Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
Шрифт:
seemingly legal, and had to do with a bankruptcy fraud. It was a million-to-one shot
against its being found out. Felix Bocchicchio took the chance. Since the fraud involved
using the legal skills he had learned in a university, it seemed not so reprehensible
(предосудительный; to reprehend – делать выговор, порицать), and, in an odd way,
not even criminal.
To make a foolish story short, the fraud was discovered. The lawyer friend refused to
help Felix in any manner, refused to even answer his telephone calls. The two principals
(главные
blamed Felix Bocchicchio's legal clumsiness (неуклюжесть, неловкость; clumsy –
неуклюжий, неловкий) for the plan going awry (окончился неудачей; awry [ ‘rai] –
кривой; косо, набок), pleaded guilty (признали себя виновными) and cooperated with
the state, naming Felix Bocchicchio as the ringleader (зачинщик) of the fraud and
claiming he had used threats of violence to control their business and force them to
cooperate with him in his fraudulent schemes. Testimony was given that linked Felix
with uncles and cousins in the Bocchicchio clan who had criminal records for strong-arm,
and this evidence was damning. The two businessmen got off with suspended
sentences. Felix Bocchicchio was given a sentence of one to five years and served
three of them. The clan did not ask help from any of the Families or Don Corleone
because Felix had refused to ask their help and had to be taught a lesson: that mercy
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comes only from the Family, that the Family is more loyal and more to be trusted than
society.
In any case, Felix Bocchicchio was released from prison after serving three years,
went home and kissed his wife and three children and lived peacefully for a year, and
then showed that he was of the Bocchicchio clan after all. Without any attempt to
conceal his guilt, he procured a weapon, a pistol, and shot his lawyer friend to death. He
then searched out the two businessmen and calmly shot them both through the head as
they came out of a luncheonette (закусочная, буфет ['lnt’net]). He left the bodies
lying in the street and went into the luncheonette and ordered a cup of coffee which he
drank while he waited for the police to come and arrest him.
His trial was swift and his judgment merciless. A member of the criminal underworld
had cold-bloodedly murdered state witnesses who had sent him to the prison he richly
deserved. It was a flagrant flouting (вопиющее глумление, выказывание презрения;
flagrant [‘fleigrnt] – ужасающий, вопиющий; to flout – презирать, попирать,
глумиться) of society and for once the public, the press, the structure of society and
even soft-headed and soft-hearted humanitarians (гуманисты) were united in their
desire to see Felix Bocchicchio in the electric chair. The governor of the state would no
more grant him clemency (милость,
(загон /для скота/) spare a mad dog, which was the phrase of one of the governor's
closest political aides. The Bocchicchio clan of course would spend whatever money
was needed for appeals to higher courts, they were proud of him now, but the
conclusion was certain. After the legal folderol (= folderal – бессмысленная болтовня),
which might take a little time, Felix Bocchicchio would die in the electric chair.
It was Hagen who brought this case to the attention of the Don at the request of one
of the Bocchicchios who hoped that something could be done for the young man. Don
Corleone curtly refused. He was not a magician. People asked him the impossible. But
the next day the Don called Hagen into his office and had him go over the case in the
most intimate detail. When Hagen was finished, Don Corleone told him to summon the
head of the Bocchicchio clan to the mall for a meeting.
What happened next had the simplicity of genius. Don Corleone guaranteed to the
head of the Bocchicchio clan that the wife and children of Felix Bocchicchio would be
rewarded with a handsome pension. The money for this would be handed over to the
Bocchicchio clan immediately. In turn, Felix must confess to the murder of Sollozzo and
the police captain McCluskey.
There were many details to be arranged. Felix Bocchicchio would have to confess
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convincingly, that is, he would have to know some of the true details to confess to. Also
he must implicate (вовлекать, впутывать) the police captain in narcotics. Then the
waiter at the Luna Restaurant must be persuaded to identify Felix Bocchicchio as the
murderer. This would take some courage, as the description would change radically,
Felix Bocchicchio being much shorter and heavier. But Don Corleone would attend to
that. Also since the condemned man had been a great believer in higher education and
a college graduate, he would want his children to go to college. And so a sum of money
would have to be paid by Don Corleone that would take care of the children's college.