

engaged his enemies on all fronts. Even in the garment centers he sent Clemenza and

his men to fight on the side of the unionists against the enforcers on the payroll of

Maranzano and the owners of the dress firms. And on all fronts his superior intelligence

and organization made him the victor. Clemenza's jolly ferocity, which Corleone

employed judiciously (рассудительно), also helped turn the tide of battle. And then Don

Corleone sent the held-back reserve of the Tessio regime after Maranzano himself.

By this time Maranzano had dispatched emissaries suing for (to sue for – просить о

чем-либо) a peace. Vito Corleone refused to see them, put them off on one pretext or

another. The Maranzano soldiers were deserting their leader, not wishing to die in a

losing cause. Bookmakers and shylocks were paying the Corleone organization their

protection money. The war was all but over (почти окончена).

And then finally on New Year's Eve of 1933 Tessio got inside the defenses of

Maranzano himself. The Maranzano lieutenants were anxious for a deal and agreed to

lead their chief to the slaughter. They told him that a meeting had been arranged in a

Brooklyn restaurant with Corleone and they accompanied Maranzano as his

bodyguards.

They left him sitting at a checkered (checker – шашка; checkerboard – шахматный

стол) table, morosely munching (мрачно жуя; morose [m∂’r∂us] – мрачный) a piece of

bread, and fled the restaurant as Tessio and four of his men entered. The execution

was swift and sure. Maranzano, his mouth full of half-chewed bread, was riddled with

bullets. The war was over.

The Maranzano empire was incorporated into the Corleone operation. Don Corleone

set up a system of tribute, allowing all incumbents (incumbent – пользующийся

бенефицием священник; /здесь/ букмекер, пользующийся своим доходным местом)

to remain in their bookmaking and policy number spots. As a bonus he had a foothold

(точка опоры) in the unions of the garment center which in later years was to prove

extremely important. And now that he had settled his business affairs the Don found

trouble at home.

Santino Corleone, Sonny, was sixteen years old and grown to an astonishing six feet

with broad shoulders and a heavy face that was sensual but by no means effeminate.

But where Fredo was a quiet boy, and Michael, of course, a toddler (ребенок,

начинающий ходить; to toddle – ковылять; учиться ходить), Santino was constantly

in trouble. He got into fights, did badly in school and, finally, Clemenza, who was the

boy's godfather and had a duty to speak, came to Don Corleone one evening and

informed him that his son had taken part in an armed robbery, a stupid affair which

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

59

could have gone very badly. Sonny was obviously the ringleader, the two other boys in

the robbery his followers.

It was one of the very few times that Vito Corleone lost his temper. Tom Hagen had

been living in his home for three years and he asked Clemenza if the orphan boy had

been involved. Clemenza shook his head. Don Corleone had a car sent to bring Santino

to his offices in the Genco Pura Olive Oil Company.

For the first time, the Don met defeat. Alone with his son, he gave full vent to his rage,

cursing the hulking (громадный, неуклюжий, неповоротливый; hulk – большое

неповоротливое судно) Sonny in Sicilian dialect, a language so much more satisfying

than any other for expressing rage. He ended up with a question. "What gave you the

right to commit such an act? What made you wish to commit such an act?"

Sonny stood there, angry, refusing to answer. The Don said with contempt, "And so

stupid. What did you earn for that night's work? Fifty dollars each? Twenty dollars? You

risked your life for twenty dollars, eh?"

As if he had not heard these last words, Sonny said defiantly (с вызовом), "I saw you

kill Fanucci."

The Don said, "Ahhh" and sank back in his chair. He waited.

Sonny said, "When Fanucci left the building, Mama said I could go up the house. I

saw you go up the roof and I followed you. I saw everything you did. I stayed up there

and I saw you throw away the wallet and the gun."

The Don sighed. "Well, then I can't talk to you about how you should behave. Don't

you want to finish school, don't you want to be a lawyer? Lawyers can steal more

money with a briefcase than a thousand men with guns and masks."

Sonny grinned at him and said slyly, "I want to enter the family business." When he

saw that the Don's face remained impassive, that he did not laugh at the joke, he added

hastily, "I can learn how to sell olive oil."

Still the Don did not answer. Finally he shrugged. "Every man has one destiny," he

said. He did not add that the witnessing of Fanucci's murder had decided that of his son.

He merely turned away and added quietly, "Come in tomorrow morning at nine o'clock.

Genco will show you what to do."

But Genco Abbandando, with that shrewd insight that a Consigliori must have,

realized the true wish of the Don and used Sonny mostly as a bodyguard for his father,

a position in which he could also learn the subtleties (subtlety – тонкость,

изощренность, хитрость; subtle – тонкий, нежный; утонченный) of being a Don. And

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

60

it brought out a professorial instinct in the Don himself, who often gave lectures on how

to succeed for the benefit of his eldest son.

Besides his oft-repeated theory that a man has but one destiny, the Don constantly

reproved Sonny for that young man's outbursts of temper. The Don considered a use of

threats the most foolish kind of exposure (выставление /на солнце, под дождь/;

подвергание /риску/; to expose – выставлять, подвергать действию /дождя, солнца/;

подвергать риску); the unleashing (to unleash – спускать с привязи) of anger without

forethought as the most dangerous indulgence (потворство своим слабостям

[ın'dΛldG∂ns]; to indulge – позволять себе удовольствие, давать себе волю). No one

had ever heard the Don utter a naked threat, no one had ever seen him in an

uncontrollable rage. It was unthinkable. And so he tried to teach Sonny his own

disciplines. He claimed that there was no greater natural advantage in life than having

an enemy overestimate your faults, unless it was to have a friend underestimate your

virtues.

The caporegime, Clemenza, took Sonny in hand and taught him how to shoot and to

wield a garrot (владеть гарротой /шнуром для удушения/). Sonny had no taste for the

Italian rope, he was too Americanized. He preferred the simple, direct, impersonal

Anglo-Saxon gun, which saddened Clemenza. But Sonny became a constant and

welcome companion to his father, driving his car, helping him in little details. For the

next two years he seemed like the usual son entering his father's business, not too

bright, not too eager, content to hold down (удержать, не потерять) a soft job.

Meanwhile his boyhood chum and semiadopted brother Tom Hagen was going to

college. Fredo was still in high school; Michael, the youngest brother, was in grammar

school, and baby sister Connie was a toddling girl of four. The family had long since

moved to an apartment house in the Bronx. Don Corleone was considering buying a

house in Long Island, but he wanted to fit this in with other plans he was formulating.