Here's an NPR interview with Ed Falco, author of The Family Corleone, the prequel to The Godfather. The novel is due out May 8 from Grand Central, but Paramount has filed a lawsuit trying to prevent it from being published. Paramount may be angling for a good deal on film rights, but no one knows for sure what's going on.

http://withgoodreasonradio.org/2012/03/the-offer-he-couldnt-refuse/

Entertainment Weekly has the book trailer:
http://bit.ly/Is5tb0

Thanks for that!

i wonder if they will introduce new characters. I know people dont like the other godfather novels but i actually liked seeing other mobsters besides the immediate corleones

Is the story set ONLY in 1933? I want to see side characters like Frank Pentangelli and Willi Cicci and Genco. And I hope it isn't a "Sonny-centric" story. I don't want to see Sonny's rise, I want to see Vito at the peak of his powers and ruthlessnss, in between his rise (as shown in GF II) and his middle age (as seen in GF I).

It's set 1933-1934 mostly. Frankie Pentangelli and Genco are both part of the story, as are Clemenza, Tessio, Luca Brasi, The Rosato brother, The Barzinis, and lots of other characters from the original books and movies--and then there's a whole other crew of Irish gangsters that are part of the story, too. Vito's there, too. One of the early reviews said the depiction of Vito was especially good.

It's coming out within days is it not?

I got my hands on an advance review copy, but the actual book is supposed to be in stores on Tuesday, May 8th.

Here's the web page:

http://www.familycorleone.com/

Seems like they're doing a lot of marketing.

The book is definitely getting notice:

http://usat.ly/IGBACB

Thanks for the info. Do they introduce or expand on any corleone mobsters

In the Corleone family, there's Richie Gatto who's important. He's Paulie Gatto's father. Then Luca Brasi, before he joins the Corleone family has a whole gang of his own, like five characters. Tessio has guys working under him who aren't in the movie or book, and so does Clemenza. Frankie Pentangeli has guys with him, too. Then there are the other families and the Irish, so it's a pretty big cast of characters. Part of the story in the first section is how Luca Brasi comes to be so loyal to Vito. And Santino . . . Well, I don't want to give away anything in the book, but, yes, there are more Corleone family characters.

Sounds cool

I think Falco constantly mentioning that he's Edie Falco's uncle is kind of shameless and tacky. He's definitely trying to too hard to capitalize on Sopranos' fans there. But I'm going to try to read the book with an open mind.

Here's the first chapter from Publisher's Weekly:

First Look: The Family Corleone by Ed Falco

Chapter One from the new Godfather prequel
By Ed Falco

A new Godfather book hits this week, and we've got the first chapter. Working from a Mario Puzo screenplay, novelist Ed Falco (uncle of Edie Falco, a.k.a. Carmela Soprano) goes back to 1933 New York for The Family Corleone, where a 17-year-old Sonny Corleone is just starting to learn the family business.

Fall 1933

1.

Giuseppe Mariposa waited at the window with his hands on his hips and his eyes on the Empire State Building. To see the top of the building, the needlelike antenna piercing a pale blue sky, he leaned into the window frame and pressed his face against the glass. He had watched the building go up from the ground, and he liked to tell the boys how he’d been one of the last men to have dinner at the old Waldorf-Astoria, that magnificent hotel that once stood where the world’s tallest building now loomed. He stepped back from the window and brushed dust from his suit jacket.

Below him, on the street, a big man in work clothes sat atop a junk cart traveling lazily toward the corner. He carried a black derby riding on his knee as he jangled a set of worn leather reins over the flank of a swayback horse. Giuseppe watched the wagon roll by. When it turned the corner, he took his hat from the window ledge, held it to his heart, and looked at his reflection in a pane of glass. His hair was white now, but still thick and full, and he brushed it back with the palm of his hand. He adjusted the knot and straightened his tie where it had bunched up slightly as it dis­appeared into his vest. In a shadowy corner of the empty apartment behind him, Jake LaConti tried to speak, but all Giuseppe heard was a guttural mumbling. When he turned around, Tomasino came through the apartment door and lumbered into the room carrying a brown paper bag. His hair was unkempt as always, though Giuseppe had told him a hundred times to keep it combed—and he needed a shave, as always. Everything about Tomasino was messy. Giuseppe fixed him with a look of contempt that Tomasino, as usual, didn’t notice. His tie was loose, his shirt collar unbuttoned, and there was blood on his wrinkled jacket. Tufts of curly black hair stuck out from his open collar.

