# "Leave the gun. Take the cannollis." **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 8, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711 "2008-07-08T16:38:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/41 "2008-07-09T12:17:02Z")
> [@](#): > > I suppose they could ask the Marine Corps to send them over. They wouldn’t have had to ask. Virtually all fingerprints in the United States are automatically sent to the FBI at the time they are taken to be centrally filed. ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/42 "2008-07-09T12:50:36Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] They wouldn’t have had to ask. Virtually all fingerprints in the United States are automatically sent to the FBI at the time they are taken to be centrally filed. [/QUOTE] Was that system in place in late '40s? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/43 "2008-07-09T13:09:57Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] That’s not gonna help if your dinner companion goes to the men’s room and comes back armed. Play it safe - go with him. [/QUOTE] Yeah, sometimes when someone goes to the men’s room and comes back you never know if everything’s gonna work out okay or if you’ll just ge ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/44 "2008-07-09T13:23:31Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] Clemenza: Come on, kid, don’t fool around. Just let your hand drop to your side and the gun slip out. Everyone will still think you’ve got it. They’re gonna be staring at your face, Mike. So walk out of the place real fast, but you don’t run. Don’t look nobody directly in the eye, but don’t look away either. They’re gonna be scared of you, believe me, so don’t worry about nothing. [/QUOTE] And of course, Michael didn’t follow the directions. He dramatically tossed the gun to the floor and raised his hand in the air, making it obvious to the standing, watching witnesses that he didn’t have it anymore. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/45 "2008-07-09T14:06:14Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] Clemenza: Yeah, I left it noisy. [/QUOTE] I don’t want to hijack, but I doubt this is worth its own thread: what is Clemenza claiming to have done here? He “left it noisy”? Like there’s a volume adjustment on a .22? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/46 "2008-07-09T14:21:00Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] I don’t want to hijack, but I doubt this is worth its own thread: what is Clemenza claiming to have done here? He “left it noisy”? Like there’s a volume adjustment on a .22? [/QUOTE] “Leaving it noisy,” versus putting a silencer on it, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/47 "2008-07-09T14:21:03Z")
Clemenza said he put “special tape” on the gun so that it wouldn’t register fingerprints. As far as leaving it noisy, I always assumed it meant he hadn’t used a silencer, which would have been impossible anyway as I recall, since I think it was a revolver, but made a good line about “scaring away pain in the ass innocent bystanders”. To me it meant they were taking reasonable care not to involve non-participants. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/48 "2008-07-09T15:27:46Z")
[QUOTE=Raguleader] Well, boats and airplanes are fundamentally the same thing, in a lot of ways. Except for the flying bit. Boats don’t normally do that unless you do something really weird. 😃 [/QUOTE] Perhaps a Pan Am flying boat? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/49 "2008-07-09T16:20:02Z")
Yeah, he might’ve bumped into Indiana Jones! Now _there_ would’ve been a crossover! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/50 "2008-07-09T16:22:26Z")
[QUOTE=butler1850] Perhaps a Pan Am flying boat? [/QUOTE] “Boy, where you been all your life? That there’s one of them new car-boats.” ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/51 "2008-07-09T17:09:52Z")
[QUOTE=racer72] I served on a jury a few years ago, the defendant shot someone and the bullet passed through the victim and hit another. The gun was found a few days later near where the defendant was arrested for driving on a suspended license. The ballistics expert that checked the gun against the bullet and said that the bullet did come from the gun. He also stated it is rare to get fingerprints from guns used during crimes. Very few guns have a surface large and flat enough to leave a fingerprint and when most handguns are used, the tight grip required to aim the gun distorts or smudges any potential fingerprints. He also said in over 20 years of police work he had yet to get the fingerprints needed to use against someone in court. [/QUOTE] Well, here’s an article that confirms this: [http://www.scafo.org/library/130303.html](http://www.scafo.org/library/130303.html) I suppose we should look at it from the cop’s point of view. The murder weapon is always a big deal in crime fiction, but the reason it’s a big deal is if you can tie the murder weapon to a particular person. Link the weapon to a person and you’ve got your prime suspect. But if the weapon doesn’t have any prints, and doesn’t have a purchase record, the way the weapon gets linked to a person is when the cops find the weapon in the suspect’s possession. So that seems to be the answer. You don’t want to be caught with the murder weapon in your possession, so you just drop it at the crime scene and walk away, and suddenly a big chunk of evidence tying you to the crime scene is left behind. