Counting the driver, there were four men in the car with Hagen. They put him

In the back seat, in the middle of the two men who had come up behind him in the

Street. Sollozzo sat up front. The man on Hagen's right reached over across his

body and tilted Hagen's hat over his eyes so that he could not see. "Don't even

move your pinkie," he said.

It was a short ride, not more than twenty minutes and when they got out of the

Car Hagen could not recognize the neighborhood because darkness had fallen.

They led him into a basement apartment and made him sit on a straight-backed

 

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Kitchen chair. Sollozzo sat across the kitchen table from him. His dark face had a

Peculiarly vulterine look.

3 "I don't want you to be afraid," he said. "I know you're not in the muscle end of

the Family. I want you to help the Corleones and I want you to help me."

Hagen's hands were shaking as he put a cigarette in his mouth. One of the

Men brought a bottle of rye to the table and gave him a slug of it in a china coffee

Cup. Hagen drank the fiery liquid gratefully. It steadied his hands and took the

Weakness out of his legs.

5 "Your boss is dead," Sollozzo said. He paused, surprised at the tears that

sprang to Hagen's eyes. Then he went on. "We got him outside his office, in the

Street. As soon as I got the word, I picked you up. You have to make the peace

between me and Sonny."

Hagen didn't answer. He was surprised at his own grief. And the feeling of

desolation mixed with his fear of death. Sollozzo was speaking again. "Sonny

Was hot for my deal. Right? You know it's the smart thing to do too. Narcotics is

The coming thing. There's so much money in it that everybody can get rich just in

A couple of years. The Don was an old 'Moustache Pete,' his day was over but he

Didn't know it. Now he's dead, nothing can bring him back. I'm ready to make a

new deal, I want you to talk Sonny into taking it."

7 Hagen said, "You haven't got a chance. Sonny will come after you with

everything he's got."

8 Sollozzo said impatiently, "That's gonna be his first reaction. You have to talk

Some sense to him. The Tattaglia Family stands behind me with all their people.

The other New York families will go along with anything that will stop a full-scale

War between us. Our war has to hurt them and their businesses. If Sonny goes

Along with the deal, the other Families in the country will consider it none of their

affair, even the Don's oldest friends."

Hagen stared down at his hands, not answering. Sollozzo went on

persuasively. "The Don was slipping. In the old days I could never have gotten to

him. The other Families distrust him because he made you his Consigliori and

You're not even Italian, much less Sicilian. If it goes to all-out war the Corleone

Family will be smashed and everybody loses, me included. I need the Family

Political contacts more than I need the money even. So talk to Sonny, talk to the

caporegimes; you'll save a lot of bloodshed."

 

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10 Hagen held out his china cup for more whiskey. "I'll try," he said. "But Sonny

Is strong-headed. And even Sonny won't be able to call off Luca. You have to

worry about Luca. I'll have to worry about Luca if I go for your deal."

11 Sollozzo said quietly, "I'll take care of Luca. You take care of Sonny and the

Other two kids. Listen, you can tell them that Freddie would have gotten it today

With his old man but my people had strict orders not to gun him. I didn't want any

More hard feelings than necessary. You can tell them that, Freddie is alive

because of me."

Finally Hagen's mind was working. For the first time he really believed that

Sollozzo did not mean to kill him or hold him as a hostage. The sudden relief from

Fear that flooded his body made him flush with shame. Sollozzo watched him with