Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Jakub Martinů

The Development of Crucial Themes and Main Characters in Mario Puzo's Mafia Novels

Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D.

2016

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

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Acknowledgement

I would like to express gratitude to my supervisor, Mr. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D., for his guidance, help, suggestions, and most of all for his patience with my thesis. I would also like to thank to Mr. Tomáš Hanzálek, who relentlessly answered all of my questions through my years at the faculty, many of them repeatedly. Last but not least, my gratitude belongs also to my close ones, who did not let me quit even though I pondered this option several times.

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Table of contents Introduction ...... 5 1 The Italian American author ...... 9 1.1 Mario Puzo ...... 9 1.2 The Godfather ...... 12 1.3 The Sicilian...... 14 1.4 The Last Don ...... 17 1.5 Omertá ...... 19 2 Integration ...... 24 2.1 Coming to America ...... 25 2.2 Legalization ...... 30 3 The old, wise Dons ...... 35 3.1 Don Croce ...... 36 3.2 Don Corleone ...... 39 4 Young, hasty heroes ...... 43 4.1 Michael Corleone ...... 43 4.2 Cross ...... 45 4.3 Astorre ...... 47 5 Femmes fatales ...... 50 5.1 Powerless and dependent ...... 50 5.2 Powerful and self-aware ...... 54 Conclusion ...... 58 Works cited ...... 64 Primary sources: ...... 64 Secondary sources: ...... 64 Summary ...... 66 Resumé ...... 67

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Introduction

The Godfather might be understood as a synonym to Mafia-related literature. It also could be a synonym to its author’s name – Mario Puzo. Mario Puzo may probably be considered as the author who stands behind the notion people today have about the

Mafia of the 20th century. The movies based either on his books or his screenplays are among the best received movies ever made, both by critics and public1. Even though

Mario Puzo may equal The Godfather in many people’s minds, it is not the only novel he published that revolves around the world of organized crime, intrigues, murders and betrayals. Among his other works belong novels such as The Sicilian, The Last Don and

Omertá. Each of these books is concerned with the Mafia environment and each of these books has a different attitude towards this world.

In this bachelor thesis it will dealt with aspects that these books have in common as well as with those that distinguish them from one another. This will be managed through analysing several key characters and themes of Puzo’s novels and dedicating one chapter to each of these aspects that together contribute to the development of

Puzo’s work. To give the reader a notion about Puzo’s life and provide some details from the background of the stories he created, the first chapter, Italian American author, will be dedicated to the short biography of Mario Puzo. It will walk the reader through the literary milestones of his life and show how his work influenced the culture. This particular chapter also serves to summarize the plots of the analysed books, in order not to have to be explained in detail later in the thesis, when references to certain parts will be made. It will be fairly brief explanation of what happens, by whom it is caused and what are the consequences of the actions. Besides the basic points of the stories, the

1 Based on their reviews in public movie databases (imdb.com; csfd.cz; rottentomatoes.com) 5 subchapters of the first part serve as an introduction of the characters and themes that will be analysed afterwards. It acquaints the reader with the origins of the characters, of their journeys and their fates. After reading this part, the reader should have an idea about how Puzo’s work and the characters themselves developed as the world around developed as well. This chapter is an overall summary that the reader can return to should one not understand certain events described in the rest of thesis, for it does not appear appropriate to dedicate large parts of the thesis to connect one action with another with more detail than it is necessary. The rest of the chapters are each devoted to the analysis of one of the major themes of the books. Integration is concerned with the efforts of the Mafia families to integrate themselves into a general society and to legalize their businesses. The next chapter, Old, wise Dons, is supposed to provide the initial insight on the traditional Dons, who were brought up either on Sicily or in the old, Sicilian ways. This chapter serves as an opening that builds the contrast with the following chapter, Young, hasty heroes, where it is showed how the young members of the Mafia, who were brought up in America, may be affected by the different ways of life there. The last chapter, Femmes fateles, will be focused on the analysis of the development of the role of women in the stories.

The first chapter of the analytical part, Integration, frames the events that happen in the books. Legalization and integration is what fuels the plots, the desire to either legalize the families’ businesses or clear one’s name is what keeps the stories in motion. This particular chapter is important for two specific reasons. The first is part of the overall analysis of the books. It describes the different ways in which the characters are trying to become a part of the everyday, legal and ordinary world. To demonstrate the importance of such efforts, it will be described how the Italian Americans integrated into the American society throughout the 20th century in the real world. The second

6 reason is to enable the reader to understand why certain characters behave the way they do. This applies especially to the Dons, since they are the ones who stand behind the great plans, which should make the Families part of the American society.

As much as the old Dons might seem alike in many crucial things, such as their wisdom and omnipresent influence, and pursue quite similar goals in their lives, the chapter Young, hasty heroes will present comparison of characters that could hardly be more different. The analysis of the young protagonists of the stories will provide an insight on what influence the different times and places have on the young successors of the Dons. The heroes were brought up in various conditions, with different expectations of them and they each grew to have a different relationship with the Mafia and the famiglias2. This reflects in their views on the world that surrounds them and it influences the degree of their integration either into the general society or to the world of the Mafia. It also affects their relationships with women, as explained in the last chapter.

The men might be those who actually do things in the books, but nothing happens without a reason. The last part of this thesis is devoted to the force that stands behind many deeds of the young heroes. The chapter Femmes fatales is dedicated to various female figures that the young protagonists encounter throughout their lives. The outcome of the previous chapter should enhance the importance of this one. By the time the reader reaches this final part, it should be evident how it happened, that the stories of our heroes end so differently. The circumstances with which the young men have to cope vary depending on the time and location of the narrations. But the female characters are those that undergo the most notable changes in Puzo’s books. The portion

2 Term often used for the Mafia families; in the context of the books not meaning an actual family related only by blood 7 with which they influence the outcomes of the stories grows more and more with each book as the stories are each set later in the 20th century, than the previous one. The correlation between the influence of the women on the young Mafia prodigies and their deflection from the original Sicilian and Mafia traditions is demonstrated in this chapter.

The correlation is weakest in The Sicilian and the most apparent it is in The Last Don.

The first chapter of the thesis is based on biographical texts about Mario Puzo and shows his motives for creating The Godfather, the chapter then continues with the plot summaries of the books that are analysed in the thesis. The second chapter about integration ought to find elementary connections between the social status of Italian

Americans and their inclination to enter the criminal world. In contrast with this, the next part of the chapter Integration also shows that the criminal families that reign in the world of Mario Puzo produce serious efforts in order to legalize themselves. In its second part, the thesis relies mostly on the original texts of Mario Puzo since the development of Puzo’s characters and Puzo’s views on the world are supposed to be showed. These chapters are supported by references to various sources that either enhance or diminish the actions of Puzo’s characters in relation to the real world. To integrate how the real-world changes might have affected Mario Puzo and how the role of women in society developed in general would require a thesis of much larger volume and would be too broad to capture such theme respectfully. The last two chapters show how the theme of integration changes its importance. It is proved that in the first two books the desire to become part of the society is what influences the characters whereas in the last two books the characters themselves determine the importance of integration.

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1 The Italian American author

1.1 Mario Puzo

"I wished like hell I'd written it better." (The Guardian, Mario Puzo), this is what

Mario Puzo thought of his own novel, one of his bestsellers, The Godfather. The same as Dante stands behind the general conception of hell3 and the way people imagine it,

Puzo is the one who is responsible for people’s perception of the Mafia. Thanks to its worldwide popularity, Puzo managed to make himself an association to the Mafia, his name is the first thing that may occur in minds of many people. For the general reader, it is hard to imagine what Puzo would like to have written differently and how he could have made the book itself overall better. Chris Messenger in his book, The Godfather and American Culture: How the Corleones Became “Our Gang”, might shed some light on this. Messenger argues that Puzo was for many years “avoiding Italian

American subjects and refusing to chase a wide readership.”. (Messenger, 52) He gained his popularity through something he did not want to make in the first place, but as revealed in the following paragraphs, Puzo had his reason for creating The

Godfather.

What Puzo did in the novels that are analysed in this thesis, is that he took certain aspects of his own life and reflected them in the books. He himself was a son of immigrants, the same as many key characters in the books are. He served in the US

Army during the World War II, and so did Michael Corleone, the protagonist of The

Godfather. (The Guardian, Mario Puzo) The similarities between Michael and Puzo do not end here, as Messenger suggests. Michael was dragged into the world of Mafia, which he initially tried to avoid, Puzo himself was involuntarily moved away from a

3 Dante’s Inferno 9 genre of elite fiction, which he fancied but which did not bring him success, by the popularity of The Godfather. (Messenger, 52) The strongest theme of his books is loyalty, particularly towards family, and its relation to the desire to be integrated into a general society. It does not matter whether it is one’s actual family, a Mafia famiglia, or the people who are neither but one considers them as family. This aspect is also transferred from Puzo’s own life. The characters of Puzo’s book often resort to the actions they do because they are driven by the loyalty for their family, they do what they do in order to provide for them, to keep them alive, to feed them and to ensure that their children will have better lives than they themselves had. This is the reason why the

Dons decided to create their kingdoms, to rule their world, so that they could protect their families, their famiglias.

The same thing stood behind Puzo writing The Godfather. As described in the obituary in The Guardian, Puzo wrote his best-selling novel in order to save his family from debt, he wanted to do anything that he could to ensure that his family will not have to suffer. His motivation is very similar to the one of his characters. And his characters are very similar to people he saw around himself, as it is described later in The

Guardian – he was one of twelve children and his mother had to take care of the family by herself after his father left them. This enormous will-power and determination is what served Puzo as an inspiration for the character of Don Corleone, and other dons in the following books. (The Guardian, Mario Puzo) But Puzo’s novels that are analysed in this thesis are not biographical, the reality of Italian American immigrants’ lives was different. Mario Puzo has written a biographical book about an immigrant family, The

Fortunate Pilgrim. As analysed in another bachelor thesis, The Phenomenon of Mafia and Italian-American Immigration as Portrayed in the Works of Mario Puzo written by

Pavel Pumprla, this book “tells a story of an immigrant family, supposedly Puzo‘s own

10 family, with all its struggles and the mentioning or connecting Italians with the organized crime is minimal; it is merely in the novel‘s background.” (Pumprla, 40) Puzo was an artist. He viewed himself as one, as Chris Messenger mentions in his book, in chapter on Mario Puzo’s career: “I had been a true believer in art. I didn’t believe in religion or love or women or men. I didn’t believe in society or philosophy. But I believed in art for forty-five years. It gave me a comfort I found in no other place”.

(Messenger, 51) It was not an option for Puzo to take the same path on his way to fortune as his characters from his Mafia novels did, that all happened in a world different to the one Puzo lived in.

The success of The Godfather outgrew itself when it was immortalised in movie of the same name. This movie was followed by two other sequels, all created with help of Puzo himself. These movies contributed to the notion of the Mafia that society now has. And its popularity made it difficult to decide whether this notion was positive or negative. (New York Times, Mario Puzo, Author Who Made 'The Godfather' a World

Addiction, Is Dead at 78) Of course that the Corleone family was on the opposite side than police and government was, but they were portrayed in such manner, that the reader or viewer was rooting for them. Above all, they were people who looked after their families. Puzo managed to humanize one whole part of society that was originally seen as villainous. He took his childhood experience and his will to make a better living for his family, a basic value of American people, and used it to create a world where gangsters could be seen as heroes. In this thesis the reader will notice that the analysis of the key themes does not resemble that much an analysis of the world of organized crime and blood-thirsty mobs, as it is an analysis of people, ordinary people who only want to make their world a better place for their families. Although power and money

11 sure are pleasant side effects of the actions the characters have to take, the basic motivation is mostly the same – to look after the closest ones, after the famiglia.

