Let's say Sonny had managed to kill Bruno Tattaglia, whom he believed to be behind Sollozzo. With Vito still alove but weakened, such a move would have probably forced the remnants of the Tattaglia family and all the other families into an alliance with Barzini, and perhaps other families from out of New York, including the Molinaris on the coast against the Corleones. To that end Tom was right in his advice to Sonny...that with the stories about McCluskey circulating, things were starting to loosen up and money was starting to come back in. At that point, the family was considerably weaker han it had been, and Tom was absolutely right to tke a wait and see approach.

All the sibling rivalry stuff that we have covered in other threads considered, Sonny refused to take Tom's advice, assuming he was not a wartime consigliere like Genco was, and made the incredibly bad decision that "business will have to sufer."
This is 180 degrees opposite to what Mike and Vito eventually did. They went out of their way to lay low. They knew the family did not have the kind of muscle it needed to win a war, and they knew they had to keep things greased lest the other families turn on them (which they were already doing, i.e. chiseling away at Tessio and Clemenza's territories). Michael secretly built up the Neri regime, something that did not escape Tom's eye, and when the time was right he mde his move. His brilliance was in the timing. He waited until he had the muscle, until after the Baptism and his being named Godfather to Connie's child before he paid his "visit" to the heads of the families and to Carlo.

All of this is pretty much in line with what Hagen would have recommended IMHO, and in fact Hagen played an integral rle in the planning and execution of the hit on Tessio, which he handled brilliantly, as well as the hit on Carlo. He was also an instrumental layer in the hits at the end of GFII. So what I am saying here is that while Sonny and Michael were always quick to dismiss Tom as not a wartime consigliere, perhaps he was not as bad as all that after all.

Good post, DT.

I agree. I think Tom was at least as good a Consigliere as Sonny was a Don.

He did!


"After the hospital thing, Sonny got mad. We hit Bruno Tattaglia 4 o'clock this morning."

I know who you really meant. Good post DonT. Some good points,

"All you people want is more, more, more. Leave Sonny alone!"

Bruno Tattaglia, Phillip Tattaglia....they all look the same to me.

Nice post DT.
I agree that Tom gets a bad rap in a lot of respects.

But Sonny didn't have the freedom to lie low and play possum for two or three years.
He was in a hot war he didn't choose and the entire Corleone power was at stake.

He couldn't negotiate the Sollozzo deal (without Sollozzo) which is the least of what the other Families wanted.
He could not replace the consigliere or get new capos as Mike/Vito did.

His only choice was to surrender or come out swinging.

Mike and Vito were able to make their plans and lay low because as Boss, Vito had the power to unilaterally change the Corleone Family policy on drug trafficking. This brought them the critical time to train Michael, build secret regimes and expand/transfer political power. Sonny didn't have that kind of time.

Even though Sonny disagreed with the initial policy and was at least tangentially to blame for the ensuing war, there's no way Sonny would have gone against his father in a matter of business and told the other Families that he would now support drug trafficking, regardless of what Vito had said.

We can really ask the question of why didn't Vito order Sonny/Tom to give in and make the same plans with them as he later did with Michael. The story wouldn't have been as interesting of course.

Vito was holding out for his position--no drugs--until events forced his hand. I think he was depending on Sonny to mount a holding action until he got better and could take command. But when Sonny was assassinated, he had to act in a conciliatory fashion--he had no choice. And he had to give in to bring Michael back safely from Sicily, to assume command of the family. Those needs made Vito change course.

And I agree with Turnbull in that Vito was depending on Sonny to hold things together until he was healthy enough to take back control.

We agree on that.
Yes, Vito was depending on his eldest son to hold things together.
And Sonny was not as smart or as cunning as Vito or Michael.
All I'm saying is that Sonny's hand was forced in a way that Michael's wasn't. So his aggressive defense of Family power was the best move that could be made at that time.

If Vito had given Sonny permission to assent to the drug deal (for strategic purposes) and Sonny refused because he wanted immediate revenge that would be a different story.

I'll agree with that Lilo. And that is why iinitially said that although Sonny may not have been as calculating and as cunning as Vito or Michael, he was dealt the hand that he had to play and really didn't do a bad job, in regards to fighting a war, considering the manner in which his hand was forced and his losing a major ally, a major force, in Luca Brasi.

I agree with that too.

Sonny was the Patton of the underworld. He knew how to fight and win, but not when to fight. He was brash and rash, stubborn, and pedantic.

EXACTLY! I was thinking of using that very analogy earlier...
Perfect, Olivant..

Yes olivant, an EXCELLENT analogy!

I disagree with the when to fight part, Sonny's downfall was his rash judgment which caused him to fly off the handle (at Carlo) instead of being careful and sending someone to get Carlo and bring him to Sonny.

"A rose by any other name ..."

And that translates into knowing when to fight vs. knowing when to retreat, back off and plan your next fight.