“He say anything?” Tomasino pulled a bottle of scotch out of the paper bag, unscrewed the cap, and took a swig.

Giuseppe looked at his wristwatch. It was eight thirty in the morning. “Does he look like he can say anything, Tommy?” Jake’s face was battered. His jaw dangled toward his chest.

Tomasino said, “I didn’t mean to break his jaw.”

“Give him a drink,” Giuseppe said. “See if that helps.”

Jake was sprawled out with his torso propped up against the wall and his legs twisted under him. Tommy had pulled him out of his hotel room at six in the morning, and he still had on the black-and­white-striped silk pajamas he had worn to bed the night before, only now the top two buttons had been ripped away to reveal the mus­cular chest of a man in his thirties, about half Giuseppe’s age. As Tommy knelt to Jake and lifted him slightly, positioning his head so that he could pour scotch down his throat, Giuseppe watched with interest and waited to see if the liquor would help. He had sent Tommy down to the car for the scotch after Jake had passed out. The kid coughed, sending a spattering of blood down his chest. He squinted through swollen eyes and said something that would have been impossible to make out had he not been saying the same three words over and over throughout the beating. “He’s my father,” he said, though it came out as ’E mah fad’.

“Yeah, we know.” Tommy looked to Giuseppe. “You got to give it to him,” he said. “The kid’s loyal.”

Giuseppe knelt beside Tomasino. “Jake,” he said. “Giacomo. I’ll find him anyway.” He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and
used it to keep his hands from getting bloody as he turned the kid’s face to look at him. “Your old man,” he said, “Rosario’s day has come. There’s nothing you can do. Rosario, his day is over. You understand me, Jake?”

“Sì,” Giacomo said, the single syllable coming out clearly.

“Good,” Giuseppe said. “Where is he? Where’s the son of a bitch hiding?”

Giacomo tried to move his right arm, which was broken, and groaned at the pain.

Tommy yelled, “Tell us where he is, Jake! What the hell’s wrong with you!”

Giacomo tried to open his eyes, as if straining to see who was yelling at him. “ ’E mah fad’,” he said.

“Che cazzo!” Giuseppe threw up his hands. He watched Jake and listened to his strained breathing. The shouts of children playing came up loud from the street and then faded. He looked to Tomasino before he exited the apartment. In the hall, he waited at the door until he heard the muffled report of a silencer, a sound like a ham­mer striking wood. When Tommy joined him, Giuseppe said, “Are you sure you finished him?” He put on his hat and fixed it the way he liked, with the brim down.

“What do you think, Joe?” Tommy asked. “I don’t know what I’m doing?” When Giuseppe didn’t answer, he rolled his eyes. “The top of his head’s gone. His brains are all over the floor.”

At the stairwell, atop the single flight of steps down to the street, Giuseppe stopped and said, “He wouldn’t betray his father. You gotta respect him for that.”

“He was tough,” Tommy said. “I still think you should’ve let me work on his teeth. I’m telling you, ain’t nobody won’t talk after a little of that.”

Giuseppe shrugged, admitting Tommy might have been right. “There’s still the other son,” he said. “We making any progress on that?”

“Not yet,” Tommy said. “Could be he’s hiding out with Rosario.”

Giuseppe considered Rosario’s other son for a heartbeat before his thoughts shifted back to Jake LaConti and how the kid couldn’t be beaten into betraying his father. “You know what?” he said to Toma­sino. “Call the mother and tell her where to find him.” He paused, thinking, and added, “They’ll get a good undertaker, they’ll fix him up nice, they can have a big funeral.”

Tommy said, “I don’t know about fixing him up, Joe.”

“What’s the name of the undertaker did such a good job on O’Banion?” Giuseppe asked.

“Yeah, I know the guy you mean.”

“Get him,” Giuseppe said, and he tapped Tommy on the chest. “I’ll take care of it myself, out of my own pocket. The family don’t have to know. Tell him to offer them his services for free, he’s a friend of Jake’s, and so on. We can do that, right?”

