True. But the drugs would be coming in through the Port of New York, and Sol and people would be operating out of New York. The novel states that Sol's concern was that "some of my couriers [emphasis added] will be caught over the years," and that he needed Vito to assure that they'd get light sentences. I infer that Sol was concerned only with the wholesale end of the business. By the time of the Commission meeting, the other Dons' appetite for the drugs trade seemed to be whetted because they'd be in the distribution business.

That begs a question: When Barz said, "The traffic in drugs will be allowed, and Don Corleone will give it protection in the East," did he mean Vito would protect the importation/wholesale end, as Sol had suggested, or the street distribution end--a much different, much bigger proposition?