minor misunderstandings which were, of course, sometimes fatal.
As the rulers of ancient cities always kept an anxious eye on the barbarian tribes
roving around their walls, so Don Corleone kept an eye on the affairs of the world
outside his world. He noted the coming of Hitler, the fall of Spain, Germany's strong-
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arming of Britain at Munich. Unblinkered (незашоренный, неослепленный; blinkers –
наглазники, шоры) by that outside world, he saw clearly the coming global war and he
understood the implications. His own world would be more impregnable
(непрницаемый, неприступный) than before. Not only that, fortunes could be made in
time of war by alert, foresighted folk. But to do so peace must reign in his domain while
war raged in the world outside.
Don Corleone carried his message through the United States. He conferred with
compatriots in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia, Miami,
and Boston. He was the underworld apostle of peace and, by 1939, more successful
than any Pope, he had achieved a working agreement amongst the most powerful
underworld organizations in the country. Like the Constitution of the United States this
agreement respected fully the internal authority of each member in his state or city. The
agreement covered only spheres of influence and an agreement to enforce peace in the
underworld.
And so when World War II broke out in 1939, when the United States joined the
conflict in 1941, the world of Don Vito Corleone was at peace, in order, fully prepared to
reap the golden harvest on equal terms with all the other industries of a booming
America. The Corleone Family had a hand in supplying black-market OPA food stamps,
gasoline stamps, even travel priorities. It could help get war contracts and then help get
black-market materials for those garment center clothing firms who were not given
enough raw material because they did not have government contracts. He could even
get all the young men in his organization, those eligible (могущий быть избранным
['elıdG∂bl]) for Army draft (набор, призыв), excused from fighting in the foreign war. He
did this with the aid of doctors who advised what drugs had to be taken before physical
examination, or by placing the men in draft-exempt (exempt [ıg’zempt] –
освобожденный /от чего-либо/) positions in the war industries.
And so the Don could take pride in his rule. His world was safe for those who had
sworn loyalty to him; other men who believed in law and order were dying by the
millions. The only fly in the ointment (мазь, /здесь/ мирро /для помазания/) was that
his own son, Michael Corleone, refused to be helped, insisted on volunteering to serve
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his own country. And to the Don's astonishment, so did a few of his other young men in
the organization. One of the men, trying to explain this to his caporegime, said, "This
country has been good to me." Upon this story being relayed to the Don he said angrily
to the caporegime, "I have been good to him." It might have gone badly for these people
but, as he had excused his son Michael, so must he excuse other young men who so
misunderstood their duty to their Don and to themselves.
At the end of World War II Don Corleone knew that again his world would have to
change its ways, that it would have to fit itself more snugly (snug – плотно лежащий,
прилегающий) into the ways of the other, larger world. He believed he could do this
with no loss of profit.
There was reason for this belief in his own experience. What had put him on the right
track were two personal affairs. Early in his career the then-young Nazorine, only a
baker's helper planning to get married, had come to him for assistance. He and his
future bride, a good Italian girl, had saved their money and had paid the enormous sum
of three hundred dollars to a wholesaler of furniture recommended to them. This
wholesaler had let them pick out everything they wanted to furnish their tenement
apartment. A fine sturdy (сильный, крепкий, здоровый) bedroom set with two bureaus
and lamps. Also the living room set of heavy stuffed sofa and stuffed armchairs, all
covered with rich gold-threaded fabric. Nazorine and his fiancйe (невеста /франц./
[fı'α:nseı]) had spent a happy day picking out what they wanted from the huge
warehouse crowded with furniture. The wholesaler took their money, their three hundred
dollars wrung from the sweat of their blood, and pocketed it and promised the furniture
to be delivered within the week to the already rented flat.
The very next week however, the firm had gone into bankruptcy. The great warehouse
stocked with furniture had been sealed shut and attached for payment of creditors. The
wholesaler had disappeared to give other creditors time to unleash their anger on the
empty air. Nazorine, one of these, went to his lawyer, who told him nothing could be
done until the case was settled in court and all creditors satisfied. This might take three
years and Nazorine would be lucky to get back ten cents on the dollar.
Vito Corleone listened to this story with amused disbelief. It was not possible that the
law could allow such thievery. The wholesaler owned his own palatial home, an estate
in Long Island, a luxurious automobile, and was sending his children to college. How
could he keep the three hundred dollars of the poor baker Nazorine and not give him
the furniture he had paid for? But, to make sure, Vito Corleone had Genco Abbandando
check it out with the lawyers who represented the Genco Pura company.
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They verified the story of Nazorine. The wholesaler had all his personal wealth in his
wife's name. His furniture business was incorporated and he was not personally liable
(ответственный). True, he had shown bad faith (вероломство) by taking the money of
Nazorine when he knew he was going to file (подать как-либо документ) bankruptcy
but this was a common practice. Under law there was nothing to be done.
Of course the matter was easily adjusted. Don Corleone sent his Consigliori, Genco
Abbandando, to speak to the wholesaler, and as was to be expected, that wide-awake
businessman caught the drift immediately and arranged for Nazorine to get his furniture.
But it was an interesting lesson for the young Vito Corleone.
The second incident had more far-reaching repercussions (repercussion – отдача
/после удара/; отзвук, эхо). In 1939, Don Corleone had decided to move his family out
of the city. Like any other parent he wanted his children to go to better schools and mix
with better companions. For his own personal reasons he wanted the anonymity of
surburban life where his reputation was not known. He bought the mall property in Long
Beach, which at that time had only four newly built houses but with plenty of room for
more. Sonny was formally engaged to Sandra and would soon marry, one of the houses
would be for him. One of the houses was for the Don. Another was for Genco
Abbandando and his family. The other was kept vacant at the time.
A week after the mall was occupied, a group of three workmen came in all innocence
with their truck. They claimed to be furnace (печь, топка ['f∂:nıs]) inspectors for the
town of Long Beach. One of the Don's young bodyguards let the men in and led them to
the furnace in the basement. The Don, his wife and Sonny were in the garden taking
their ease and enjoying the salty sea air.
Much to the Don's annoyance he was summoned into the house by his bodyguard.
The three workmen, all big burly fellows, were grouped around the furnace. They had
taken it apart, it was strewn around the cement basement floor. Their leader, an
authoritative man, said to the Don in a gruff (грубый, сердитый) voice, "Your furnace is
in lousy shape. If you want us to fix it and put it together again, it'll cost you one hundred
fifty dollars for labor and parts and then we'll pass you for county inspection." He took
out a red paper label. "We stamp this seal on it, see, then nobody from the county
bothers you again."
The Don was amused. It had been a boring, quiet week in which he had had to
neglect his business to take care of such family details moving to a new house entailed
(to entail – влечь за собой). In more broken English than his usual slight accent he
asked, "If I don't pay you, what happens to my furnace?"
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The leader of the three men shrugged. "We just leave the furnace the way it is now."
He gestured at the metal parts strewn over the floor.
The Don said meekly, "Wait, I'll get you your money." Then he went out into the
garden and said to Sonny, "Listen, there's some men working on the furnace, I don't
understand what they want. Go in and take care of the matter." It was not simply a joke;
he was considering making his son his underboss. This was one of the tests a business
executive had to pass.
Sonny's solution did not altogether please his father. It was too direct, too lacking in
Sicilian subtleness. He was the Club (дубинка), not the Rapier. For as soon as Sonny
heard the leader's demand he held the three men at gunpoint and had them thoroughly