Powerful influence of Mario Puzo's The Godfather among English reading and movie watching people
Last updated on 15th Aug. 2019
CNN Anchor Chris Cuomo gets all worked up when he seems to have been baited in an orchestrated setup meant to incite him. And how was he incited? By being name-called 'Fredo'!
BTW Chris Cuomo's elder brother is current Governor of New York state, USA.
Here's a short video about the (presumed) setup and Chris Cuomo's later more balanced reaction: CNN Anchor Lashes Out at Man Who Called Him ‘Fredo’, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0eS-9v_Abo, 2 min. 10 secs published by Inside Edition on 13th Aug. 2019
The Godfather novel and movie were a rage in my youth in Bombay - around 1980s. The novel was an absolutely must-read cult classic book. It made a big impact on me with Michael Corleone being a gangster-yet-hero who turns the tables against his gang-family's enemy mob-families, and emerges the winner. Of course, it was fiction. Of course, mafia was bad stuff. But ....
Today as I look back on my youth in Bombay days, I can understand well why Mario Puzo's novel had such an impact on me. The Godfather novel was something that reflected a reality of life in some big cities of the world. I think that was an important part of why the book became such a cult classic among English reading Bombay chaps of my youth.
Bombay then had its own mafia families! Today there are wikipedia pages on them! That just shows how powerful those Bombay mafia dons of that day were. The two most powerful were:
Dawood Ibrahim, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawood_Ibrahim and
Chota Rajan, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhota_Rajan.
They were figures to be feared but they did not interfere with the life of the common middle class or poor man.
In fact, Chota Rajan was known for funding and organizing Ganesh Chaturthi festivals in Tilak Nagar, Chembur which place I have visited quite often as my uncle & family used to stay nearby and I have lived with my uncle's family during vacations. Chota Rajan started his career selling Sahakar cinema (in Tilak Nagar) tickets in the black-market (illegally and at higher price). I have seen movies in Sahakar cinema!
Now I am not glorifying Chota Rajan or Dawood Ibrahim. Dawood Ibrahim in particular is a dangerous terrorist fugitive who has orchestrated terror attacks on India, including the 1993 serial bomb blasts terror attack on Mumbai which I have experienced directly. [Those interested in it may read my post: My memories of the 1993 Bombay/Mumbai serial bomb blasts, http://ravisiyermisc.blogspot.com/2015/07/my-memories-of-1993-bombaymumbai-serial.html, 16th July 2015.]
But like the New York City mafia families and bosses were a reality that New York City residents had to deal with, Bombay residents of the 1980s had to deal with the reality of Dawood Ibrahim and Chota Rajan gangs. Now, dealing with that reality for middle class folks like me and most of my circle of family & friends meant simply keeping a safe distance from businesses and activities that were known/rumoured to be controlled by them. If one chose to get mixed up in all that then usually the slide into violence and worse was the outcome.
The Godfather book and movie laid out (in a fictional way even though it was based to some extent on New York City mafia families in the decade after World War II) some picture of the reality of those gangs in New York City. I think that helped English book reading people like me in Bombay to deal with the mafia family reality of the 1980s in Bombay.
I have seen only clips of the movie, The Godfather, which is based on the book. But I have read the book multiple times in my youth. So I can recall some key characters & parts of the book, even today, a few decades since I last read the book!
I was able to recall the Freddie (Fredo) Corleone (weak) character easily, as I came across this Chris Cuomo incident. But I had not known about Fredo being used as a disparaging name-calling word among American-Italians.
I request readers not to make any comments referencing USA President Trump.
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The ruthlessness of the mafia family business is captured in this clip from The Godfather. Readers who don't like to see violence may please skip this video.
The Godfather - Michael Settles All Family Business 10/10 (HD), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZx7yF_a7M, 4 min. 23 secs.
Michael lies to his brother-in-law Carlo Rizzi about not wanting to kill him and make his sister a widow, but just wanting him to admit to having conspired (some months/years earlier) with Corleone family enemies to lure Michael's brother Sonny (Santino) away from safety of his house. If I recall correctly, Carlo does this by beating his wife who is the sister of Sonny and Michael, with his wife then calling Sonny for help. That leads Sonny Corleone to leave the safety of his house and go towards Carlo's house. Sonny is brutally killed in the ambush laid by the enemies of the Corleone family.
After Carlo gets taken in by Michael's lie and admits to having conspired with Barzini (an enemy of the Corleone family) to lure Sonny away from his house (and to his death), Michael sends Carlo Rizzi away to supposedly travel in a car to the airport. But the assassin is waiting in the car back seat to kill Carlo and does that shortly after Carlo is seated in the car, by strangling him before the car leaves the compound. Michael sees the assassination happening from a distance and moves on. Michael is the ruthless mob chief who has just ensured assassination of his own brother-in-law for betrayal.
Horrible and murderous vendetta! But that's what mafia mobs are like. Bombay mafia mobs of the 80s and 90s also indulged in some horrible murderous vendetta, though it may not be as dramatic as the above fictional episode of The Godfather. For middle class and working class people like me, survival in Bombay and surrounding areas involved keeping a safe distance from association with such mafia mobs and not getting tangled up in any of their activities. I repeat that Bombay mafia mobs would not bother working class people unless they interfered with their activities. I think it would have been similar for working class folks in New York City when mafia mobs were very powerful there.
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Given below are my comment(s) on my Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2567624493454112, associated with this blog post:
In response to a comment, I (Ravi) wrote (slightly edited): Thanks --name-snipped-- for your comment.
Enjoyed the bit about the Italian gentleman at the Banyan Systems' training course in MA. He would have felt like how we felt when some guys in the USA pictured all of India as was shown in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom :-). In the late 1980s, an evangelist group in Nashua, New Hampshire showed that movie to a group of us Indians from my Bombay company Datamatics on assignment, as part of their attempt to be nice to us and hopefully convert some of us. I think their general intent to be nice to us was good but the movie was a horrible choice. I and some others walked out half way.
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