Having seen The Godfather 1972 for the umpteenth time, I again wonder how Mario Puzo knew so much about the lives and functions of the Mafia in such detail as to write his classic novel.
I did research on Mario Puzo’s and the Godfathers’ websites but was unable to obtain the answer other than he had a friend once who was a reformed killer. Please clue me in.
It’s known as “research.” Puzo went to sources and looked up information.
Plus he made other parts of it up. You don’t really think there was a Corleone family?
Reality Chuck: Give me credit for knowing that there wasn’t really a Corleone family. But the mafia like the freemasons didn’t exactly spill the details so that one could research their inner workings. What sources would he have gone to? I would think that he would have had friends in the mafia who secretly told him about the rituals, the network and what not.
Puzo didn’t hide the fact that some real live mafiosos helped him out in getting information.
Well, IIRC, there was at least one high level mafiso who had, by that time, joined the witness protection program and told the FBI everything he knew about the business, which would have been in the papers not long afterwards.
I just wish I could remember a name.
Actually, while Puzo did some research, and based many of the characters in “The Godfather” on real people, he freely admitted that he didn’t know very much about the subject first hand. Because of his Italian name, people often assume he had some kind of personal knowledge of the inner workings of the Mob, when in reality, he knew no more than most of us.
Indeed, as many others have noted, Puzo’s books (and the movies they inspired) INFLUENCED the Mafia more than they reflected it. Mafiosi loved his books, which made mob life seem rather grand and romantic, and many of them began to use phrases they’d heard in the movies, to wear clothes they’d seen in the movies, to act like Pacino, Brando and Caan. “Godfather” was never a term used for Mafia big shots before Puzo’s books (the literal term, compadre, was something a Sicilian would call a buddy, NOT a word he’d use to show respect for a feared Mafia boss)… but it BECAME a Mafia buzzword, because of Puzo.
As for the characters in the book… well, some clearly represent real people. Substitute “Bugsy Siegel” for Moe Greene, “Meyer Lansky” for Hyman Roth, and “Frank Sinatra” for Johnny Fontaine.
Other characters are composites. Don Corleone reflected the personality of Carlo Gambino (a murderous don with a sweet exterior, a seemingly genial old man) and Frank Costello (who sent his own sons to college, and studiously kept them out of Mob business).
As for events… in some cases, Puzo described real events (there were many battles within the mob, at one time, over whether to get into the heroin business) AND completely made-up events (the Mob did NOT get Frank SInatra the role of Maggio in “From Here to Eternity”).
BTW, I’m pretty sure HPL is thinking of Joseph Valachi, the first high-ranking Mafioso to testify against the Mob. It was Valachi who first gave the Feds the “family” model of Mafia operations.
Having read your post, Astorian, I searched for Joe Valachi and learned a great deal. Thanx to all the above posters.