Originally posted by The Dr. who fixed Lucy:
He didn't want to be another downtrodden immigrant, a slave of the dominant Anglo-Saxon white ruling class.
Having said that, from the account of Vito's rise to power given in the novel, it seems that he stumbled into the role of Mafia Don almost by accident - by the chance meeting with Clemenza, the incident with Fanucci and the decision to kill him rather than to pay him tribute.
That's about right. It seems as if Vito did fall into organized crime kind of by accident. There were two different types of people back then (as discussed in the story), those who pull the strings, and those who are pulled by the strings. Vito wanted to be stronger. Clipping Fanucci got him a reputation on the streets, and after a while, it just fit. He started playing up the role as Godfather and gradually became bigger in power and wealth.
