Hey All ... I was just wondering i was reading the novel for like the 6th time to catch every detail i can ... anyway i was wondering do you think Two Capos are enough (im talkin about Clemenza And Tessio) do you think there shouldve been one more?? i think it wouldve been better if they were three but's that's just a personel thought?

what do you guys think?? thanx in advanse

I think in the novel, Sonny is also a Capo. Plus Rocco was allowed to form his own secret regime.

Am i right in saying that Familes can have 15-20 capos dependings on how big the family is,The coreleones must have had more capos but no need for them to star in the film

I think there were more capos - weren't Frankie Pentangeli and Luca Brasi also Capos? Anyway, I've always presumed that Clemenza and Tessio were the 'trusted' capos.

Frankie took over from Clemenza when he "died",but Luca was Vitos bodyguard

Any Don can do anything he wants--including naming as many capos as he wants to. But I think that Vito, a careful man, wanted only two capos, mainly for self-protection: the fewer people who shared his confidences and secrets, the smaller the chance of being betrayed. Plus, Sonny did have a regime and was at least co-equal with Tessio and Clemenza. And Vito had Luca in reserve to do the really serious and sensitive murders. Luca, unlike T&C, reported to him directly, not through Hagen.

I think 2 is a perfect number of Capos. Being that they receive direct orders though indirectly from the Don having 2 is a check and balance from either one overtaking the Don. With 3 or more one could persuade others to maybe turn against the family.

I think it's filmic license.

Not in the sense that he stood by Vito's side on a daily basis.

Luca was more like Vito's pitbull. Vito may summon him for that 'special' job. And Luca was probably very protective over Vito in the sense that if anyone attempted to or did bring harm to Vito, Luca was a one man hit squad.

We learn about this in the novel, and it is quite obvious in the movie as Sollozo made sure that Luca was out of the way when they attempted to kill Vito.

Luca was a 'special' person in the Corleone family. He really was not under any regime's command. He was not given orders through a chain of command either. He basically reported directly to the Don.

Don Cardi

Not in the sense that he stood by Vito's side on a daily basis.


if only the turk had known fredo was helpless he could have knifed the don in broad day light since the don was indeed slipping. so maybe he did need a few more capos or someone to stand by his side on a daily basis. but i always figured he had lots of capos who for the sake of time did not appear in novel or film. pete and sal, other than being capos were his true friends, and were bonded to him forever. they were incapable of betraying him so long as he was don.(or maybe so long as he was alive, hence sal's betrayal at the funeral.)

I have opined more than once on these Boards (somewhat sarcastically)that I found just two capos quite unrealistic. With just two capos, Clemenza and Tessio would have averaged about 500 soldiers each. That's more than any one man should have to handle. Talk about stress.

I think Luca was the Don's own personal one-man "Murder, Inc." He was probably given something like a salary or a retainer so that he would not be distracted by the pressure to "earn". As such, he was in a position not unlike Tom, who wasn't an earner, had no crew, and most likely was given all the money he and his family required by the Don. In fact, all these guys were probably listed as employees of Genco Olive Oil (members of the Board, etc.) for reasons of protection from the tax man.
Sonny was the underboss- 2nd in overall command and next in line to the throne. This would mean that he usurped Sal or Pete at one time or another (probably during the "Olive Oil Wars" of the mid 30's), assuming that one of them was officially an underboss at some point. Sonny would most likely have had a crew at some point, and probably maintained it as the underboss.
Sal & Pete, as Capos (or Caporegime, both terms are essentially the same thing) would have been in charge of a crew. The real question is- how big is a crew?
In the real world, a crew is normally no larger than a dozen guys, and a single family is composed of four to six crews, although there can be as many as nine or ten. this would mean that with only three crews, the Corleone Family could only have about 3 dozen soldiers. This is speaking strictly in terms of made guys, of course- one could easily assume that each soldier had his own little "baby crew" of maybe 10 or so associates, all of them ready to fight if a war broke out, and out earning and kicking up their share, which could swell the ranks of the family to maybe 400 men.
Of course, a real family in LCN would have more like five or six capos, but imagine how difficult a story that would be to tell- by way of comparison, in Season 1 of The Sopranos-Jackie Aprile was the Boss and had his own crew, Junior was the outgoing underboss (with his own crew), Tony was the incoming underboss (with his own crew), Silvio was consigliere (but may have had his own crew), Paulie Walnuts and Big Pussy each had a crew- that's 5, maybe 6 crews, for a total of between 60 and 70 or so made guys in the family. After six seasons, we're still in the process of seeing how everything pans out for a family that began a huge change simply because the boss (Jackie Aprile) died of cancer.

Sammy the Fish

Well said Sammy and a perfect analogy. Without turning this into a Sopranos discussion, what you've said is exactly right. After six seasons we are still trying to figure out who's in charge of what crew and how things will turn out. That's after 6 full seasons.

So it would have been impossible for FFC, not to mention confusing to the viewer, to show 7 or 8 different Capos and their crews in a 2 /12 hour movie.


Don Cardi

There's no way I am buying a Sopranos "made guy" family of 60-70. On the other hand, the GF novel states that the Corleones could match the other families gun for gun. So we have to figure the Corleones had upwards of 1,000 soldiers. I'd assume that they were all made. Thoughts?

It does not neccesarily mean that just because the Corleone's had upward of 1,000 soldiers that they ALL were made men.


Don Cardi

In the novel Sonny tells Tom that Clemenza and Tessio have plenty of soldiers and can match the other families gun for gun. That they have plenty of soldiers seems to imply that they were made. If not, then we have the prospect of families just recruiting guys off the street which means they're into an arms race of sorts. I'm not so sure.