Read The Godfather's Revenge Online

Authors: Mark Winegardner

The Godfather's Revenge

Praise for

The Godfather’s Revenge

“Some of us have been living with the
Godfather
mythology for thirty-seven years now. The late Mario Puzo’s 1969 bestseller shocked the nation with its explosive mix of sex, violence, and profound cynicism. The new novel,
The Godfather’s Revenge
…[is] a big, ambitious book…deftly handled and deeply ironic. Winegardner packs a great deal of mob lore into the novel…plenty of action…[and] smart talk.
The Godfather’s Revenge
is popular fiction at its best and arguably offers more depth and realism than Puzo’s original.”


The Washington Post

“Re-creating Puzo’s embroidered Mafia universe can be entertaining, and Winegardner has rich (in every sense of the word) material to work with.”


The New York Times

“Keeps the action moving, the plentiful sex and violence scenes have that
Police Gazette
swagger, and in the end it may be even more fun, thanks to its deliberate excess and sly asides. Like Puzo, Winegardner paints real-life characters in far darker colors than their public images.”


New York Daily News

“A corker. [Winegardner’s] created a plot that cleverly encircles and amplifies the existing tale.”


The Seattle Times

“Faux Kennedy brothers, elaborate detailings of byzantine Cosa Nostra politics, steamy pulp-fiction prose, a hot murder mystery, and [an]…epic cast make this
Godfather
installment a worthy addition to the chronicle of
la famiglia
Corleone. Winegardner breathlessly reanimates these archetypes even more effectively than he did in
The Godfather Returns.
[His] deft plot-spinning is rivaled only by his sure grasp of Goodfella mise-en-scène, the profanity-laced witticisms, the fashion fetishizing, the cool, long, dark sixties Chevy Biscaynes. Minor characters, from upstart Eddie Paradise to the musically monickered Ottilio Cuneo and Osvaldo Atobello, add varnish to inch-thick operatic mobster atmosphere. Bloody and bombastic—a top-notch addition to the saga.”


Kirkus Reviews

Further Praise for the Novels
of Mark Winegardner

“The real deal.”

—Stephen King

“Shows a hard-eyed love of human drama—sad, ridiculous, and lovely.”


The Washington Post Book World

“Grand in scope.”


The Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Profoundly impressive…an expansive talent.”

—Antonya Nelson

“A meaty, engrossing novel.”


Chicago Tribune

“Both an intimate and a sweeping scale. But [Winegardner’s] main achievement is a narrative voice…that’s distinctly his own.”


Los Angeles Times

“An ambitious novel…. Like Jonathan Franzen in
The Twenty-Seventh City,
or E. L. Doctorow in
City of God,
Winegardner takes on the American metropolis…in plain, straightforward prose.”


Publishers Weekly

“Playful and vivid…a crafty mix of the real and imaginary.”

—Stewart O’Nan

“A grand piece of historical fiction recalling E. L. Doctorow and, more recently, Don DeLillo. Winegardner is a lively writer who holds the reader’s interest throughout his long epic. A remarkable and entertaining book.”


Booklist

ALSO BY MARK WINEGARDNER

FICTION

The Godfather Returns
/ 2004

That’s True of Everybody
/ 2002

Crooked River Burning
/ 2001

The Veracruz Blues
/ 1996

NONFICTION

Prophet of the Sandlots
/ 1990

Elvis Presley Boulevard
/ 1988

AS EDITOR

3 x 33
/ 2005

We Are What We Ate
/ 1998

The 26th Man
/ 1991

THE GODFATHER’S REVENGE
MARK WINEGARDNER

SIGNET
Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published in a G. P. Putnam’s Sons edition.

Copyright © The Estate of Mario Puzo, 2006
All rights reserved

ISBN: 978-1-1012-1129-8

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
     The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

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Ancora una volta,

alla mia famiglia

Men must either be flattered or crushed, for they will revenge themselves for slight wrongs, while grave ones they cannot. The injury, therefore, that you do a man should be such that you need not fear for revenge.

