I never really thought about or aknowledged his absence from that scene. It's been about a year since I last read the novel--was he in that scene under Puzo's writing?

I'll check out the book later, but for now I'll assume he was out involved in some type of war related business. He always seemed to be the most war-orientated of the two caporegimes... And at least seemed to enjoy war or just being a muscle more than any of the other Corleone heads.

"Somebody told me when the bomb hits, everybody in a two mile radius will be instantly sublimated, but if you lay face down on the ground for some time, avoiding the residual ripples of heat, you might survive, permanently fucked up and twisted like you're always underwater refracted. But if you do go gas, there's nothing you can do if the air that was once you is mingled and mashed with the kicked up molecules of the enemy's former body. Big-kid-tested, motherf--ker approved."