Chapter 11 07

The night before Don Corleone was shot, his staunchest, most loyal, most feared patron was ready to meet the enemy.Luke Brasi had made contact with Sollozzo's forces a few months earlier.He was doing it on Don Corleone's orders.The method he adopted was to often go to several nightclubs controlled by the Tattaglia family to fool around, and hooked up with a prostitute inside.As they slept in bed, he complained that he was a lowly member of the Corleone family and that he was not appreciated as he should be.A week after Luke complained to the whore, nightclub manager Bruno Tattaglia contacted him.Bruno, the youngest son, is ostensibly connected to a brothel run by his family.However, the famous nightclub he runs has become a training school for prostitutes in the city because it is composed of a group of dancers who are good at soliciting customers.

The first meeting was open and aboveboard, and Tattaglia offered him to be a disciplined executive in the family business system.The flirtations go on for about a month, with Luke playing a man who is charmed by a young, pretty girl; Bruno Tattaglia a businessman desperate to win over a rival's capable men.During a conversation, Luke pretended to be tempted, saying: "However, we must understand that I have absolutely no desire to oppose the Godfather himself. Don Corleone is a man whom I respect. I understand that he must place his sons ahead of me in family matters. " Bruno Tattaglia was of a new generation, with an undisguised disdain for Luke Brasi, Don Corleone, and even his own father—old-school with mustaches.This time he was a little too reverent.He said:

"My dad wouldn't want you to do anything that would be bad for the Corleones. Why would you do something like that? Everyone get on with each other, as usual, so be it. If you want a new job, I'll Just tell my dad, we need people like you, this is a difficult business, and we need tough guys who are not afraid of difficulties to make it go smoothly. I want to find out: Have you made up your mind?" Luke shrugged. "I'm doing a pretty good job right now." Since then, they have not discussed the issue directly. The original intention was to convince the Tattaglias that Luke knew of a lucrative narcotics business, and that he wanted to enter a separate one as a "hired valet."In this way he might hear some of Sollozzo's plans, if the "Turk" had any.In addition, he could know whether the other party planned to poke Don Corleone in the sore spot.After two months without seeing anything happen, Luke reported to the old man that it seemed that Sollozzo was willing to fail.The old man told him to continue to test, but not to urge him specifically.

The night before Don Corleone was shot, Luke wandered into the nightclub.Bruno came to his table at about the same time and sat down. "I have a friend who wants to talk to you," he said. "Bring him," Luke said. "I'd like to talk to any friend of yours." One cannot talk here," Bruno said, "he wants to interview you in a secret place. " "Who is he?" Luke asked. "Anyway, it's a friend of mine," said Bruno Tapeglia. "He wants to make a proposal to you. Can you meet him later tonight?" "Of course," said Luke. "When? Where?"

Tattaglia said in a low voice, "The nightclub closes at four o'clock before dawn. Why not meet here while the waiters clean up?" Luke thought that people knew his living habits: he usually got up at three or four o'clock in the afternoon, had breakfast, and then played gambling with old friends, or played with women, and chatted for entertainment.Sometimes, he just watched a late-night movie, and then went to a nightclub for a few drinks.He never slept before dawn, so it was not surprising to propose a meeting at four o'clock before dawn. "Yes, yes," he said, "I'll be back at four o'clock."

Leaving the nightclub, he hailed a taxi and went back to his rented room on Tenth Road.He lived with an Italian with whom he was distantly related.His two houses were separated from the family's railroad apartment by a special door.He liked the arrangement because it afforded a certain domestic intimacy, and it also protected him from surprise attacks--he was in a line of work most likely to suffer from surprise attacks. Luke thought to himself: It seems that this cunning "Turkish" fox is about to show its furry tail.If Sollozzo had settled the matter tonight, the whole matter might have been closed and given to the old man as a Christmas present.In his room, Luke opened the box under the bed and took out the body armor.That stuff is heavy.He took off his outer clothes, put the flak jacket over the fleece, and then put on his shirt and jacket.It suddenly occurred to him to call the old man in Long Beach and tell him what had happened.But he knew the Don would never speak on the phone, not to anyone, and that the mission was given to him in private, without anyone knowing, not even Hagen and his eldest son.

