Counting the driver, there were four men in the car with Hagen. They put him
In the back seat, in the middle of the two men who had come up behind him in the
Street. Sollozzo sat up front. The man on Hagen's right reached over across his
body and tilted Hagen's hat over his eyes so that he could not see. "Don't even
move your pinkie," he said.
It was a short ride, not more than twenty minutes and when they got out of the
Car Hagen could not recognize the neighborhood because darkness had fallen.
They led him into a basement apartment and made him sit on a straight-backed
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Kitchen chair. Sollozzo sat across the kitchen table from him. His dark face had a
Peculiarly vulterine look.
3 "I don't want you to be afraid," he said. "I know you're not in the muscle end of
the Family. I want you to help the Corleones and I want you to help me."
Hagen's hands were shaking as he put a cigarette in his mouth. One of the
Men brought a bottle of rye to the table and gave him a slug of it in a china coffee
Cup. Hagen drank the fiery liquid gratefully. It steadied his hands and took the
Weakness out of his legs.
5 "Your boss is dead," Sollozzo said. He paused, surprised at the tears that
sprang to Hagen's eyes. Then he went on. "We got him outside his office, in the
Street. As soon as I got the word, I picked you up. You have to make the peace
between me and Sonny."
Hagen didn't answer. He was surprised at his own grief. And the feeling of
desolation mixed with his fear of death. Sollozzo was speaking again. "Sonny
Was hot for my deal. Right? You know it's the smart thing to do too. Narcotics is
The coming thing. There's so much money in it that everybody can get rich just in
A couple of years. The Don was an old 'Moustache Pete,' his day was over but he
Didn't know it. Now he's dead, nothing can bring him back. I'm ready to make a
new deal, I want you to talk Sonny into taking it."
7 Hagen said, "You haven't got a chance. Sonny will come after you with
everything he's got."
8 Sollozzo said impatiently, "That's gonna be his first reaction. You have to talk
Some sense to him. The Tattaglia Family stands behind me with all their people.
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The other New York families will go along with anything that will stop a full-scale
War between us. Our war has to hurt them and their businesses. If Sonny goes
Along with the deal, the other Families in the country will consider it none of their
affair, even the Don's oldest friends."
Hagen stared down at his hands, not answering. Sollozzo went on
persuasively. "The Don was slipping. In the old days I could never have gotten to
him. The other Families distrust him because he made you his Consigliori and
You're not even Italian, much less Sicilian. If it goes to all-out war the Corleone
Family will be smashed and everybody loses, me included. I need the Family
Political contacts more than I need the money even. So talk to Sonny, talk to the
caporegimes ; you'll save a lot of bloodshed."
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10 Hagen held out his china cup for more whiskey. "I'll try," he said. "But Sonny
Is strong-headed. And even Sonny won't be able to call off Luca. You have to
worry about Luca. I'll have to worry about Luca if I go for your deal."
11 Sollozzo said quietly, "I'll take care of Luca. You take care of Sonny and the
Other two kids. Listen, you can tell them that Freddie would have gotten it today
With his old man but my people had strict orders not to gun him. I didn't want any
More hard feelings than necessary. You can tell them that, Freddie is alive
because of me."
Finally Hagen's mind was working. For the first time he really believed that
Sollozzo did not mean to kill him or hold him as a hostage. The sudden relief from
Fear that flooded his body made him flush with shame. Sollozzo watched him with
A quiet understanding smile. Hagen began to think things out. If he did not agree
To argue Sollozzo's case, he might be killed. But then he realized that Sollozzo
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Expected him only to present it and present it properly, as he was bound to do as
a responsible Consigliori. And now, thinking about it, he also realized that
Sollozzo was right. An unlimited war between the Tattaglias and the Corleones
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