strictly gambling
operations in the United States, was represented by a sensitive-looking elderly man with
gaunt (сухопарый; длинный, вытянутый в длину; мрачный) features and snow-white
hair. He was known, of course not to his face, as "the Jew" because he had surrounded
himself with Jewish assistants rather than Sicilians. It was even rumored that he would
have named a Jew as his Consigliori if he had dared. In any case, as Don Corleone's
Family was known as the Irish Gang because of Hagen's membership, so Don Vincent
Forlenza's Family was known as the Jewish Family with somewhat more accuracy. But
he ran an extremely efficient organization and he was not known ever to have fainted at
the sight of blood, despite his sensitive features. He ruled with an iron hand in a velvet
political glove.
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The representatives of the Five Families of New York were the last to arrive and Tom
Hagen was struck by how much more imposing, impressive, these five men were than
the out-of-towners, the hicks. For one thing, the five New York Dons were in the old
Sicilian tradition, they were "men with a belly" meaning, figuratively, power and courage;
and literally, physical flesh, as if the two went together, as indeed they seem to have
done in Sicily. The five New York Dons were stout, corpulent men with massive leonine
heads, features on a large scale, fleshy imperial noses, thick mouths, heavy folded
cheeks. They were not too well tailored or barbered; they had the look of no-nonsense
busy men without vanity.
There was Anthony Stracci, who controlled the New Jersey area and the shipping on
the West Side docks of Manhattan. He ran the gambling in Jersey and was very strong
with the Democratic political machine. He had a fleet of freight hauling trucks that made
him a fortune primarily because his trucks could travel with a heavy overload and not be
stopped and fined by highway weight inspecton. These trucks helped ruin the highways
and then his road-building firm, with lucrative state contracts, repaired the damage
wrought. It was the kind of operation that would warm any man's heart, business of itself
creating more business. Stracci, too, was old-fashioned and never dealt in prostitution,
but because his business was on the waterfront it was impossible for him not to be
involved in the drug-smuggling traffic. Of the five New York Families opposing the
Corleones his was the least powerful but the most well disposed.
The Family that controlled upper New York State, that arranged smuggling of Italian
immigrants from Canada, all upstate (северная часть штата) gambling and exercised
veto power on state licensing of racing tracks, was headed by Ottilio Cuneo. This was a
completely disarming man with the face of a jolly round peasant baker, whose legitimate
activity was one of the big milk companies. Cuneo was one of those men who loved
children and carried a pocket full of sweets in the hopes of being able to pleasure one of
his many grandchildren or the small offspring (отпрыск) of his associates. He wore a
round fedora with the brim turned down all the way round like a woman's sun hat, which
broadened his already moon-shaped face into the very mask of joviality. He was one of
the few Dons who had never been arrested and whose true activities had never even
been suspected. So much so that he had served on civic committees and had been
voted as "Businessman of the Year for the State of New York" by the Chamber of
Commerce.
The closest ally to the Tattaglia Family was Don Emilio Barzini. He had some of the
gambling in Brooklyn and some in Queens. He had some prostitution. He had strong-
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arm. He completely controlled Staten Island. He had some of the sports betting in the
Bronx and Westchester. He was in narcotics. He had close ties to Cleveland and the
West Coast and he was one of the few men shrewd enough to be interested in Las
Vegas and Reno, the open cities of Nevada. He also had interests in Miami Beach and
Cuba. After the Corleone Family, his was perhaps the strongest in New York and
therefore in the country. His influence reached even to Sicily. His hand was in every
unlawful pie. He was even rumored (о нем даже ходили слухи; rumor [‘ru:m∂] – слух,
молва) to have a toehold (точка опоры /напр. для ноги, когда взбираешься на гору/,
зацепка; toe – палец ноги) in Wall Street. He had supported the Tattaglia Family with
money and influence since the start of the war. It was his ambition to supplant
(вытеснить, занять чье-то место [s∂’plα:nt]) Don Corleone as the most powerful and
respected Mafia leader in the country and to take over part of the Corleone empire. He
was a man much like Don Corleone, but more modern, more sophisticated, more
businesslike. He could never be called an old Moustache Pete and he had the
confidence of the newer, younger, brasher (brashy – щетинистый, шероховатый)
leaders on their way up. He was a man of great personal force in a cold way, with none
of Don Corleone's warmth and he was perhaps at this moment the most "respected"
man in the group.
