A Mafia Familys Use of Violence Violence can either be used as mean ofattaining power or as means of revenge. It is a highly known fact that the mainfocus of a stereotypical Mafia family should centre around the use of violence. “The Godfather” as well as “The Last Don” are two novels which hold trueto this focus and are interestingly enough both written by the same author: thelate Mario Puzo.
Although being written more than twenty-five years apart, thetwo novels almost mirror each other throughout. For instance, near the beginningof each book the only daughter of each family gets married. Aside from that wealso see one son die in each novel as well as the husband of the familys onlydaughter to be killed by the family. Throughout all these instances the onlything dissimilar regarding the two Mafia families is their reasons for violence. A familys use of violence is determined by how much power they hold. In”The Godfather”, the main purpose behind all killing and violence can bedirectly related to attaining power.
On the other hand, “The Last Don” is anovel in which all cases of violence are used for the sole purpose of revenge. The killing of one of the sons in both novels by Puzo appears to be the mostprominent deaths. The unfortunate son in “The Last Don”, Sylvio, is a verycaring and nurturing individual who wishes to have his younger sister, Rose,marry the man of her choice. Her first choice is the son of a rival Mafia boss. He is a part of the Santadio clan.
For obvious business reasons Don Clericuziodoes not wish his daughter to become involved with the rival son let alone havehim become a part of his family. Therefore Don Clericuzio strictly forbidsRoses marriage to him. As a means of reconciling this difference Petie meetsRoses lover to seek the solution to their marriage. On the way home aftermaking arrangements to persuade his father to let his sister marry, Petie issideswiped in his sportscar by a member of the Santadios and gunned to death.
The fact that the Clericuzio clan is the most powerful family in the world meansthat the killing of any Santadio would not be by any stretch for personal gainof wealth. The Don of each family lays the seeds for generations to come whichhelps explain the future killings in this book. It is Don Clericuzio who as anact of revenge plans the total wipeout of the Santadio family. He lets thewedding between his daughter and the Santadios son proceed sending only hisnephew Pippi to go as “representation” of the Clericuzios.
All goes well atthe wedding as Pippi dances among his foes. Rose and her new husband go to thewedding bed that night and only that night. In the middle of the night a band ofthe Clericuzios storm the Santadio mansion and kill all of their men. They wearmasks to disguise themselves from Rose but it is to no avail as she noticesPippis wedding shoes.
In the end it is Pippi who kills Roses husband butnot before the seeds of life had been planted for Roses child who was to benamed Dante. Don Clericuzio had avenged the death of his son Sylvio. Unfortunately this was only the beginning of the chain of revenge. The aftereffects of the Santadio-Clericuzio war was laid to rest by all of theClericuzios except for Rose who was deeply in love with her husband. The hurtwas evident throughout as she shunned upon the presence of anybody but her dearson Dante. Rose ended up going mad and became a senile old woman by the time shewas fourty years old.
The Clericuzio family kept the war against the Santadiosquiet throughout Dantes life as well as Cross lifetime. The exception tothis was when Dantes mother would often whisper the truth about it to him. For this Dante,”. . dreamed of vengeance on Pippi, and though these werefantasies, he thought them for his mothers sake”.
(P. 429) Cross wasPippis son and was baptized at the same time as Dante. Dante returned thelove that was shown by his mother and was obviously closer to her than anyClericuzio. At this point Dante is in his mid twenties and has become acold-hearted hitman on behalf of the Clericuzio family.
It is of no
