Крестный отец

           Inanycase,asDonCorleone’sFamilywasknownastheIrishGangbecauseofHagen’smembership,soDonVincentForlenza’sFamilywasknownastheJewishFamilywithsomewhatmoreaccuracy.Butherananextremelyefficientorganizationandhewasnotknownevertohavefaintedatthesightofblood,despitehissensitivefeatures.Heruledwithanironhandinavelvetpoliticalglove.

           TherepresentativesoftheFiveFamiliesofNewYorkwerethelasttoarriveandTomHagenwasstruckbyhowmuchmoreimposing,impressive,thesefivemenwerethantheout-of-towners,thehicks.Foronething,thefiveNewYorkDonswereintheoldSiciliantradition,theywere"menwithabelly"meaning,figuratively,powerandcourage;andliterally,physicalflesh,asifthetwowenttogether,asindeedtheyseemtohavedoneinSicily.ThefiveNewYorkDonswerestout,corpulentmenwithmassiveleonineheads,featuresonalargescale,fleshyimperialnoses,thickmouths,heavyfoldedcheeks.Theywerenottoowelltailoredorbarbered;theyhadthelookofno-nonsensebusymenwithoutvanity.

           TherewasAnthonyStracci,whocontrolledtheNewJerseyareaandtheshippingontheWestSidedocksofManhattan.HeranthegamblinginJerseyandwasverystrongwiththeDemocraticpoliticalmachine.Hehadafleetoffreighthaulingtrucksthatmadehimafortuneprimarilybecausehistruckscouldtravelwithaheavyoverloadandnotbestoppedandfinedbyhighwayweightinspectors.