Mike Ward

In The Godfather, while Clemenza is teaching Michael how to use the gun he’ll kill Sollozzo with, he tells him that the murder will probably start a war. “These gotta happen every five years or so. Ten years… been ten years since the last one.” However, the film never explains what that previous war was or why it took place. But Mario Puzo’s original novel does - in great detail. And it’s essentially the missing chapter explaining how Vito Corleone went from being the neighbourhood Don of Little Italy to one of the most powerful Mafia bosses in all of America. By the end of Part II, Vito is a “man of respect” in his neighbourhood, and he leverages that reputation to further grow his olive oil business. He uses his “formidable powers of persuasion” to buy out his competitors and establish a monopoly on the olive oil business in New York City. He has warehouses, trucks, and a highly efficient distribution network. When Prohibition comes into law, Vito repurposes many of these assets into an incredibly lucrative bootlegging operation. During this period he restructures his organization into a formal crime family, with Genco as his consigliere, Clemenza as caporegime of the Bronx, Tessio controlling Brooklyn, and the men working under them as soldiers. He also builds an invaluable network of police and political contacts, which would serve him for years to come. However, when Prohibition comes to an end, Vito needs to pivot to another criminal enterprise to keep his organization afloat. He reaches out to Salvatore Maranzano, who controlled all gambling activity in Manhattan. Maranzano was based on the real mafia boss of the same name, one of the most powerful crime figures in New York City’s history. Vito proposes a partnership. He would offer his political connections to protect Maranzano’s businesses and help him expand into Brooklyn and the Bronx; in exchange, Vito would receive a share of the gambling profits. Maranzano “spurned the Corleone offer with contempt...” He took it as an insult, and Vito as a threat that needed to be stamped out. Maranzano had a much bigger, more powerful organization built through union-busting and extortion rackets, and strong ties to the most infamous gangster in the country, Al Capone in Chicago. “Maranzano’s refusal touched off the great war of 1933 which was to change the whole structure of the underworld in New York City.” (1/2)