Al Lettieri was one of the two most influential members of the crew of the Godfather, as he was related the the Eboli family in the Genovese crime family, and grew up knowing some of the local mob guys in his neighborhood. Richard Conte is the other one has he was the one who was able to broker a deal with his good friend Frank Sinatra, Joe Colombo, and Al Ruddy over the script with certain references and removal of names. They wanted him to play Vito Corleone but he declined in favor of Brando, and instead took the role of Don Emilio Barzini, he also slept with Marilyn Monroe. Richard Castellano is the last major one to help in that he was able to meet Joe N. Gallo through Paul Castellano and worked out some problems the mafia had with the production of the movie. Castellano never reprised his role in the Godfather as he did not liked that his character became a rat, thus the character of Frank was created when Richard refused to take part in the Godfather 2.