Neri seemed like the family MVP...

doing everything he was supposed to do...
he was so threatenting, so reserved, he bodied everyone it seemed like..
he got the most important jobs...Barzini,Freddy,Klingman in the deleted scenes

it seemed like he had it more than made.

I think you found your Luca Brasi....

Didn't he get kicked out the police force in the noval,before joining the Family for nearly killing a Negro.Been awhile since reading the book.

Yes, he was a cop and he became Mike's Luca Brasi. But I found it a little curious that Mike would recruit such a high profile person in the family from the NY police. Afterall, Mike conducted his business in NY.

Neri was forever grateful that the Corleone's rescued him from a life that would have been destroyed with years spent in prison, with nothing waiting for him on the outside.

The Corleone's gave Neri new life and he probably was so grateful that he felt indebted to them till the day he died.



Don Cardi

There is so much of Al's history in the novel, and it's one of my favorite parts. Although he was a cop, he was a very violent and physical man. He often flouted the law, and sought his own form of justice. That made Vito realize that Al Neri had a different destiny, and when the opportunity to turn him came along, the Corleones jumped on it. As DC pointed out, Al Neri was theirs forever after that.

I know this belongs on a different forum, but for me, Neri's backstory was one of the very best parts of the novel.

Absolutely one of the best--right up there with the Bocchicchios.

I still don't think it made much sense to recruit a NY cop into a NY mob family especially into a high profile position. Talk about waving a red flag in front of the NYPD bulls.

By the time Michael recruited Neri, the family had moved out of NYC to Long Beach. Vito and Michael were keeping a low profile vis-a-vis NYC activities. The novel makes two relevant points: After the shooting, Vito said he'd never go into the city again; and, after they moved to Long Beach, Sonny had the police and politicians in Long Beach in his pocket. So there'd be little or no reason for the NYC police to pursue Neri and his connection to Michael. And, if they'd tipped the Long Beach cops to Neri's presence, those cops would promptly have told Michael about the contact.
SPOILER:
The first serious job Michael assigns Neri is to murder Moe Green--not in NYC, but in Hollywood.
END OF SPOILER
Michael was primarily interested in Neri for his physical force, and for the loyalty he bought by springing Neri from a prison term. The fact that he'd been a cop was useful--in fact, it was a key element in Neri's murder of Barzini.

Despite the multiplicity of jurisdictions in the NY area, what goes on in one jurisdiction, especially if it's mob-related, is not going to escape the attention of other jurisdictions. Despite living in Long Beach, Michael's and Vito's nefarious activities were carried out in NY proper. Hiring Neri was waving a red flag.

I wonder if Neri still received a copy of the NYPD newsletter.

I saw a copy of it in Lebo's book. It reads, "The Department sends best wishes to Al Neri, formerly with the 108 Precinct, who recently joined the Genco Olive Oil Company as a private security consultant and collector. Al, most recently a resident of a public facility in Ossening, NY, now works out of an office in Long Beach, LI. He told us he will soon be in Hollywood on company business. He said he plans to appear on the streets of New York from time to time in his old uniform, walking his former beats for nostalgia and helping with parking enforcement in front of large office buildings."

Ya.

The family had a lot of buffas'.

(I think Al in his old cop uni constitutes quite a substantial buffa!!' )

Neri's only real - yet questionable error in any of the 3 movie's is when he tells Vince to whack Zasa. He gave the order directly without the okay from Mike. I think, even though he did so, he felt he was doing so for the best of the family and for Mike to whom he was so loyal. Also, I feel Mike only displayed his disapproval for the order being given because of Neri's reputation and following of orders in the past. Again, showing Neri's position in the organization.

In the scene in the chapel, we see that whacking Zasa was Vincent's idea, and that Neri opposed it at first, claiming it'd be too difficult because Zasa was always surrounded by people. But then Connie chimes in and shouts, "Do it!" Neri says, "What will you need?"
But after the deed was done, Michael chides all three.

And who does the whacking of Zasa? Vinnie. Of course, he was "disguised" in a cop's uniform. That sure fooled everyone in the neighborhood. In fact, if you listen closely you can hear the people in the street saying "Hey, that's Vinnie's twin brother in that cop outfit."

I believe Neri's story could have been fleshed out more. He was a better character than Carlo ever was. Always my favorite scenes.

exgigirl;

i agree, but also, Neri had a downplayed role, intentional or not on Coppola's behalf. The lines that he had were very good, as I said before, my favorite is the casino scene --- after he takes care of business with Klingman, he sits down to watch a nice show and relax - " keep it going, you heard me, keep it going !'

Giuseppi, I think that you may be on to something. Bewteen the lack of background shown or explained in the movie on both Neri and Luca, I get the impression that it may have intentionally been done by FFC because he wanted the veiwer to look upon these characters from a 'distance', almost with a "who are these guys" type of attitude. Without giving us a background on either of these characters, it prevents the veiwer from getting an intimate feeling about them, and therfore allows us to look at them as completely stone cold killers, who are uncaring people.

