I guess I'm referring to Mario Puzo in numerous interviews speaking about the old-school Mafia (versus today's) having codes of honor, loyalty, dignity, strong family ties, etc.

The Corleones, as penned by Puzo, are all about devotion, loyalty, unbreakable binds, etc. etc.

So, here's where the paradox creeps in (for me at least).

OK, GRANTED, Sonny reveals that he's into the deal that Sollozzo's offering with his OOPS! during the meeting and might be in disagreement with his father's decision. But where in the Turk's head did he somehow calculate that he could simply kill the old man, and everyone would just shrug and say, "OK, now that he's out of the way, you were saying...?" I mean, COME ON!

Unless PUZO deep down felt that all this family stuff with the Mob was a bunch of hokum and that, at the end of the day, they're all cutthroat mercenaries who'd deal their mothers (or in this case, fathers) for the highest bidder. If THIS is the case, it would make Sollozzo's move quite logical, albeit STILL a major blunder in that the 5 shots didn't finish the job.

I dunno, that portion of the story always had me scratching my head.