A lot of people think Vito himself was based on Frank Costello. One thing I took from reading the Godfather, particularly all of the material involving Johnny Fontane, is that Puzo was no fan of Sinatra.
"...the successful annihilation of organized crime's subculture in America would rock the 'legitimate' world's foundation, which would ultimately force fundamental social changes and redistributions of wealth and power in this country. Meyer Lansky's dream was to bond the two worlds together so that one could not survive without the other." - Dan E. Moldea
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