Илья Франк - Английский язык с Крестным Отцом
the tenants sent on vacations to their native villages in Italy, all expenses paid.
Freddie Corleone had been sent to Las Vegas to recuperate and also to scout out
(разведать) the ground for a Family operation in the luxury hotel-gambling casino
complex that was springing up. Las Vegas was part of the West Coast empire still
neutral and the Don of that empire had guaranteed Freddie's safety there. The New
York five Families had no desire to make more enemies by going into Vegas after
Freddie Corleone. They had enough trouble on their hands in New York.
Dr. Kennedy had forbade any discussion of business in front of the Don. This edict
was completely disregarded. The Don insisted on the council of war being held in his
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room. Sonny, Tom Hagen, Pete Clemenza and Tessio gathered there the very first night
of his homecoming.
Don Corleone was too weak to speak much but he wished to listen and exercise veto
powers. When it was explained that Freddie had been sent to Las Vegas to learn the
gambling casino business, he nodded his head approvingly. When he learned that
Bruno Tattaglia had been killed by Corleone button men he shook his head and sighed.
But what distressed him most of all was learning that Michael had killed Sollozzo and
Captain McCluskey and had then been forced to flee to Sicily. When he heard this he
motioned them out and they continued the conference in the corner room that held the
law library.
Sonny Corleone relaxed in the huge armchair behind the desk. "I think we'd better let
the old man take it easy for a couple of weeks, until the doc says he can do business."
He paused. "I'd like to have it going again before he gets better. We have the go-ahead
from the cops to operate. The first thing is the policy banks in Harlem. The black boys
up there had their fun, now we have to take it back. They screwed up the works but
good, just like they usually do when they run things. A lot of their runners (runner –
/здесь/ руководящий бизнесом) didn't payoff winners. They drive up in Cadillacs and
tell their players they gotta wait for their dough or maybe just pay them half what they
win. I don't want any runner looking rich to his players. I don't want them dressing too
good. I don't want them driving new cars. I don't want them welching (to welch, to welsh
– скрыться, не уплатив проигрыша) on paying a winner. And I don't want any free-
lancers staying in business, they give us a bad name. Tom, let's get that project moving
right away. Everything else will fall in line as soon as you send out the word that the lid
is off («крышка открыта» = секретность снята, можно работать спокойно)."
Hagen said, "There are some very tough boys up in Harlem. They got a taste of the
big money. They won't go back to being runners or sub-bankers again."
Sonny shrugged. "Just give their names to Clemenza. That's his job, straightening
them out."
Clemenza said to Hagen, "No problem."
It was Tessio who brought up the most important question. "Once we start operating,
the five Families start their raids. They'll hit our bankers in Harlem and our bookmakers
on the East Side. They may even try to make things tough for the garment center outfits
we service. This war is going to cost a lot of money."
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"Maybe they won't," Sonny said. "They know we'll hit them right back. I've got peace
feelers (feeler – щупальце; разведчик) out and maybe we can settle everything by
paying an indemnity for the Tattaglia kid."
Hagen said, "We're getting the cold shoulder (нам оказывают холодный прием) on
those negotiations. They lost a lot of dough the last few months and they blame us for it.
With justice. I think what they want is for us to agree to come in on the narcotics trade,
to use the Family influence politically. In other words, Sollozzo's deal minus Sollozzo.
But they won't broach (broach – вертел; to broach – делать прокол, отверстие;
почать /бочку вина/; /здесь/ огласить; начать обсуждать) that until they've hurt us
with some sort of combat action. Then after we've been softened up they figure we'll
listen to a proposition on narcotics."
Sonny said curtly, "No deal on drugs. The Don said no and it's no until he changes it."
Hagen said briskly, "Then we're faced with a tactical problem. Our money is out in the
open. Bookmaking and policy. We can be hit. But the Tattaglia Family has prostitution
and call girls and the dock unions. How the hell are we going to hit them? The other
Families are in some gambling. But most of them are in the construction trades,
shylocking, controlling the unions, getting the government contracts. They get a lot from
strong-arm and other stuff that involves innocent people. Their money isn't out in the
street. The Tattaglia nightclub is too famous to touch it, it would cause too much of a
stink. And with the Don still out of action their political influence matches ours. So we've
got a real problem here."
"It's my problem, Tom," Sonny said. "I'll find the answer. Keep the negotiation alive
and follow through on the other stuff. Let's go back into business and see what happens.
Then we'll take it from there. Clemenza and Tessio have plenty of soldiers, we can
match the whole Five Families gun for gun if that's the way they want it. We'll just go to
the mattresses."
There was no problem getting the free-lance Negro bankers out of business. The
police were informed and cracked down. With a special effort. At that time it was not
possible for a Negro to make a payoff to a high police or political official to keep such an
operation going. This was due to racial prejudice and racial distrust more than anything
else. But Harlem had always been considered a minor problem, and its settlement was
expected.
The Five Families struck in an unexpected direction. Two powerful officials in the
garment unions were killed, officials who were members of the Corleone Family. Then
the Corleone Family shylocks were barred from the waterfront piers (pier – волнолом,
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дамба; пирс) as were the Corleone Family bookmakers. The longshoremen's union
(longshoreman – портовый грузчик) locals had gone over to the Five Families.
Corleone bookmakers all over the city were threatened to persuade them to change
their allegiance (верность, лояльность; вассальная зависимость [∂'li:dG∂ns]). The
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biggest numbers (затраты; смета) banker in Harlem, an old friend and ally (союзник) of
the Corleone Family, was brutally murdered. There was no longer any option. Sonny
told his caporegimes to go to the mattresses.
