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
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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
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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
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