“Sure,” Tommy said. “That’s good of you, Joe.” He patted Giuseppe’s arm.

“All right,” Giuseppe said. “So that’s that,” and he started down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time, like a kid.

From The Family Corleone by Ed Falco, Copyright (c) 2012 by Ed Falco. Reprinted courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-to...y-corleone.html

Falco's written like a dozen books and plays before this one, dating back before Edie Falco got famous. I bet anything he doesn't like always being identified in publicity as "Edie Falco's uncle." I know I wouldn't like it. But she's famous and I'm sure he can't tell Publisher's Weekly or anyone else not to always mention her.

Bobby Cannavale sounds like Marlon Brando. (Click on Audio and Video)

http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/books_9780446574624.htm

Whatever you say, Ed, er, Rich .

Rich, pay no attention to that rude gavone, pizzaboy.

Errr, could you get me your niece's, Edie, autograph?

That was fast! Okay, so busted, and quickly. Full confession: I've been following you guys for a long time. Nobody but nobody knows more about The Godfather than some of you who post here. I was kind of hoping I could covertly overhear what your responses were to the novel, but clearly I blew it. Anyway, let me just say one thing: I seriously don't like always being identified as Edie's uncle, but Edie's a sweetheart and a wonderful human being and there's nothing either she or I can do about it. And one more thing: thanks for all the depth and detail in your knowledge of everything Godfather. You've been a great resource. I've gotten to kind of like Rich Certo. Think I'll keep it as an alias.

Full disclosure: Now that you've "come clean," I think I'll be able to read the book with a much more open mind. I was honestly trying to bait you into admitting that you were Falco. I'm glad I was right.

But be forewarned: If the book isn't any good, we're going to let you know about it. We were absolute murder on Winegardner. He still gets the occasional bomb threat from some of us .

Trust me, I have no doubt that you'll express your opinions clearly. If you don't like it, I won't be defending it. I did the research, wrote the book, and now it's out of my hands. I just get to wait and see what everybody thinks. Really, I know, I should have just lurked and listened, but, what can I say, I got into it. I'll probably be quiet from here on. But I will definitely be listening.

You're opening yourself to some heartache. Some of our members will go over the book with a magnifying glass. Some will split hairs and go into minute detail.

OK, to start, with the book's first paragraph:


The needle-like antenna was not in place at the top of the Empire State Bldg in 1933. That came later (trust a "King Kong" fan to know this).

OK.... OK... cheap shot; I'm just being a smartass.

I'm looking forward to reading this, and I wish you good luck with it.

Having an error in your opening paragraph, requires that every member receive a free autographed poster of Edie Falco not as Carmela Soprano but Nurse Jackie!

Okay, first question: is this Giuseppe Mariposa the main antagonist of the novel? And if so, why did you change the name?

Nevermind, I see that you already answered this question in the other topic. I assumed you were just one of those marketing guys.

Richard do you mind if I call you DICK

You've been a great resource. I've gotten to kind of like Rich Certo. Think I'll keep it as an alias. [/quote]

\

Yeah, I realized the the antennae error soon after the book went to print and there was nothing to do about it. It's the kind of thing you hope a copy editor will catch. King Kong fans everywhere will notice. There are three or four errors like that that I've found since the book went to print. All minor, thankfully. I'm sure you guys will find more. Whenever you're writing a period piece, you do your best to get the details right, then hope your editors will catch what you miss, then keep your fingers crossed. All in all, I hope I got the period details right.

Sonny: I think I may soon wish I was one of those marketing guys. I'm a fan of your posts, by the way.

I'm crying laughing at this thread. The book will be successful no need to go see Dr. Melfi. There's so much mob bolshit in the news the past year the audience has grown tremendously for Italian-American Organized Crime.

And I hope I and others here will become a fan of your novel too. It's a good thing that you're here and I think the members here will respect you for it, especially if your novel will be well received (fingers crossed).

Btw, If I was you I should be particulary interested in Turnbull's posts, although he focusses more on The Godfather II years.

Steven Lynch panned the book in today's Post, but provided an interesting Corleone Family timeline for fans. It should be noted that he included Winegardner's books in said timeline.

An offer you can refuse

A lost tale of ‘The Godfather’ fills in the tale of Luca Brasi — but did we need to know?

