Vito Corleone - Worst Decision

What do you think was Don Corleone's worst decision?
I think refusing Sollozo's deal,and let me explain:

The drugs were 'a thing of the future' like said.
Sooner or later Don Corleone knew they had to get into it.Postponding the inevitable is bad financially.Sure,it was not good for political contacts but not taking piece of the action will create a situation where the Corleones will be outsiders to the Cosa Nostra,losing its status as the most powerful family.
The results speak for themselves.Later on,in the meeting of the five families,it is clear that Barzini has won the respect and the status Don Corleon used to have.
Not only that,but in that meeting,Don Corleon agreed almost to the same deal Sollozo was offering.Only now,hes accepting the offer a little too late,after getting shot at..and a long time for recovering, and after the loss of his son,Sonny.
It could have been avoided if he took the offer the first time.
But the worst part of his decision was that he knew the risks,he knew he was risking his family by not taking this deal,and that was not worth it.
- He was waiting to meet Sollozo after Connie's wedding cos he knew there might be problems.
- after giving his answer to Sollozo,he expected problems,thats why he sent Luca Brasi to sniff around.

He had no backup from the other families,that was a poor decision to risk his family and the prestige of the Corleon family among the other families simply to maintain political contacts,in which he didnt get all that much of a profit anyway when he refused to share them with the other families.

What do you think about all that?
and what do you think was his worst decision?(if you do not agree with me)

I agree that it was a wrong decision. Puso writes quite openly in the book that Hagen felt so. He thinks that Vito will refuse, "but what was worse, Hagen was convinced that for one of the few times in his experience, the Don had not thought things through. He was not looking far enough ahead." That's a mistake indeed!
But I believe Vito made one more mistake.
Book says that Connie "displeased her father with her choice af a husband. If he saw clearly enough what kind of a person Carlo was, he had to prevent it. It was easy for Vito to make them split, or separate them, or invent something to send Carlo away, considering what a fool, coward and money-loving villain he was. He had to meddle.

I always thought one of Vito's worst decisions was allowing Sonny to rise so highly into the ranks of the family. Putting such a reckless, violent, and tempremental person as Sonny that much in control of his family was a mistake.

Sonny was not just a stupid hothead. In the book his character is more developed, and as Puso describes his actions after Vito is shot, he acts smartly and with very good knowlege of the matter.
He made mistakes, to be sure, but it doesn't mean that he's not at all clever.
BTW another mistake of Vito's was to send Luca to Solozzo. His devotion to Don was too well known, and Solozzo would be a fool if he didn't understand that he was sent on purpose, and didn't take advantage of the situation.

Worst decision was giving Virgil Sollazzo a meeting just to say "no" to Sollazzo's proposal. This was a poor strategic move for the Corleone family and an incredible personal embarassment for Sollazzo.

The entire plot of the movie is based on this premise, which is a genuinely realistic business strategy.

Don Corleone should take that meeting only to accept the proposal, not to decline it. As Don Barzini says, "A refusal is not the act of a friend." A good consigliere would have recognized the threat posed by Sollazzo and his drug business and understood the implicit meaning of granting the appointment. I think a cunning Sicilian consigliere like Don Genco would have understood the threat Sollozzo and his drug trade posed and somehow would have dealt with it long before a sit-down with Don Corleone would have been considered. That's why Sollazzo says, "Could I have gotten to him ten years ago?" The answer to that question is an emphatic "NO."

Tom Hagen didn't understand that and Vito allowed himself to be convinced to "give Virgil Sollazzo a day next week." While you might argue that it's all Tom's fault, ultimately Vito understood that the drug trade was available to him, and had been for quite a while, and he wanted no part of it for very good reason, but didn't make his position clear to his top people. Consequently, one bad decision leads to another when Tom grants the appointment and Vito says no.

For the record, Vito should not have said yes just to avoid conflict. TOM should have said no and alerted Vito to the threat. That's within the scope of Tom's job as consigliere.

tony b.

Vito had a tough decision to make. He was right in envisioning that drugs ultimately "will be the ruination of us all." In real life, drugs and RICO have virtually destroyed what used to be the Mafia. But Vito should have seen what the Don of Cleveland said later: there's so much money in drugs that no one can resist. Not even Vito could have stopped it. And in the novel, Hagen thinks Vito's decision against Sollozzo was influenced by two emotional (or "moral", if you prefer) objections: drugs would be an "infamita," and Sollozzo used to be a pimp, and Vito was "notoriously straight-laced about sex."
So, my take is that Vito should have said yes, and tried his best to use his position as the most powerful Don to at least control the traffic and "keep it respectable."
Another mistake: After saying no, Vito took Sollozzo too lightly. Even if Hagen didn't warn him, Vito should have seen that Sollozzo, as a Sicilian, wouldn't take no for an answer. Instead of sending Luca to infiltrate the Tattaglias, he should have had Luca whack Sollozzo. He then would have had a good chance to make Tattaglia suck it up. The other families might have stayed out at that point--they got involved only when Michael's murder of Sollozzo and McCluskey unleashed big-time police crackdowns on them. Yes, Barzini was the guy who was really behind the Sollozzo deal, but if Vito'd had Sollozzo whacked, I think Barzini would have bided his time.
As for Sonny: Vito originally wanted Sonny to be a lawyer. He groomed Sonny as his underboss reluctantly. The novel makes it clear that Vito had no illusions about Sonny being able to succeed him effectively. It's an open question what Vito would have done if he hadn't been wounded, and Sonny killed. My guess: if he had his druthers, Michael would have become a political pezzanovante, and as "senator or governor," would have tried to legitimize Vito's gambling and union rackets. Sonny would have been the head of an ever-diminishing "illegitimate" "olive oil business."

