Илья Франк - Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
that I, too, have some Christian charity (милосердие). Her rent will remain what it was."
All concerned played this comedy prettily. Vito poured wine, called for cakes, wrung
Mr. Roberto's hand and praised his warm heart. Mr. Roberto sighed and said that
having made the acquaintance of such a man as Vito Corleone restored his faith in
human nature. Finally they tore themselves away from each other. Mr. Roberto, his
bones turned to jelly with fear at his narrow escape, caught the streetcar to his home in
the Bronx and took to his bed. He did not reappear in his tenements for three days.
Vito Corleone was now a "man of respect" in the neighborhood. He was reputed to be
a member of the Mafia of Sicily. One day a man who ran card games in a furnished
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room came to him and voluntarily paid him twenty dollars each week for his "friendship."
He had only to visit the game once or twice a week to let the players understand they
were under his protection.
Store owners who had problems with young hoodlums asked him to intercede
(вмешаться). He did so and was properly rewarded. Soon he had the enormous
income for that time and place of one hundred dollars a week. Since Clemenza and
Tessio were his friends, his allies, he had to give them each part of the money, but this
he did without being asked. Finally he decided to go into the olive oil importing business
with his boyhood chum (приятель, закадычный друг), Genco Abbandando. Genco
would handle the business, the importing of the olive oil from Italy, the buying at the
proper price, the storing in his father's warehouse. Genco had the experience for this
part of the business. Clemenza and Tessio would be the salesmen. They would go to
every Italian grocery store in Manhattan, then Brooklyn, then the Bronx, to persuade
store owners to stock Genco Pura olive oil. (With typical modesty, Vito Corleone refused
to name the brand (головня; клеймо; /здесь/ фабричная марка) after himself.) Vito of
course would be the head of the firm since he was supplying most of the capital. He
also would be called in on special cases, where store owners resisted the sales talks of
Clemenza and Tessio. Then Vito Corleone would use his own formidable powers of
persuasion.
For the next few years Vito Corleone lived that completely satisfying life of a small
businessman wholly devoted to building up his commercial enterprise in a dynamic,
expanding economy. He was a devoted father and husband but so busy he could spare
his family little of his time. As Genco Pura olive oil grew to become the bestselling
imported Italian oil in America, his organization mushroomed (быстро росла;
mushroom – гриб). Like any good salesman he came to understand the benefits of
undercutting his rivals in price, barring them from distribution outlets by persuading
store
owners to stock less of their brands. Like any good businessman he aimed at holding a
monopoly by forcing his rivals to abandon the field or by merging (to merge –
сливаться) with his own company. However, since he had started off relatively helpless,
economically, since he did not believe in advertising, relying on word of mouth and
since if truth be told, his olive oil was no better than his competitors', he could not use
the common strangleholds (stranglehold – удушение, мертвая хватка) of legitimate
businessmen. He had to rely on the force of his own personality and his reputation as a
"man of respect."
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Even as a young man, Vito Corleone became known as a "man of reasonableness."
He never uttered a threat. He always used logic that proved to be irresistible. He always
made certain that the other fellow got his share of profit. Nobody lost. He did this, of
course, by obvious means. Like many businessmen of genius he learned that free
competition was wasteful, monopoly efficient. And so he simply set about (начал,
приступил) achieving that efficient monopoly. There were some oil wholesalers in
Brooklyn, men of fiery temper, headstrong, not amenable (поддающийся, податливый,
сговорчивый [∂'mi:n∂bl]) to reason, who refused to see, to recognize, the vision of Vito
Corleone, even after he had explained everything to them with the utmost patience and
detail. With these men Vito Corleone threw up his hands in despair and sent Tessio to
Brooklyn to set up a headquarters and solve the problem. Warehouses were burned,
truckloads of olive-green oil were dumped to form lakes in the cobbled (cobble –
булыжник) waterfront (порт, район порта) streets. One rash man, an arrogant
Milanese with more faith in the police than a saint has in Christ, actually went to the
authorities with a complaint against his fellow Italians, breaking the ten-century-old law
of omerta. But before the matter could progress any further the wholesaler disappeared,
never to be seen again, leaving behind, deserted, his devoted wife and three children,
who, God be thanked, were fully grown and capable of taking over his business and
coming to terms (договорившись, заключив соглашение; terms – условия
соглашения, договор) with the Genco Pura Oil Company.
But great men are not born great, they grow great, and so it was with Vito Corleone.
When prohibition (запрещение; запрещение продажи спиртных напитков (1920–33)
[pr∂uı’bı∫∂n]; to prohibit [pr∂’hıbıt] – запрещать, препятствовать) came to pass and
alcohol forbidden to be sold, Vito Corleone made the final step from a quite ordinary,
somewhat ruthless businessman to a great Don in the world of criminal enterprise. It did
not happen in a day, it did not happen in a year, but by the end of the Prohibition period
and the start of the Great Depression, Vito Corleone had become the Godfather, the
Don, Don Corleone.
It started casually enough. By this time the Genco Pura Oil Company had a fleet of six
delivery trucks. Through Clemenza, Vito Corleone was approached by a group of Italian
bootleggers (торговец контрабандными или самогонными спиртными напитками;
bootleg – голенище) who smuggled alcohol and whiskey in from Canada. They needed
trucks and deliverymen to distribute their produce over New York City. They needed
deliverymen who were reliable, discreet and of a certain determination and force. They
were willing to pay Vito Corleone for his trucks and for his men. The fee was so
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enormous that Vito Corleone cut back drastically (радикально; drastic –
сильнодействующий /о лекарстве/) on his oil business to use the trucks almost
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exclusively for the service of the bootlegger-smugglers. This despite the fact that these
gentlemen had accompanied their offer with a silky threat. But even then Vito Corleone
was so mature a man that he did not take insult at a threat or become angry and refuse
a profitable offer because of it. He evaluated the threat, found it lacking in conviction,
and lowered his opinion of his new partners because they had been so stupid to use
threats where none were needed. This was useful information to be pondered at its
proper time.