By STEPHEN LYNCH, NY Post

The Family Corleone
by Ed Falco, based on a screenplay

by Mario Puzo

Grand Central Publishing

He barely appears in the movie, yet Luca Brasi steals “The Godfather.” Maybe because he’s the subject of two of the film’s most immortal lines — Luca helps administer “the offer he can’t refuse,” and after he’s garrotted, he “sleeps with the fishes.” He doesn’t kill anyone in the movie, yet he’s still the scariest capo.

No surprise, then, that Mario Puzo thought fans would welcome a return of Don Corleone’s personal diàvolo. In early drafts of the script to “The Godfather Part III,” Puzo structured it like the previous sequel, weaving in flashbacks of Corleone’s rise to power in the 1930s, including how he recruited Brasi. After Puzo’s death in 1999, his agent found this lost screenplay and gave it to novelist Ed Falco.

The Corleones, with their constant whining about “going legit” between beating guys with tire irons, remain irresistible. It’s 1933-34, the end of Prohibition, and Vito is still trying to consolidate his power. There are vendettas, street shootings and so many descriptions of Italian food that the book includes a glossary.

But, like many prequels, “The Family Corleone” suffers from a fill-in-the-blank quality, fleshing out things that didn’t need to be explained — like Sonny’s temper or exactly how Tom Hagen was brought into the family.

The worst, disappointingly, is Luca. We watch as Brasi’s brutality leads him to despair, and how he becomes indebted to Vito. But his childhood traumas don’t make him any deeper of a character. The diàvolo isn’t in the details. The more you find out about Luca, the less scary he becomes — and no “Godfather” fan wants that.

The ‘Godfather’ century

1901 Young Vito Andolini’s father, mother and brother are murdered by a local mob boss in Corleone, Sicily. Vito escapes to America, where immigration officials name him after his hometown (“The Godfather Part II”).

1920 Vito kills local mob boss Fanucci, who’s been squeezing merchants for protection money, and becomes the new power in the neighborhood. (“The Godfather Part II”).

1925 Vito returns to Sicily and kills Don Ciccio, the man who murdered his family.

1933-34 Time frame of new novel, “The Family Corleone,” based on a Mario Puzo screenplay. Vito vies for power with other families and gangs, including that of enforcer Luca Brasi. His son Sonny is starting to get into the family business, while the boy he raised, Tom Hagen, studies to be a lawyer at NYU.

1941 Vito’s son Michael enlists in the Marines after the Pearl Harbor attack.

1945 Vito is gravely wounded in an assassination attempt (“The Godfather”) which will eventually pit the Corleones against the Tattaglia and Barzini families.

1946 Michael avenges his father’s shooting (“The Godfather”) and must flee to Sicily, where he gets married. Poor Apollonia is blown up by Corleone enemies (“The Godfather Part II”).

1946-48Acting boss Sonny Corleone sends brother Fredo to Vegas to learn the casino business (the novel “The Godfather’s Returns” expands on this period). Back in New York, Sonny is killed on the tollway (“The Godfather”).

1949Michael is allowed to return to America. He marries his girlfriend Kay (“The Godfather”).

1955Vito dies of a heart attack at age 63 (“The Godfather”).

1958-59Michael moves the family business to Las Vegas, after fending off threats from other families and Senate sub-committees. Brother Fredo betrays Michael to gangster Hyman Roth, but is discovered. Michael has Fredo killed (“The Godfather Part II”).

1963 Time frame of the novel “The Godfather’s Revenge.” Tom Hagen is killed by a former member of the Corleone family who has been betrayed.

1979 Events of “The Godfather Part III.” Michael is divorced, wracked with guilt over killing his brother and still chasing that dream of going legitimate. A deal involving the Vatican goes bad, however, leaving his daughter dead and him broken.

1997Like his father, Michael dies, ironically, not of murder but old age (“The Godfather Part III”).

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/boo...K#ixzz1u6tWLnVO

Does anyone remember how the NY Post reviewed the Winegardner novels?

His novels were well received by the press I believe...

Yeah, The NY Post didn't like it, but The Washington Post did, if reluctantly.

http://wapo.st/Ja5MEx

And tomorrow's USA Today has a nice story:

http://usat.ly/KdEtvT

Tomorrow I'll be on the road all day traveling to NY, and can probably use the break from checking reviews and stories. I'm looking forward to being back in NY City for a week . . .

