Tessio's Crew

Who was in his crew? Who ran it after he was killed? You never see anybody with him or hear of a replacement for him, were his people just took in as part of Pete's family once Mike moved to Vegas?

Neri took charge of it.

Thanks, did Neri come up in Tessio's crew or just under Michael?

He was recruited by Micahel and Vito as Michael's bodyguard.

We see people at the compound from Tessio's crew after Bruno Tattaglia was shot. It may be possible though, that they were Sonny's men.
By the way, that's a difference to the book:
"The two guards were Clemenza’s men and he gave them a frown of greeting that served as a salute. The men nodded their heads in acknowledgment."

Right. Sonny had Tessio send his regime to guard the compound initially after Vito was shot because he didn't want to use Clemenza's regime at the time. The novel says Neri was sent to take over Tessio's regime. We lose track after that. The whole idea of a NY family with just a couple or three capos doesn't make sense, but none beyond that are indentified in the novel or movie, so we're stuck with that.

It was probably Rocco's regime that ended up in NV with Michael.

I thought Cicci was in Tessio's crew. We see a hint in the scene where Sonny embraces Michael before he meets with Sol and Mac. Look in the background and you'll see Tessio going back and forth, and then gesturing to Cicci to come with him. Also, it seemed to me that "excuse me Sal" at the end may have been another hint.

The novel says that Rocco was Clemenza's caporegime when Clemm took charge of the olive oil business after Michael moved to Nevada. Neri was "head of security" in Nevada.

Cicci was in clemenza's crew. then when pete died Frank too charge and cicci was his right hand man

Well, true. But Neri headed security for the hotels and, as II illustrated, Rocco was in Nevada at the compound.

Cicci was orginally part of Sonny's regime. When Sonny visits Lucy's apartment, you see Cicci as one of his bodyguards. I think he was later transfered to Clemenza's regime, which is how he became Pentangeli's right-hand man.

I believe the reason the family only had 3 capos is because the vrews the capos ran were like a family in itself. Tessio's crew was so big and on such a long leesh that those not "in the know" though ue had his own family seperate from the Corleones.

If the Corleones were able to muster enough soldiers to match all the other families, then many more than 3 capos would have been necessary to manage all that personnel.

FWIW, I think Puzo had in a mind a deeper, more multi-layered organizational structure than did (or does) the mafia in reality. I never viewed the various 'Caporegimes' as anything less than multiple 'street bosses' (to use more modern parlance) each with multiple 'captains' (modern again) beneath them.

As Cicci says during the Senate hearings, "Yeah, Senator, the Corleone family had lots of 'buffers'."

That to me suggests more than just Don-->Caporegime-->Buttonman-->Associates as that would equate to just a single real buffer (albeit the Consiglieri would act as an additional buffer in some cases), and that is plainly not Cicci's experience as a lowly buttonman.

Puzo just didn't elaborate on this to any great extent, with the story focusing on the top--where the decisions were made--and the 'sharp end of the sword', where those orders were actually carried out. We don't see so much of what happens in between, but I feel certain Puzo envisaged more depth (and ranks) to the Corleone Family, otherwise so much else just doesn't make sense, such as the entire organization managing with just three 'captains' when real families of the era had in some cases in excess of 20 captains.

I look at it as Tessio and Pete both having their own gangs under their leadershi but are loyal to the don. With this thinking they both have their top leutinents(im a bad speller) followed by the made men who run the associates. The men your talking about are there they are just under Tessio and Pete who are more like Outfit street bosses than like New York capos.

I find it interesting that during the senate hearings Willie Cicci says that he first started as a soldier just as anybody else, indicating that he was promoted at some point, yet on the chart he is listed as an ordinary soldier.

When Pentangeli arrives at the compound with Cicci, you see Cicci making a commanding sign to some other guys to come with them. To me it's evident that by the time Pentangeli was running things in New York, Cicci was definitely more than just a soldier.

He must have been promoted after he killed Tessio.

He was a soldier who successfully carried out at least one of the massacre hits and was probably rewarded by promotion to capo. I imagine that when Pentageli took over that he moved up, maybe to street boss or some other second or third in command position.

I haven't watched the trilogy in a while, but Clemenza was a don. And Pentangeli inherited his position only to become...a capo? Or at least he is listed so at the senate hearing. I've never been sure on the ranks between the two.

I don't think that Clemenza was ever a Don in the movie. I think he was a caporegime under Michael, running New York on a long leash. Pentangeli inherited his position, and a shorter leash.

Clemenza and Pentangeli were officially only caporegimes, but in actuality acting or street bosses. Cicci was probably acting as a caporegime, while officially being only a soldier.

Or maybe the chart seen in the film was intended to show that the feds were only speculating.

You also have to consider that when the book was written and the films were made, the general public (Puzo and FFC included) didn't know nearly as much about the structure of LCN as we know today. Today, all you have to do is a Google search. At the time of the writing, Puzo had the sum total of Valachi and Kefauver (and he still did a fine job).

True PB. You know, we go back and forth about referencing the film and the book in a thread. Those Board members who are purists can reference one or the other, but I don't see the virtue in that. The film leaves out so much that the novel covers and explains. However, the novel leaves one wondering also.

I've always opined that it is improbable that the largest mafia family in the country would have only two capos or that Vito would have, from inception on, organized his family with only two capos. There is nothing in the novel to indicate that there were more than two (or three if you want to count Sonny). Puzo makes no effort to inform us that there might be more capos.

TB, I disagree. Pentangeli tells Michael that he wants to run his family without Michael riding him about it. Michael confirms that Frankie is a Don by telling him that he is to run his family like a Corleone. There is nothing to indicate otherwise, offically or not.

An excellent point, and one of the reasons why I've always had the impression that Puzo envisaged a larger hierarchy than was ever actually detailed in his writing (which would've been unnecessary anyway as he did such a good job of conveying the feel without it).

An off-topic aside: I've always wondered if Puzo actually had any other sources of 'inside information' available to him. Does anyone know if this might've been the case, or indeed, is there perhaps an old thread around here someone could point me to? Many thanks.

Your off a lil, Michael says your family is still called Corleone. TB is right, Michael gave Pete the family but out of loyalty to Michael(and out of awe of what he just did) he never broke off from the Corleones like was planned, this is shown when he is kissing Mike's hand at the end calling him Godfather.
TB is right like he is mos the time, NY was under Mike on a long chain then a shorter one.

The FBI chart shown at the Senate hearing lists Pentangeli as a caporegime. That Frankie tells Michael that "I wanna run my family without you on my back..." [emphasis added] tells me Frankie saw the men under him as his family unit and he resented Michael telling him what to do vis a vis the Rosatos. But it doesn't necessarily connote Frankie as an independent Don--if he were, he wouldn't be in Tahoe pleading with Michael.

What one i can't remember not seen gf in ages.

Nick Geraci killed Tessio.

Nick Who??

Aldo Trapani!

Tessio probably had 20 - 50 members in his crew that were unknown in the Movie.

He must have had at least a 100 men in his regime, because the Corleones had only two caporegimes.