Читать интересную книгу Английский язык с Крестным Отцом - Илья Франк

that time he came to be called Don Corleone. Everywhere in the city, honest men

begged for honest work in vain. Proud men demeaned (to demean – унижать)

themselves and their families to accept official charity from contemptuous officialdom

(от презирающих их властей). But the men of Don Corleone walked the streets with

their heads held high, their pockets stuffed with silver and paper money. With no fear of

losing their jobs. And even Don Corleone, that most modest of men, could not help

feeling a sense of pride. He was taking care of his world, his people. He had not failed

those who depended on him and gave him the sweat of their brows, risked their

freedom and their lives in his service. And when an employee of his was arrested and

sent to prison by some mischance, that unfortunate man's family received a living

allowance (пожизненное содержание); and not a miserly, beggarly, begrudging (to

begrudge – скупиться) pittance (скудное вспомоществование, жалование) but the

same amount the man earned when free.

This of course was not pure Christian charity. Not his best friends would have called

Don Corleone a saint from heaven. There was some self-interest in this generosity. An

employee sent to prison knew he had only to keep his mouth shut and his wife and

children would be cared for. He knew that if he did not inform to the police a warm

welcome would be his when he left prison. There would be a party waiting in his home,

the best of food, homemade ravioli, wine, pastries, with all his friends and relatives

gathered to rejoice in his freedom. And sometime during the night the Consigliori,

Genco Abbandando, or perhaps even the Don himself, would drop by to pay his

respects to such a stalwart (стойкий приверженец, верный последователь ['sto:w∂t]),

take a glass of wine in his honor, and leave a handsome present of money so that he

could enjoy a week or two of leisure with his family before returning to his daily toil

(тяжелый труд). Such was the infinite sympathy and understanding of Don Corleone.

It was at this time that the Don got the idea that he ran his world far better than his

enemies ran the greater world which continually obstructed his path. And this feeling

was nurtured by the poor people of the neighborhood who constantly came to him for

help. To get on the home relief (облегчение; освобождение /от уплаты/), to get a

young boy a job or out of jail, to borrow a small sum of money desperately needed, to

intervene with landlords who against all reason demanded rent from jobless tenants.

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Don Vito Corleone helped them all. Not only that, he helped them with goodwill, with

encouraging words to take the bitter sting out of the charity he gave them. It was only

natural then that when these Italians were puzzled and confused on who to vote for to

represent them in the state legislature, in the city offices, in the Congress, they should

ask the advice of their friend Don Corleone, their Godfather. And so he became a

political power to be consulted by practical party chiefs. He consolidated this power with

a far-seeing statesmanlike intelligence; by helping brilliant boys from poor Italian

farnilies through college, boys who would later become lawyers, assistant district

attorneys, and even judges. He planned for the future of his empire with all the foresight

of a great national leader.

The repeal (отмена) of Prohibition dealt this empire a crippling blow but again he had

taken his precautions. In 1933 he sent emissaries to the man who controlled all the

gambling activities of Manhattan, the crap games on the docks, the shylocking that went

with it as hot dogs go with baseball games, the bookmaking on sports and horses, the

illicit gambling houses that ran poker games, the policy or numbers racket of Harlem.

This man's name was Salvatore Maranzano and he was one of the acknowledged

pezzonovante, .90 calibers, or big shots of the New York underworld. The Corleone

emissaries proposed to Maranzano an equal partnership beneficial to both parties. Vito

Corleone with his organization, his police and political contacts, could give the

Maranzano operations a stout umbrella and the new strength to expand into Brooklyn

and the Bronx. But Maranzano was a short-sighted man and spurned (to spurn –

отвергать с презрением) the Corleone offer with contempt. The great Al Capone was

Maranzano's friend and he had his own organization, his own men, plus a huge war

chest (ящик; казна). He would not brook (терпеть, выносить) this upstart (выскочка)

whose reputation was more that of a Parliamentary debator than a true Mafioso.