In the following paragraphs, the plots of the books that are in question will be shortly described. The reader should be familiarized with them in order to understand which book contributes to which chapter the most and why. It introduces the main characters, the basic plot points and outcomes of the stories.

1.2 The Godfather

The Godfather takes the reader to the years 1945 – 1955. It tells the story of the

Corleone family, one of the most powerful Mafia famiglias in all of the United States.

The narration is focused on the youngest son of Don Vito Corleone, Michael, World

War II soldier who initially refused to take his place in the family business and decided to live a peaceful and law-obedient life.

While still not being included in the Mafia matters his family denies an offer to participate in a drug smuggling and dealing enterprise. The family does so because Don

Corleone considers drugs to ruin people’s lives and he would rather focus on relocating his business to Nevada, where Las Vegas is booming at the time. For Don Corleone, legalizing his family’s earnings through hazard is more important than enormous profit they would gain with drug business.

The denial results in weakening family’s respect among others to the extent that

Don Corleone is assassinated. He survives the attempt and this turns out to be the breaking point for Michael who then decides to step in and help his family. This decision forces him to murder those who plotted against his family and then leave

America and his fiancée Kay, woman for whom he decided not to participate in family matters.

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He flees to Sicily where he meets Apollonia, woman who turns his world around. Here Michael learns how the Sicilians love. The reader observes his obsession with possessing Apollonia and how this uncontrollable need influences him. Meeting her is another breaking point for him, from here on Michael is slowly but very effectively integrating into the Mafia ways and absorbs everything he can in order to become worthy of his father’s place.

The Mafia war in the United States eventually reaches Sicily. Michael is here under protection of one of the Sicily dons from whom he learns about Mafia, its history, origins, all this contributes to his realization that he cannot escape from his family’s heritage, for it was him who was originally supposed to be Don Corleone’s successor before he decided not to be part of this world. His father’s assassins try to murder

Michael, but in the attempt they murder Apolonia instead, which adds to his inner struggles that in the end prove to make him stronger.

After Michael’s return to America, he is not the man he used to be. He is now determined to take his place by his father’s side, who teaches him every essential part of leading a Mafia family. He reconciles with Kay, but one can observe how the dynamics in their relationship change, how Michael is more distant and how Kate cannot influence him as much as she could before. Sicily and Apollonia changed him, Michael can no longer be under influence of any woman’s will, he can only be influenced by his love towards the women, by the basic instincts in them, not by their brain and knowledge.

After Don Corleone’s passing away, the reader witnesses Michael’s rise to power and his triumph over everyone who dared to challenge the Corleone famiglia’s status. Even though Michael proves himself to be more than worthy of his father’s place

13 in the family business, he did not get to the top all by himself. Don Corleone instructed him before his death, how he should proceed in the following months. How Michael can discover who plots against him. In the end, the reader observes how greatly Michael changed. The book opens with a wedding, where Michael is by Kate’s side and is distant from his family. But the story ends with Michael being distant from his wife and in the centre of all the Mafia affairs. (Puzo, The Godfather)

1.3 The Sicilian

The Sicilian might be considered as an interlude of The Godfather. It is because the Corleone family is very much present in the story. The story is divided into two parts, both sharing the place but being different in the time they occur in.

In one of the parts, the reader follows Michael during his last days on Sicily before his return to America. Don Corleone entrusted him with rescuing a Sicilian outlaw, Turi Giuliano. This happens by the time Turi is being hunted both by government and the local Mafia alike. Michael needs to adjust to changing conditions and the reader, if familiar with The Godfather, sees how enormous progress Michael has made since his departure from the USA. This is not the only thing that the reader observes. Michael is looking forward to his return to his homeland, even though he uncovered inside himself the heritage that he bears from his Sicilian father and other ancestors, he still wants to be in America. His father’s efforts were all centred around the integration of their family, and Michael wants to be by his side in order to finish it.

Unfortunately, Michael leaves without Turi, who is murdered minutes before he was supposed to finally escape all the dangers he encountered during his years of being a rebel with a cause.

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The other part is focused on Salvatore Giuliano, called Turi. Turi was barely a man when he was forced to defend himself from an officer who wanted to arrest him for smuggling some food to his village, which was the main source of supply for Sicilians at that time. Turi and his closest friend, Aspanu Pisciotta, became bandits who throughout the upcoming years earned a status of legends among the people in Sicily.

Turi does not want to submit to Italian government who does not take care of its people in Sicily and allows the Mafia to rule the island in its own ways. He opposes both of these greatly powerful entities and does so with surprising success. He protects people from being exploited by the Mafia with one hand and with the other he fends off the government forces who try to catch him and prosecute him.

The reader follows Turi on his journey from boy who starts an occasional skirmish with local carabinieri4 to a leader of his own army of followers who are willing to take the matters in their own hands. Turi’s arch enemy is one of the Sicily’s most powerful dons, Don Croce Malo. In the beginning it seems as if these two could join their forces in order to bring peace to people of Sicily, but it slowly turns out that

Turi’s goals are too noble for Don Croce and do not correspond with his desire to rule instead of help. Don Croce would rather give a fish to each villager every day in exchange for all of tjeir possessions instead of teaching his fellow Sicilians how to fish and earn their love and respect.

This book differs from the rest of the novels analyzed in this thesis by the position it puts the Mafia in. Turi is the main character here but he despises the Mafia and his actions are based on the efforts to undermine Mafia’s position in Sicily, and stop the exploitation of the Sicilians. Even though Don Croce is the antagonist of the story, it

4 A member of the Italian national police force, organized as a military unit and charged with maintaining public security and order as well as assisting local police (Dictionary.com, Carabiniere) 15 does not make him any less dangerous or wise than the other dons in this thesis are, though.

The reader follows Turi’s path as he slowly realizes that he cannot win over the

Mafia nor the government, he may resist for some time, but his fate is inevitable. He decides to leave for America with help of Don Corleone, who makes a deal with Don

Croce who seems to be more comfortable with Turi leaving rather than being murdered.

In the end the reader learns that the dons always have a plan that reaches further than it is originally revealed. Turi is murdered by Aspanu, his closest friend who stood by him all the time, who without hesitation risked his life every single time it was necessary, who were the last one to whom Turi trusted, but who also gradually succumbed to the influence of Don Croce.

The chapter that this book contributes to the most are those concerned with the

Dons, because Don Croce represents an opposing force in this book. But the book provides some interesting points to the chapter analyzing the position of women. Turi falls in love during his adventures in the mountains of Sicily and he risks his safety several times to be with his loved Justine. The points that the books makes about women are more evident from it not giving them much attention then they would be by talking about them. The lack of coverage reflects the position the women had in Sicily, they were subordinate to men, they were not in a position of power over anyone, not even themselves. But even though they were not in possession of their own lives, they had influence over men based on the strength of the feelings that the men held for the women, as seen on Michael Corleone. Justina is one of the main reasons Turi finally decides to escape to America. She is pregnant and Turi wants his son to be born in

America, to be an American. He wants to do so in order for his son to not have to cope with the life on Sicily, being at mercy of the Mafia. This book provides a lot of contrast

16 to the other three. It shows way of life that is not possible in America and it puts the

Mafia in a position of a villain, but this last motivation of Turi is the same for the dons of other books. He wants better life for his descendants and does not want them to have to live the same life he had to. (Puzo, The Sicilian)

1.4 The Last Don

The Last Don, this Mario Puzo’s book is centred around making the family business legal more than any other. The reader is from the very beginning introduced to

Don Celricuzio and his idea to bring his family into the legitimate world. Don

Clericuzio’s final life goal is to ensure that his descendants will not have to live their lives the way he had to. Don Clericuzio does not want his grandchildren and then their children to be part of the world where Clericuzio family is the most powerful Mafia family in all of the USA. But to be able to fulfil such wish, Don Clericuzio has to stay in the business until his final days. For this he needs the help of his most trusted companions. But some members of his actual family are already trying to achieve their own success independently on Don Clericuzio and this again separates the book into two parts. This time though, they are happening at the same time but in different places.

One of the parts takes place in Hollywood and Las Vegas. The reader follows the story of Cross De Lena, son of Pippi De Lena who is an adoptive son of Don

Clericuzio. He lives in Las Vegas and pursues a career in hotel and gambling industry.

Cross slowly finds his way into Hollywood where he encounters various powerful women. Some of them are among the most successful in their respective fields. It all begins with his sister, Claudia, who is among the most popular screenwriters in

Hollywood and has written a screenplay for the highly anticipated movie. When the making of the movie encounters certain struggles, Cross is asked to help. The star of the

17 movie is Athena Aquitane, woman who has the same effect on Cross as Apollonia had on Michael.

The reader witnesses how Cross, who was raised under certain moral law of the

Mafia, is confronted with the world of movie making where moral values do not have place. But the reader also sees as Cross moves around in a world where he is not the most powerful, which is different from the other books where the heroes or the dons are those in control. In the world that Cross lives in there are women who are more powerful in Hollywood than Cross can be on his own, without the Clericuzio famiglia backing him up. He meets female lawyers and directors who decide what is going to happen next. Moreover, Cross’s actions are powered by his desire to be with Athena, to obtain her for himself. He decides to oppose Don Clericuzio’s wishes and orders and takes action on his own without consulting anything with the famiglia. This results in him being banished from the Clericuzio family, but it gets him what he wanted all along, he is able to be with Athena without any interventions.

The other part is focused on the great plan of Don Clericuzio, the last don. He pursues his goal to legalize betting on sports in order to provide a steady source of earnings for his family and close ones. For this to happen he has to make final arrangements to be able to leave this world and allow the future generations to enjoy the fruits of American way of life without the dangers that the old world of the Mafia brings. This is where the reader meets him, on his final quest, and the reader accompanies him all the way until the very end, where Don Clericuzio is waiting for death to take him away. Here the reader sees that even though the characters of the book acted supposedly with free will, Don Clericuzio anticipated every move and every action, he was ready for it and he included it all in his plan. Everything up to the

18 banishment of Cross, which is the final step in separation of the future generations from the family business.

Two worlds collide in the novel. It is the world of Don Clericuzio where he is an absolute ruler, his endeavours contribute greatly not only to the chapter about the

Dons, but also to the one about Integration. Opposite to that, Cross lives in a world where he is not in possession of his own destiny. The reader sets on a path alongside

Cross from which there is no return and sees him as he tries to be successful on his own in the casino and movie business. He opposes the Don’s power, he murders his cousin, he puts in danger everything his grandfather was trying to achieve for many years, legalizing family business. All in the name of love. (Puzo, The Last Don)

1.5 Omertá

Omertá is the most recent story of Mario Puzo, it was even published after Puzo had died. It takes the whole legalization and integration aspect to another level. In this story, Don Aprile’s children are not part of his world anymore, Don Aprile managed to give them all opportunities to be successful in the world the Mafia is not part of. His children are lawyers, producers and army officials. He made peace with all of his associates, he tied all lose ends and wanted to enjoy the fruits of his lifelong work in his last years. But he would not be a proper don if he did not make precautions should his plan not turn out the way it was supposed to.