And more so with Neri than Luca.

By the time GFII comes around, we have this pre-conceived image of Neri being the man that will kill on behalf of Michael no matter who it is, or how it's done. And that is why I believe that when Michael embraces Fredo at Mama's wake, and gives the "it's ok to kill him now" look to Neri, we finally see a bit of emotion from Neri. I think that it was FFC's way of making us see that even the stone cold killer Neri could not believe how cold and ruthless Michael had become in ordering the murder of his own brother.

FFC finally allowed us to see that Neri, the stone cold killer that we knew, had a bit of compassion in him, even if it was just for that moment, and that Michael didn't.


Don Cardi

I think we need to take into account that the Trilogy movies were quite long to begin with. To provide background on more characters would have made the films interminably long. In fact, there may have been such scenes lying on the cutting room floor.

Neri has a very proprietary air in that scene: "Did you hear what I said? Keep it going!" I always inferred from that last line that Michael gave Neri a piece of the ownership of the hotel that he wrested from Klingman, thanks to Neri's muscle.

I agree TB. Giving Al a piece of the action would be good business sense on Michael's part. Keeping the soldiers "hungry" always leads to rebellion. It may have worked for the Roman emperors but if history has taught us anything....Sorry, couldn't resist....

No one has mehe number mentioned it, but Neri as Michael's number one guard and protector was indirectly responsible for the security lapse which allowed someone to open the drapes.

That's a great point DT but assuming that it WAS Fredo who opened the drapes, Michael would probably overlook this.
His rationale being that Fredo had a more liberal run of the property, being his brother, than a common "family" member.

Neri may have had points in the hotel/casino, but I don't think that lines was indicative of such. Consider that he had just assaulted Klingman and ordered him out of the Casino all with impunity. I imagine the showgirls were pretty impressed since, to that point anyway, they knew Klingman to be in charge. Now they knew who WAS in charge.

Ok. I may be off with the timeline as I don't recall exactly when the deleted scene with Neri and Klingman took place, but perhaps Michael sent Neri to see Klingman on the night of the hit attempt, right after the party. I could be wrong, but I don't remember seeing Neri around when the hit attempt took place. Only Rocco. Anyone recall?


Don Cardi

DC -
I agree with you about Neri's composure during all 3 movies. If you look closely, when Fredo is hugging Mike during Mama's viewing, when Mike looks at Neri, Neri gives a brief view - again intentional or not on Richard Bright's behalf - that he really likes Fredo and is going to hate whacking him, but again an order is an order. Neri also gives a very subtle nod that he will carry out this order because it is an order from his boss.

DC - I also believe that you are right about the timeline about the party issue and Neri's presence. He was probably already sent to see Klingman. If Neri was at the party he could have taken care of Deanna instead of Rocco.
Which also opens the question - who put the dynamite in the car before it blew up if Neri and Rocco are both accounted for. Mike would have wanted somebody very reliable to handle this job as well - again another hole in storyline.

Olivant - I also agree with you about the deleted scenes on the cutting room floor. Maybe Coppola should gather them all together, if he still has them and piece them together. Maybe they would be enough to be a GF IV. This would solve te issue of who would play who in a totally new GF IV.

I agree, DC. I think FFC intended us to believe that Rocco, not Neri, was in charge of security at the party. Rocco is seen constantly scanning the crowd. When the alarm sounds after the shooting stops, only Rocco is seen galumphing through the grounds. Rocco warns Michael, "Please Michael..." and Michael shouts, "Rocco---ALIVE!" about the possibility of finding the shooters..
I'm not so sure about Neri meeting with Klingman at the same time. Though it was a deleted scene, the time frame suggests that Neri may have called on Klingman as soon as Johnny Ola told Michael that Roth wouldn't object if he moved Klingman out. Michael was not one to wait. Then again, Neri was in the meeting with Johnny, and later he sat in on the meeting with Frankie. Unless Klingman's hotel was in Tahoe, not Vegas or Reno, I don't see how Neri could have gotten back and forth so quickly.

...all of the scenes that might have made sense out of the plot and flow of GFIII are probably on some cutting room floor...

All of this kind of gets me asking myself, who was Michael's underboss in the 60's. Winegardner, I hate to even say his name, tells us that he didn't have one. That would be highly unlikely. Connie ? Nah, not just because she's a woman and I never really cared for the whole King Lear - Lady Macbeth - Shakespeaeran overtones of Part 3. She was still as quiet as a mouse at the end of part 2. Rocco's dead, Pentangeli dead. We've all always felt that Neri had un unconventional role in the family, but if he wasn't underboss, who was ?