Two apartments were set up in the city and furnished with mattresses for the button
men to sleep on, a refrigerator for food, and guns and ammunition. Clemenza staffed
one apartment and Tessio the other. All Family bookmakers were given bodyguard
teams. The policy bankers in Harlem, however, had gone over to the enemy and at the
moment nothing could be done about that. All this cost the Corleone Family a great deal
of money and very little was coming in. As the next few months went by, other things
became obvious. The most important was that the Corleone Family had overmatched
itself (to overmatch = to be more than a match for – превосходить /силой, умением/;
/здесь/ переоценить свои силы; match – ровня, пара; равносильный противник).
There were reasons for this. With the Don still too weak to take a part, a great deal of
the Family's political strength was neutralized. Also, the last ten years of peace had
seriously eroded the fighting qualities of the two caporegimes, Clemenza and Tessio.
Clemenza was still a competent executioner and administrator but he no longer had the
energy or the youthful strength to lead troops. Tessio had mellowed (смягчился; mellow
– спелый, сочный; to mellow – делаться спелым, созревать; смягчаться)with age
and was not ruthless enough. Tom Hagen, despite his abilities, was simply not suited to
be a Consigliori in a time of war. His main fault was that he was not a Sicilian.
Sonny Corleone recognized these weaknesses in the Family's wartime posture but
could not take any steps to remedy them. He was not the Don and only the Don could
replace the caporegimes and the Consigliori. And the very act of replacement would
make the situation more dangerous, might precipitate some treachery (спровоцировать,
вызвать какое-нибудь предательство, измену; to precipitate [prı’sıpıteıt] –
низвергать, повергать; ввергать; ускорять, торопить). At first, Sonny had thought of
fighting a holding action until the Don could become well enough to take charge, but
with the defection of the policy bankers, the terrorization of the bookmakers, the Family
position was becoming precarious (случайный; ненадежный, сомнительный,
опасный [prı’kε∂rı∂s]). He decided to strike back.
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But he decided to strike right at the heart of the enemy. He planned the execution of
the heads of the five Families in one grand tactical maneuver. To that purpose he put
into effect an elaborate system of surveillance (надзор, наблюдение /напр. за
подозреваемым/ [s∂:’veıl∂ns]) of these leaders. But after a week the enemy chiefs
promptly dived underground and were seen no more in public.
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The Five Families and the Corleone Empire were in stalemate (пат /шахм./; мертвая
точка, тупик; stale – несвежий /хлеб/; спертый /воздух/; выдохшийся /спортсмен/).
Chapter 18
Amerigo Bonasera lived only a few blocks from his undertaking establishment on
Mulberry Street and so always went home for supper. Evenings he returned to his place
of business, dutifully joining those mourners paying their respects to the dead who lay in
state in his somber parlors.
He always resented the jokes made about his profession, the macabre (мрачный,
ужасный /франц./ [m∂'kα:br]; dance macabre – танец смерти /жанр средневекового
искусства/) technical details which were so unimportant. Of course none of his friends
or family or neighbors would make such jokes. Any profession was worthy of respect to
men who for centuries earned bread by the sweat of their brows.
Now at supper with his wife in their solidly furnished apartment, gilt statues of the
Virgin Mary with their red-glassed candles flickering on the sideboard, Bonasera lit a
Camel cigarette and took a relaxing glass of American whiskey. His wife brought
steaming plates of soup to the table. The two of them were alone now; he had sent his
daughter to live in Boston with her mother's sister, where she could forget her terrible
experience and her injuries at the hands of the two ruffians (хулиган, негодяй ['rΛfj∂n])
Don Corleone had punished.
As they ate their soup his wife asked, "Are you going back to work tonight?"
Amerigo Bonasera nodded. His wife respected his work but did not understand it. She
did not understand that the technical part of his profession was the least important. She
thought, like most other people, that he was paid for his skill in making the dead look so
lifelike in their coffins. And indeed his skill in this was legendary. But even more
important, even more necessary was his physical presence at the wake
(бодрствование; поминки /перед погребением/). When the bereaved family
(скорбящая, понесшая потерю семья; to bereave – лишать, отнимать) came at night
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to receive their blood relatives and their friends beside the coffin of their loved one, they
needed Amerigo Bonasera with them.
For he was a strict chaperone (опекун, сопровождающий; chaperone – пожилая
дама, сопровождающия молодую девушку на балы и пр.; компаньонка [‘∫жp∂r∂un])
to death. His face always grave, yet strong and comforting, his voice unwavering, yet
muted to a low register, he commanded the mourning ritual. He could quiet grief that
was too unseemly, he could rebuke (упрекать, делать выговор [rı’bju:k]) unruly
children whose parents had not the heart to chastise (подвергать наказанию
/особенно телесному/ [t∫жs’taız]). Never cloying (слащав; to cloy – пресыщать) in the
tender of his condolences, yet never was he offhand (импровизированный; /здесь/
бесцеремонный). Once a family used Amerigo Bonasera to speed a loved one on
(проводить, отправить в последний путь близкого человека), they came back to him
again and again. And he never, never, deserted one of his clients on that terrible last
night above ground.
Usually he allowed himself a little nap after supper. Then he washed and shaved
afresh, talcum powder generously used to shroud (посыпать, укрыть; shroud – саван;
пелена, покров) the heavy black beard. A mouthwash always. He respectfully changed
into fresh linen, white gleaming shirt, the black tie, a freshly pressed dark suit, dull black