It was Astorre who Don Aprile had seen as a solution should the times of crisis ever return. Astorre was a son of an old Sicilian don, Don Zeno, who before his death asked Don Aprile to raise his son. Astorre was the one who was supposed to do what was necessary for keeping the family safe even after Don Aprile’s retirement. He was the only one who Don Aprile took to Sicily to show him his origins, to teach him how to

19 deal with enemies. Astorre received a similar treatment as Michael did in The Godfather but unlike Michael, Astorre wanted to fulfil Don Aprile’s wishes from the very beginning.

Don Aprile’s former rivals do not believe that he is willing to give up on their world that easily and assassinate him. This drags Astorre into the world he was created for. He follows the final orders of Don Aprile and those were not to sell the banks that were the only source of income for their family after Don Aprile made peace with his old associates and enemies. This is something that Astorre refuses to cave from. And it is also the main source of dispute between him and his step-siblings who were not part of Don Aprile’s plan and do not know the origin of Astorre’s persistence in fulfilling

Don Aprile’s final wishes.

Astorre is determined to uncover the plot that is behind Don Aprile’s murder and the story once again branches into several plotlines that show the reader different parts of the world of organized crime. Astorre gradually uncovers the identities of every person involved in Don Aprile’s killing and his investigation puts him under surveillance of both the police and FBI.

In the other books there always has been the presence of corruption of the authorities. Judges, policemen, politicians, clerks, basically everyone could be corrupted either by their own will or by the Mafia forcing them to do so. In this book one of the branches of the story is wholly dedicated to this aspect. Kurt Cilke is an FBI agent who is involved with the people who ordered Don Aprile’s assassination, he is the leading persona in defeating the Mafia and wiping the famiglias from the society. That Cilke is remarkably good at his job is proved by the Mafia members who are willing to violate

20 the law of omerta5. Cilke is pretending to be a corrupted agent in order to be allowed into the world of Mafia and destroy it from within. Cilke is the one who constantly tries to prove that Astorre is somehow involved with Mafia, yet the real threat is coming from the inside of the system. Aspinella Washington is a police detective who really is corrupted, who does not hesitate to take a bribe and in the end even to commit a murder so that she is not compromised. This portrays how not only Mafia can be viewed as the villain, but also how the system itself can be dysfunctional. It also shows that women, who were so far the reason for the noble actions, at least from the writer’s point of view, can also be the evil element of the stories.

In Astorre’s investigation it is obvious that he is fuelled by the desire to avenge

Don Aprile and he is willing to use every available means to achieve his goal and women accompany him every step of this journey. And yet again, a woman is put into position of an evil force. Astorre uses Rosie, woman that took advantage of him when he was still a young man, woman who is not afraid to involve herself in morally grey affairs, depending whether the reader observes her actions from the point of Astorre’s motives or from the point of the outcomes of her actions. She lures the two assassins into a trap, she makes them fall in love in her, she uses them and when they let their guards down, they fall into a trap and are killed. As Astorre continues his investigations, his path more and more often crosses with Cilke’s. Astorre meets Cilke’s wife and she deeply impresses him. Astorre’s fondness of Cilke’s wife stands behind his breaking of omerta law. Astorre informed Cilke about the attack that is planned on him, only because he did not want his wife to be killed in the process.

5 A rule or code that prohibits speaking or divulging information about certain activities, especially the activities of a criminal organization (The Free Dictionary, Omerta) 21

In the end, after he brings death and punishment to everyone who was involved with the assassination of Don Aprile, Astorre decides to spend his life in Sicily. Rosie, who had to be hidden after she participated in the murder of the two hitmen, is waiting there for him. She has changed and is now transformed from an American woman to a

Sicilian one. In this book, the lines between good and bad are erased. Characters who should by default be good, such as policemen, are often not only on the wrong side of the law, but on the wrong side from Astorre’s point of view as well. (Puzo, Omertá)

The most significantly has changed the role the women have in the books. They went from minor characters that have little to no power over anything, yet are still able to influence the story, to characters who are able to change the outcome not only by influencing others, but by exerting their own power. The final step is taken in Omertá, where women are so powerful, that they can even be portrayed as the villains of the story.

As one reads through the plots of the books, one may also observe how the old values presented in The Godfather slowly vanish from the world of the Mafia. The law of omerta is broken several times in the last book and it signifies that the integration and the old values are no longer that important in the more recent days. In The Godfather the book ends with Michael becoming a don. He replaced his father and will carry on the Mafia’s heritage, its values, its honour, he will bring a little bit of the old world to

America. Michael saw what Sicily has to offer and is inspired by it. Opposite to that, in the last book, Omertá, the reader follows Astorre and sees that now, when the integration to the society is finished, even the old values do not have place in the new world. Astorre also saw what Sicily has to offer, but unlike Michael, he is lured back to

Sicily. The circle is closed with Astorre. With Don Corleone, the Mafia comes to

America, establishes itself there, achieves great successes, but it is forced to become

22 one with America. With Astorre, the Mafia leaves America and returns to Sicily, because in the modern days, the Mafia could not be as it has always been in America.

23

2 Integration

This chapter is focused on the efforts of the characters in Puzo’s books. The motivation to become part of something greater than each individual, to legalize family business, or not to be an outlaw anymore in case of Turi, sets in motion most of the actions that happen in the novels. The ways that the families chose to integrate themselves into the American society and make their earnings legal are various. In The

Godfather, Don Corleone wants to move his family from New York, where drug dealing is on the rise, to Las Vegas, where he sees an opportunity in other humankind’s weakness, gambling. In The Sicilian, Turi is planning how to escape Sicily with his wife to be able to live in America, to enable his children to be born there and be true

Americans themselves. In The Last Don, to make betting on sports legal is the way Don

Clericuzio wants to take. And in Omertá, final wish of Don Aprile was for Astorre to keep the banks he willed to him and his other children to provide them with legal income.

The old Dons are those who supervise the development of this process. Even in

The Sicilian, Don Croce, who is put in a position of evil in the book, acts as if he really wishes for Turi to leave and Don Corleone entrusts his son, Michael, to make sure that

Turi’s transfer is successful. The motives for these actions are simple. All of the Dons have close ties with Sicily, place of Mafia’s origin, yet all of them live in America. Why did they decide to leave place where the Mafia is more powerful than government? It was the American way of life that lured them from Sicily to the USA. The Dons and

Turi are very well familiarized with the life as it is in Sicily, where the poor remain poor and are exploited, where they would probably have never achieved anything. They saw an opportunity in leaving for America, for place where everybody can become rich through hard work and staying faithful to oneself. They were supposed to be bridges

24 between the old and the new since it was not possible to live the Sicilian way of life in

America and obtain all its advantages for eternity. They wanted to keep their high social status and fortune, but they did not want to live on the wrong side of the law, they wanted to use the law to their advantage. They could not live any other way than what they were used to, but the Dons and Turi also did not want their children and then their children to have to live in a world of cruelty and bloodshed. And the deeds that the

Dons and Turi had done influenced heavily what happened to the rest of the characters analysed later in this thesis. In the following paragraphs the process of integration itself and the ways that were chosen in each book to overcome the issue of illegality will be analysed and compared to one another.

2.1 Coming to America

The integration of the immigrants was consisted of two parts. Firstly, they had to be integrated into the community of Italian and Sicilian immigrants who had come to

America before them and were already living differently than they were in Sicily.

Secondly, after completing the first part of integration, they had to become part of the

American society as a whole, not only of their community. The integration itself is not something that only the characters in Puzo’s book would seek to achieve. Italians and

Sicilians were heading towards America in large numbers in the 20th century. In John

Dickie’s COSA NOSTRA, A History of the Sicilian Mafia in the chapter on the Mafia establishing itself in America, it is argued that almost ninety per-cent of all those who emigrated from Sicily in the beginning of the 20th century have chosen to come to the

United States to seek better life than the one they could possibly have should they have chosen never to leave. (Dickie, 161)

Some of other Dickie’s arguments support the theme of the Dons, who left

Sicily, being the connection of the old and the new. The ruthless criminals of the first

25 generations of the immigrants were those who built the empires, or those who infiltrated into the organized criminal groups and took the leadership into their own hands and created the famiglias. And after establishing themselves in America and gathering enough fortune, they could retire and allow their children to enjoy the fruits of their work legally. By the 1960’s and 1970’s “the descendants of the Italian immigrants … were by now completely integrated into American society”. (Dickie, 162) This is the very thing that the Dons of Puzo’s book aimed for. Complete integration, life without being labelled as immigrants, criminals and being frowned upon. Because being frowned upon was very common occurrence in the way the general American viewed the immigrants during the first decades of the 20th century. It might have been because even before the World War I almost a million of Sicilians only came to America. And they were mostly looking forward to becoming rich through the connections they already had in the organized crime in the USA. (Dickie, 162) And here was the origin of what had to be overcome through the generations. As Dickie further argues, Americans saw themselves as a pure land which was suddenly subjected to the infection of the

Mafia, to their customs. The Mafia was invading USA with its rotten practices.6

Whether or not this was true was not important to people. (Dickie, 163)

As stated in the first paragraph of this subchapter, there were two types of integration for the immigrants. The former required basically only to have some background, some community into which one may have been included. This was the easier part for the immigrants. They mostly got to the US through the connections they

6 This was Dickie’s interpretation of New York Herald article on Italian immigration 26 had in the Mafia operating on the American soil, which is portrayed in The Sicilian when Michael once again meets one of his father’s caporegimes7, Peter Clemenza:

“In the garden itself was a group of men obviously waiting for an audience with

Peter Clemenza … Clemenza called out to the group of men. … Clemenza

asked questions about the man's personal life. Was he married? Did he have

children? How long had he worked for Don Domenico? Who were his relatives

in Trapani? Did he ever think of going to America to make his fortune? The

answer to this last question was invariably a Yes.”

(Puzo, The Sicilian, 238).

This was a routine for Clemenza. He did this every few years to bring fresh blood to their army of loyal soldiers. And it had to be men from Sicily, only them had what was necessary in their blood, they were able to follow the rules of the Mafia. Clemenza then describes how he integrates them into the Mafia society:

“I train them myself. Little jobs first – collections, strong-arm, guard duty. I test

their loyalty. When I feel the time is right and the opportunity comes along, I

give them a chance to make their bones8. But I'm very careful about that. Once

they get that far they know they have a good living for the rest of their lives as

long as they remain loyal.” (Puzo, The Sicilian, 239)

This made the first part of integrating much less of a burden for them. Someone chose them, got them to the USA and then helped them with earning their living. Dickie refers

7 A caporegime (or capo) is in charge of a group of soldiers and enforcers who report directly to him. A capo (also known as captain or "skipper") is appointed by the boss and reports to him or the underboss (Godfather Wikia, Caporegime) 8 To kill a person as requirement for membership in a criminal gang, especially if its ones first murder (Urban Dictionary, Make your Bones) 27 to this as to “padrone system” (Dickie, 162), system in which one had to obey in order to be allowed to make a living.

