"If we lose the old man, we lose our political..."

In GFI, after Vito has been shot, Tom says to Sonny: "If we lose the old man, we lose our political contacts and half our strength." Further along in them movie there are references to the Turk Sollozzo having a continued desire to asassinate Vito. Q: If the the main purpose of the Turk approaching Vito was to get the political protection needed to allow the drug business to function, why would the Turk sink his own ship by asassinating Vito and severing Vito's "political contacts"?

because when sonny cut off vito, that gave sollozzo the idea that if the don was dead and sonny didnt know it was him, sonny would work with sollozzo

Good question Roberto. Vito had personal relationships with politicians and judges; there's no evidence that Sonny did or anyone else in the Corleone family. Kill VBito, there go the political contacts. Perhaps there were other Coeleone assets Sollozzo wanted or maybe he thought Vito's political and legal contacts and influence would simply then become Sonny's.

In addition to the above reasons:
--The politicians and police that Vito had in his pocket were more loyal to money than to him. Some would have abandoned the Corleones if Vito died (probably because they didn't know Sonny or trust his judgment or temperament). But at least some others would have stayed on board because (as Puzo said in the novel) they had kids to send through college. Sonny would have inherited them, but in a weakened condition, giving Sollozzo more leverage to bargain for their rental.
--Sollozzo also was cruising to make his mark as an important man in the NYC Mafia. Vito's "no" was a serious defeat for his campaign to be taken seriously as a player. If he'd whacked Vito and imposed his will on Sonny, he'd have gained tremendous status and respect from the other Dons. In turn, they'd be eager to play ball with him, probably treating him as a fellow Don.

Also, Sollozzo wasn't all that bright.

Sollozzo was smart enough to figure out that Vito was slippin', and to take advantage of his complacency. He was dumb enough to underestimate Michael--a mistake made by many down the road.

I think that's the other reason that Sollozzo took Tom the day he shot Vito. Tom was well-connected with the politicians and probably acted as the go-between for Vito (isn't Tom the one who speaks to the Senator about not coming to Connie's wedding?). Because he was also Sonny's closest friend and quasi-brother, Sollozzo knew he needed Tom to make the deal with Sonny AND keep the political clout.

That's something I never understood. Sollozzo tells Tom "badluck for me and bad luck for you if you dson't make the deal." Why would it be bad luck for Tom?

Sicilian babe - I think you made a very good point here. However, Tom clearly states, "if we lose the old man, we lose our political connections." Even if Tom is a liason, by the plain meaning of this statment the Politicians seem loyal to Vito, and no-one else. One possible conjecture, however: If Vito were to die, would the politicians essentially become "free agents", looking for another source of wealth to provide them with the lifestyle they had become accustomed to? In otherwords, could Sollozo gain a chance at putting the politicians in his OWN pocket if he severed the politicians allegiance to Vito, being that Vito's interests were contrary to Sollozzo's? If this assumption is correct, than perhaps Sollozzo would just be cutting out the "middle man" (Vito), and going directly to the source.

It wouldn't be Sollozzo. He's an unknown quantity to the political and legal community. The other NY families could try, but politicians and judges would be very leary - they wouldn't simply switch allegiance. Afterall, as Mike told Tom, he and Vito needed more time to wrap it all up. So, if even Vito needed to arrange a relationship between politicans and his son, what chance would Sollozzo and the other NY dons have?

The Turk may not have know that he potentially sunk his own ship when trying to kill Vito. At that meeting between The Turk and Vito, Sonny showed his hand by speaking out of turn. Sonny showed that he was, as Sollozzo puts it, " Hot for my deal." And at that moment of Sonny's outburst, Sollozzo thought that by getting Vito out of the way, Sonny would eventually come around and go for his deal. And in thinking so, Sollozzo probably figured that being Sonny was the second in command of the Corleone family, and the Don's son, that he, Sonny, would retain those political contacts that could be used in this drug deal.

So basically Sollozzo probably ASSUMED that Sonny would still have access to the politicians that Vito had in his pocket.
Sollozzo had no way of knowing that without Vito, the Corleones would lose their political contacts. As far as Sollozzo knew, it was the Corleone's who had all of those political contacts, and not specifically Vito.


Don Cardi

One of the things we are forgetting is that Sollozzo also wanted Vito to front $1 million. That's curious. Wouldn't he get his funding from other sources and why didn't he figure that Vito's help would easily be worth a million?

He probably could have gotten the million bucks from other Dons. But he may have wanted it from Vito to cement their relationship. By lending him $1 million, Vito would have more skin in the game--more reason to want Sollozzo to succeed--than if he were simply providing police and political protection. Sollozzo surmised, correctly, that Vito would at best be uneasy about drugs. If Vito'd agreed to provide police and political protection only, he'd have the option to cut and run if Sollozzo or his people got into a really rough situation. But if Vito funded Sollozzo, he'd have additional incentive to see him through the rough spots, if only to be sure to collect what was owed him.

Vito told Sollozzo that he didn't think his political connections would do any good if it had to do with the drug trade, instead of "gambling and women." He figured that if they got into pushing drugs he would not be able to rely on the network he had carefully built.

In the novel, after the Don dies, Michael makes some kind of comment about how he didn't have enough time to get all the politicall clout his father had all lined up.

Sollozzo probably understood at some fundamental level that Sonny could not manage politicians and judges with the finesse that Vito did, and he rightly figured that Hagen probably brokered many of the deals, and therefore would continue as consigliere of a weakened Corleone family.

Even when Vito makes his compromise on drugs to end the war and get Michael home, he does so on the conditions that it is not sold to children, not sold in the Italian neighborhoods, and only sold in the "dark areas" where "they're animals anyway." Given the times Vito figured such an arrangement would be something to which an overwhelming majority of the politicians and judges he controlled would turn a blind eye.

And then, in addition to TB's reasoning, there's also the fact that this is a business and Vito's ROI would be quite high (even with the $1 mill. investment). Without this monetary investment by Vito, Sollozo would be losing quite a bit of money... Remember, this whole thing is about MONEY... nothing else. Sollozo wanted lots of it.