The Corleones left drugs

In The Godfather Part III Calo says to Don Tommasino during their meeting with Michael that "the Corleone's left drugs, so New York is weak, and Palermo is strong."

Does this make any sense? Why would a New York crime family suddenly leave drugs in 1980 during the height of the narcotics trade? Would that not be suicide? The Corleone family agreed on drugs after the Five Families War, and we're supposed to believe that they continued with this extremely lucrative business.

On the Corleone family chart at the senate hearings, some of Michael's men are in jail for dealing drugs.

During the meeting at Don Tommasino's estate, Vincent had become Michael's successor. We also know Joey Zasa dealt drugs, as that is stated several times during the film. And Puzo and Coppola envisioned Vincent becoming heavily involved in the drug trade which would eventually lead to his downfall, and that of the family.

You're right. It doesn't make any sense at all, Sonny. And if Part 4 was ultimately made back then, we're supposed to believe that after "leaving drugs," Vincent just walked into South America and said I want my taste to characters based on the Medellin Cartel?

Puh-Leeze .

I always thought it to be strange that a New York crime boss would become a cocaine trafficker. As far as I know, the New York mafia were mainly involved in heroin trafficking and that cocaine was provided by South American drug cartels.

I think a New York Don would never even dare to try to muscle in on businesses of other major criminal organizations, especially not during that time as it would most likely led to a war.

Exactly.

I could see them vying for the distribution of cocaine, but never for the importing of it (on a wide scale, anyway).

The guys in Bogotá couldn't give a shit about an 80 year old guy on Mott Street, that's for sure.

Unless his name is Juan Valdez.

I want my fuckin money. Ta-day!

Sonny, it's probably another example of the bad writing that pollutes GFIII. It doesn't make any sense. Neither Michael nor any other Don would walk away from profits, no matter how dirty. Michael was no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the "Olive Oil Business" under Zasa. But Zasa was into drugs--and I'll bet Michael got a tribute from Zasa after having turned the business over to him.

Perhaps the "Palermo is strong" line is a reference to the "Pizza Connection," which, as you know, was a Bonanno Family drugs pipeline to Sicily, organized by Carmine Galante, and which brought "zips" (Sicilians) into high places in that family.

Yes, I thought about that. I would imagine that the Corleones did the same; creating a separate Zip faction (provided by Don Tommasino) for handling the smuggling and distribution of drugs.

Of course, not being Mafiosi ourselves, we can only speculate. The realtionships among underworld crime figures and organizations is something that is pretty much opaque to us. We really don't know what influences them and the variables they encounter and consider. Apparently, there has never been much or any of a war between the various ethnic crime factions. That's probably testament to their recognized sheres of influence and acknowledgement of each other's territories. But, as TB points out, FFC and Puzo took what they had, what they believed the audience was generally aware of and tried to (the Pizza Connection) and mold it into a story.

To further the sloppiness of this Vincent makes it clear at the meeting in Sicily that the Corleones have to get back into NY or else the Colombians will move in. I don't think he was worried about the Colombians taking over the numbers rackets or the unions.

The whole scenario is a concession to the audience's perception that organized crime only = drugs.

I've said it before, while I like the general idea of the Corleones moving closer towards legitimacy, I think Coppola and Puzo waited too long to make the third movie. By the time they got around to it, they had lost connection to what made the first two so great.

Could it be that they were talking about the actual Corleone family -- as in Michael, Vincent and their immediate crew? Zasa had taken over the Corleone operation, which I am guessing included drugs. And maybe Mike made it difficult for Zasa and crew to keep dealing in them, which is what the line is referring to.

Either way, it is sloppy writing, but I think a lot of sloppy writing in the series has been dismissed ("Michael Corloene says hello") because we've been able to tie it into different scenarios. We could probably do the same thing here.

The Corleones leaving drugs doesn't make any sense. Vito made the peace based on his protecting drugs in NY. There's nothing further in I, II, or III about the Corleones abandoning that protection or drugs generally. Zasa's statement about "I'll kill anyone who does" only applies to "the neighborood" as one grandmother complained, not the greater NY area. I don't know. Perhaps we are meant to understand that Michael, in his eternal quest for "legitimacy", used his influence to eliminate drugs by the Corleones.

Sloppy writing? For sure.