Английский язык с Крестным Отцом

I'm getting old, I want to retire, And he comes to me and he says he wants to interfere in

your little affair. I tell him to just learn about the olive oil. But he won't leave me alone.

He says, here is this fine fellow, a Sicilian and they are doing this dirty trick to him. He

kept on, he gave me no peace until I interested myself it it. I tell you this to tell you that

he was right. Now that I've met you, I'm glad we took the trouble. So if we can do

anything further for you, just ask the favor. Understand? We're at your service."

(Remembering the Don's kindness, Neri wished the great man was still alive to see the

service that would be done this day.)

It took Neri less than three days to make up his mind. He understood he was being

courted but understood more. That the Corleone Family approved that act of his which

society condemned and had punished him for, The Corleone Family valued him, society

did not. He understood that he would be happier in the world the Corleones had created

than in the world outside. And he understood that the Corleone Family was the more

powerful, within its narrower limits.

He visited Michael again and put his cards on the table. He did not want to work in

Vegas but he would take a job with the Family in New York. He made his loyalty clear.

Michael was touched, Neri could see that. It was arranged. But Michael insisted that

Neri take a vacation first, down in Miami at the Family hotel there, all expenses paid and

a month's salary in advance so he could have the necessary cash to enjoy himself

properly.

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That vacation was Neri's first taste of luxury. People at the hotel took special care of

him, saying, "Ah, you're a friend of Michael Corleone." The word had been passed along.

He was given one of the plush suites, not the grudging small room a poor relation might

be fobbed off with. The man running the nightclub in the hotel fixed him up with some

beautiful girls. When Neri got back to New York he had a slightly different view on life in

general.

He was put in the Clemenza regime and tested carefully by that masterful personnel

man. Certain precautions had to be taken. He had, after all, once been a policeman. But

Neri's natural ferocity overcame whatever scruples he might have had at being on the

other side of the fence. In less than a year he had "made his bones." He could never

turn back.

Clemenza sang his praises. Neri was a wonder, the new Luca Brasi. He would be

better than Luca, Clemenza bragged. After all, Neri was his discovery. Physically the

man was a marvel. His reflexes and coordination such that he could have been another

Joe DiMaggio. Clemenza also knew that Neri was not a man to be controlled by some

one like himself. Neri was made directly responsible to Michael Corleone, with Tom

Hagen as the necessary buffer. He was a "special" and as such commanded a high

salary but did not have his own living, a bookmaking or strong-arm operation. It was

obvious that his respect for Michael Corleone was enormous and one day Hagen said

jokingly to Michael, "Well now you've got your Luca."

Michael nodded. He had brought it off. Albert Neri was his man to the death. And of

course it was a trick learned from the Don himself. While learning the business,

undergoing the long days of tutelage by his father, Michael had one time asked, "How

come you used a guy like Luca Brasi? An animal like that?"

The Don had proceeded to instruct him. "There are men in this world," he said, "who

go about demanding to be killed. You must have noticed them. They quarrel in gambling

games, they jump out of their automobiles in a rage if someone so much as scratches

their fender, they humiliate and bully people whose capabilities they do not know. I have

seen a man, a fool, deliberately infuriate a group of dangerous men, and he himself

without any resources. These are people who wander through the world shouting, 'Kill

me. Kill me.' And there is always somebody ready to oblige them. We read about it in

the newspapers every day. Such people of course do a great deal of harm to others

also.

"Luca Brasi was such a man. But he was such an extraordinary man that for a long

time nobody could kill him. Most of these people are of no concern to ourselves but a

Brasi is a powerful weapon to be used. The trick is that since he does not fear death

and indeed looks for it, then the trick is to make yourself the only person in the world

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that he truly desires not to kill him. He has only that one fear, not of death, but that you

may be the one to kill him. He is yours then."

It was one of the most valuable lessons given by the Don before he died, and Michael

had used it to make Neri his Luca Brasi.

And now, finally, Albert Neri, alone in his Bronx apartment, was going to put on his

police uniform again. He brushed it carefully. Polishing the holster would be next. And

his policeman's cap too, the visor had to be cleaned, the stout black shoes shined. Neri

worked with a will. He had found his place in the world, Michael Corelone had placed

his absolute trust in him, and today he would not fail that trust.

Chapter 31

On that same day two limousines parked on the Long Beach mall. One of the big cars