The Godfather Page #9

MICHAEL:

What?

SONNY:

One of them fingered the old man.

MICHAEL didn't realize that the men waiting outside were on

trial for their lives.

MICHAEL:

Clemenza? No, I don't believe it.

SONNY:

You're right, kid, Clemenza is okay.

It was Paulie.

MICHAEL:

How can you be sure?

SONNY:

On the three days Paulie was sick

this month, he got calls from a

payphone across from the old man's

building. We got people in the

phone company.

(he shrugs)

Thank God it was Paulie...we'll

need Clemenza bad.

MICHAEL is just realizing the gravity and extent of the

situation.

MICHAEL:

Is it going to be all-out war, like

last time?

SONNY:

Until the old man tells me different.

MICHAEL:

Then wait, Sonny. Talk to Pop.

SONNY:

Sollozzo is a dead man, I don't

care what it costs. I don't care

if we have to fight all the five

families in New York. The Tattaglia

family's going to eat dirt. I

don't care if we all go down

together.

MICHAEL:

(softly)

That's not how Pop would have

played it.

SONNY:

I know I'm not the man he was. But

I'll tell you this and he'll tell

you too. When it comes to real

action, I can operate as good as

anybody short range.

MICHAEL:

(calmly)

All right, Sonny. All right.

SONNY:

Christ, if I could only contact Luca.

MICHAEL:

Is it like they say? Is he that

good?

Outside, we HEAR THERESA cry out, almost a scream of relief.

Then open the door and rush out.

Everyone is standing: in the doorway, TOM HAGEN is wrapped

in a tight embrace with his WIFE.

HAGEN:

If I plead before the Supreme

Court, I'll never do better than I

did tonight with that Turk.

EXT NITE:
MALL, FEATURING DON'S HOUSE (WINTER 1945)

The windows of the main house are dark except for the DON's

study. It stands out against the cold, dark night.

INT NITE:
DON'S LIVING ROOM (WINTER 1945)

The living room is empty, save for PAULIE GATTO sitting on

the edge of the sofa. The clock reads: 4:00 a.m.

INT NITE:
DON'S OFFICE (WINTER 1945)

SONNY, MICHAEL, HAGEN, CLEMENZA and TESSIO; all exhausted,

in shirtsleeves, about to fall asleep. It is four in the

morning; there is evidence of many cups of coffee and many

snacks. They can barely talk anymore.

HAGEN:

Is the hospital covered?

SONNY:

The cops have it locked in and I

got my people there visiting Pop

all the time. What about the hit

list.

HAGEN widens his sleepy eyes, and looks at the yellow pad.

HAGEN:

Too much, too far, too personal.

The Don would consider this all

purely a business dispute: Get rid

of Sollozzo, and everything falls

in line. YOU don't have to go

after the Tattaglias.

CLEMENZA nods.

HAGEN:

What about Luca? Sollozzo didn't

seem worried about Luca. That

worries me.

SONNY:

If Luca sold out we're in real

trouble.

HAGEN:

Has anyone been able to get in

touch with him?

SONNY:

No, and I've been calling all night.

Maybe he's shacked up.

HAGEN:

Luca never sleeps over with a broad.

He always goes home when he's

through. Mike, keep ringing Luca's

number.

MICHAEL, very tired, picks up the phone, and dials the

number once again. He can hear the phone ringing on the

other end but no one answers. Then hangs up.

HAGEN:

Keep trying every fifteen minutes.

(exhausted)

SONNY:

Tom, you're the Consigliere, what

do we do if the old man dies?

HAGEN:

Without your father's political

contacts and personal influence,

the Corleone family loses half its

strength. Without your father, the

other New York families might wind

up supporting Sollozzo, and the

Tattaglias just to make sure there

isn't a long destructive war. The

old days are over, this is 1946;

nobody wants bloodshed anymore. If

your father dies...make the deal,

Sonny.

SONNY:

(angry)

That's easy to say; it's not your

father.

HAGEN:

(quietly)

I was as good a son to him as you

or Mike.

SONNY:

Oh Christ Tom, I didn't mean it

that way.

HAGEN:

We're all tired...

SONNY:

OK, we sit tight until the old man

can give us the lead. But Tom, I

want you to stay inside the Mall.

You too, Mike, no chances. Tessio,

you hold your people in reserve,

but have them nosing around the

city. The hospital is yours; I

want it tight, fool-proof, 24 hours

a day.

There is a timid knock on the door.

SONNY:

What is it?

PAULIE GATTO looks in.

CLEMENZA:

I tol' you to stay put, Paulie...

PAULIE:

The guy at the gate's outside...says

there's a package...

SONNY:

Tessio, see what it is.

TESSIO gets up, leaves.

PAULIE:

You want me to hang around?

SONNY:

Yeah. Hang around.

PAULIE:

Outside?

CLEMENZA:

Outside.

PAULIE:

Sure.

He closes the door.

SONNY:

Clemenza. You take care of Paulie.

I don't ever want to see him again.

Understood?

CLEMENZA:

Understood.

SONNY:

Okay, now you can move your men

into the Mall, replace Tessio's

people. Mike, tomorrow you take a

couple of Clemenza's people and go

to Luca's apartment and wait for

him to show. That crazy bastard

might be going after Sollozzo right

now if he's heard the news.

HAGEN:

Maybe Mike shouldn't get mixed up

in this so directly. You know the

old man doesn't want that.

SONNY:

OK forget it, just stay on the phone.

MICHAEL is embarrassed to be so protected. He dials Luca

Brasi's number once again. The ring repeats, but no one

answers.

TESSIO comes back, carrying Luca Brasi's bullet-proof vest

in his hand. He unwraps it; there is a large fish wrapped

inside.

CLEMENZA:

A Sicilian message: Luca Brasi

sleeps with the fishes.

INT. NITE:
NIGHTCLUB (WINTER 1945)

LUCA sits at the Bar of the Tattaglia Nightclub, as we

remember him. BRUNO TATTAGLIA had just patted his hand.

LUCA looks up at him.

Then SOLLOZZO pats the other hand, almost affectionately.

LUCA is just about to twist his hands away, when they both

clamp down as hard as they can. Suddenly, a garrote is

thrown around his neck, and pulled violently tight. His

face begins to turn to purple blotches, and then totally

purple, right before our eyes; his tongue hangs out, in a

far more extreme way than a normal tongue could. His eyes

bulge.

ONE of the MEN looks down at him in disgust as LUCA's

strength leaves him.

BRUNO:

(making an ugly face)

Oh Christ...all over the floor.

SOLLOZZO lets LUCA's hand go with a victorious smile on his

face.

LUCA falls to the floor.

SOLLOZZO:

The Godfather is next.

----------------------------------------FADE OUT--------

FADE IN:

EXT DAY:
CLEMENZA'S HOUSE (WINTER 1945)

Morning in a simple Brooklyn suburb. There are rows of

pleasant houses; driveway after driveway, down the block. A

dark, somber young man of thirty-one or two walks with a

noticeable limp down the sidewalk, and rings the bell. This

is ROCCO LAMPONE. The woman of the house, MRS. CLEMENZA,

talks to him through the screen door, and then points to the

side of the house. ROCCO moves to the garage, which is

specially heated, and in which CLEMENZA is busy at work

washing a shiny brand new Lincoln. LAMPONE admires the car.

LAMPONE:

Nice.

CLEMENZA:

Crazy Detroit delivered it with a

wooden bumper. They're going to

send me the chrome bumpers in a

couple months. I waited two years

for this car to come with wooden

bumpers!

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