Giuseppe Mariposa waited at the window with his hands on his hips and his eyes on the Empire State Building. To see the top of the building, the needlelike antenna piercing a pale blue sky, he leaned into the window frame and pressed his face against the glass.


Bold copy is a joke not original text.


Giuseppe Mariposa then saw a beautiful young lady, having his face pressed against the glass they locked eyes. She slowly came over and lifted up her dress for little Giuseppe, he took his hands off his hips and from behind glass, he began to notice his needlike antenna was starting to obstruct the view of the window with a cloudy white substance..Giuseppe seemed to lose touch with reality, and then finally realized he was at a cat-house that belonged to vito. Hes startled as the glass is shattered from an ape-like creature that had fallen from the sky, he had come from Hollywood but his poor english had confused Vito after feeding the creature whether he wore to go back to hollywood florida or universal studios in hollywood calforinia. Gisuepe felt that this ape creature who with Benjamin Sigel in LA, would serve as a good enforcer for his crew.Vito Agreed, and sat the ape down and explained to him what kind of business they were in. They eat all kinds of Italian shit the shit you read about in every mob book.Vito had then instructed Giuseppe to take the ape to the local tailor George Anastasia, who fitted the ape with a nice tailored suit, a fedora and a pair of suspenders. George rang the ape up and after hearing the price of 60.00...The ape let out a loud cry to be heard for miles he threw George Anastassia threw the window whose head was squashed by a passing car.

Since I didn't get a review copy (despite my written request), I'm not sure if this is a direct quote, or your fantasy ....

Geoff I edit by intro a little bit, since your review copy hasn't arrived yet.

Dicknose, you should write a parody of The Godfather.

Sure, encourage this gavone.

Why the surname "Mariposa", when that's not an Italian name at all?

Tattaglia doesn't seem to be either.

Thanks Sonny. I'm a fan of your posts as well. I guess not everyone feels the same way.

Did you sober up or something Dicknose? Your posts seem to be a lot more coherent. Still crazy, but more coherent.

True.

Give me a break man, I'm just some guy on this board. But you're probably sarcastic anyway.

Neither is Sollozzo. Maybe their names were changed at Ellis Island.

According to this website the name Mariposa does exist in Italy, although it seems to be extremely rare.

http://www.gens.info/italia/it/turismo-viaggi-e-tradizioni-italia?cognome=mariposa&x=0&y=0

The book hasn't even been released yet and look at the details we're tearing it apart for.

So where does this name come from then? It does sound more Italian than any other language. We all know Smith is evidently not an Italian name.

It's Spanish. It actually means "butterfly" in Spanish. I am just very familiar with that name and it being a Spanish one, which is why I even commented.

Campania and Sicily were part of Spain for a very long time, so maybe therein lies the answer.

Sonnny don't take life so seriously or before you know it your hair will turn bright white and you'll be telling strangers that your name is Richard. Not Richard Certo but perhaps Richard Simmons that's a good one to use on the ladies.

The answer that such a name, although it hails from Spain, might therefore exists in those parts of Italy. I bet there are a lot of Southern Italians with Spanish ancestry.

I had another VOP so I got the mouthpiece to have me sent down south for the winter rather then a cell.

What does Dennis Hopper say in the movie True Romance.

Is there a book based in 21st century about Vincent corleone? Cause if not and if your book is good ed/Richie them you should do it!

I think they should leave the series alone. Were not talking about Harry Potter here.

true that. but if this book is good and he writes in same style it would be good

I'd love to see a book about the final ruination of the Corleone Family in the 1990s under Vincent's leadership. I think one of the script ideas was that he took the family fully into the narcotics trade and in the end was killed in a manner similar to Pablo Escobar.

Not exactly original, too much like Scarface. Something less predictable would be better or with a twist, like he gives up the life and follows Hagen's son into the priesthood.

I've downloaded the audiobook off iTunes and am presently listening to it. I will let people know what I think of it once I have gotten more into it.

I got my copy yesterday. I've read the jacket cover only and have already been disgusted by a "mistake" by Falco. The cover is reliving a discussion between Vito and Carmela about their eldest son. Vito says, "Sonny will be OK".

