When Ciccio killed Vito's mother, Vito fled to America with the help of some locals. Had he not fled, do you think Ciccio would have found him out eventually and killed him? Or had Vito managed to hide in Sicily itself, would he have grown up to become a gangster in adult life?

Never.

Ciccio would certainly have found and killed Vito.

Vito would get killed.

Vito would have definitely been killed. I'm sure that it may have took some time but my guess is that all the locals who helped Vito flee Sicily were eventually exposed and killed by Ciccio. No way would Ciccio have let anybody off the hook for that act of disrespect.

If Vito never fled Sicily, we wouldn't be having this discussion .

There would be no Sonny, Michael, Connie or Fredo.

This does raise a question, however. Did Don Ciccio have enemies? As we know Don Tomassino was an ally of Vito Corleone and was willing to participate in the vendetta against
him. If that was the case perhaps Vito could have been smuggled to a rival Don, given a new name and remain there.

I was under the impression that Don Tommasino had taken over Cicco's power base once he and Vito had killed the elderly Don. But, I suppose there would have been other Dons in Sicily at the time.

I think he had his own power base and was the Corleone's "go to" guy in Sicily.

Playing along with the assumption the Vito could have survived somehow in Sicily, he would have attempted revenge anyway; loosing your father, brother, and in full view his mother, scared Vito... that's why he went after FANUCCI (The Black Hand). Think about it; Vito was a peaceful grocery boy working to get his wife a single pear, the Black Hand took his job at first, pushed him into non-violent crime, then he came after him at that too! The "Bad Don" syndrome was happening all over again.

Has anyone ever asked why young Vito took the decision of killing Fanicci so easily despite the urges of his more experienced partners Tessio and Clemenza, who wanted to pay the man?
He did not display a violent streak before that point, so why did it come up now, and not in a life or death situation, but in a money issue, where everyone accepted paying as a fact of life? In my opinion it is because Fanucci (A Bad Don), reminded him of Ciccio (another Bad Don).

Furthermore, from this experience, Vito has grown into a "Good Don", good and bad here being relative terms - you never see him do the nasty things these guys did, and was always proud of the fact that he is "A REASONABLE MAN"!

So back to the question; keeping the above in mind, Ciccio would have continued hunting Vito, and had Vito been given a chance to grow up, he would have definitely killed Ciccio, and became a Don (Just like he killed Fanucci and became a Don)

Vito could NEVER have hidden from Ciccio in Sicily. His mother knew that, and the people who put him on the boat to America knew it.

The boy would've been dead within a week had he not hidden on that donkey's back.

Which reminds me...while understanding that there were going to be major differences between the book & film(s), one of the things that really took me by surprise was the completely different circumstances by which young Vito ended up in America.

Apple

Sicily was too small for Vito to have eluded Ciccio. Ciccio was right: when he grew, he would come for vengeance.

As for killing Fanucci: the novel makes it clear that Vito simply toted up the odds: Fanucci had no right to demand money from him that he had risked life and liberty for by being part of the dress robbery. His odds were 3:1--Vito, Clemenza and Tessio vs. Fanucci. And since two people didn't pay off Fanucci, and since Vito (in a deleted scene) had witnessed two young punks nearly kill Fanucci, Vito correctly calculated that Fanucci wasn't as formidable has he was made out to be.

But yes, Desertwolf, I do agree that Fanucci must have reminded him of Ciccio--and the danger of giving into "black handers."

Do you think so? I mean, we're talking about the early 20th century - no cars, no public transport. Siciliy is more than twice as large as Hawaii and has 5 Million inhabitants. Even Michael managed to hide in Sicily for more than two years, and even before his wedding he must have been known as "The American".


I think Vito had learned early that he has to fight for himself in his life. New York was a dangerous place anyway, with or without guys like Fanucci. If you were poor and you had nothing to lose, why not become a criminal. Vito's violence emerged slowly. He witnessed violence in New York everywhere. Clemenza hid guns at Vito's place. When they stole the carpet, he saw that Clemenza was willing to kill a cop. And after all, when they were robbing the trucks, Vito must have held a gun against others, which means he must have been ready to kill.
By 1945 he had perfected the lie about himself: "After all, we're not murderers." They were!

Young Vito was only 9 or 10 years old, without powerful allies. Michael was being sheltered in a protected estate by a powerful gabolettoand was accompanied by armed guards. But, your comment raises an interesting anomaly in the movie:

Though Michael dressed just like any Sicilian peasant, it would have been perfectly obvious to the locals that he was a new face--and not a Sicilian (N.B.: in the novel, Don Tomassino wanted him to stay within the walls of his compound for that reason). Then Michael immediately revealed almost all to Sr. Vitelli without even knowing who he was, other than Apollonia's father. Sure, he uttered a threat ("...lose a father instead of gaining a son..."), which Vito and Tom would have utterly disapproved of. Then he insisted on having a very public wedding in the town square. He did everything to tell everyone who he was except hire the Goodyear Blimp to fly over Corleone flashing a sign: "American Fugitive from Justice Hiding Here." Small wonder Barzini found out where he was.