Here's something - a mistake Puzo made - which has bothered me from when I first read the book more than thirty years ago.

There's a scene where it is explained how Coach and Sally Rags, Carlo's two assistants in his bookmaking operation, always checked his work because early on he transposed the odds on a baseball game, creating "that dream of all gamblers, a middle".

What that means is this: Suppose the Yankees are playing Detroit, and the Yankees should be a 9 to 5 favorite (you have to risk $9 to win $5). By transposing the odds, Detroit becomes the 9 to 5 favorite. So a bettor can now bet with Carlo and get 9 to 5 on the Yankees, and then bet with another bookmaker, and get 9 to 5 on Detroit. So the bettor can't lose. He loses 5 with one bookie and wins 9 with the other whichever team wins the game.

Puzo then writes that because of this error, "the only one who could lose was Carlo's book".

But that statement is completely untrue. Because even though all his bettors were getting 9 to 5 odds instead of giving 9 to 5, the team everyone was betting on because the odds were wrong still could have lost the game, which would have resulted in a tremendous win for Carlo's book, rather than a loss.