Maranzano's refusal touched off (его отказ вызвал, привел к) the great war of 1933

which was to change the whole structure of the underworld in New York City.

At first glance it seemed an uneven match. Salvatore Maranzano had a powerful

organization with strong enforcers. He had a friendship with Capone in Chicago and

could call on help in that quarter. He also had a good relationship with the Tattaglia

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Family, which controlled prostitution in the city and what there was of the thin drug traffic

at that time. He also had political contacts with powerful business leaders who used his

enforcers to terrorize the Jewish unionists in the garment center and the Italian

anarchist syndicates in the building trades.

Against this, Don Corleone could throw two small but superbly organized regimes led

by Clemenza and Tessio. His political and police contacts were negated by the

business leaders who would support Maranzano. But in his favor was the enemy's lack

of intelligence about his organization. The underworld did not know the true strength of

his soldiers and even were deceived that Tessio in Brooklyn was a separate and

independent operation.

And yet despite all this, it was an unequal battle until Vito Corleone evened out the

odds (сравнял счет) with one master stroke.

Maranzano sent a call to Capone for his two best gunmen to come to New York to

eliminate the upstart. The Corleone Family had friends and intelligence in Chicago who

relayed the news that the two gunmen were arriving by train. Vito Corleone dispatched

Luca Brasi to take care of them with instructions that would liberate the strange man's

most savage instincts.

Brasi and his people, four of them, received the Chicago hoods at the railroad station.

One of Brasi's men procured and drove a taxicab for the purpose and the station porter

carrying the bags led the Capone men to this cab. When they got in; Brasi and another

of his men crowded in after them, guns ready, and made the two Chicago boys lie on

the floor. The cab drove to a warehouse near the docks that Brasi had prepared for

them.

The two Capone men were bound hand and foot and small bath towels were stuffed

into their mouths to keep them from crying out.

Then Brasi took an ax (топор) from its place against the wall and started hacking at

one of the Capone men. He chopped the man's feet off, then the legs at the knees, then

the thighs where they joined the torso. Brasi was an extremely powerful man but it took

him many swings to accomplish his purpose. By that time of course the victim had given

up the ghost and the floor of the warehouse was slippery with the hacked fragments of

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his flesh and the gouting (gout – сгусток крови) of his blood. When Brasi turned to his

second victim he found further effort unnecessary. The second Capone gunman out of

sheer terror had, impossibly, swallowed the bath towel in his mouth and suffocated. The

bath towel was found in the man's stomach when the police performed their autopsy to

determine the cause of death.

A few days later in Chicago the Capones received a message from Vito Corleone. It

was to this effect: "You know now how I deal with enemies. Why does a Neapolitan

interfere in a quarrel between two Sicilians? If you wish me to consider you as a friend I

owe you a service which I will pay on demand. A man like yourself must know how

much more profitable it is to have a friend who, instead of calling on you for help, takes

care of his own affairs and stands ever ready to help you in some future time of trouble.

If you do not wish my friendship, so be it. But then I must tell you that the climate in this

city is damp; unhealthy for Neapolitans, and you are advised never to visit it."

The arrogance of this letter was a calculated one. The Don held the Capones in small

esteem as stupid, obvious cutthroats. His intelligence informed him that Capone had

forfeited (to forfeit [‘fo:fıt] – расплатиться, потерять право /на что-то/; forfeit –

расплата /за проступок/; конфискация) all political influence because of his public

arrogance and the flaunting (to flaunt – гордо развеваться /о знаменах/; выставлять

напоказ, щеголять) of his criminal wealth. The Don knew, in fact was positive, that

without political influence, without the camouflage of society, Capone's world, and

others like it, could be easily destroyed. He knew Capone was on the path to

destruction. He also knew that Capone's influence did not extend beyond the

boundaries of Chicago, terrible and all-pervading as that influence there might be.

