[TheStellarEnsemble.com] The Godfather - Mario Puzo

Chapter 6Peter Clemenza slept badly that night. In the morning he got up early and made his ownbreakfast of a glass of grappa, a thick slice of Genoa salami with a chunk of fresh Italian breadthat was still delivered to his door as in the old days. Then he drank a great, plain china mugfilled with hot coffee that had been lashed with anisette. But as he padded about the house in hisold bathrobe and red felt slippers he pondered on the day’s work that lay ahead of him. Lastnight Sonny Corleone had made it very clear that Paulie Gatto was to be taken care ofimmediately. It had to be today.Clemenza was troubled. Not because Gatto had been his protégé and had turned traitor.This did not reflect on the caporegime’s judgment. After all, Paulie’s background had beenperfect. He came from a Sicilian family, he had grown up in the same neighborhood as theCorleone children, had indeed even gone to school with one of the sons. He had been brought upthrough each level in the proper manner. He had been tested and not found wanting. And thenafter he had “made his bones” he had received a good living from the Family, a percentage of anEast Side “book” and a union payroll slot. Clemenza had not been unaware that Paulie Gattosupplemented his income with free-lance stickups, strictly against the Family rules, but even thiswas a sign of the man’s worth. The breaking of such regulations was considered a sign ofhigh-spiritedness, like that shown by a fine racing horse fighting the reins.And Paulie had never caused trouble with his stickups. They had always beenmeticulously planned and carried out with the minimum of fuss and trouble, with no one evergetting hurt: a three-thousand-dollar Manhattan garment center payroll, a small chinawarefactory payroll in the slums of Brooklyn. After all, a young man could always use some extrapocket money. It was all in the pattern. Who could ever foretell that Paulie Gatto would turntraitor?What was troubling Peter Clemenza this morning was an administrative problem. Theactual execution of Gatto was a cut-and-dried chore. The problem was, who should thecaporegime bring up from the ranks to replace Gatto in the Family? It was an importantpromotion, that to “button” man, one not to be handed out lightly. The man had to be tough andhe had to be smart. He had to be safe, not a person who would talk to the police if he got in87