VITO NEVER CALLED HIS OLDEST SON, "SONNY". IT WAS ALWAYS, "SANTINO".

C'mon, Ed, if you're gonna write a book about the Corleones, you have to know this stuff!!!!

That's honestly unforgivable. Between that and the ridiculous Empire State Building anachronism on page one---PAGE ONE!!!!---this book is already competing with Alexandra Ripley's literary "sequel" to "Gone With the Wind." And that ain't a compliment.

It's very telling that Paramount made all that noise. They must have known that this book was a dog. Because if it's not, why would they try to stop it when they would still own the inevitable movie rights?

But I haven't started it yet. I have my copy sitting on the kitchen table and I'll start it either tonight or tomorrow. And if I'm wrong about it, I'll gladly man up and post a stellar review for poor Ed.

Vito: "Never. Give him something to earn a living, a good living. But never let him know the Family's business. Tell the others, Sonny, Fredo, Clemenza."

Nice one. Guess that means he will survive this round.

Not so fast. I suspect that olivant, in his rush to find my statement wrong skipped over this quote, a few pages before his quoted line above. Puzo wrote: "Standing at the door with him were two of his three sons. The eldest, baptized Santino but called Sonny by everyone except his father, was looked at askance by the older Italian men;"

Puzo chose to add this at the introduction of the character in the novel. It's a telling thing.

The line olivant quoted is merely a mistake in editing, something that should have been caught but obviously wasn't.

lets think of vito as a person, he makes mistakes here and there or says names differently than usual (not perfect wording i know) but still you can't point out that little flaw it's just nit picking.

i got mine on wednesday. not too bad. better then winegarder or whatever is name is! but only read the first 30 pages

Ed, what I dont like is you always put in "said". you never put any other word. angelo said blah blah but then you put vinnie said. been more interesting using other words like replied, asked, whispered

Maybe it's also a mistake in editing in this novel? In any case, I don't really care that much about these minor details as long as the story itself is good.

sonny you getting it?

Yes, but I wait till the ebook is available to buy in the Netherlands.

Picked the book up a couple of days ago, but it's now second in a queue to be read. Irvine Welsh's 'Skagboys' came out a couple of weeks ago, & I've been waiting three years for it, so that's what's being read first.

I've been hanging out for another GF novel for years, Skagboys was originally meant to be published in 2010 - what are the odds that they'd both be released within a week or so of each other?

That Vito calls his oldest son Santino while everyone else call him Sonny is Puzo's excellent way of characterizing Vito. Vito is more reserved and formal than the others around him. And I do have Vito almost always refer to Sonny as Santino, but I didn't see it as some kind of rule that could never be broken. In a tender moment between Vito and his wife, he might refer to Santino the same way his wife does, as Sonny. I was trying for a moment of tenderness between Vito and his wife.

Here are a couple of particularly good reviews of the novel that came out last week.

George De Stefano is the author of An Offer We Can’t Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America (Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus, Giroux). He is also a member of the National Book Critics Circle. From The New York Journal of Books:

http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/review/family-corleone

Jon Jordan is ex-cop/detective turned novelist from Milwaukee. From Crimespree:

http://crimespreemag.com/blog/?s=The+Family+Corleone

Liking it so far. Better then the winegardner ones

Just purchased the ebook at kobobooks.

In the only sentence I could find in the novel where Vito calls him Sonny, it was a tender moment between Vito and Tom about Carlo.

Maranzano from the Puzo novel has had his name changed to Mariposa. Is there any specific reason for this? The novel refers to real-life figures such as Dutch Schultz, Al Capone, etc., so why change the name of that character?

Are you referring to Maranzalla? Maranzano is mentioned.

I've searched for "Maranzano" in the ebook but without results. I've also noticed another small error: Massimo Fanucci was killed during the Feast of San Rocco, not San Gennaro as stated in the novel. The Feast of San Gennaro was first held in 1926.

