I was wondering, if Genco and his family took Vito in when he first came to America, and Vito knew Genco before he knew Clemenza or Tessio, then why is that when Vito starts up his criminal empire, Genco doesnt seem to be that involved?

My best guess is that perhaps Genco was too busy running the store with his father or perhaps even avoided becoming a criminal, but there may be something I'm missing. Any ideas?

Genco was involved, he was the consigliere on the early don career of Vito. While Tessio and Clemy were the caporegimes..

Don't forget the Sonny argueing to Tom quote:
"Pop had Genco, look what i got"

Genco made quite a turn around from being wimped-out, scared of Fanucci to consigliere. Amazing what a strong leader can do in bringing out potential.

Yeah, he was the number 2 man for years. Vito and Genco made Genco Pura they're Olive Oil import company which was the legitimate front for the family.

yea he did do quite a turn around but at the same time, consiglieres dont handle much of the violent work, or control groups of violent men such as the caporegimes do. so genco was a good advisor which is why he was put in the posistion he was.

And don't forget the edited scene where Vito and his sons go to visit Genco on his death bed.


Don Cardi

Yeh i read that scene in jeoff's transcript pity i've never seen triology/epic so i can just imagine the scene

Genco is in a few of the flashback scenes with young Vito, notably the one in which Signor Roberto comes to the Genco Pura offices to tell Vito that Signora Colombo can stay in her apartment.

I believe it is he who finally opens the door for the hapless landlord when he leaves.

An interesting note about that scene is that Peter Briskind, in The Godfather Companion, says that Coppola "put a nail in the door so the actor couldn't open it", which caused him to really become flustered in trying to get out.

...but I didn't see Genco take the nail out?? Good editing??

Look closely and you actually do see Genco put his hand to the door to turn or remove the nail.

In The Godfather the novel, Mario Puzo writes that Vito Corleone stayed with relatives of his mother in New York.

What you see there is Genco pushing the little lock button. Those old locks had a small, slidable button that would either lock or unlock the mechanism. Thats what Genco was doing with his hand.

BTW - After looking at that scene to see if the nail was shown I noticed for the first time that Hyman Roth was in the scene (right after that) in which they're preparing to raise the Genco Pura sign over the door (and a car drives by causing them to scatter). Roth was one of those who jumped out of the way. I never noticed that before.

Yes, but surely if Coppola put a "nail" there to stop the actor opening the door then Frank Sivero must have been somehow removing it to enable the door to open??

Oh man, I feel dumb. I've always assumed that the character
you all are calling Genco was Tessio. Where was Tessio in the flashbacks?

Tessio was the skinny guy sitting at Vito's dinner table when they discussed the situation with Fanucci. Not DeNiro, not the fat guy Clemenza, but the other guy.