If displeased with him. With a man so sensitive and suspicious as Gatto this

 

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Would throw him off the track or at least leave him uncertain. Undue friendliness

Would make him wary. But of course the curtness must not be too angry. It had to

Be rather an absentminded sort of irritation. And why Lampone? Paulie would

Find that most alarming, especially since Lampone had to be in the rear seat.

Paulie wouldn't like being helpless at the wheel with Lampone behind his head.

Clemenza rubbed and polished the metal of his Cadillac furiously. It was going to

Be tricky. Very tricky. For a moment he debated whether to recruit another man

But decided against it. Here he followed basic reasoning. In years to come a

Situation might arise where it might be profitable for one of his partners to testify

Against him. If there were just one accomplice it was one's word against the other.

But the word of a second accomplice could swing the balance. No, they would

Stick to procedure.

15 What annoyed Clemenza was that the execution had to be "public." That is,

The body was to be found. He would have much preferred having it disappear.

(Usual burying grounds were the nearby ocean or the swamplands of New Jersey

On land owned by friends of the Family or by other more complicated methods.)

But it had to be public so that embryo traitors would be frightened and the enemy

Warned that the Corleone Family had by no means gone stupid or soft. Sollozzo

Would be made wary by this quick discovery of his spy. The Corleone Family

Would win back some of its prestige. It had been made to look foolish by the

Shooting of the old man.

Clemenza sighed. The Cadillac gleamed like a huge blue steel egg, and he

Was nowhere near the solving of his problem. Then the solution hit him, logical

And to the point. It would explain Rocco Lampone, himself and Paulie being

Together and give them a mission of sufficient secrecy and importance.

He would tell Paulie that their job today was to find an apartment in case the

Family decided to "go to the mattresses."

Whenever a war between the Families became bitterly intense, the opponents

would set up headquarters in secret apartments where the "soldiers" could sleep

On mattresses scattered through the rooms. This was not so much to keep their

Families out of danger, their wives and little children, since any attack on

Noncombatants was undreamed of. All parties were too vulnerable to similar

Retaliation. But it was always smarter to live in some secret place where your

Everyday movements could not be charted either by your opponents or by some

Police who might arbitrarily decide to meddle.

 

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19 And so usually a trusted caporegime would be sent out to rent a secret

Apartment and fill it with mattresses. That apartment would be used as a sally

Port into the city when an offensive was mounted. It was natural for Clemenza to

Be sent on such an errand. It was natural for him to take Gatto and Lampone with

Him to arrange all the details, including the furnishing of the apartment. Also,

Clemenza thought with a grin, Paulie Gatto had proved he was greedy and the

First thought that would pop into his head was how much he could get from

Sollozzo for this valuable intelligence.

Rocco Lampone arrived early and Clemenza explained what had to be done

And what their roles would be. Lampone's face lit up with surprised gratitude and

He thanked Clemenza respectfully for the promotion allowing him to serve the

Family. Clemenza was sure he had done well. He clapped Lampone on the

shoulder and said, "You'll get something better for your living after today. We'll