Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
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could call on help in that quarter. He also had a good relationship with the Tattaglia
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Family, which controlled prostitution in the city and what there was of the thin drug traffic
at that time. He also had political contacts with powerful business leaders who used his
enforcers to terrorize the Jewish unionists in the garment center and the Italian
anarchist syndicates in the building trades.
Against this, Don Corleone could throw two small but superbly organized regimes led
by Clemenza and Tessio. His political and police contacts were negated by the
business leaders who would support Maranzano. But in his favor was the enemy's lack
of intelligence about his organization. The underworld did not know the true strength of
his soldiers and even were deceived that Tessio in Brooklyn was a separate and
independent operation.
And yet despite all this, it was an unequal battle until Vito Corleone evened out the
odds (сравнял
Maranzano sent a call to Capone for his two best gunmen to come to New York to
eliminate the upstart. The Corleone Family had friends and intelligence in Chicago who
relayed the news that the two gunmen were arriving by train. Vito Corleone dispatched
Luca Brasi to take care of them with instructions that would liberate the strange man's
most savage instincts.
Brasi and his people, four of them, received the Chicago hoods at the railroad station.
One of Brasi's men procured and drove a taxicab for the purpose and the station porter
carrying the bags led the Capone men to this cab. When they got in; Brasi and another
of his men crowded in after them, guns ready, and made the two Chicago boys lie on
the floor. The cab drove to a warehouse near the docks that Brasi had prepared for
them.
The two Capone men were bound hand and foot and small bath towels were stuffed
into their mouths to keep them from crying out.
Then Brasi took an ax (топор) from its place against the wall and started hacking at
one of the Capone men. He chopped the man's feet off, then the legs at the knees, then
the thighs where they joined the torso. Brasi was an extremely powerful man but it took
him many swings to accomplish his purpose. By that time of course the victim had given
up the ghost and the floor of the warehouse was slippery with the hacked fragments of
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his flesh and the gouting (gout – сгусток крови) of his blood. When Brasi turned to his
second victim he found further effort unnecessary. The second Capone gunman out of
sheer terror had, impossibly, swallowed the bath towel in his mouth and suffocated. The
bath towel was found in the man's stomach when the police performed their autopsy to
determine the cause of death.
A few days later in Chicago the Capones received a message from Vito Corleone. It
was to this effect: "You know now how I deal with enemies. Why does a Neapolitan
interfere in a quarrel between two Sicilians? If you wish me to consider you as a friend I
owe you a service which I will pay on demand. A man like yourself must know how
much more profitable it is to have a friend who, instead of calling on you for help, takes
care of his own affairs and stands ever ready to help you in some future time of trouble.
If you do not wish my friendship, so be it. But then I must tell you that the climate in this
city is damp; unhealthy for Neapolitans, and you are advised never to visit it."
The arrogance of this letter was a calculated one. The Don held the Capones in small
esteem as stupid, obvious cutthroats. His intelligence informed him that Capone had
forfeited (to forfeit [‘fo:fit] –
расплата /за проступок/; конфискация) all political influence because of his public
arrogance and the flaunting (to flaunt – гордо развеваться /о знаменах/; выставлять
напоказ, щеголять) of his criminal wealth. The Don knew, in fact was positive, that
without political influence, without the camouflage of society, Capone's world, and
others like it, could be easily destroyed. He knew Capone was on the path to
destruction. He also knew that Capone's influence did not extend beyond the
boundaries of Chicago, terrible and all-pervading as that influence there might be.
The tactic was successful. Not so much because of its ferocity (жестокость) but
because of the chilling swiftness, the quickness of the Don's reaction. If his intelligence
was so good, any further moves would be fraught (полный, чреватый) with danger. It
was better, far wiser, to accept the offer of friendship with its implied payoff (с
предполагаемой, подразумеваемой компенсацией; to imply – заключать в себе;
предполагать, подразумевать). The Capones sent back word that they would not
interfere.
The odds were now equal. And Vito Corleone had earned an enormous amount of
"respect" throughout the United States underworld with his humiliation of the Capones.