The Dons of the books decided to stay in America and were determined to become successful, and they achieved their goals greatly. But to do so, they also had to adapt and integrate into the already established society. In The Godfather, the reader may observe the integration of Don Vito Corleone into the community and also as he puts a foundation for his future empire. And again, it was Peter Clemenza, the man responsible for bringing fresh blood for the service to Don Corleone, who helped to pave the way for Vito Corleone and who witnessed how well Vito had established himself in the world of the Mafia and became Don Corleone. When Vito was still a young good-for-nothing with wife and children in an Italian and rough neighbourhood ruled by brutal Fanucci, he chose to live in a truly Sicilian way – not to intervene in matters that did not affect him. He worked hard trying to provide for his family, but when Fanucci approached him to let him wet his beak9, Vito knew that obedient life under a cruel reign of others is not suited for him10. Vito knew that if he had wanted to have better life in America than he could have had in Sicily, he would have had to become part of America himself.

This whole integration into the community of Italian immigrants was not something that the main characters of Puzo’s novels had to deal with. They were already established entities in their world and the world outside this one. They advanced so far in their endeavours that they were only one step from blending in with the

Americans, from becoming part of a society of within which they might keep their

9 To get a share of the money. Term used by mafia members (Urban Dictionary, Wet your beak) 10 This part is more thoroughly analysed in the following chapter 28 status, their fortune, but would not have to worry that the government would intervene with their efforts to keep this status.

This brings the reader to the latter type of integration. It required the immigrants to become part of the American society, not their enclosed famiglias. But not everyone wanted to be part of the society. Turi’s parents in The Sicilian went to America with some of their fellow villagers and came to their honest fortune. But then they returned back to Sicily thinking that they would live like royalty and “they good-naturedly reproached each other for being so stupid.”. (Puzo, The Sicilian, 205) Because in Sicily, both Mafia and government were exploiting its citizens. Turi’s parents’ return was something they regretted, because if they had stayed in America, had become

Americans and Turi had been born there, their son would not have been an outlaw.

Sicily was not America, “The fabulous land where there was justice for the poor, where the government was not the lackey of the rich, where the penniless Sicilians rose to riches simply by good honest labor.” (Puzo, The Sicilian, 357). America was viewed as a land of unlimited possibilities, but unlike the characters in Puzo’s books, according to

Dickie, most immigrants aimed for the same thing Turi’s parents did. They never turned their backs to their old homeland, they wanted to cut their slice from the American pie11 and come back to Sicily. (Dickie, 163) But Puzo’s books analysed in this thesis are not factual description of how most of the immigrants were living in America and what were their reasons for coming there. As stated in the first chapter of this work, there were other novels by Puzo that served this purpose, such as The Fortunate Pilgrim.

Puzo is concerned with the few chosen ones, with those who had what it took to get themselves to the top. His characters surely had fond memories of Sicily and knew where they originated from, but America was their future. His stories are about those

11 Song by Don McLean; referred to as „rock and roll American dream“ (BBC, What do American Pie's lyrics mean?) 29 who wanted to exploit the possibilities of this new world and wanted to become part of it. In the following subchapter the reader will learn how differently did the famiglias decided to become part of the society, to legalize their business and at the same time to keep their fortune and status.

2.2 Legalization

The city of Las Vegas accompanies the stories significantly in two of the books,

The Godfather and The Last Don. It is a logical place to focus the famiglias’ interest after they have nowhere else to grow in their current locations. The importance of Las

Vegas differs in the two books. For the Corleone family it is a place where they want to move from New York, where they want to begin, because at the time of the 1940’s and

1950’s the Las Vegas was booming. Whereas for the Clericuzio family, and especially

Cross, it is an already established source of income for which they are seeking a replacement or support. In the next paragraphs the reader will see how the Corleone and

Clericuzio families wanted the integration to happen, how the Las Vegas was used in the process and why it was Las Vegas, that was so important.

Alan Balboni dedicated one of the chapters in his book, Beyond The Mafia:

Italian Americans and the development of Las Vegas, to the growth of Las Vegas and what role the Italian Americans had in it. Balboni argues that Italian Americans helped to build Las Vegas in every way – they were providing the labourers, entertainers and investors. The result was that whereas Italian Americans constituted around 6 per-cent of population of the USA in general, in Las Vegas it was around 10 per-cent. (Balboni,

19) Why was Las Vegas so attractive to the Mafia? It was largely thanks to the laws that prohibited gambling in other states and gave Las Vegas essentially a monopoly for operating such business (Balboni, 20) In the very beginning of The Godfather, the reader learns, that Don Corleone was provided “detailed information on legal gambling

30 in Nevada which greatly interested the Don and which he had been pondering ever since” (Puzo, The Godfather, 16). This happened even before any drug dealing offers were made. And moving to legal gambling in Las Vegas was convenient for another reason. Corleone famiglia controlled most of the illegal gambling in New York, since other famiglias were more interested in prostitution and drug dealing. This was an actual reason for the Italian Americans to move to Las Vegas as well since “Italian

Americans were widely reputed to control most major illegal gambling in the East and in California” (Balboni, 27).

Even the fictional Mafia reflected the importance of this sacred place, where humankind’s vices could be embodied, as it is apparent from the Mafia dons’ meeting in

The Godfather: “They all recognized that these were the cities12 of the future. It was also agreed that no violence would be permitted in these cities ...” (Puzo, The

Godfather, 387) The no-violence rule is carried on in The Last Don as well, where the breaking of this rule is what stands behind the dispute between Cross and the Clericuzio family.

Don Corleone presents to the reader several reasons why they should move to

Nevada and legalize their businesses: “Lawyers can steal more money with a briefcase than a thousand men with guns and masks”. (Puzo, The Godfather, 291) All the Dons share this view. They had no other choice in acquiring their fortune but to be criminals, but they realize, that once they are part of the society and are able to operate within the law, they may actually achieve much more. But to achieve more, their world will have to change. The changes that occurred in the world of Don Corleone before his decision to move to gambling are summed up in a short part on the history of the Corleone famiglia. The Mafia had to adapt several times and Corleones were no exception. As it

12 Las Vegas and Miami 31 is typical for Don Corleone, he anticipated the World War II before it broke out and he had to bring the world of the Mafia to peace in order to be able to exploit the opportunity that the war brought with itself. (Puzo, The Godfather, 295) For the

Corleones, this was the last time they could live peacefully according to the old Mafia ways, because after WWII, Don Corleone knew that his world “would have to fit itself more snugly into the ways of the other, larger world.” (Puzo, The Godfather, 296).

What starts to take its shape somewhere in the middle of The Godfather, that is emphasized right in the beginning of The Last Don. On the very first pages the reader learns that “Now the most powerful Mafia Family head in America, Don Clericuzio, planned to relinquish the power” (Puzo, The Last Don, 3) The goal of both families is the same, the difference is in to what degree they are able to achieve it within the story the books tell. The Last Don does not have a specific time span, but is set much later in the second half of the 20th century than The Godfather is.

The differences are apparent in more aspects, because the means to achieve the legality are vastly more accessible to the Clericuzio family. Don Clericuzio also decides to focus the family interests on gambling, the resentfulness towards drugs applies both for Corleones and Clericuzios. By the time the Clericuzio famiglia wants to enter a legitimate society, gambling is much more widespread and legal. But again, Las Vegas is in the centre of attention. It is sports gambling, which is legal only in Nevada, that

Don Clericuzio is trying to make legal in the USA. (Puzo, The Last Don, 57)

Even though the times have changed, the families encounter similar problems, have similar motivations. They realize that the Mafia world will have to change, that there will be no place for their old ways in a few decades. They are visionaries who see beyond their time, who see the potential of great and, more importantly, legal profit.

32

Making profit is surely a valid reason to consider changing the so far functioning ways, but there was something more valuable behind the shift that the families of the books decided to make. The most important reason for the integration and legalization, the reason why the image of the Mafia became so popular thanks to Puzo, is family. The loyalty to one’s family, the desire and need to provide the family with better life is what

Don Corleone has in mind during the meeting of the dons:

“We are all men who have refused to be fools ... We have been fortunate here in

this country. Already most of our children have found a better life ... Perhaps

your grandchildren will become the new pezzonovantes13. None of us here want

to see our children in our footsteps, it’s too hard a life. They can be as others,

their position and security won by our courage” (Puzo, The Godfather, 389)

This monologue summarizes the answer to the question why Don Corleone, Don

Clericuzio, Don Aprile did what they did. Family, loyalty, love, all these things influenced them in a way and they all did what had to be done in the name of the future generations. This is the central point of Puzo’s work, even though they are ruthless gangsters who are not afraid to murder their enemies, they all do it to make the lives of their descendants better in every way.

In reality, the transition from a Mafia famiglia to the ordinary American society was originally viewed as not as peaceful and noble as described in Puzo’s novels. David

Critchley wrote a book The Origin of Organized Crime in America which is concerned with such matters. In the chapter on “Americanization of the Families” Critchley proposes a concept of the “Purge”. The “Purge” was essentially “a massacre of older conservative Mafiosi occurred in order to make way for a younger generation of leaders

13 The term is commonly misunderstood to mean any man in power; however, it is usually used pejoratively. (Urban Dictionary, Pezzonovante) 33 impatient to make their mark.” (Critchley, 199) This concept, as Critchley unfolds his thesis, was later discredited and was replaced by the “Americanization theory” which corresponds with the process of integration as described in Puzo’s novels. Because this theory is based on “a generational changeover at boss level, with ramifications for the manner in which Mafia organizations were run.” (Crichley, 200)

The Dons knew they will not be around when their goal of making their families part of the America itself, will be achieved, but they were the ones who enabled it to come true. And Don Corleone certainly managed to pass his believes on Michael, after

Don Corleone’s death, Michael was sure of his destiny: “He would follow his father. ...

But his children would grow in a different world. ... He would see to it that they joined the general family of humanity.” (Puzo, The Godfather, 547) This thought is common for various characters in every book. Most of all it is common for Don Corleone,

Clericuzio and Aprile. With these three dons will be concerned the next chapter that will analyse their reign.

34

3 The old, wise Dons

The desire to become part of the family of humanity, to blend into general society, this is what fuelled the plans and actions of the Dons. They were those who were responsible for making this dream come true, because Mafia was a patriarchal society. At least it was with the old Dons. In the books one may observe the shift from patriarchal to matriarchal. As the old Dons perish and their children blend among ordinary Americans, one can see that the men do not rule their families with iron hand.

This chapter will analyse how each of the Dons acquired their power, how they maintained their kingdom, what they did to enable their children to have better lives.

Most importantly, the analysis of how the different times and places influenced them, what difference does it make to be a Don in Sicily and to be one in America, where one has to integrate into the society.

Why were the Dons so successful and how did they manage to keep their power?

They all have roots in Sicily, the land from which Mafia originates. As Nigel

Cawthorne introduces his book, The History of the Mafia, he briefly sums up the history of Mafia, which may be paralleled to how the Dons develop in Puzo’s novels.

Cawthorne describes the ruthlessness of the Mafia in Sicily and how it governed its people, such as Don Croce did. He then proposes that expanding to the USA allowed the Mafia to entwine its traditions with the American lifestyle, which is what happens with Don Corleone and Clericuzio. And finally, Cawthorne closes his introduction with the decline of the Mafia, how law of omerta is regularly being broken and Mafia is persecuted, much like with Don Aprile, the only one who did not die by natural causes.

(Cawthorne, 5-8)

35

3.1 Don Croce

To understand the differences between the Dons, first of all the reader should learn about the villain of The Sicilian, the only Don who the reader does not root for, merciless, treacherous and truly Sicilian, Don Croce. Sicilians do not take insults to their honour lightly, this feature applies to Mafia members in even greater extent. Don

Croce, unlike the rest of the Dons, is vengeful and holds grudge against those who disagree with him, this sets him apart from the rest of the Dons. When someone dared to disagree with Don Croce, his “lizardlike eyes ... flashed fire” (Puzo, The Sicilian, 55).