The tactic was successful. Not so much because of its ferocity (жестокость) but

because of the chilling swiftness, the quickness of the Don's reaction. If his intelligence

was so good, any further moves would be fraught (полный, чреватый) with danger. It

was better, far wiser, to accept the offer of friendship with its implied payoff (с

предполагаемой, подразумеваемой компенсацией; to imply – заключать в себе;

предполагать, подразумевать). The Capones sent back word that they would not

interfere.

The odds were now equal. And Vito Corleone had earned an enormous amount of

"respect" throughout the United States underworld with his humiliation of the Capones.

For six months he out-generaled Maranzano. He raided the crap games under that

man's protection, located his biggest policy banker (держатель игорного дома) in

Harlem and had him relieved of a day's play not only in money but in records. He

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engaged his enemies on all fronts. Even in the garment centers he sent Clemenza and

his men to fight on the side of the unionists against the enforcers on the payroll of

Maranzano and the owners of the dress firms. And on all fronts his superior intelligence

and organization made him the victor. Clemenza's jolly ferocity, which Corleone

employed judiciously (рассудительно), also helped turn the tide of battle. And then Don

Corleone sent the held-back reserve of the Tessio regime after Maranzano himself.

By this time Maranzano had dispatched emissaries suing for (to sue for – просить о

чем-либо) a peace. Vito Corleone refused to see them, put them off on one pretext or

another. The Maranzano soldiers were deserting their leader, not wishing to die in a

losing cause. Bookmakers and shylocks were paying the Corleone organization their

protection money. The war was all but over (почти окончена).

And then finally on New Year's Eve of 1933 Tessio got inside the defenses of

Maranzano himself. The Maranzano lieutenants were anxious for a deal and agreed to

lead their chief to the slaughter. They told him that a meeting had been arranged in a

Brooklyn restaurant with Corleone and they accompanied Maranzano as his

bodyguards.

They left him sitting at a checkered (checker – шашка; checkerboard – шахматный

стол) table, morosely munching (мрачно жуя; morose [m∂’r∂us] – мрачный) a piece of

bread, and fled the restaurant as Tessio and four of his men entered. The execution

was swift and sure. Maranzano, his mouth full of half-chewed bread, was riddled with

bullets. The war was over.

The Maranzano empire was incorporated into the Corleone operation. Don Corleone

set up a system of tribute, allowing all incumbents (incumbent – пользующийся

бенефицием священник; /здесь/ букмекер, пользующийся своим доходным местом)

to remain in their bookmaking and policy number spots. As a bonus he had a foothold

(точка опоры) in the unions of the garment center which in later years was to prove

extremely important. And now that he had settled his business affairs the Don found

trouble at home.

Santino Corleone, Sonny, was sixteen years old and grown to an astonishing six feet

with broad shoulders and a heavy face that was sensual but by no means effeminate.

But where Fredo was a quiet boy, and Michael, of course, a toddler (ребенок,

начинающий ходить; to toddle – ковылять; учиться ходить), Santino was constantly

in trouble. He got into fights, did badly in school and, finally, Clemenza, who was the

boy's godfather and had a duty to speak, came to Don Corleone one evening and

informed him that his son had taken part in an armed robbery, a stupid affair which

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could have gone very badly. Sonny was obviously the ringleader, the two other boys in

the robbery his followers.

It was one of the very few times that Vito Corleone lost his temper. Tom Hagen had

been living in his home for three years and he asked Clemenza if the orphan boy had

been involved. Clemenza shook his head. Don Corleone had a car sent to bring Santino

to his offices in the Genco Pura Olive Oil Company.

For the first time, the Don met defeat. Alone with his son, he gave full vent to his rage,

cursing the hulking (громадный, неуклюжий, неповоротливый; hulk – большое

неповоротливое судно) Sonny in Sicilian dialect, a language so much more satisfying

than any other for expressing rage. He ended up with a question. "What gave you the

right to commit such an act? What made you wish to commit such an act?"

Sonny stood there, angry, refusing to answer. The Don said with contempt, "And so

stupid. What did you earn for that night's work? Fifty dollars each? Twenty dollars? You