The last to arrive was Don Phillip Tattaglia, the head of the TattagIia Family that had
directly challenged the Corleone power by supporting Sollozzo, and had so nearly
succeeded. And yet curiously enough he was held in a slight contempt by the others.
For one thing, it was known that he had allowed himself to be dominated by Sollozzo,
had in fact been led by the nose by that fine Turkish hand. He was held responsible for
all this commotion (волнение /моря/; смятение; суматоха, суета), this uproar that had
so affected the conduct of everyday business by the New York Families. Also he was a
sixty-year-old dandy (щеголь, франт) and woman-chaser. And he had ample
(обширный, достаточный) opportunity to indulge his weakness.
For the Tattaglia Family dealt in women. Its main business was prostitution. It also
controlled most of the nightclubs in the United States and could place any talent
anywhere in the country. Phillip Tattaglia was not above using strong-arm to get control
of promising singers and comics and muscling in on record firms. But prostitution was
the main source of the Family income.
His personality was unpleasant to these men. He was a whiner (to whine – скулить,
хныкать, плакаться), always complaining of the costs in his Family business. Laundry
bills, all those towels, ate up the profits (but he owned the laundry firm that did the work).
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The girls were lazy and unstable, running off, committing suicide. The pimps were
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treacherous and dishonest and without a shred (лоскуток, клочок) of loyalty. Good help
was hard to find. Young lads of Sicilian blood turned up their noses at such work,
considered it beneath their honor to traffic and abuse women; those rascals who would
slit a throat with a song on their lips and the cross of an Easter palm in the lapel of their
jackets. So Phillip Tattaglia would rant (говорить напыщенно, декламировать,
проповедовать) on to audiences unsympathetic and contemptuous. His biggest howl
(вой, завывание) was reserved for authorities who had it in their power to issue and
cancel liquor licenses for his nightclubs and cabarets. He swore he had made more
millionaires than Wall Street with the money he had paid those thieving guardians of
official seals.
In a curious way his almost victorious war against the Corleone Family had not won
him the respect it deserved. They knew his strength had come first from Sollozzo and
then from the Barzini Family. Also the fact that with the advantage of surprise he had
not won complete victory was evidence against him. If he had been more efficient, all
this trouble could have been avoided. The death of Don Corleone would have meant the
end of the war. It was proper, since they had both lost sons in their war against each
other, that Don Corleone and Phillip Tattaglia should acknowledge each other's
presence only with a formal nod. Don Corleone was the object of attention, the other
men studying him to see what mark of weakness had been left on him by his wounds
and defeats. The puzzling factor was why Don Corleone had sued for peace after the
death of his favorite son. It was an acknowledgment of defeat and would almost surely
lead to a lessening of his power. But they would soon know.
There were greetings, there were drinks to be served and almost another half hour
went by before Don Corleone took his seat at the polished walnut table. Unobtrusively
(unobtrusive [Λn∂b’tru:sıv] – ненавязчивый, скромный), Hagen sat in the chair slightly
to the Don's left and behind him. This was the signal for the other Dons to make their
way to the table. Their aides sat behind them, the Consiglioris up close so that they
could offer any advice when needed.
Don Corleone was the first to speak and he spoke as if nothing had happened. As if
he had not been grievously wounded and his eldest son slain (to slay-slew-slain –
убивать /книжн./), his empire in a shambles (в развалинах, руинах), his personal
family scattered, Freddie in the West and under the protection of the Molinari Family