Sonny: Is the Feast of San Rocco mentioned anywhere in the books or movies? I spent some time trying figure this out and decided eventually that it was an anachronism but also one of the most famous scenes from the movie. In the movie, we see Saint Anthony being paraded through the streets with dollar bills pinned to his image. I grew up in Brooklyn and went to the Feast of San Gennaro many times, and this parading of Saint Anthony was one of the highlights of the whole affair. So, again, I figured it was the Feast of San Gennaro and a minor anachronism and went with it in the novel because it was such a famous scene. But if the Feast of San Rocco is mentioned anywhere--and they also parade a saint (though it looked like Saint Anthony to me) I'd love to know . . .

Dontommasion: The Family Corleone is set in 1934, and Salvatore Maranzano died in 1931. Luciano and Lansky set up Maranzano after they learned that he had hired Mad Dog Coll to murder Luciano and Vito Genovese. In The Godfather, Puzo has Maranzano still alive in 1933, two years after he'd been killed. Schultz and Capone were still around in '34, though Capone was in prison.

I don't think the novel explicitly refers to the Feast of San Rocco, but it is described that Vito kills Fanucci on a hot summer night. The Feast of San Rocco is held in mid August which fits perfectly while the Feast of San Gennaro is held in late September.

Anyway, in the movie it's without any doubt the Feast of San Rocco as shown in these screenshots:

Yeah, the screenshot of San Rocco was always memorable to me.

Here's a pic of the real Feast of San Rocco from 1933 (read the insert in the lower right hand corner). The statue with the money pinned on it is a likeness of Saint Rocco, not Saint Anthony. Although in defense of Ed, I've been to many Feasts in the Bronx and Manhattan where the statue that was passed through the streets was a likeness of Saint Anthony.

San Rocco is what I remember.

I'm not even a nitpicker, but I pretty much noticed that IMMEDIATELY while reading the jacket. Still, as long as the story is good, I'm willing to give it a chance.

Sonny, Pizzaboy, Olivant: Thanks. Great screen shots. I'm shaking my head at having not realized that HUGE sign indicated the Feast of San Rocco, and not the name of a church, which is how I think it registered with me. Thanks for clarifying. If I'm lucky and the book goes to a second edition, I may get a chance to make minor changes in the text.

I just learned about an hour ago that the book sold well enough its first week to land at #16 on the 5/27 NY Times Best Seller list, so maybe I'll be lucky and get that chance.

I'm into the second half of the book and things seem to be moving very quickly now!

RichCerto, the gentlemen who did the audio recording for the book did Pentangeli very well!

Just finished the book. It's a whole lot better than Winegardner's books thats for sure. I would hope Falco will now be the one to attempt a book on the end of the Corleone Saga (Vincent as head of the family)


****Spolier alert****

One criticism though: I was always under the impression that when Vito was shot by a group of Mad Dog Irishmen it was more than just a shoulder injury. I would have expected that he would have had to be in the hospital. Also Puzo speaks of Sonny taking charge while Vito was down and starting his own regime "like a young napoleon" I didnt see any of that in the novel so for that Im a bit dissappointed

I would be more interested in a novel which covers the years between 1959 and 1979. I've now read the first 100 pages and it's pretty decent so far.

So would I. I'd like to see how Connie took care of Michael in the post-Kay era. I'd also like to see just how much contact Michael had with his children during that time period. And, probably most of all, I'd like to see what happened to the Rosato brothers.

As they were apparantly around in 1933 I think they pretty much retired after the Hyman Roth debacle.

That would be an interesting time. I actually had been thinking up a story like that. That time would be an amazing story though im not sure how you could steer clear of the presidential assassination stuff

If possible, I'd like to get a list going of who's finished the book. That way we can control the use of the spoiler tags.

Just create a new topic with a spoiler alert so people who haven't finished or read the book know they should avoid it.

My copy has arrived, but I may not read it until the summer when I'm on my next vacation.

Ordered The Family Corleone on my Nook the other day. Was in the middle of reading another book, Trunk Music by Michael Connelly (I am hooked on his Harry Bosch series of novels) and finished it yesterday. So I started reading The Family Corleone and so far I am enjoying it.

Funny thing is that as I read, in my minds eye I see Scott Caan as young Santino. LOL.

Niiiice!!

I got mine a couple days ago but haven't started it yet...


If you only read while on vacation, you should be done with it in no time! lol

The resemblance to his father there is eerie!

I don't know if I can picture him as Santino though based on the types of characters he's played on Entourage and Hawaii 5-0.

Can we interpret that picture as a hint for a new movie?