What Happened to the Money? In Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Don Vito Corleone said, “lawyers can steal more money with a briefcase than a thousand men with guns and masks” (187) In the gangster culture, all decisions and motivations revolve around money. Throughout Little Caesar, The Godfather, and Donnie Brasco, the circulation of money shifts greatly. At a time, whoever earned money got to keep their own money, but eventually, gangsters started making money for bosses, or basically, gangsters with authority, and if these higher ranked gangsters didn’t get their money, it was game over for those beneath them. First of all, in Little Caesar, the money earned was kept. The gangsters there didn’t belong to anybody, and they did their dirty deeds
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Everything in this book was done in the name of the family. There were more civilized types of meetings between families to discuss what’s going on in the area, how to fix it, and how to make more money. However, if required, violence, including murders, took place to get resolve issues. Don Corleone and Michael Corleone made all business decisions based on how situations would effect the family name. On multiple occasions, families are found saying, “this is not a personal thing, this is business” (Puzo, 96). The killing of people to eventually, the selling of drugs was all part of the family business. Don Vito Corleone told Johnny Fontane that he would make a personal friend of J. Edgar Hoover, “an offer he can’t refuse” (Puzo, 28). Whether it means death, or a hugely beneficial deal, any offers the Don made were irresistible. The Don was a wonderful businessman, who cared for his family, and his talent passed onto his son, Michael Corleone. For example, when discussing new business strategies, Michael said to Sollozzo, “Tell me more about how you propose to start your business, exactly what part my Family has to play in it and what profit we can take from this business” (Puzo, 126). Michael was assertive, and to the point with only his family in mind. The Corleone family worked to increase their …show more content…
Unlike in The Godfather, in Donnie Brasco, gangsters didn’t find much importance in family. Donnie pretended he grew up as an orphan, Lefty was tired of his son who took the wrong path in life, and they stuck to their chosen connections (the gang) rather than the connections they were born with (their family). These gangsters were a little less intelligent making it more difficult for them to make a steady income. For example, Patsy found a diamond that he thought was real, but Donnie refuted, saying that it was a Fugazy, or a fake (Pistone, 84). If Patsy analyzed the situation, however, and looked more into how to tell if a diamond was real or not, this situation wouldn’t have come up. Patsy didn’t think before he acted, resulting in him being unable to sell the diamond. Another situation where these gangsters didn’t think before they acted was on page 134, where Lefty “put a claim on” Donnie, introducing him to the gang (Pistone). This shouldn’t have been done to begin with, and there should have been more questioning before bringing someone into a situation so prohibited. According to the movie, Donnie Brasco, “The evidence collected by ‘Donnie Brasco’ led to over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions,” a situation that could have been easily avoided if
Everything in this book was done in the name of the family. There were more civilized types of meetings between families to discuss what’s going on in the area, how to fix it, and how to make more money. However, if required, violence, including murders, took place to get resolve issues. Don Corleone and Michael Corleone made all business decisions based on how situations would effect the family name. On multiple occasions, families are found saying, “this is not a personal thing, this is business” (Puzo, 96). The killing of people to eventually, the selling of drugs was all part of the family business. Don Vito Corleone told Johnny Fontane that he would make a personal friend of J. Edgar Hoover, “an offer he can’t refuse” (Puzo, 28). Whether it means death, or a hugely beneficial deal, any offers the Don made were irresistible. The Don was a wonderful businessman, who cared for his family, and his talent passed onto his son, Michael Corleone. For example, when discussing new business strategies, Michael said to Sollozzo, “Tell me more about how you propose to start your business, exactly what part my Family has to play in it and what profit we can take from this business” (Puzo, 126). Michael was assertive, and to the point with only his family in mind. The Corleone family worked to increase their …show more content…
Unlike in The Godfather, in Donnie Brasco, gangsters didn’t find much importance in family. Donnie pretended he grew up as an orphan, Lefty was tired of his son who took the wrong path in life, and they stuck to their chosen connections (the gang) rather than the connections they were born with (their family). These gangsters were a little less intelligent making it more difficult for them to make a steady income. For example, Patsy found a diamond that he thought was real, but Donnie refuted, saying that it was a Fugazy, or a fake (Pistone, 84). If Patsy analyzed the situation, however, and looked more into how to tell if a diamond was real or not, this situation wouldn’t have come up. Patsy didn’t think before he acted, resulting in him being unable to sell the diamond. Another situation where these gangsters didn’t think before they acted was on page 134, where Lefty “put a claim on” Donnie, introducing him to the gang (Pistone). This shouldn’t have been done to begin with, and there should have been more questioning before bringing someone into a situation so prohibited. According to the movie, Donnie Brasco, “The evidence collected by ‘Donnie Brasco’ led to over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions,” a situation that could have been easily avoided if