The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
52
he put around Moonan’s throat to cut off any sound. 
Paulie Gatto jumped into the car and started the motor. The two big men were beating 
Moonan to jelly. They did so with frightening deliberation, as if they had all the time in 
the world. They did not throw punches in flurries but in timed, slow-motion sequences 
that carried the full weight of their massive bodies. Each blow landed with a splat of 
flesh splitting open. Gatto got a glimpse of Moonan’s face. It was unrecognizable. The 
two men left Moonan lying on the sidewalk and turned their attention to Wagner. 
Wagner was trying to get to his feet and he started to scream for help. Someone came 
out of the bar and the two men had to work faster now. They clubbed Wagner to his 
knees. One of the men took his arm and twisted it, then kicked him in the spine. There 
was a cracking sound and Wagner’s scream of agony brought windows open all along 
the street. The two men worked very quickly. One of them held Wagner up by using his 
two hands around Wagner’s head like a vise. The other man smashed his huge fist into 
the fixed target. There were more people coming out of the bar but none tried to 
interfere. Paulie Gatto yelled, “Come on, enough.” The two big men jumped into the car 
and Paulie gunned it away, Somebody would describe the car and read the license 
plates but it didn’t matter. It was a stolen California plate and there were one hundred 
thousand black Chevy sedans in New York City. 
Chapter 2
Tom Hagen went to his law office in the city on Thursday morning. He planned to catch 
up on his paper work so as to have everything cleared away for the meeting with Virgil 
Sollozzo on Friday. A meeting of such importance that he had asked the Don for a full 
evening of talk to prepare for the proposition they knew Sollozzo would offer the family 
business. Hagen wanted to have all little details cleared away so that he could go to that 
preparatory meeting with an unencumbered mind. 
The Don had not seemed surprised when Hagen returned from California late Tuesday 
evening and told him the results of the negotiations with Woltz. He had made Hagen go 
over every detail and grimaced with distaste when Hagen told about the beautiful little 
girl and her mother. He had murmured “infamita,” his strongest disapproval. He had 
asked Hagen one final question. “Does this man have real balls?” 
Hagen considered exactly what the Don meant by this question. Over the years he had 
learned that the Don’s values were so different from those of most people that his words 
also could have a different meaning. Did Woltz have character? Did he have a strong 

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