This is not how the rest of the Dons are portrayed, they are, of course, merciless but they have always been described as joyful and amiable.

During the Don’s rise to power, Mafia was not in a favourable position in Sicily.

The book mentions a War on Mafia declared by Benito Mussolini (Puzo, The Sicilian,

120), which actually happened in 1924 after Mussolini’s visit to Sicily. This part of the

Mafia’s history in Puzo’s book is took directly from the actual history of the Sicily. Il

Duce met with one of the dons, Don Ciccio Cuccia who was insulted by Mussolini bringing bodyguards with him. (Cawthorne, 215) The reaction of Don Cuccia corresponds with Don Croce’s temper, and the Sicilians’ temper in general. Don Cuccia took action and when Mussolini was delivering a speech in his village, almost no one showed up, it was then that Mussolini declared the war. (Cawthorne, 216)

Why did the peasants of Sicily obey Don Cuccia instead of the government official? Because the Mafia was above the law and the officials themselves were aware of that: “The Mafia ... controlled the whole of social life. Its orders had the force of laws and its protection was more effective and secure than that which the State offers its citizens.” (American Mafia, Sicily and The Mafia) Mussolini was treated as a mere guest, which infuriated him and his reaction was the declaration of war on the Mafia, for

36 which he chose Cesare Mori to be his general in this war. Cesare Mori gradually became the source of fear for “every malefactor so unlucky as to cross his path”

(American Mafia, HAIL CESARE!) These “malefactors” usually meant the alleged members of the Mafia. For his actions, Cesare Mori earned a title of the “ ‘Iron’

Prefetto14“ whose purpose was “to pursue and deal a crushing blow to the mafia, that

‘state within a State’ that held Sicily in its bloody grip.” (American Mafia, HAIL

CESARE!) And Mori delivered what was expected from him. Through the arrests of many of the guilty, and even more of those who were innocent, “Mori had delivered a mortal blow to the mafia” (American Mafia, HAIL CESARE!). The focus of the Fascists moved elsewhere after Cesare Mori achieved as much as it was possible in Sicily.

And because of this war, which in the book was inspired by true events as described above, it happened that Don Croce’s influence was significantly weakened during Mussolini’s reign. Don Croce did not give up and exploited an opportunity when it offered itself, during the World War II he helped the American Army to conquer

Sicily and rid it of the Germans. This earned him a title of “General Mafia” (Puzo, The

Sicilian, 120-121) This title was also attributed in real life to one of the Sicily dons who helped the Americans defeat the Italians and Germans, and it was Don Caló who bore this title (Cawthorne, 226) Don Croce’s fictional deeds are derived from the actual events that took place on Sicily.

The way Don Croce exerts his power is what sets him apart the rest of the Dons of this thesis. The rest of the Dons want to make better life for their youth, but Don

Croce is in dispute with Turi who he either wants on his side, or dead. (Puzo, The

Sicilian, 196) But even wanting Turi on his side has selfish reasons. After a reign of fascists, Don Croce and other dons are afraid of another regime, socialism: “I do not

14 A Prefetto was governor or magistrate—military or civilian. (American Mafia, HAIL CESARE!) 37 have to tell you the consequences to us if those savages ever come to rule Sicily” (Puzo,

The Sicilian, 196). Don Croce does not use his power to help future generations, he looks after himself. This is where Sicily differs from America, in Sicily the Mafia wants to maintain status-quo, in America they want to blend into society.

As stated in the beginning, the Sicilians do not take insults lightly, especially

Don Croce. When Turi refused the cooperation one last time, “The Don was astounded.

... The guarantees of Don Croce Malo were not enough” (Puzo, The Sicilian, 273) From this point, Don Croce behaves as if he wants to make sure Turi flees to America. But in the end of the book, the reader learns that this was the breaking point for Don Croce, here he decided that Turi cannot live no more: “The Friends of the Friends15 and

Giuliano’s band had to fight each other to the death” (Puzo, The Sicilian, 382) This is the greatness he shares with the rest of the Dons, to craft a plan worthy of an emperor and carry it out while still hidden in the background. Don Croce used Turi’s closest ally,

Pisciotta, and persuaded him to betray Turi: “He is no longer your best friends. He is a man who is looking after himself. As now you must do.” (Puzo, The Sicilian, 386)

Don Croce Malo was ruthless. He acquired his power when Mafia was weak, he gathered what was left and built his empire on the fear the peasants had of the Mafia.

Through fear he maintained his kingdom, even though respected, fearful was more suitable adjective for him. Don Croce is also the only one of the Dons who cares about the future, but not the future that will follow after his death. The most deplorable deed of his was persuading Pisciotta to betray Turi, this sets him apart from Don Corleone and the other. To put in contrast how Mafia behaved in Sicily and how in America, Don

Corleone’s rise to power will now be analysed.

15 The Friends – American Mafia; The Friends of the Friends – Sicilian Mafia 38

3.2 Don Corleone

The first impression the reader gets from Don Corleone is much different to the impression of Don Croce:

“Don Vito Corleone was a man to whom everybody came for help, and never

were they disappointed. He made no empty promises, nor the craven excuse that

his hands were tied by more powerful forces in the world than himself. ... Only

one thing was required. That you, you yourself, proclaim your friendship. And

then, ..., Don Corleone would take that man’s troubles to his heart.” (Puzo, The

Godfather, 9)

Don Corleone also comes from Sicily, he also can be merciless and ruthless. He also rules his world with firm hand. But where in Don Croce’s lizardlike eyes there is nothing, in Don Corleone’s eyes there are tears when he has to accompany his consigliore16 on his final journey. Where Don Croce was making excuses that he cannot arrange pardon for Turi and Pisciota (Puzo, The Sicilian, 276), Don Corleone was trusted by his consigliore that if death “sees you near me he will be frightened and leave me in peace. Or perhaps you can say a word, pull a few strings, eh?” (Puzo, The

Godfather, 53). Of course these are the words of a dying man, but it shows how different aura these two Dons exert.

How did Don Corleone become such a man? What were his attributes that set him apart from the rest of Italian American immigrants? The following paragraphs should provide clarification of the persona of Don Corleone and show more differences between him and the Sicilian Mafia.

16An adviser, especially to a leader of an organized crime syndicate. (The Free Dictionary, Consigliere) 39

Don Corleone did not become who he is, he had always been the same man, because according to him: “Every man has one destiny”. (Puzo, The Godfather, 291) It had only been an opportunity that has not presented itself for some time. And the Mafia presented him one when he was still a boy. At the age of twelve he witnessed his father’s murder after he killed local Mafia chief (Puzo, The Godfather, 255) This turned him into a man before he was ready to become one, to escape further vendetta17 by the

Mafia, he was sent to America to stay with friends of his mother. When Vito befriended

Clemenza and agreed to help him with an easy hijacking, he was approached by Fanucci and asked to let him wet his beak. Vito refused Fanucci with upmost respect and politeness, this made him realize what kind of man he has always been, this was another step on his journey to greatness: “... what had made him act in such a perfect, tactical way with Fanucci was the death of his own hot-tempered father ...” (Puzo, The

Godfather, 263)

This encounter was the breaking point for young Vito Corleone. He pondered everything he knew about Fanucci, whether he really was a member of the Mafia or whether he was an ordinary brute. His instincts and wits had advised him the latter and so Vito had to make “another decision. The course his own life must take. ... destiny had decided that he was to become a Don and had brought Fanucci to him to set him on his destined path” (Puzo, The Godfather, 265) Vito fulfilled his destiny, killed Fanucci and slowly everyone in the neighbourhood started coming to him for advice, that is how he started to build his empire. This is another thing that sets apart the Don of Sicily and the

Don of America. Don Croce exploited the situation, the weakness of other Mafia bosses to acquire his power, Don Corleone was forced to decide, to take action, to fulfil his destiny.

17 A long and violent argument between people or families, in which one group tries to harm the other in order to punish them for things that happened in the past (Cambridge Dictionary, Vendetta) 40

The best distinction between the Sicilian and American Dons makes Don

Corleone himself. Don Corleone lost a son in a Mafia war that broke out after his refusal to participate in the drug dealing. Don Croce was insulted by Turi when he did not accept his offer to make peace. Don Corleone realizes the consequences of endless vengeance and its interference with the future of his famiglia. When the meeting of the

Dons is held in The Godfather, Don Corleone is confronted with the Don of the famiglia that was supposed to murder his son, his reaction is as follows:

“We are quits. What would the world come to if people kept carrying grudges

against all reason? That has been the cross of Sicily, where men are so busy with

vendettas they have no time to earn bread for their families.” (Puzo, The

Godfather, 382)

Don Croce would never let Turi to get away with his actions even if it meant his own death. Don Corleone, meanwhile, is willing to forfeit his right for vendetta in order to assure peaceful tomorrows for himself and his family. He does not want to behave the same way the people in Sicily do, he wants to have time to earn bread for his family.

This chapter should have proved how the integration changed the Dons, how they approached life in different ways. Don Croce was a Sicilian Don with all its aspects, no matter whether useful or harmful. Don Croce was driven by Sicilian temper, he was vengeful and treacherous. He did not care for matters that did not influence him in any way and cared only about his concerns and his future. When Michael in The

Sicilian finally comes home, he discusses with his father the situation that had been surrounding his final days in Sicily, when he was supposed to transport Turi to

America. To the events of Turi’s death Don Corleone reacts: “That’s Sicily ... There is always treachery within treachery.” (Puzo, The Sicilian, 397) Opposite to him stands

41

Don Corleone, seemingly kind, reasonable man. Noble man with honour who brought with him all the Mafia traditions from Sicily, but wants to give his family all the marvellous things that America has to offer. He integrated into American society, into its system, Don Corleone knew the difference between America and Sicily, where

Sicilians were stubborn and willing to let themselves be killed in order to carry out their vendettas, Don Corleone knew that in America “You have to be reasonable, negotiate.”

(Puzo, The Sicilian, 398)

42

4 Young, hasty heroes

Who is influenced by the actions of the elderly? It is the youth. The young heroes that were supposed to bear the cross of beginning the new life of the famiglias in the ordinary society. This chapter will be focused on three of the young heroes,

Michael, Cross and Astorre, because they each represent different approach towards the actions of their Dons. Michael has to be leader of the Corleone family even though he did not want to be part of the famiglia. The Corleones are not ready yet to enter the society after Don Corleone passes away. Cross wants to be as distanced from his family’s actions as it is possible, he is not part of it and yet he is still influenced by it.

And Astorre is something in between, he wants to follow the steps of Don Aprile, he is aware of what he was like and is supposed to look after his family after the Don dies, but the family business is already legitimate, the Don is not there anymore and they are focused on the banking sector. This chapter will analyse the evolution of these characters and will show the breaking points that influenced them the most.

4.1 Michael Corleone

Michael’s desire not to be involved in the family business and in the Sicilian life-style altogether is showed in the very beginning of the book. As stated in the beginning, Michael fought in the World War II, but he did so even when “Don Corleone had no desire, no intention, of letting his youngest son be killed in the service of a power foreign to himself” (Puzo, The Godfather, 13). Michael opposed the will of his father, of the Don and he did something utterly non-Sicilian, he involved himself in matters that were not his, that were foreign to someone with Sicilian state of mind, someone who is part of the Mafia. But this behaviour was not alien to an American, to a man who wants to be part of the American society. Initially, Michael was almost fully

43 integrated into the society, he had an American fiancée, was enlisted in American army wanting to fight a war that had not been his.

