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late?"

"Before midnight," Michael said. "Don't wait up for me if you feel tired."

"I'll wait up," Kay said.

At the meeting that night, in the corner room library of Don Corleone's house, were

the Don himself, Michael, Tom Hagen, Carlo Rizzi, and the two caporegimes , Clemenza

and Tessio.

The atmosphere of the meeting was by no means so congenial as in former days.

Ever since Don Corleone had announced his semiretirement and Michael's take-over of

the Family business, there had been some strain. Succession in control of such an

enterprise as the Family was by no means hereditary. In any other Family powerful

caporegimes such as Clemenza and Tessio might have succeeded to the position of

Don. Or at least they might have been allowed to split off and form their own Family.

Then, too, ever since Don Corleone had made the peace with the Five Families, the

strength of the Corleone Family had declined. The Barzini Family was now indisputably

the most powerful one in the New York area; allied as they were to the Tattaglias, they

now held the position the Corleone Family had once held. Also they were slyly whittling

down the power of the Corleone Family, muscling into their gambling areas, testing the

Corleones' reactions and, finding them weak, establishing their own bookmakers.

The Barzinis and Tattaglias were delighted with the Don's retirement. Michael,

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formidable as he might prove to be, could never hope to equal the Don in cunning and

influence for at least another decade. The Corleone Family was definitely in a decline.

It had, of course, suffered serious misfortunes. Freddie had proved to be nothing more

than an innkeeper and ladies' man, the idiom for ladies' man untranslatable but

connotating a greedy infant always at its mother's nipple – in short, unmanly. Sonny's

death too, had been a disaster. Sonny had been a man to be feared, not to be taken

lightly. Of course he had made a mistake in sending his younger brother, Michael, to kill

the Turk and the police captain. Though necessary in a tactical sense, as a long-term

strategy it proved to be a serious error. It had forced the Don, eventually, to rise from his

sickbed. It had deprived Michael of two years of valuable experience and training under

his father's tutelage. And of course an Irish as a Consigliori had been the only

foolishness the Don had ever perpetrated. No Irish man could hope to equal a Sicilian

for cunning. So went the opinion of all the Families and they were naturally more

respectful to the Barzini-Tattaglia alliance than to the Corleones. Their opinion of

Michael was that he was not equal to Sonny in force though more intelligent certainly,

but not as intelligent as his father. A mediocre successor and a man not to be feared too

greatly.

Also, though the Don was generally admired for his statesmanship in making the

peace, the fact that he had not avenged Sonny's murder lost the Family a great deal of

respect. It was recognized that such statesmanship sprang out of weakness.

All this was known to the men sitting in the room and perhaps even believed by a few.

Carlo Rizzi liked Michael but did not fear him as he had feared Sonny. Clemenza, too,

though he gave Michael credit for a bravura performance with the Turk and the police

captain, could not help thinking Michael too soft to be a Don. Clemenza had hoped to

be given permission to form his own Family, to have his own empire split away from the

Corleone. But the Don had indicated that this was not to be and Clemenza respected

the Don too much to disobey. Unless of course the whole situation became intolerable.

Tessio had a better opinion of Michael. He sensed something else in the young man:

a force cleverly kept hidden, a man jealously guarding his true strength from public gaze,

following the Don's precept that a friend should always underestimate your virtues and

an enemy overestimate your faults.

The Don himself and Tom Hagen were of course under no illusions about Michael.

The Don would never have retired if he had not had absolute faith in his son's ability to

retrieve the Family position. Hagen had been Michael's teacher for the last two years

and was amazed at how quickly Michael grasped all the intricacies of the Family

business. Truly his father's son.

Clemenza and Tessio were annoyed with Michael because he had reduced the

strength of their regimes and had never reconstituted Sonny's regime . The Corleone

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Family, in effect, had now only two fighting divisions with less personnel than formerly.

Clemenza and Tessio considered this suicidal, especially with the Barzini-Tattaglia

encroachments on their empires. So now they were hopeful these errors might be

corrected at this extraordinary meeting convened by the Don.

Michael started off by telling them about his trip to Vegas and Moe Greene's refusing

the offer to buy him out. "But we'll make him an offer he can't refuse," Michael said.

"You already know the Corleone Family plans to move its operations West. We'll have

four of the hotel casinos on the Strip. But it can't be right away. We need time to get

things straightened out." He spoke directly to Clemenza. "Pete, you and Tessio, I want

you to go along with me for a year without questioning and without reservations. At the

end of that year, both of you can split off from the Corleone Family and be your own

bosses, have your own Families. Of course it goes without saying we'd maintain our

friendship, I wouldn't insult you and your respect for my father by thinking otherwise for

a minute. But up until that time I want you just to follow my lead and don't worry. There

are negotiations going on that will solve problems that you think are not solvable. So

just be a little patient."

Tessio spoke up. "If Moe Greene wanted to talk to your father, why not let him? The

Don could always persuade anybody, there was never anyone who could stand up to

his reasonableness."

The Don answered this directly. "I've retired. Michael would lose respect if I interfered.

And besides that's a man I'd rather not talk to."

Tessio remembered the stories he'd heard about Moe Greene slapping Freddie

Corleone around one night in the Vegas hotel. He began to smell a rat. He leaned back.

Moe Greene was a dead man, he thought. The Corleone Family did not wish to

persuade him.

Carlo Rizzi spoke up. "Is the Corleone Family going to stop operating in New York

altogether?"

Michael nodded. "We're selling the olive oil business. Everything we can, we turn over

to Tessio and Clemenza. But, Carlo, I don't want you to worry about your job. You grew

up in Nevada, you know the state, you know the people. I'm counting on you being my

right-hand man when we make our move out there."

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Carlo leaned back, his face flushed with gratification. His time was coming, he would

move in the constellations of power.

Michael went on. "Tom Hagen is no longer the Consigliori . He's going to be our lawyer

in Vegas. In about two months he'll move out there permanently with his family. Strictly

as a lawyer. Nobody goes to him with any other business as of now, this minute. He's a

lawyer and that's all. No reflection on Tom. That's the way I want it. Besides, if I ever

need any advice, who's a better counselor than my father?" They all laughed. But they

had gotten the message despite the joke. Tom Hagen was out; he no longer held any