According to the novel, none of the five shots hit the Don in a vital organ. The first bullet hit him "in the back." The next two hit him "in the buttocks." The two gunmen then moved toward the Don "in order to finish him off." BUT: Fredo, who seemed so worthless in this scene in the movie, may have saved the Don: "no more than five seconds after the Don's call to Fredo for help, Fredo appeared out of his car, looming over it." Apparently this caused the gunmen to hurry up; they fired "two more hasty shots...one hit the Don in the fleshy part of his arm and the second hit him in the calf of his right leg." The Don lost a lot of blood, but the detective on the family payrollwho arrived on the scene within minutes called Sonny to tell him that the Don would survive: "A lot of blood but I think maybe he's not as bad as he looks."