The transition of Michael Corleone from a young man whose plan was to “finish college, seeing each other18 weekends and living together during summer vacations”

(Puzo, The Godfather, 95) to a vengeance-seeking Sicilian Mafioso19 began after the attempt to assassinate his father. In one moment he is happily planning his wedding, although knowing that he “would have to cut his close ties with his family.” (Puzo, The

Godfather, 95) and the second he learns of his father’s injuries, he feels “his body turning to ice. There was no grief, no fear, just cold rage.” (Puzo, The Godfather, 96)

Michael turns Sicilian, he wants vendetta, this all happens involuntarily and he is suddenly dragged into the world of his father. That Michael will take part in the family business is sealed after he is assaulted by the police captain and it is decided that he and the author of the assassination have to be eliminated. Michael volunteers to take this burden, he is the only one who is capable of doing so. Even though, the rest of the

Corleone famiglia leading members laugh at his proposal. When Michael raises and tells them that they should not have been laughing, he does so in such way that “the smiles vanished from the faces of Clemenza and Tessio20. … In that moment he was a reincarnation of Don Corleone himself.” (Puzo, The Godfather, 172) This decision, this irreversible deed alienates him from the world he was trying to integrate himself into and plunges him in the opposite direction into the world of Mafia.

Leaving the old life fully behind and abandoning the chance to integrate into the legal society might not seem to be the easiest thing to achieve, but Michael proved himself to be truly the son of his father. His exile aided him to understand why his

18 Fiancée Kay 19 Member of the Mafia 20 Another caporegime 44 father decided to leave Sicily and live in America, he “understood for the first time why men like his father chose to become thieves and murderers … The poverty and fear and degradation were too awful to be acceptable to any man of spirit.” (Puzo, The

Godfather, 435). Michael returned a changed man, ready to take over the family business and to transfer it to Las Vegas. He is aware of the changes that turned him into a real Mafioso and slowly the people around him start to realize this as well. The true power of Don Corleone was in his presence, in his ability to persuade and explain anything to anyone in such manner that the person in question knows that there is no choice but to obey. And Michael acquired this skill as well:

“I’m not asking you for anything. But at least you can consider our relationship

friendly, and I assume you would do for me what you’d do for any good friend.

That’s my string. But you can refuse it.” (Puzo, The Godfather, 515)

Michael’s crafting of the plan how to get rid of all the traitors and enemies is the final step on his journey from an aspiring ordinary American man to a true Sicilian Don. The merciless verdict he poses on Tessio who betrayed him draws the final line: “Hagen21 said in a noncommittal voice, ‘There’s no way to let Tessio off the hook?’ ‘No way,’

Michael said.” (Puzo, The Godfather, 573)

4.2 Cross

As the real world evolved, Puzo’s characters and views evolved as well. Cross is a great example of this evolution, he is similar and at the same time different from

Michael. Michael is not initially part of the Corleone family by his own choice but he gradually comes to realization that there is no other destiny for him than to take over the family business. Cross is from the beginning involved in the Clericuzio family thanks to

21 Current consligiolre 45 his father, but as the story of The Last Don develops, Cross undertakes necessary steps to isolate himself from the Family and become independent. He gradually realizes that he wants to have what Michael originally wanted to have, real family, be with the love of his life.

Cross’s position within the Family structure is much less favourable than the one of Michael. Michael is a direct descendant of Don Corleone whereas Cross is a son of

Don Clericuzio’s nephew, Pippi (Puzo, The Last Don, 4), who in the beginning is sent away from the centre of the family business and is settled in Las Vegas. Cross was not able to determine by himself to what extent he will or will not be part of the family as

Michael did. Because of a woman, Pippi disrespected family’s traditions and married woman that was completely out of their world and without consulting the Clericuzio’s

(Puzo, The Last Don, 61). Michael was supposed to become part of the family, but he did not want to, Cross never had the opportunity to choose. As stated in the previous subchapter, Michael was thrown into the middle of the action without even realising it.

Cross was trained from his early childhood by his father how to hunt, shoot, kill, cope with death surrounding him, sight of blood (Puzo, The Last Don, 62) As he was growing, everything seemed to go as planned for Cross, he had all the prerequisites to be a real Mafioso, he made his bones on a meaningless rapist. (Puzo, The Last Don,

168) But as stated in The Godfather, every man has but one destiny and it was not

Cross’s destiny to be part of the Family in the end.

The breaking point for Cross was when he was assigned to murder someone he knew, a Clericuzio family high-ranked Mafioso who betrayed the Family by giving up information to the police (Puzo, The Last Don, 177) Not being able to murder someone who broke the law of omerta, a traitor, only because it was someone known to Cross, meant that Cross did not possess the necessary qualities to become part of the Family.

46

This is where he distinguishes himself from Michael, who cold-bloodedly ordered to murder Tessio, whom he knew all his life. Cross’s inability to murder someone close frees him from the bonds of a direct service for the Family and allows him to integrate into the real world, while Michael’s not hesitating to do the opposite ties him inseparably with the Corleone famiglia. At least after these events it seems that Cross does not have the Sicilian blood running through his veins, but in the end he proves to truly be similar and at the same time different to Michael.

Cross crafts his own triumphant plan how to achieve his goals and the same as for Michael, it seals his transition. But they both seek to aim for different results.

Michael’s plan about how to deal with the traitors and enemies of the Family establishes him as the Don whereas Cross’s plan finally separates him from the Clericuzio family and allows him to be free. (Puzo, The Last Don, 473)

4.3 Astorre

One was driven away from the Mafia but realised there is nowhere to go other than its embrace, the other was enabled to comfortably find his place within its structure but wanted to leave more than anything. Finally there is Astorre, he was given proper training and education in the matters of the Mafia by Don Aprile himself ever since he was a child, similarly to Cross, and he desired to stand by the side of the Don the same as Michael stood by the side of Don Corleone. But Astorre never had the chance to do so. Don Aprile was murdered (Puzo, Omertá, 71) and Astorre had to protect the Don’s children. And it was difficult for Astorre to remain faithful to the way of life Don Aprile was living, the Sicilian way, the Mafioso way. This is evident when it comes to obeying the Sicilian and mafia law of omerta. The pressure on Don Aprile from the authorities to cooperate was enormous, but Don Aprile never gave in and never broke the law of omerta. (Puzo, Omertá, 156)

47

Astorre broke this law. Astorre broke the law around which was the idea of

Mafia constructed, solving their own disputes without involving authorities. He was thrown into the world that was perishing. He wanted to be part of something that has not existed anymore. And so, unlike Don Aprile, Astorre gave in, his loyalty to the old order did not withstand in a clash with the new world. Astorre realized this and was aware that he will never be able to live his life the way he wants to as long as he lives in

America: “Those were the old days and that was the old country ...“ (Puzo, Omertá,

321) This is Astorre’s reaction to Cilke confronting him after he gives away crucial information to Cilke about an attack being planned on Cilke’s family.

As stated in the beginning of this chapter, Astorre is somewhere in between

Michael and Cross. He wants to have what Michael had and he has from his early childhood the same opportunities that Cross had. Astorre represents the old values in a world where there is no longer place for them. The reason why Astorre behaves the way he does is because there is no place for him in this world. He was brought up by Don

Aprile, by the real Mafioso and according to Sicilian traditions. At the end of Omertá,

Astorre explains why there is no place for him: “The old Mafia was dead. The great

Dons had accomplished their goals and blended gracefully into society,” (Puzo, Omertá,

409) He cannot stay in America because it is not a land where he can be himself and so he leaves for Sicily, country that offers him everything he desires.

These differences, these various ways of coping with the world that surrounds them could be paralleled to the way the Italian Americans were viewed by the general

Americans or how they viewed themselves. Kenneth A. Ciongoli wrote a book Beyond

Godfather: Italian American Writers On the Real Italian American Experience that includes a chapter on the crisis of Italian American identity. Ciongoli describes the

Italian American identity as being “trapped in inauthentic myths”. (Ciongoli, 377) This

48 might be put into connection with Michael Corleone, or the Corleones in general.

Michael and the Corleone Family represent a stereotypical view of the Italian

Americans, The Godfather itself begins with a wedding scene where everybody is shouting, everybody dances, joyfully drinks and the scene fulfils what many people might think of the Italian Americans. But the real-life Italian Americans did not want to be viewed like this. They evolved in America, they were not as the Americans imagined them. The Italian Americans wanted to be acknowledged, but as Ciongoli describes this effort, it was to no use. The Italian Americans were shouting “ ‘We are!’ but the army of those who define them answers, ‘Look who’s talking! Criminals, buffoons, racist, and cafoni.’ “ (Ciongoli, 378) Michael’s character is surrendered to such stereotypes, when he enters the family business and fulfils his role as the successor of Don Corleone.

Opposite to Michael there is Cross who might represent the effort not to yield to the view the general Americans had on the Italian Americans. But it meant to leave his cultural heritage, his famiglia. For Cross, not to represent a stereotypical character, meant that he had to separate himself from the Clericuzios. Astorre may be viewed as a reaction to the answer of “those who define them”. He might be the result of an ineffective effort and therefore he retires to the old way of life in Sicily.

What stood behind the actions of these young protagonists? The old Dons prepared almost everything for them, they were all supposed to have very similar fates, yet they all handled the opportunities given to them in such different ways. Their actions, their desire to become part either of the Mafia, of general society or to return to

Sicily where it all began, were influenced by the same factor, by women. The last chapter will analyse the extent into which the female characters affected the stories and how their status developed.

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5 Femmes fatales

The role of women is the most notable change throughout Puzo’s books. The old

Dons remain quite the same in all four of the books. The young heroes are also very similar but they are influenced by their upbringing and the circumstances which they were not able to control. And among these circumstances the reader may observe that women play a significant role. The young male protagonists were supposed to carry on the legacy of the old Dons, they were supposed to be the triumph of the Dons’ efforts.

The extent into which this was achieved varies from one book to another, the degree of loyalty and desire to integrate themselves, this all is largely dependent on how much the women influence the stories. This chapter will be divided into two parts. The former will be concerned with the role of women in times when the Mafia was still quite far from blending in with the general society and when women had little to no power. The latter will show how several decades changed their status and how women are suddenly in possession of their own destinies. The amount of power which women were able to exert over their male counterparts is directly related to the degree to which these young men were loyal to the old traditions and how much they desired to integrate into the general society.

5.1 Powerless and dependent

The most traditional, from the Mafia and Sicilian point of view, approach is applied in The Sicilian, where the reader is confronted only with women who have been living in Sicily their whole life, who do not know anything else but Sicily. In one of the travel guides for the Sicily, Divino, it is summed up what is expected from women in

Sicily: “Women are expected to lead lives accepting being protected and let their lives be guided by her male relatives.” (Divino, Sicily: Customs and Lifestyle: Expectations of women) The guide then explains, that only in the last two decades of the 10th century,

50 this situation started to change, and only nowadays women are able to achieve an education even at the universities. As a sign of potential change might be considered

The Godfather, where this approach collides with the more American one. First Michael is engaged to Kay, a college-educated woman, and treats her the way women were usually treated in America, but after his escape to Sicily he meets Apollonia, a Sicilian women, with whom he creates a Sicilian relationship. The power of women in these two stories are dependent only on the strength of the feelings the men have for them. But the men of these stories do not value the feelings as much as those of the other two books.

