Don Jasani is right! Puzo had no connection with the Mafia. He said that the only two incidents in the novel that were based on his real-life observations were guns being passed between apartments, and a woman evicted because of a dog. But he was such a terrific storyteller that he made his account of the Mob utterly convincing. After the book became a hit (no pun intended), many Mobsters wondered out loud who he based Don Corleone on, and who his real-life "godfather" was who gave him "access" to base his observations on.