Chapter 3 Virgil Sollozzo
Virgil Sollozzo was excellent at killing people with a knife. He was a
strongly-built man with dark eyes and a wide, cruel mouth, but today he
was trying to be polite and friendly. He had an important favour to ask,
which was why he had asked for this meeting with Don Corleone.
'Don Corleone,' he smiled warmly. 'I need money to help me start a new
business in drugs,' he said. 'If you give me one million dollars, I can
promise you between three and four million dollars in your first year.
After that, you'll get even more.'
Don Corleone said nothing at first. He seemed to be thinking. He looked
around the room, at Sonny and Tom Hagen, and at Clemenza and
Tessio, his two oldest friends. They were all watching him quietly with
serious faces, waiting to hear his reply. Finally, he turned back to
Sollozzo. 'Why do you come to me?' he asked in his usual rough
whisper.
'I need a man who has important friends,' Sollozzo said, lowering his
eyes respectfully towards the Don.
'And what about the Tattaglia family? How much will they get?'
Sollozzo looked surprised. He didn't know that Don Corleone had
discovered that he worked with the Tattaglias. He nodded his
congratulations in the direction of Tom Hagen, who had obviously done
his homework, and turned back to Don