This argument is proved in the beginning of The Sicilian when Michael plans an escape of Turi and is informed that Turi’s wife will be leaving ahead of Turi. She is pregnant and Turi wants his child to be born in America, so that it does not have to deal with the problems of Sicily as he had to, but this not the only reason, as Pisciotta explains to Michael: “The girl is your test. She will send back a code word ... Only then can he22 believe you can get him safely out of Sicily.” (Puzo, The Sicilian, 42) This makes Justina insignificant and this impression is supported by the explanation why even Turi’s parents do not leave before he does: “If Turi Giuliano died in Sicily. ...

They must stay to mourn him, to bury him, ... The final tragedy belonged to them. The girl could go, she was bound only by love, not by blood.” (Puzo, The Sicilian, 43)

Referring to Justina, wife of Turi, the bearer of his offspring, as to “the girl” and not using even her name shows that women were truly regarded as subordinate in Sicily.

These might be seen as only the way that ordinary men treated ordinary women, but it was the case of Don Croce as well, the Don, the embodiment of the Sicilian values. Don Croce was originally a peasant, after becoming a Don he married a noble woman, who held a higher social status than he did. From now on Don Croce was not

22 Referring to Turi 51 only ranked highly in the Mafia structure, but in the society as well. His wife did not respect him because even after the marriage, Don Croce still lived the peasant way of life. Don Croce noticed this, even though his wife did not “show her disrespect in any obvious fashion. This was, after all, Sicily, not England or America. ... But ... his wife did not worship the ground upon which he walked” (Puzo, The Sicilian, 116) Not worshipping the ground upon which Don Croce walks and not showing her disrespect in any other or obvious way, that is the only influence his wife has on the Don. This is as much recognition the women have in The Sicilian. They do not affect the stories, they are tools that are being used to develop it, but they do not actively create it.

In The Godfather, Don Corleone is also the embodiment of the old traditions. As much as he wanted the future generations of his family to blend with the Americans, he himself is certain of the position the women hold in their world, as he explains to his godson, who tries to persuade him that the women in America are not like the Italian ones: ” ... you acted like a fool. ... You gave her more than the court said23. You didn’t hit the other24 in the face because she was making a picture. You let women dictate your actions and they are not competent in this world ...” (Puzo, The Godfather, 40) Even though the Corleones are settled in America and intend to stay there, some of the

Sicilian traditional customs prevail the American ones. According to Don Corleone, women have no power over anything.

Michael was a bridge of some sort between the old and the new approach towards women. At least it seemed so in the beginning of the book when he is ostracized by the rest of the family during the wedding and when the reader learns about his fiancée Kay Adams: “... the American girl everyone had heard about ... They were

23 To his ex-wife with whom the godson divorced 24 The godson’s current wife 52 not impressed with her. ... her face too sharply intelligent for a woman.” (Puzo, The

Godfather, 12) Choosing this girl meant for Michael to alienate from his family. She did not belong to their world but she was Michael’s world. He was willing to give up family ties for her. If it had happened so, she would have had much bigger influence on

Michael, than she had in the end. After all Michael has been through, committing murder, escaping to Sicily, returning back, taking his place by his father’s side and finally taking over the family business, their relationship irreversibly changed and

Michael is being fairly open about that matter: “I won’t be telling you what happened at the office every day. ... anything about my business. You’ll be my wife but you won’t be my partner in life ... Not an equal partner. That can’t be (Puzo, The Godfather, 483)

Michael’s initial desire to be with Kay more than being with his family and the subsequent change of his priorities directly reflected into his relationship with Kay as well as into Kay’s position in Michael’s life and into her influence in Michael’s world.

The level of integration and the strength of the loyalty correspond with the role of women in these two books. In The Sicilian the characters do not wish to live their lives differently than they have been living so far, only Turi wants to flee Sicily to save his life. They do not want to integrate into other society than the Sicilian one and they stay loyal to their traditions and to Mafia laws. This means that women have to be subordinate, that they are not important from a story-telling point of view. These same values are carried on by Don Corleone in The Godfather, he wishes his children better future but he is not willing to change himself and so the reader is left with Michael and the observation of his attitude in relation to women. As the reader could have learnt in the fourth chapter, Michael’s initial deterioration of his family relationships and loyalty to it foreshadowed the possibility of him being integrated into the American society with everything that was part of it. But in the times of Corleone family and Michael’s

53 ascension to the throne, there was no opportunity for him to achieve this. Him cementing the status of the new Don meant for Kay to be degraded to the position of another of the ordinary women who is not in possession of herself.

5.2 Powerful and self-aware

The last two books to be used for the analysis of the role of women are The Last

Don and Omertá. The position of women is far more different from the one they had in the former two novels. The women here have much bigger influence on the other characters but they are often in a position of power in society as well. The reader encounters women who are lawyers, screenwriters, directors, business-owners, police captains and more. This subchapter will, similarly to the previous one, show how the strength of the influence of women changes alongside the attitude of the male protagonists and it will also give examples of the deeds done by women that could have never taken place in the previous two books.

In Omertá one such woman comes from the very family of Don Aprile, his daughter Nicole, and already in the beginning the reader is presented with the clash of the old and the new: “... she was a powerful up-and-coming lawyer with good political connections ... the Don could never take Nicole seriously in the world. She was, after all, a woman.” (Puzo, Ometá, 55) From this it is evident that the status of women in the society has changed, their only purpose is no longer to be a wife or a daughter. But it is also evident that as long as the old Don is the one who holds power, that as long as the

Family is not integrated, the women in this world will not be taken seriously. As previously mentioned, Don Aprile was assassinated and therefore he was not present in large part of the story, Astorre was the one who was supposed to guide and protect the

Family. The orders of the Don were clear, Astorre was not to give up the banks for they should serve as a source of income for the Family. The goal that the Don was seeking

54 was finally achieved, his family has become part of the American society and therefore

Nicole is able to thrive. The breaking of omerta as described in previous chapter showed that the loyalty to the famiglia and the Mafia is not as strong as in the first two books. The integration into the society showed that the old world is left behind. The combination of these two factors resulted in this: “Two years had passed25, and Nicole had taken over as head of the Aprile banks.” (Puzo, Omertá, 391) Nicole has become the most powerful of the Family and this could not have ever happened unless the old order had stopped being applied.

Nicole was enabled to achieve this thanks to the integration of the Aprile famiglia. The femme fatale of The Last Don herself was what stood behind the integration and disruption of the loyalty for the Family, the woman was Athena

Aquitane. Athena held enormous power over Cross after they had met, but she was a movie star and her power was not limited only to Cross. Athena single-handedly cancelled a fifty-million dollar movie after she refused to return to work. (Puzo, The

Last Don, 34) She was able to do this because she was not part of the world of Don

Aprile and his Family, she was not subjected to its rules, but she was part of another world, of Hollywood. To have a leading role in such an expensive movie and to be able to cancel it by her own will was a remarkable feature even for a fictional woman, since

Hollywood is a place dominated mostly by men. This applies not only to the world in which The Last Don takes place, this is a contemporary issue of the real world as well.

In 2015, only 22 per-cent of the leading roles of the 100 top-grossing films at the North

American box office, were portrayed by women. In 2014, women represented the leading characters in only 12 per-cent of the movies (The Guardian, Female lead roles rose in 2015's biggest films) And according to a research done by Jocelyn Nichole

25 After Astorre closes the investigation of Don Aprile’s death 55

Murphy in her Honors Thesis The Role of Women in Film: Supporting the Men, in 2013, only 33 per-cent of the characters with actual speaking parts were represented by women. Murphy continues her analysis of the role of women in films with an argument, that even when women are given a leading role in a movie, they are “two times more likely than males to be identified only by a life-related role rather than a work related role” (Murphy, The Role of Women in Film: Supporting the Men) This proves that Puzo deliberately assigned Athena with an exceptional role in his book. Giving her the power and position she had in Hollywood meant that she was truly intended to have a large role in the book itself.

Athena struck Cross to the extent that he was willing to gamble these fifty million to buy the movie, to help her and he was also gambling his very existence within the structure of the Family. Athena impressed Cross to the extent that he betrayed the trust that the members of the famiglia have one for another, he disregarded the fundamental value of the famiglia, loyalty. (Puzo, The Last Don, 249) Here, because of Athena, Cross decides to leave the world of Clericuzios and dedicate himself to

Athena. The significance of Athena in the story is emphasized by the fact that Cross is aware of her influence and still surrenders to it, as he admits on several occasions: “... he thought, what the hell is this? He was ashamed of her power over him.”, “He felt the urge to sacrifice for the woman he loved ... which until that time had been completely alien to him.” (Puzo, The Last Don, 294, 371) At the end of the book, Cross himself realizes that he betrayed those who belonged to the old world by “failing to be faithful,

... by not being true to the Clericuzio.” (Puzo, The Last Don, 477) and he is well aware of the reason why he chose integration over loyalty, it was Athena. And Athena knew that she has been the reason, she knew how powerful she was and she regarded “her

56 physical beauty as too dangerous ... She hated the power it gave her over other people.”

(Puzo, The Last Don, 478).

And so it happened that women have come such long way in Puzo’s work. They developed from mere marginal characters, who were used to support certain parts of the stories, to characters that were the very reason why the stories turned out the way they did. In the first two books the desire to be or not to be part of the society and the strength of the loyalty determined the status of women. This changed in the last two books where women themselves determined the desire of other characters to be or not to be integrated as well as how strong their loyalty to the Mafia would be.

57

Conclusion

The aim of this thesis was to show how the work of Mario Puzo developed over the course of several decades. It was focused on crucial themes of integration, legalization and loyalty to the Family as well as on the main characters of The

Godfather, The Sicilian, The Last Don and Omertá. The thesis was intended to prove that the crucial themes are influenced by many factors. That they depend on the origins of the characters, on their background, on the circumstances the characters find themselves in. That there is no constant in the fictional world of Mario Puzo and that the themes may influence the characters as well as the characters may influence the themes.

In the first chapter the reader learns how Mario Puzo began with his Mafia- oriented works, what were his motivations and where he gained inspiration for some characters of his books. The reader also gets a notion about certain milestones of Mario

Puzo’s life and is able to grasp the mind-set of the author. Later on in this chapter the plots of the books are described to provide reader with enough knowledge to be able to understand the references to certain plot points later in the thesis. The reader learns where each of the books takes place and the approximate time in which the stories occur. This gives the reader the ability to understand, that as the real world evolved, the work of Mario Puzo evolved as well. The main ingredients in Puzo’s works remain the same, there is the old Don who is the wisest, the respected leader of the famiglia. Then there is a young hero who either opposes or obeys the Don and serves as the main active element in the stories. And finally there is a woman who is in the centre of attention of the young hero and who influences him. It is the extent into which these separate ingredients are involved in the story itself and into what degree they influence it that shows the evolution and development of the key themes. These ingredients form a chain, a pattern that can be followed. It begins with Sicily, the old Dons leaving Sicily

58 and heading for America, where new generations are raised that interact with the old values differently and the chain ends with integrating into the society or its refusal and return to the homeland of the Mafia, the Sicily.