—M
ACHIAVELLI
,
The Prince

Cast of Characters

THE CORLEONE FAMILY

Vito Corleone: the first Godfather of New York’s most powerful crime family Carmela Corleone: wife of Vito Corleone and mother of their four children Santino “Sonny” Corleone: Vito Corleone’s oldest son (deceased)

Sandra Corleone: Sonny’s wife, now living in Florida

Francesca, Kathy, Frankie, and Santino Corleone Jr.: children of Sonny and Sandra

William Brewster Van Arsdale III: Francesca’s husband (deceased)

Tom Hagen:
consigliere
and (unofficially) adopted son

Theresa Hagen: Tom’s wife and mother of their four children

Frederico “Fredo” Corleone: Vito’s second-born son (underboss 1955–1959)

Michael Corleone: Vito’s youngest son and the reigning Godfather of the Corleone Family

Apollonia Corleone: Michael’s first wife (deceased)

Kay Adams Corleone: Michael’s second wife (divorced) Anthony and Mary Corleone: children of Michael and Kay

Connie Corleone: Vito and Carmela’s daughter

Carlo Rizzi: Connie’s husband (deceased), father of her two sons

THE CORLEONE FAMILY ORGANIZATION (circa 1963)

Godfather

Michael Corleone (1954–) Succeeded his father, Vito Corleone

Consigliere

Tom Hagen (1945–) Succeeded Genco Abbandando, Vito Corleone’s original
consigliere
Vito Corleone (1954–1955) and Peter Clemenza (1956–1957) served briefly as
consiglieri

Sotto capo
(underboss)

Position currently vacant

Formerly Fredo Corleone (1955–1959); Nick Geraci (1959–1961)

Caporegime
s

Eddie Paradise (1962–)

Regime
started by Salvatore Tessio

In 1955, merged with Nick Geraci’s
regime
(started by Sonny Corleone)

Richard “Richie Two
-
Guns” Nobilio (1959–)

Regime
started by Peter Clemenza

Clemenza succeeded by Frank Pantangeli, 1957

Other Significant Made Members of the Family

Al Neri: ex-cop; head of Family security rumored to be informal
sotto capo

Cosimo “Momo the Roach” Barone: nephew of Sally Tessio;
soldato
under Geraci and now Paradise

Tommy “Scootch” Neri:
soldato
under Nobilio; nephew of Al Neri

Renzo Sacripante:
soldato
under Nobilio

MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION, LA COSA NOSTRA’S RULING BODY
(circa 1963; years on the Commission are in parentheses)

The Five Families of New York

Michael Corleone (1954–), boss of the Corleone Family Succeeded Vito Corleone (1931–1954)

Paul “Fat Paulie” Fortunato (1955–), boss of the Barzini Family Succeeded Emilio Barzini (1931–1955)

Osvaldo “Ozzie” Altobello (1962–), boss of the Tattaglia Family (New York) Succeeded Rico Tattaglia (1955–1961) and Phillip Tattaglia (1931–1955)

Ottilio “Leo the Milkman” Cuneo (1931–), boss of the Cuneo Family Charter member of the Commission

Other known Commission members (at-large seats)

Carlo “the Whale” Tramonti (1931–), boss, New Orleans

Charter member of the Commission

Giuseppe “Joe Z” Zaluchi (1931–), boss, Detroit

Cast of Characters

Charter member of the Commission

Salvatore “Silent Sam” Drago (1954–), boss, Tampa

Appointed to fill vacant at-large seat

John Villone (1963–), boss, Chicago

Succeeded Louie “the Face” Russo (1955–1961)

Frank “the Greek” Greco (1963–), boss, Philadelphia

Succeeded Vincent “the Jew” Forlenza, boss, Cleveland (1931–1961)

OTHER ASSOCIATES, FRIENDS, AND BUSINESS PARTNERS

Judith Epstein Buchanan: Tom Hagen’s
comare

Deanna Dunn: widow of Fredo Corleone; Academy Award–winning actress

Marguerite (Rita) Duvall: dancer, actress; believed to be dating Michael Corleone

Johnny Fontane: singer and Academy Award–winning movie star

Patrick Geary: United States senator from Nevada

Fausto Dominick “Nick” Geraci, Jr.: deposed Corleone underboss Charlotte Geraci: Nick’s wife Barb and Bev Geraci: children of Nick and Charlotte

Fausto “the Driver” Geraci: Nick’s father; former
cugin’
in Cleveland mob

Sid Klein: attorney; special counsel during the Red Scare; on retainer to Corleone Family

Joseph P. Lucadello (aka Ike Rosen): old friend of Michael Corleone’s; CIA operative

Ambrose “Bud” Payton: former Florida senator; now vice president

Daniel Brendan “Danny” Shea: attorney general of the United States; James’s brother

James Kavanaugh “Jimmy” Shea: president of the United States; Daniel’s brother

Ben “the Phantom” Tamarkin: attorney and fixer for the Jewish syndicate, aka the “Kosher Nostra”

Agostino “Augie the Midget” Tramonti: Carlo Tramonti’s brother and
consigliere

Jack Woltz: CEO of Woltz International Pictures; former racehorse enthusiast

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