Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Family Corleone-Ed Falco

The Family Corleone


Ed Falco

Grand Central, May 8 2012

ISBN: 9780446574624



The Great Depression has left most people ruined. However, one of the most thriving market businesses is fuelled by the Prohibition that has led to crime families making a fortune selling bootlegged liquor. However, the social experiment since the end of WWI has been repealed by 1933. The crime families will compete for control of other illegal activities as their government sponsored great profit maker comes to an end.



In New York, Don Vito Corleone worries about his children’s future. His three youngest kids (Michael, Fredo, and Connie) attend school while his adopted son Tom Hagen goes to college, but alienates lunatic Luca Brasi. However, Vito is upset with his oldest offspring seventeen year old Sonny. He wants Sonny to become a businessman, but his son prefers the old fashioned violent way to affirm he is next in line to run the family business. The Don knows his son is too ragingly violent to head the family though he lectures him to know when to use your heart instead of always your gun or fists. Meanwhile in the boroughs, Corleone’s enemy Giuseppe Mariposa teams up with Emilio Barzini and Phillip Tattaglia to destroy the family.



This is an engaging Godfather entry that takes place when Vito is a relatively young Don with small children and a volatile teen. The key is that the personalities that make up Mario Puzo’s saga remain consistent as for instance Vito uses the Teddy Roosevelt mantra to “speak softly and carry a big stick…” Fans will appreciate Ed Falco’s strong entry, which hopefully leads to more 1930s prequels.



Harriet Klausner



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