The second chapter, Integration, presents what Puzo’s novels are centred around. It is becoming part of something bigger than the characters themselves, it is about entering society. This chapter analyses the real-world immigration into the USA as it was happening in the 20th century. There have been several reasons for emigrating from Sicily and for immigrating into the USA and they were mainly connected with the hopes for a better life, with hopes to earn decent money that could not be earned in the

Sicily. The clash of the great hopes and prospects of the immigrants with the reality is also described. The analysis continues with transferring these real world facts onto the story of Don Corleone and his coming to America, his journey from an average immigrant to one of the most powerful Mafia Dons in all of the USA. This part is supposed to portray an ideal scenario of the process of integration of Puzo’s characters.

The origin story of Don Corleone sets the tone to the integration theme. It shows how the Sicilians leave the old world behind and at the same time bring its values with them, how staying faithful to oneself can earn respect and wealth. The following subchapter on legalization describes the ways that the Corleone and Clericuzio famiglias took in order to become part of the general society. It shows how the time difference provided different opportunities but how the goals of the Dons were still the same.

Not all the Dons were the same, this is proved in the third chapter, The old, wise

Dons. This chapter explains how emigration and the desire to integrate into the society changed the Sicilians. In this chapter the reader is presented with the comparison of Don

Croce, a Sicilian don, and Don Corleone, an American don. They both have roots in the

Sicily, but it is the degree into which the Dons allow Sicily to influence them that

59 distinguishes them from one another. Don Croce was a merciless and treacherous don who could not be separated from Sicily, he was inseparable part of it as well as the

Sicily was an inseparable part of himself. Opposite to Don Croce, Don Corleone, along with Don Clericuzio and Don Aprile, was a bridge between the world of Sicily and the world of endless possibilities, the USA. Don Corleone was embodiment of what was noble on the Sicilian traditions and the Mafia and he united it with what was great on the American way of life. He was the first link of the chain and other links were to follow, which is shown in the third chapter.

As much as Don Corleone, Don Clericuzio and Don Aprile had a lot in common, their young counterparts could hardly be more different. So far the chain was essentially the same for all the stories, but here each of the stories takes different course. Michael,

Cross and Astorre each represent different attitudes towards the Mafia, its values and the goals that the Dons set for the famiglias. Michael had the opportunity to alienate himself from the Corleones altogether, but he ended up as the head of the most powerful famiglia in the USA. Cross was raised to be part of the Clericuzio family, but chose not to be, he chose American values over the Mafia ones, he wanted to become part of the society, to have a wife and children and them to be his priorities. And Astorre was part of the Family that has already been legitimate, but there was nothing he wanted more than to live the Sicilian way of life, he admired the life Don Aprile had. Here the loyalty and desire to be integrated is put into perspective and each of these things is valued differently by the young heroes. But the heroes often do not act solely according to their own will, their actions are influenced by women. Women, whose influence varies, are those who stand behind the degree into which the heroes want to be loyal to their

Families and to which they want to integrate into the society. The role of women was analysed in the last chapter.

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The Femmes Fateles chapter was concerned with the position of women throughout the books. In the first subchapter their subordinate position in The Sicilian and The Godfather was analysed. It was explained that in Sicily, women were viewed more as a property and their influence over men was based solely on their beauty and the feelings the men had for them. The second subchapter was concerned with The Last

Don and Omertá. The position of women here is reversed and they have actual power which they can exert in many ways. In these two books women were in possession of themselves, they were the ones who decided what will happen with them and they often decided what will happen to other characters as well. This chapter was the final proof that the world of Mario Puzo has changed greatly throughout the decades. In the first two books, women were those who were influenced by the stories, in the last two books women were those who were influencing the stories.

This thesis was heavily based on the four books of Mario Puzo, The Godfather,

The Sicilian, The Last Don and Omertá. These were the primary sources which provided the background for most of the comparisons made in the thesis. This applies mostly to the last three chapters which were concerned solely with Mario Puzo’s work without being affected by the real world events. Nonetheless, even in these chapters references to events and facts from the real world were made to connect the fictional world of Puzo with the actual one the readers come from. These references proved that even though Puzo’s books were works of fiction, his world was fairly similar to the real one. The first two chapters were supposed to set the tone for the thesis. The aim of the first chapter was to acquaint reader with the life of Mario Puzo and for this several biographical articles were used. The second chapter was the transitioning link between the real world and the fictional one that Puzo created. To show the similarities and differences, actual historical studies were cited to show how immigration was actually

61 happening in the beginning of the 20th century, how the immigrants tired to integrate themselves to the society and how they remained loyal to their old homeland. This was put into contrast with the origin story of Don Corleone for which The Godfather novel was used. The last three chapters were focused only on the fictional world of Mario

Puzo, but several books and online articles were used to prove that the world of Puzo was based on the real one.

This thesis could be used as a base for several different theses. The thesis could be used for a broader analysis of the process of integration of the Italian American immigrants. Also the effects of legalizing gambling could be connected to evolution of organized crime as gambling was given an opportunity to operate on legal premises. It could be referenced in a work that would be concerned with the influence of American culture on the immigrants, how immigrants from different countries adapt to the

American way of life, how much of their culture stays with them and what is sacrificed in order to become part of the American society. Most notably, the evolution of female characters could be compared to evolution of the position of women in real world. It could be analysed into what extent does the graduate rise of women’s power in Puzo’s fictional world corresponds with the changing position of women in a real world.

Overall, the thesis showed how the theme of integration develops in the stoires made by Mario Puzo. The initial analysis of an actual immigration of the Italians and the Sicilians serves as the basis for the rest of the thesis. The theme of integration is heavily presented in all of the books. It is directly related to the values of the Mafia, to the loyalty to the Family. It is the strength of these bonds that frames the stories and it is the level into which these aspects influence the characters and from which the characters start to influence these aspects. The desire to be integrated is weakest in The

Godfather and The Sicilian, where the old Mafia laws are obeyed and loyalty to the old

62 ways is more important than being integrated and becoming part of the society. This desire becomes stronger in the other books, The Last Don and Omertá. In these books the characters are no longer defined that much by the old values, they adjust the old values to the new world they have become part of. The world that Mario Puzo created slowly disappears.

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Works cited

Primary sources: PUZO, Mario. The Godfather. London: William Heinemann, 1969. Print. ISBN 970-0- 0994-2928-9

---. The Sicilian. London: William Heinemann, 1984.. Print. ISBN 978-0-09-958079-9

---. The Last Don. London: William Heinemann, 1996. Print. ISBN 978-0-0995-3324-5

---. Omertà. London: William Heinemann, 2000. Print. ISBN 978-0-0995-3325-2

Secondary sources: BALBONI, Alan. Beyond the Mafia: Italian Americans and the Development of Las Vegas. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1996. Pdf. ISBN 0-87417-681-6

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Carabiniere. Dictionary.com [online]. [cit. 2016-11-09]. Dostupné z: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/carabinieri

CAWTHORNE, Nigel. The History of the Mafia. London: Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2011. eBook. ISBN 978-1-84837-858-2

CIONGOLI, A. Kenneth. Beyond Godfather: Italian American Writers On the Real Italian American Experience. Lebanon: University Press of New England, 1997. eBook. ISBN 9780585267067

Consigliere. The Free Dictionary [online]. [cit. 2016-11-23]. Dostupné z: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/consigliere

CRITCHLEY, David. The Origin of Organized Crime in America. New York: Routledge, 2009. Pdf. ISBN 0-415-99030-0

DICKIE, John. Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. Pdf. ISBN 1-039-6696-6

Female lead roles rose in 2015's biggest films: but not for women of colour. The Guardian [online]. [cit. 2016-11-15]. Dostupné z: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/10/number-female-hollywood-lead-parts- rises-not-women-colour

HAIL CESARE!: The Life and Times of Cesare Mori, the Scourge of the Mafia. American Mafia [online]. [cit. 2016-11-05]. Dostupné z: http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_302.html

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Make your Bones. Urban Dictionary [online]. [cit. 2016-11-16]. Dostupné z: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Make%20your%20Bones

Mario Puzo. The Guardian [online]. [cit. 2016-09-27]. Dostupné z: https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/jul/05/guardianobituaries

Mario Puzo, Author Who Made 'The Godfather' a World Addiction, Is Dead at 78. The New York Times [online]. [cit. 2016-09-30]. Dostupné z: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/03/movies/mario-puzo-author-who-made-the- godfather-a-world-addiction-is-dead-at-78.html?_r=0

MESSENGER, Chris. The Godfather and American Culture: How the Corleones Became “Our Gang”. Albany: State University of New York Pres, 2002. Pdf. ISBN 0- 7914-5358-8

MURPHY, Jocelyn Nichole. The Role of Women in Film: Supporting the Men: An Analysis of How Culture Influences the Changing Discourse on Gender Representations in Film [online]. 2015 [cit. 2016-11-20]. Dostupné z: http://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=jouruht. An Honors Thesis. The University of Arkansas.

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Summary

The aim of the thesis is to analyse several Mario Puzo’s novels that are concerned with the world of organized crime. The main goal is to identify its crucial themes and main characters and then compare the development of these key aspects as the stories unfold. The expected result is to show how the stories, which all take place in the world of organized crime, develop, how the importance of some values changes, some disappear while other become more influential. The first part of the thesis is focused on Mario Puzo and reasons for his creating of The Godfather, which was then followed by several more books centred around similar topics. It is then analysed, how important role the integration into the general society played in the stories. The thesis then continues with three chapters each concerned with different type of characters presented in the books and analyses how their behaviour changes according to the environment they are in and how integration influences said behaviour. It is proved that the first two books of Puzo, The Godfather and The Sicilian, use the environment to define the characters and that in the last two books, The Last Don and Omertá, the characters are no longer defined by their environment, but they define themselves.

Key words: Mario Puzo, Mafia novel, organized crime, integration into general society, legalization, loyalty, character development, role of women

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Resumé

Účelem této práce je analýza několika románů od Maria Puza, které se zabývají světem organizovaného zločinu. Hlavním cílem je identifikovat klíčová témata vybraných Puzových románů, dále vybrat jejich hlavní postavy a poté porovnat vývoj těchto klíčových aspektů a jejich vzájemných vztahů. Předpokládaným výsledkem je ukázat, jak se tyto příběhy, které se odehrávají ve světě organizovaného zločinu, postupně vyvíjejí a jak se důležitost některých hodnot mění. Některé hodnoty mizí, zatímco jiné nabírají na důležitosti. První část této práce je zaměřena na Maria Puza a důvody, které měl pro vytvoření Kmotra, po kterém následovalo několik dalších knih zabývajících se podobnou tematikou. Poté následuje analýza, jejímž cílem je zjistit, jak důležitou roli hrála v těchto knihách integrace do běžné společnosti. Práce pokračuje třemi kapitolami, z nichž každá se zabývá jiným typem postav, které se v knihách nacházejí. Tyto postavy jsou analyzovány ve vztahu k prostředí, ve kterém se nacházejí a jak toto prostředí ovlivňuje jejich chování. Je dokázáno, že v prvních dvou Puzových knihách, Kmotr a Sicilián, je prostředí používáno k tomu, aby definovalo postavy těchto knih, zatímco v druhých dvou knihách, Poslední kmotr a Omerta, již postavy nejsou definovány prostředí, ale utvářejí samy sebe.

Klíčová slova: Mario Puzo, mafiánský román, organizovaný zločin, začlenění do společnosti, legalizace, loajalita, vývoj postav, postavení žen

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