This introductory part of the book narrates how an innocent girl suffered from a traumatic experience: Amerigo Bonasera’s daughter had a boyfriend who
took her for a drive. His coarse friend accompanied them. They tried to get her drunk in order to take advantage of her. She resisted, and they resorted to violence. When her father went to the hospital she had two black eyes. Her nose was broken, and her jaw shattered.
This crime introduces the reader to a felony, which was committed by civilians. The primary motivation of the offenders, to take sexual advantage of a girl, was to satisfy their base motives. Therefore the motivation for the crime is rather primitive. The massive violence was committed, because their attempt failed. This savage reaction of the offenders is rather archaic. As if aggression would be a drive that resulted directly from the frustration about unsatisfied needs.9 It is due to all these parameters that the crime seems to be primitive, barbaric and gruesome.
2. The Criminality Committed by the Mafia Towards Civilians
The second category of criminality is directly committed by the Mafia, the organized criminality.
In the following examines, whether the Mafia criminality in The Godfather fits into the acknowledged definition of organized crime:
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity… An organized gang or criminal set can also be referred to as a mob.10
The Godfather, Don Corleone, also runs a criminal enterprise. In this enterprise he, with the support of his lawyer Tom Hagen, meets all important decision. He is the central intelligence, the brain, of his enterprise. Thus his
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enterprise is centralized. The enterprise has his roots and still some connections to Sicily in Italy, therefore the enterprise can be deemed transnational. The key activities of the enterprise are gambling and alcohol smuggling. So the purpose of the enterprise is obviously to engage in criminal actions. As we can see the Mafia enterprise of The Godfather fits into the definition above.
Nevertheless there are some outstanding aspects of his Mafia business, which shall be highlighted. The first substantial characteristic is that Don Corleone----the leader of the Mafia group----uses the concept of friendship as a constitutive element. He does people a----most likely illegal----favor and they may be asked to return the favor later on.
This kind of friendship he is not only keeping with the upper class. Everyone can turn to him as long as they show their respect, honesty, and loyalty. This method can be condensed in an old Chinese wisdom: “whom beloved and supported by the people heartily, who will win the world.”11
In this way, Don Corleone makes people part of his Mafia empire to expand it, and use people’s individual talents. Puzo explains this whole concept on the example of Amerigo Bonasera. He is also an Italian American but unlike Don Corleone he had the intention to live a life as an honorable American who clings to the values of his country. He gave up this moral code after his daughter was brutally mistreated. The Godfather helped him to get revenge by maltreating the offenders of his daughter:
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… 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.12
This criminal deed was committed by the Mafia towards civilians. There a several points which are worth noticing. Firstly the first crime that was
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committed by the offenders was the direct cause for the second crime. With this Puzo wanted to show his readers that violence leads to counter - violence, called spiral of violence.13
The second interesting point is that the motive for the crime. The vengeance for Bonaserra′s daughter seems to be a more sophisticated reason than the primitive motive of her offenders. Even though this is true, the self-administrated justice of Don Corleone, who acts as a judge, has the same massive degree of violence. With this Puzo wanted to show his readers that even if the motives for both crimes are different. Yet they are committed in a similarly brutal and savage way.
3. Crimes Committed by the Mafioso Towards Mafioso
For the crimes that are committed by mafioso towards Mafioso the never uses the theme of violence and counter - violence again. However unlike the Civilians the Mafiosi almost always act with the intention to kill:
The first bullet caught Don Corleone in the back. He felt the hammer shock of its impact but made his body move toward the car. The next two bullets hit him in the buttocks and sent him sprawling in the middle of the street. Meanwhile the two gunmen, careful not to slip the rolling fruit, started to follow in order to finish him off…The gunmen fired two more hasty shots at the Don lying in the gutter. One hit him in the fleshy part of his arm and the second hit him in the calf of his right leg. Though these wounds were the least serious the bled profusely, forming small pools of blood beside his body. But by this time Don Corleone had lost consciousness.14
Don Corleone, his criminal activities focus on gambling and alcohol smuggling business, while he refused to take part in the drug-, or the prostitution “business”, due to his own sense of morality. His disagreement with
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drug dealings leaded to the assault on his life. He was an obstacle in the business of all rivalling clans and therefore they intended to eliminate him. In the Mafia environment killing is the same as operating against a business competitor. In opposition to the crimes between civilians, the Mafia established a crime culture. Crime is not the exception but the rule and a regular business strategy.
There are several insights concerning criminality that can be deviated from The Godfather.
Firstly: Criminality will lead to further criminality.
Secondly: Criminality between civilians is a horrible and gruesome exception and often something personal.
Thirdly: In opposition to that criminality, which is committed by the Mafia is just part of a regular crime culture. Severe violence is deemed a something normal, a regular instrument to gain economic success.
Fourthly: The Godfather amalgamates the spheres of civilians and the Mafia by regularly integrating people who need his help into his Mafia Empire.
B. The Government’s Corruption
The preceding section presented the different categories of crimes and their phonotypical characteristics. Subsequently it is necessary to explore the external circumstances that enable the organized criminality. The most essential external factor is the Government′s Corruption. If the forces that are supposed to fight Criminals help them instead and become part of a criminal apparatus itself, a stable culture of crime and violence can manifest itself.
Actually, government corruption is common:
The The judge, a formidably heavy-featured man, rolled up the sleeves of his black robe as if to physically chastise the two young
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men standing before the bench. His face was cold with majestic contempt. But there was something false in all this that Amerigo Bonasera sensed but did not yet understand… the judge said harshly. Yes, yes, thought Amerigo Bonasera. Animals. Animals. The two young men, glossy hair crew cut, scrubbed clean-cut faces composed into humble contrition, bowed their heads in submission. The judge went on. “You acted like wild beasts in a jungle and you are fortunate you did not sexually molest that poor girl or I’d put you behind bars for twenty years.” The judge paused; his eyes beneath impressively thick brows flickered slyly toward the sallow-faced Amerigo Bonasera, and then lowered to a stack of probation reports before him. He frowned and shrugged as if convinced against his own natural desire. He spoke again. But because of your youth and your fine family background the sentence will be suspended.15
Putzo illustrates that corruption has spread like a virus. Already at the beginning of the novel, he introduces the figure of the judge, who gives a rather mild sentence to two young men, who brutally mistreated a helpless girl. As a reason for this sentence, he states their fine family background. Within the course of the story the reader gains the insight, that the judge was bribed by the men’s wealthy families:
Captain Mark McCluskey sat in his office fingering three envelopes bulging with betting slips. He was frowning and wishing he could decode the notations on the slips. It was very important that he do so. The envelopes were the betting slips that his raiding parties had picked up when they had hit one of the Corleone Family bookmakers the night before. Now the bookmaker would have to buy back the slips so that players couldn’t claim winners and wipe him out.16
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