Again he prospered. But, more important, he acquired knowledge and contacts and
experience. And he piled up (складывал в кучу, накапливал; pile – куча, груда, кипа)
good deeds as a banker piles up securities (ценные бумаги). For in the following years
it became clear that Vito Corleone was not only a man of talent but, in his way, a genius.
He made himself the protector of the Italian families who set themselves up as small
speakeasies (speakeasy – бар, где незаконно торгуют спиртными напитками) in
their homes, selling whiskey at fifteen cents a glass to bachelor laborers. He became
godfather to Mrs. Colombo's youngest son when the lad made his confirmation and
gave a handsome present of a twenty-dollar gold piece. Meanwhile, since it was
inevitable that some of his trucks be stopped by the police, Genco Abbandando hired a
fine lawyer with many contacts in the Police Department and the judiciary (судебное
право; судебное ведомство [dGu:'dı∫ı∂rı]). A system of payoffs was set up and soon
the Corleone organization had a sizable "sheet," the list of officials entitled (to entitle –
давать право [ın'taıtl]) to a monthly sum. When the lawyer tried to keep this list down,
apologizing for the expense, Vito Corleone reassured him. "No, no," he said. "Get
everyone on it even if they can't help us right now. I believe in friendship and I am
willing to show my friendship first."
As time went by the Corleone empire became larger, more trucks were added, the
"sheet" grew longer. Also the men working directly for Tessio and Clemenza grew in
number. The whole thing was becoming unwieldy (неуправляемый)). Finally Vito
Corleone worked out a system of organization. He gave Clemenza and Tessio each the
title of Caporegime, or captain, and the men who worked beneath them the rank of
soldier. He named Genco Abbandando his counselor, or Consigliori. He put layers of
insulation (слои изоляции) between himself and any operational act. When he gave an
order it was to Genco or to one of the caporegimes alone. Rarely did he have a witness
to any order he gave any particular one of them. Then he split Tessio's group and made
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it responsible for Brooklyn. He also split Tessio off from Clemenza and made it clear
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over the years that he did not want the two men to associate even socially except when
absolutely necessary. He explained this to the more intelligent Tessio, who caught his
drift (медленное течение; направление; /здесь/ намерение) immediately, though Vito
explained it as a security measure against the law. Tessio understood that Vito did not
want his two caporegimes to have any opportunity to conspire against him and he also
understood there was no ill will involved, merely a tactical precaution. In return Vito
gave Tessio a free hand in Brooklyn while he kept Clemenza's Bronx fief (феодальное
поместье, лен [fi:f]) very much under his thumb. Clemenza was the braver, more
reckless (дерзкий, отчаянный, reckless of danger – пренебрегающий опасностью),
the crueler man despite his outward jollity (веселость; jolly – веселый, радостный),
and needed a tighter rein (повод, поводья).
The Great Depression increased the power of Vito Corleone. And indeed it was about
that time he came to be called Don Corleone. Everywhere in the city, honest men
begged for honest work in vain. Proud men demeaned (to demean – унижать)
themselves and their families to accept official charity from contemptuous officialdom
(от презирающих их властей). But the men of Don Corleone walked the streets with
their heads held high, their pockets stuffed with silver and paper money. With no fear of
losing their jobs. And even Don Corleone, that most modest of men, could not help
feeling a sense of pride. He was taking care of his world, his people. He had not failed
those who depended on him and gave him the sweat of their brows, risked their
freedom and their lives in his service. And when an employee of his was arrested and
sent to prison by some mischance, that unfortunate man's family received a living
allowance (пожизненное содержание); and not a miserly, beggarly, begrudging (to
begrudge – скупиться) pittance (скудное вспомоществование, жалование) but the
same amount the man earned when free.
This of course was not pure Christian charity. Not his best friends would have called
Don Corleone a saint from heaven. There was some self-interest in this generosity. An
employee sent to prison knew he had only to keep his mouth shut and his wife and
children would be cared for. He knew that if he did not inform to the police a warm
welcome would be his when he left prison. There would be a party waiting in his home,
the best of food, homemade ravioli, wine, pastries, with all his friends and relatives
gathered to rejoice in his freedom. And sometime during the night the Consigliori,
Genco Abbandando, or perhaps even the Don himself, would drop by to pay his
respects to such a stalwart (стойкий приверженец, верный последователь ['sto:w∂t]),
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take a glass of wine in his honor, and leave a handsome present of money so that he
could enjoy a week or two of leisure with his family before returning to his daily toil
(тяжелый труд). Such was the infinite sympathy and understanding of Don Corleone.
It was at this time that the Don got the idea that he ran his world far better than his
enemies ran the greater world which continually obstructed his path. And this feeling
was nurtured by the poor people of the neighborhood who constantly came to him for
help. To get on the home relief (облегчение; освобождение /от уплаты/), to get a
young boy a job or out of jail, to borrow a small sum of money desperately needed, to
intervene with landlords who against all reason demanded rent from jobless tenants.
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Don Vito Corleone helped them all. Not only that, he helped them with goodwill, with
encouraging words to take the bitter sting out of the charity he gave them. It was only
