Originally Posted By: Turnbull
First, welcome to the boards, darkshowers. You've made an excellent start! \:\)
As all the responses above indicated, Michael had actually strengthened and consolidated the Corleones' position as the Number One family in New York by whacking the heads of the other families. As you point out, only Barzini and Tattaglia are whacked in the novel, but I believe Michael sent Neri to head the Barzini family (temporarily). Clemenza was left in power over the Corleones' New York empire when Michael moved to Nevada.

The New York operation seemed to be in some turmoil due to Frankie Pentangeli's troubles with the Rosato brothers. But the movie doesn't give us any indication that a war was going on--it seemed like more of a territorial dispute, nothing that threatened Michael's hold on the family. In fact, Michael was encouraging the Rosatos. That's a long way of saying that I don't think the Corleones were in decline after GF. And, as 90 Cal said, Michael was immeasurably more powerful than ever at the beginning of III,

However, Zaf raises a point that has long troubled me: After Frankie turned rat and the Rosatos went on the run following the botched assassination of Frankie and the shootout with the cops, who was running the Corleone empire in New York? I can't believe that Michael, the arch-controller, would have let an inch of his territory slip or fall by the wayside.


A good chronology question. Since in GFIII Michael is still like the Supreme Court in organized crime circles, he had to have the strings of Corleone power still in his hands. Who ran the NY family in the interim? We'll never know.

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