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lightly. Of course he had made a mistake in sending his younger brother, Michael, to kill
the Turk and the police captain. Though necessary in a tactical sense, as a long-term
strategy it proved to be a serious error. It had forced the Don, eventually, to rise from his
sickbed. It had deprived Michael of two years of valuable experience and training under
his father's tutelage. And of course an Irish as a Consigliori had been the only
foolishness the Don had ever perpetrated. No Irish man could hope to equal a Sicilian
for cunning. So went the opinion of all the Families and they were naturally more
respectful to the Barzini-Tattaglia alliance than to the Corleones. Their opinion of
Michael was that he was not equal to Sonny in force though more intelligent certainly,
but not as intelligent as his father. A mediocre successor and a man not to be feared too
greatly.
Also, though the Don was generally admired for his statesmanship in making the
peace, the fact that he had not avenged Sonny's murder lost the Family a great deal of
respect. It was recognized that such statesmanship sprang out of weakness.
All this was known to the men sitting in the room and perhaps even believed by a few.
Carlo Rizzi liked Michael but did not fear him as he had feared Sonny. Clemenza, too,
though he gave Michael credit for a bravura performance with the Turk and the police
captain, could not help thinking Michael too soft to be a Don. Clemenza had hoped to
be given permission to form his own Family, to have his own empire split away from the
Corleone. But the Don had indicated that this was not to be and Clemenza respected
the Don too much to disobey. Unless of course the whole situation became intolerable.
Tessio had a better opinion of Michael. He sensed something else in the young man:
a force cleverly kept hidden, a man jealously guarding his true strength from public gaze,
following the Don's precept that a friend should always underestimate your virtues and
an enemy overestimate your faults.
The Don himself and Tom Hagen were of course under no illusions about Michael.
The Don would never have retired if he had not had absolute faith in his son's ability to
retrieve the Family position. Hagen had been Michael's teacher for the last two years
and was amazed at how quickly Michael grasped all the intricacies of the Family
business. Truly his father's son.
Clemenza and Tessio were annoyed with Michael because he had reduced the
strength of their regimes and had never reconstituted Sonny's regime. The Corleone
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Family, in effect, had now only two fighting divisions with less personnel than formerly.
Clemenza and Tessio considered this suicidal, especially with the Barzini-Tattaglia
encroachments on their empires. So now they were hopeful these errors might be
corrected at this extraordinary meeting convened by the Don.
Michael started off by telling them about his trip to Vegas and Moe Greene's refusing
the offer to buy him out. "But we'll make him an offer he can't refuse," Michael said.
"You already know the Corleone Family plans to move its operations West. We'll have
four of the hotel casinos on the Strip. But it can't be right away. We need time to get
things straightened out." He spoke directly to Clemenza. "Pete, you and Tessio, I want
you to go along with me for a year without questioning and without reservations. At the
end of that year, both of you can split off from the Corleone Family and be your own
bosses, have your own Families. Of course it goes without saying we'd maintain our
friendship, I wouldn't insult you and your respect for my father by thinking otherwise for
a minute. But up until that time I want you just to follow my lead and don't worry. There
are negotiations going on that will solve problems that you think are not solvable. So
just be a little patient."
Tessio spoke up. "If Moe Greene wanted to talk to your father, why not let him? The
Don could always persuade anybody, there was never anyone who could stand up to
his reasonableness."
The Don answered this directly. "I've retired. Michael would lose respect if I interfered.
And besides that's a man I'd rather not talk to."
Tessio remembered the stories he'd heard about Moe Greene slapping Freddie
Corleone around one night in the Vegas hotel. He began to smell a rat. He leaned back.
Moe Greene was a dead man, he thought. The Corleone Family did not wish to
persuade him.
Carlo Rizzi spoke up. "Is the Corleone Family going to stop operating in New York
altogether?"
Michael nodded. "We're selling the olive oil business. Everything we can, we turn over
to Tessio and Clemenza. But, Carlo, I don't want you to worry about your job. You grew
up in Nevada, you know the state, you know the people. I'm counting on you being my
right-hand man when we make our move out there."
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Carlo leaned back, his face flushed with gratification. His time was coming, he would