Крестный отец, часть 1. Английский язык с Марио Пьюзо.
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Sonny said angrily, "You think I can't handle this guy Sollozzo?"
Tom Hagen looked him directly in the eye. "Sonny, sure you can outfight him. The Corleone Family has the power. You have Clemenza and Tessio here and they can muster a thousand men if it comes to an all-out war. But at the end there will be a shambles over the whole East Coast and all the other Families will blame the Corleones. We'll make a lot of enemies. And that's something your father never believed in."
Michael, watching Sonny, thought he took this well. But then Sonny said to Hagen, "What if the old man dies, what do you advise then, Consigliori?"
Hagen said quietly, "I know you won't do it, but I would advise you to make a real deal with Sollozzo on the drugs. Without your father's political contacts and personal influence the Corleone Family loses half its strength. Without your father, the other New York Families might wind up supporting the Tattaglias and Sollozzo just to make sure there isn't a long destructive war. If your father dies, make the deal. Then wait and see."
Sonny was white-faced with anger. "That's easy for you to say, it's not your father they killed."
Hagen said quickly and proudly, "I was as good a son to him as you or Mike, maybe better. I'm giving you a professional opinion. Personally I want to kill all those bastards." The emotion in his voice shamed Sonny, who said, "Oh, Christ, Tom, I didn't mean it that way." But he had, really. Blood was blood and nothing else was its equal.
Sonny brooded for a moment as the others waited in embarrassed silence. Then he sighed and spoke quietly. "OK, we'll sit tight until the old man can give us the lead. But, Tom, I want you to stay inside the mall, too. Don't take any chances. Mike, you be careful, though I don't think even Sollozzo would bring personal family into the war. Everybody would be against him then. But be careful. Tessio, you hold your people in reserve but have them nosing around the city. Clemenza, after you settle the Paulie Gatto thing, you move your men into the house and the mall to replace Tessio's people. Tessio, you keep your men at the hospital, though. Tom, start negotiation over the phone or by messenger with Sollozzo and the Tattaglias the first thing in the morning. Mike, tomorrow you take a couple of Clemenza's people and go to Luca's house and wait for him to show up or find out where the hell he is. That crazy bastard might be going after Sollozzo right now if he's heard the news. I can't believe he'd ever go against his Don, no matter what the Turk offered him."
Hagen said reluctantly, "Maybe Mike shouldn't get mixed up in this so directly."
"Right," Sonny said. "Forget that, Mike. Anyway I need you on the phone here in the house, that's more important."
Michael didn't say anything. He felt awkward, almost ashamed, and he noticed Clemenza and Tessio with faces so carefully impassive that he was sure that they were hiding their contempt. He picked up the phone and dialed Luca Brasi's number and kept the receiver to his ear as it rang and rang.
Chapter 6
Peter Clemenza slept badly that night. In the morning he got up early and made his own breakfast of a glass of grappa, a thick slice of Genoa salami (slice –
Clemenza was troubled. Not because Gatto had been his protégé and had turned traitor. This did not reflect on the caporegime's judgment. After all, Paulie's background had been perfect. He came from a Sicilian family, he had grown up in the same neighborhood as the Corleone children, had indeed even gone to school with one of the sons. He had been brought up through each level (уровень) in the proper manner. He had been tested and not found wanting (нуждающийся;
And Paulie had never caused trouble with his stickups. They had always been meticulously planned (meticulous [mı’tıkjul∂s] – мелочный, дотошный, тщательный) and carried out with the minimum of fuss and trouble, with no one ever getting hurt: a three-thousand-dollar Manhattan garment (одежда) center payroll (наличность), a small chinaware factory (фабрика фарфоровых изделий) payroll in the slums (трущобы) of Brooklyn. After all, a young man could always use some extra pocket money. It was all in the pattern (в норме; pattern – образец, модель). Who could ever foretell (предсказать) that Paulie Gatto would turn traitor?
What was troubling Peter Clemenza this morning was an administrative problem. The actual execution of Gatto was a cut-and-dried chore (рутинное дело; cut-and-dried – рутинный; chore [t∫o:] – рутинная работа, ежедневные обязанности). The problem was, who should the caporegime bring up from the ranks to replace Gatto in the Family? It was an important promotion (продвижение, повышение), that to "button" man (боевик: «солдат» /сленг/), one not to be handed out lightly. The man had to be tough and he had to be smart. He had to be safe, not a person who would talk to the police if he got in trouble, one well saturated (to saturate [‘sæt∫∂reıt] – насыщать, пропитывать) in the Sicilians' law of omerta, the law of silence. And then, what kind of a living would he receive for his new duties? Clemenza had several times spoken to the Don about better rewards for the all-important button man who was first in the front line when trouble arose, but the Don had put him off. If Paulie had been making more money, he might have been able to resist the blandishments (сопротивляться, противостоять уговорам, обольщениям) of the wily Turk, Sollozzo.
Clemenza finally narrowed down the list of candidates to three men. The first was an enforcer (лицо, принудительно осуществляющий право в судебном порядке; член гангстерской банды, функцией которого является принуждение к выполнению ее требований) who worked with the colored policy bankers in Harlem, a big brawny brute of a man of great physical strength, a man with a great deal of personal charm who could get along with people and yet when necessary make them go in fear of him. But Clemenza scratched him off the list (вычеркнул; scratch – царапать; to scratch – вычеркивать) after considering his name for a half hour. This man got along too well with the black people, which hinted at some flaw of character (flaw – трещина, порок). Also he would be too hard to replace in the position he now held.
The second name Clemenza considered and almost settled on was a hard-working chap (парень) who served faithfully and well in the organization. This man was the collector of delinquent accounts (cборщик процентов по счетам у тех, кто уклоняется от платежей; delinquent [dı'lıŋkw∂nt] – нарушающий закон, правонарушитель) for Family-licensed shylocks (ростовщики; Shylock – беспощадный и мстительный ростовщик в пьесе Шекспира «Венецианский купец») in Manhattan. He had started off as a bookmaker's runner. But he was not quite yet ready for such an important promotion.