synopsis

CHAPTER ONE:
Connie's wedding takes place on the last Saturday of August, 1945. Michael has returned from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, where he went after being in the Marines. Don Corleone is taking visitors, the first of whom is Nazorine (the baker) requesting that the Sicilian POW, Enzo, remain in the States for her daughter, Katherine. The second is Anthony Coppola, son of the man The Don worked with in railroad yards as a youth. He needs a loan to open a pizzeria. The third is Luca Brasi to pay his respects. He doesn't mess up his lines; in the film, the actor was actually rehearsing his lines, and Coppola filmed and kept it! The fourth was Amerigo Bonasera, the undertaker. He wants to revenge on his daughter's (Maria) boyfriend and his friend for disrespecting her. The fifth is Johnny Fontane, the old singing partner of Nino Valenti. He left his wife, Ginny, and kids to marry a tramp Hollywood star. He asks for help with movie producer Jack Woltz. The Don doesn't see Virgil Sollozzo today, so he -can- refuse any request that he may make on his daughter's wedding day. The current consiglieri, who's been with the Don for 20 years, Genco Abbandando, is dying of cancer in the hospital. Tom Hagen was an orphan at 11 years old. His mother went blind and died. His father was a drunkard. His younger sister had a foster home placement, but he was a boy and was on the street until Sonny befriended him and took him in. Tom goes out to California to speak with Woltz. Woltz' English racing horse, Khartoum, was beheaded. Paulie and two other thugs beat up the two punks, Jerry Wagner and Kevin Moonan. GLOSSARY: Putain, prostitute. Consiglieri, counselor. Rajunah, reason/rejoin. Omerta, law of silence. Infamita, strongest disapproval. Pezzonovante, typical authority figure. Finocchio, scum-bag.
CHAPTER TWO:
Tom returns from California on Tuesday evening. Woltz finds the horse's head on Thursday. The Sollozzo meeting is set for Friday. Fontane reports for work the following Monday. Sollozzo, who's backed by the Tattaglia's, wants the Don to finance $2 million for which he gets 50% for finance and legal protection. We learn that The Don's businesses include: A real estate company, olive oil importing business, a construction firm, unions, and gambling. Mike and Kay are in New York at the Hotel Pennsylvania (less than 10 blocks away from the Long Beach estate) when Vito Corleone gets shot five times. There are eight houses in the Corleone complex: One for Tom and his family, one for Sonny and his family, Don Vito lives in the smallest, three are for retired friends of the Don's who live rent-free until the properties are needed, and the last two are rented by family retainers with their own families and boarders. Because Sonny doesn't fully trust Clemenza after the shooting, he calls in Tessio, the capo in Brooklyn. Sonny has Ray Farrel check Paulie and Clemenza's phone calls for the past three months.