Another question: Are there any references to made men in The Godfather? I don’t remember ever hearing anyone talking about someone having their button or being straightened out like they do in other mob movies and areas of entertainment. It seems to be such an honor for people in that life and while it’s safe to assume that the main male characters have all been made, there is no mention of it. Michael most likely went through the ceremony and was made acting boss as soon as he got back to New York.
In his Senate subcommittee testimony in II, Cicci mentions that "at first I was a button," and explains what "button" means. It's not clear that Michael was "made," since he happened into the job after Sonny was killed. For that matter, it's not clear that every made man went through a ceremony we're familiar with. One of the nice things about being an absolute sovereign (the Don) is that he can do what he wants. Fat Vinnie Teresa, a former New England mafioso turned government rat, said that there was no ceremony there: "the boss just called you to The Office one day and said you were in."
Fair point. Like you, I think that it is implied that they were “madeâ€. But during this period in the mafia, some families seemed to be much more close-knit so maybe a ceremony wasn’t always necessary for some people. Vito’s kids were very much born into that life and grew up in it even though he did not want them to enter his world and his two key capos Clemenza and Tessio were with him from the beginning. Before the american mafia was organized into separate families.
