Vito pays him $100 in the movie. He takes $50 each from Clemenza and Tessio.
Well, in the movie, he’s only looking for a total of $600. But I think the reason he takes less in the movie than in the book is to make up for the fact that we know less about his backstory in the movie. We don’t know that Vito once saw him attacked and almost killed and that he had taken a payout to not seek revenge on some of the attackers, which is why Vito knows Fanucci can’t be a serious mafioso. So absent that book information, Fanucci in the movie taking a lot less than what he demanded is the narrative shorthand for he’s not a serious player. He’s just fronting, so he’ll take whatever he can get.
Yep. A serious, dangerous mafioso would have reacted in a particular way to being offered less money than what he demanded: if he was generous, he would make clear that anything short of getting the rest immediately would be oh, so unpleasant (and then follow through). Less than generous, he doesn’t say a word, gets up and leaves, and what is coming next is crystal clear to everyone.
What he doesn’t do? Give words of admiration and offer to work with the guy. Fanucci’s power was based on the threat of violence. A hardcore mobster’s is founded on the execution of violence.
Vito is a case in point. It was an open secret that he bumped off Fanucci. That act cemented him as leader of his trio and began his reputation as a dangerous man of respect in the community. Once he could be muscled out of his job in a grocery. Later, a landlord returned in terror to make right a transgression in any way he could. Vito never uttered an actual threat to the landlord. He didn’t have to.