Luke often carried a gun.He has a gun license.If you compare the gun licenses issued anywhere in the world and in any era, his one is probably the most valuable, costing a total of one dollar.If he had been searched by the police and found a gun, that gun license would have kept him out of jail.As the highest executive in the Corleone family organization, he deserved that kind of gun license.But tonight, when he had the chance to finish the mission, he needed a "safety" gun -- one that would make it impossible to trace the gun's owner.However, after thinking about the matter for a while, he decided to listen to the plan proposed by the other party first, and then report to the godfather.

He went to Forty-eighth Street and ate a very leisurely late dinner at his frequented Batzer's.It was almost time for the appointment, and he wandered towards the door of the nightclub.When he entered, the porter was off duty, as was the cloakroom girl, and Bruno Tattaglia was waiting for him, who, after greeting him, led him to the bar on the side of the hall.Before him was a bleak scene: small tables around it; in the middle was a large yellow floor for dancing, polished like a diamond; the lamp on the bandstand was extinguished, empty and dark, and the steel pole of the microphone Like a skeleton in the haze, standing there alone.

Luke sat in the bar while Bruno Tattaglia went inside.Luke declined the offer of wine and lit a cigarette by himself.It was probably someone else than the "Turk" who came out.But just as he was thinking this, Sollozzo appeared from the shadows across the hall. Sollozzo shook hands with him and sat next to him by the counter.Tattaglia brings a glass of wine to the 'Turk' In front of him, the 'Turk' nodded his thanks. "Do you know who I am?" Sollozzo asked. Luke nodded and grinned grimly.The mouse came out of the hole, and he would be glad to be in charge of this Sicilian who had betrayed Sicilian principles.

"Do you know what I'm going to ask of you?" Sollozzo asked. Luke shook his head. "There's a lot of business to do," Sollozzo said, "I mean the top guys are making millions each. First shipment, I can guarantee you $50,000.I'm talking about the drug business, which is going to thrive in the future. " Luke said, "Why are you talking to me about this? Do you want me to pass it on to the old man?" Sollozzo bared his teeth, grinned, and said, "I've already talked to the old man. He doesn't want to participate. Well, I can do without him. But I need a competent person to protect the safety of the business. I know You are having trouble with your family organization, you might as well change it."

Luke shrugged. "If the terms you offer are good enough." Sollozzo was watching him intently, as if he had made up his mind. "Please think about my opinion for a few days. After you think it over, let's talk about it." After all, he stretched out his hand to shake hands with Luke, but Luke pretended not to see, and was putting a cigarette in his mouth.From behind the counter Bruno Tattaglia magically passed a lighter for Luke to light a cigarette.It was too late, but soon, he made an unexpected action: he suddenly threw the lighter on the counter, grabbed Luke's right hand, and held it very tightly. Luke immediately defended himself, and his body jumped off the stool, trying desperately to break free.But Sollozzo had already grabbed the wrist of his other hand.Luke was strong and strong, and the two of them still couldn't handle it, and almost broke free.Just at this moment, a man rushed out from the shadows behind him and strangled him with a thin rope around his neck.The rope was pulled so tight that Lugal was suffocating.His face was purple, his arms were useless, and Tattaglia and Sollozzo were now holding his hand without difficulty.The two of them stood there looking around like innocent children as the man behind Luke pulled the rope tighter and tighter.Suddenly, the floor was wet and slippery, and Luke was pissing.He didn't have any strength in his body, his legs were circled, and his body collapsed. Sollozzo and Tattaglia let go of his hands, and only the man who pulled the rope remained with the victim, kneeling as Luke fell, the tight rope sinking into the flesh to watch gone.Luke's eyes popped out, as if he had received the greatest shock, and this shock was the only humanity left in him.he died. "I don't want his body to be found," Sollozzo said, "especially not immediately." After finishing speaking, he heeled to the ground, turned back, and left, his back disappeared into the darkness.