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/52 "2008-07-09T18:00:45Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Yeah, sometimes when someone goes to the men’s room and comes back you never know if everything’s gonna work out okay or if you’ll just ge [/QUOTE] It’s good to know that whoever whacked **Ludovic** had the courtesy to click the “Submit Reply” button for him afterwards. RR ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/53 "2008-07-09T18:08:10Z")
And the decency not to rewrite his post to something about goat felching. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/54 "2008-07-09T18:14:45Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] And the decency not to rewrite his post to something about goat felching. [/QUOTE] Murder is one thing, but editing another person’s post is something else. Organized crime may not fear The Man, but it fears The Moderators. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/55 "2008-07-09T18:44:20Z")
[QUOTE=muldoonthief] And of course, Michael didn’t follow the directions. He dramatically tossed the gun to the floor and raised his hand in the air, making it obvious to the standing, watching witnesses that he didn’t have it anymore. [/QUOTE] > [@The Godfather](#): > > Sonny: [laughing] What are you gonna do? Nice college boy, didn’t want to get mixed up in the family business. Now you want to gun down a police captain. Why? Because he slapped you in the face a little? What **do you think this like the Army where you can shoot 'em from a mile away? No you gotta get up like this and, badda-bing, you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit.** C’mere. > [Kisses Michael on the head] > Sonny: You’re taking this very personal. Tom, this is business and this man is taking it very, very personal. > > Michael Corleone: Where does it say that you can’t kill a cop? > Tom Hagen: Come on, Mikey… > Michael Corleone: Tom, wait a minute. I’m talking about a cop that’s mixed up in drugs. I’m talking about a - a - a dishonest cop - a crooked cop who got mixed up in the rackets and got what was coming to him. That’s a terrific story. And we have newspaper people on the payroll, don’t we, Tom? > [Tom nods] > Michael Corleone: And they might like a story like that. > Tom Hagen: They might, they just might. > Michael Corleone: [to Sonny] It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business. That’s the thing…Michael had been an officer in the army during WWII. As an oficer and not a grunt, I wouldn’t assume that he had personally shot anyone “from a mile away”, and blowing away The Turk & Cpt McCluskey had been very personal and the climax of a very emotionally draining week for him. He was rattled. He forgot what he was doing, and remembering Clemenza’s instructions, tossed the gun. And Sterling Haden was great as McCluskey, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/56 "2008-07-09T18:48:59Z")
[QUOTE=BMax] And Sterling Haden was great as McCluskey, BTW. [/QUOTE] Got his precious bodily fluids spread every which way, he did. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/57 "2008-07-09T18:56:28Z")
I wonder if allowing the cops to recover the gun will cause them to focus on it and waste a lot of resources trying to trace it. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/58 "2008-07-09T19:09:55Z")
[QUOTE=BMax] That’s the thing…Michael had been an officer in the army during WWII. As an oficer and not a grunt, I wouldn’t assume that he had personally shot anyone “from a mile away”, and blowing away The Turk & Cpt McCluskey had been very personal and the climax of a very emotionally draining week for him. He was rattled. He forgot what he was doing, and remembering Clemenza’s instructions, tossed the gun. [/QUOTE] From what I understand, Sonny didn’t realize just what combat was like and what Michael had done to get his decorations. Michael was a hardcore combat veteran and could get the job done. But yeah, this was a personal and deliberate murder, so it’s understandable if he got the procedure a little wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/59 "2008-07-09T19:20:06Z")
Nitpick: Michael was a captain in the Marines, and won the Navy Cross for heroism in the Pacific. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711/60 "2008-07-09T20:08:44Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] That’s not gonna help if your dinner companion goes to the men’s room and comes back armed. Play it safe - go with him. [/QUOTE] Yeah, saying: “Don’t mind those gloves, Micheal, I’ll hold it for you.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leave-the-gun-take-the-cannollis/455711.md?page=4)