Mafia Violence
Violence can either be used as mean of attaining power or as means of revenge. It is a highly known fact that the main focus of a stereotypical Mafia family should centre around the use of violence. "The Godfather" as well as "The Last Don" are two novels which hold true to this focus and are interestingly enough both written by the same author: the late Mario Puzo. Although being written more than twenty-five years apart, the two novels almost mirror each other throughout. For instance, near the beginning of each book the only daughter of each family gets married. Aside from that we also see one son die in each novel as well as the husband of the family's only daughter to be killed by the family. Throughout all these instances the only thing dissimilar regarding the two Mafia families is their reasons for violence. A family's use of violence is determined by how much power they hold. In "The Godfather", the main purpose behind all killing and violence can be directly related to attaining power. On the other hand, "The Last Don" is a novel in which all cases of violence are used for the sole purpose of revenge. The killing of one of the sons in both novels by Puzo appears to
Although the worst thing that you are able to do to a family is to kill of one of their own, another horrible deed is too undermine a family's intelligence by stealing from them right under their noses. As was the case for "Big Tim". Big Tim had set up a scheme in the Clericuzio's casino in which he was able to thief more than a quarter of a million dollars virtually undetected. The fact that the scheme went on for a long period of time enraged the Clericuzio family and was able to make them look vulnerable. To seek revenge for this act it was Dante, the most ruthless killer of them all, who was sent to take care of Big Tim. Big Tim had set up a scheme to rig the Super Bowl but needed funding to back up his plan. It was made to look as though Dante was a high roller by sending him to his family's own craps tables to lose a lot of money in a matter of minutes without flinching. Big Tim saw this and asked to meet with Dante in a secluded place. This could not have worked out any better for the Clericuzios as it would be a cinch to cover up the crime. Dante and Big Tim did have their meeting and it ended up with Big Tim swimming at the bottom of a lake with the fishes. Again it was a killing solely for revenge in "The Last Don". Knowing that the Don of a Mafia family is the nucleus means that a Don must live each minute of his life in paranoia of who is going to knock him off. The man who would take a stab at taking down Don Corleone would be a man by the name of Sollozo. He was an opportunist wanting to start up a large narcotics ring in the United States and had the backing of five of the six Mafia families. The only one unwilling to cooperate were the Corleones. The political power and sway that the Corleones had was enough to hinder the narcotics operation that was in the works. As a way of continuing his narcotics business, Sollozo decides to pull a gun on Don Corleone while he is uncharacteristically buying fruit from a street vendor. The shots only wound the Don but they were severe enough to put him in hospital and out of commission for a few weeks. Don Corleone's oldest son Sonny has the sense of mind to place guards outside of the hospital to avoid a repeat attack. Something seems fishy as the city police captain has the guards taken away and put in jail for the night to make the Don available. The Don's youngest son, Michael, arrives on the scene just before the second murder attempt is to take place. This foils the plan to kill the Don for another night. Realizing that to get to the Don they might have to take down his sons first, Sollozo and Police Captain McCluskey arrange a meeting with Michael the next day to negotiate a deal. They all go to a restaurant a few towns away and begin to have dinner. Although never before being involved in violence, Michael knew that for his family name to survive and climb he would have to take care of these two men. This was evident when Michael talks with his two dinner guests by saying, "I hope we can settle things tonight, I don't want my father bothered anymore." It was all carefully planned out as Michael went to the washroom and retrieved a gun that had been carefully placed earlier on in the day. Michael then proceeded to exit the washroom and shoot Solozzo and McCluskey dead. This act ended the threat by these two men against the Don. It was important for the Don to stay alive, as his personal political contacts were crucial to the advancement of the Corleone family. The Don was still in trouble for a while though physically and it was not sure whether or not he would pull through. This caused other problems for the Corleones. While Don Corleone was recuperating from his wounds it was important to have somebody else temporarily run the family business. The man to do this was the eldest son, Sonny. For the advancement of the other families, Sonny was now considered the roadblock to the other family's riches in the narcotics business.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Don Corleone, Don Clericuzio, Mario Puzo, Las Vegas, Clericuzio Dante, Tom Hagen, Captain McCluskey, Connie Sonny, Don Corleone's, Tim Tim, don corleone, don clericuzio, mafia families, clericuzio family, tom hagen, johnny fontane, powerful family, mafia family, corleone family, movie role, powerful family nation, tim tim set, tim set scheme, johnny fontane movie,
Approximate Word count = 2855
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)
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