On the night before the shooting of Don Corleone, his strongest and most

Loyal and most feared retainer prepared to meet with the enemy. Luca Brasi had

Made contact with the forces of Sollozzo several months before. He had done so

On the orders of Don Corleone himself. He had done so by frequenting the

Nightclubs controlled by the Tattaglia Family and by taking up with one of their

Top call girls. In bed with this call girl he grumbled about how he was held down

In the Corleone Family, how his worth was not recognized. After a week of this

 

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Affair with the call girl, Luca was approached by Bruno Tattaglia, manager of the

Nightclub. Bruno was the youngest son, and ostensibly not connected with the

Family business of prostitution. But his famous nightclub with its dancing line of

Long-stemmed beauties was the finishing school for many of the city hookers.

The first meeting was all above-board, Tattaglia offering him a job to work in

The Family business as enforcer. The flirtation went on for nearly a month. Luca

Played his role of man infatuated with a young beautiful girl, Bruno Tattaglia the

Role of a businessman trying to recruit an able executive from a rival. At one such

meeting, Luca pretended to be swayed, then said, "But one thing must be

Understood. I will never go against the Godfather. Don Corleone is a man I

Respect. I understand that he must put his sons before me in the Family

business."

Bruno Tattaglia was one of the new generation with a barely hidden contempt

For the old Moustache Petes like Luca Brasi, Don Corleone and even his own

father. He was just a little too respectful. Now he said, "My father wouldn't expect

You to do anything against the Corleones. Why should he? Everybody gets along

With everybody else now, it's not like the old days. It's just that if you're looking

For a new job, I can pass along the word to my father. There's always need for a

Man like you in our business. It's a hard business and it needs hard men to keep

it running smooth. Let me know if you ever make up your mind."

4 Luca shrugged. "It's not so bad where I'm at." And so they left it.

The general idea had been to lead the Tattaglias to believe that he knew about

The lucrative narcotics operation and that he wanted a piece of it free-lance. In

That fashion he might hear something about Sollozzo's plans if the Turk had any,

Or whether he was getting ready to step on the toes of Don Corleone. After

Waiting for two months with nothing else happening, Luca reported to the Don

That obviously Sollozzo was taking his defeat graciously. The Don had told him to

Keep trying but merely as a sideline, not to press it.

Luca had dropped into the nightclub the evening before Don Corleone's being

Shot. Almost immediately Bruno Tattaglia had come to his table and sat down.

7 "I have a friend who wants to talk to you," he said.

8 "Bring him over," Luca said. "I'll talk to any friend of yours."

9 "No," Bruno said. "He wants to see you in private."

10 "Who is he?" Luca asked.

 

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11 "Just a friend of mine," Bruno Tattaglia said. "He wants to put a proposition

to you. Can you meet him later on tonight?"

12 "Sure," Luca said. "What time and where?"

13 Tattaglia said softly, "The club closes at four in the morning. Why don't you

meet in here while the waiters are cleaning up?"

They knew his habits, Luca thought, they must have been checking him out.

He usually got up about three or four in the afternoon and had breakfast, then

Amused himself by gambling with cronies in the Family or had a girl. Sometimes

He saw one of the midnight movies and then would drop in for a drink at one of

The clubs. He never went to bed before dawn. So the suggestion of a four A.M.