I think Vito's worst decision was to stop and buy that fruit before he was shot. He should have know that fruit is a really bad omen in this movie.

I agree on you there Turnbull. I look it this way, Vito was the only Don who saw that the risks of the drug business would eventually cause the downfall of the mafia families. Only "in his world" no one shared his vision, causing troubles for the Corleone family. Vito had much power, but not so much that he could prevent the other families from starting up the drug business.

So we found it at last!
5 Families were right.
Vito's worst decision was to make Irish, Tom Hagen, his consigliere.

Don Corleone only agreed to make the deal at this meeting because he knew that it had to be done in order to insure that he could get Michael home safely! All the while knowing that if he could succeed in getting Michael home safely, revenge could be taken later on down the road. In so many words he tells the heads of the families at that meeting that if he agrees to make the peace and give the families what they want, the condition is that they all must agree that NOTHING could happen to Michael. He basically threatens them all in his speach! Remember, Vito is the one who calls for the meeting. It is obvious that once Michael was home safely, him and Vito planned out their revenge and the attempt to regain the power that The COrleone's once held.

Don Cardi

Of course that was a 'Tactical Retreat' like Puzo explains and was the best thing he could do at the time to ensure Michael's return.
But you have to remember that such an agreement is not to be taken lightly,and Don Corleone after all is a man of honor.
He wasnt planning on breaking the peace and his word given to the other families.
The whole situation with Michael started as one of the results from Don Corleone's first refusal.
Later on,Michael understands that his father is not going to break his word,and hes taking the task to avenge his brother's death.
As far as Don Corleone he was keeping his deal,and surely wanted revenge,but at the time it couldnt be considered a 'real plan' that Michael will do the job.
Tactical Retreat,but at the same time everyone understood that you cant run away from the drugs,and the best you can do is make it respectable.Thats why he needed to accept the deal at first to avoid the unnecessary mess which followed.
Not that Im pro-drugs.
it doesn't make any difference to me what a man does for a living

But if Vito had accepted the plan at first, he would have gone against all that he believed in (See Turnbull's explainantion) and then there would have been no GF book or movie!

Even though Vito later agreed to give the families what they wanted, it does not mean that the Corleone's participated in the drug trade itself. Yes, after the agreement they profited from providing the other families with what they needed, but eventually, and I think it was part of the long term plan with Mike and Vito, Michael disipates the New York end of the business and goes out west into the casino business in his quest towards the families legitimacy. True that Clemenza remained the Corleone family representative from New York, later to be succeeded by Pentangelli, but Pentangelli's words are themselves proof that The Corleone's were not mixed up directly in the drug business :

Pentangelli to Mike :

"You want me to be fair with them? TOM -- how can you be fair to animals? TOM -- for Crissakes, listen -- They recruit ***** -- they recruit ******s -- and they do violence in their, in their Grandmother's neighborhoods. And everything with them is whores -- whores! La vegana -- junk dope!"

That to me is a confirmation that even though Vito made the deal, The Corleone's were never invoved directly with the drug trade. All they did was provide their political connections and probably got paid for that.


Don Cardi

I would agree that the worst decision was the Sollozzo decision, for all the reasons stated. I would add that sending Luca Brasi in, and underestimating the wily Turk Sollozzo, was almost as bad. Vito lost his number one enforcer in Luca as a result and this reduced some of the power of the Corleone's without having Luca around.

Yes, that was probably his worst decision! If he had planned to deny Sollozo's offer, he should have told him that he needed some time to discuss it with his family and think things over. He could have bought himself some time and then he could have put a better plan into action involving Luca. One that would have been a bit more calculating. Obviously Barzini, Tattaglia, and Sollozo had planned ahead, covering all the scenerios and one of their considerations had to be that if Vito turned down the offer, then he needed to be taken out but only if his most powerful man, Luca Brasi, was out of the picture also.


Don Cardi

Another nuance on Vito's worst decision:
Vito was sharp enough to realize that Sonny's greedy behavior at the meeting with Sollozzo would embolden Sollozzo to try something ("I'm a little nervous about this Sollozzo fella"). So, why did he tell Luca to "find out what he has under his fingernails"? He already knew, or suspected, that Sollozzo would try something rash.
IMO, Vito should have told Luca to whack Sollozzo, both to get rid of a potential threat, and as a warning to Tattaglia and the other Dons. Since Luca was going to pose as being "not too happy with our family," he might have lured Sollozzo into a meeting with some street-level drug dealer that he knew, and then murdered both to make it look like a drug deal gone bad. Then Tom would have fed the story to his newspaper contacts. It would generate a wave of bad publicity on drugs. The other Dons might have known that Vito was behind it. Good! Vito's message would be: "No drug trafficking as long as I'm the top Don in NYC." He may not have made it last forever, but he could have had his way for a while--perhaps until he died.
Now, you might say, "But the other Dons wouldn't sit still for that. After all, they lined up behind Tattaglia in the Five Families War of 1946." They did--but not because Vito was opposed to drugs, but because McCluskey's murder brought tons of police heat on them, hurting their regular businesses, and the Corleones refused to give up the killer. If Vito had Sollozzo whacked, Tattaglia, a mere "pimp," would have sucked it up. Barzini would have waited for another opportunity.

Turnbull, if you ever decide to start your own family, count me in! I like it! A No Bullshit Don!


Don Cardi