60 pages • 2 hours read
Mario PuzoThe Godfather
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1968A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Book 8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 29 Summary
Before Michael can fully put his plan into action, Don Vito Corleone dies of a heart attack in his garden. At the funeral, Michael makes it clear that the family will be leaving New York and will be based in Las Vegas in the future. It has been ten years since Connie’s wedding at the house. The next morning, Michael meets with Tessio, Clemenza, Tom, Rocco Lampone, Albert Neri, and Carlo Rizzi. They all know that, with the death of the Don, their political influence, which gave the Corleone family so much power, has waned significantly.
They all also know that Michael is not the new Don yet; he must prove himself to them. At first, they do not speak to him with the respect offered to the Don. He tells them to be patient for a few weeks, and then some decisions will be made. Tom stays after the meeting, and Michael admits that he needed more time to solidify his political connections before his father died. Tom admits that he thinks he understands the plan, and they talk about the fact that someone, probably Barzini, will try to kill Michael, and that someone close to him will betray him to set up the assassination. They think it will be either Clemenza, Tessio, or Carlo. They know that whoever sets up the meeting between him and Barzini is the traitor. In the end, Tessio is the one to make the contact, and he is Michael’s betrayer.
Chapter 30 Summary
Albert Neri is putting on his police uniform, which he has not worn in years. At one time, he was a policeman, but he was in constant trouble with his superiors. At the end of his police career, he is charged with excessive force and manslaughter and sentenced to prison. His father-in-law uses his contacts with the Corleone family to provide protection for Albert while in prison. Clemenza hears about Albert Neri and brings his name to Tom as a potential employee for the Corleone family. Michael offers Albert a job, and he accepts. Michael brings him to dinner with the family, and the Don approves of him. Initially, Michael says he would like Albert to work for the family in Las Vegas, but Neri decides that he would rather stay with them in New York. Within a year, it is clear that, in Albert, Michael has found a man loyal to him in the same way that Luca Brasi was loyal to his father. Today, Albert puts on his old police uniform, determined not to let Michael Corleone down.
Chapter 31 Summary
It is moving day in Long Beach, and the trucks are all packed with the contents of the houses. Michael sends Connie and the children to the airport and sends Kay and his children to visit her parents in New Hampshire. He keeps Carlo with him, saying he will join his family in Las Vegas in a few days. After Connie leaves, Michael tells Carlo to go to his house and wait for his call. Carlo realizes, watching the activity on the mall, that something is happening, but he does not know what. Michael and Tom discuss the fact that they must start putting the plan into action.
Far away in upstate New York, the shepherd that planted the car bomb is shot at work. Then Rocco Lampone kills Phillip Tattaglia, and Albert Neri, in his police uniform, shoots Barzini in the street. Tom escorts Tessio to a car with several armed men. Tessio realizes that he has been found out, accepts his fate, and gets into the car with the men. Carlo Rizzi is faced with Michael, Tom and Rocco Lampone. Michael reveals that he knows that Carlo was working for Barzini and beat Connie on purpose to draw Sonny out. He tells Carlo that he won’t kill his sister’s husband, and they lead him to a car to go to the airport. Instead, once inside, Carlo is strangled by Clemenza. While all of this is happening, Lampone and their soldiers come down on all those who have been trying to push into the Corleone family’s territories.
In one day, Michael Corleone restores the reputation of the Corleone family and becomes more powerful than ever. He is respected for his strategy and gains influence as the caporegimes of the Barzini and Tattaglia families join the Corleones. Kay and Connie come home, and Connie accuses Michael of murdering Carlo. Kay realizes that it is true and sees that the men are now treating Michael as the Don.
Chapters 29-31 Analysis
In Book 8, the action that has been building for the greater part of the book is finally carried out; the plan that was a secret between only the Don and Michael is now revealed to everyone, including the reader. In the span of one day, Michael takes revenge for Apollonia, his father’s shooting, and Sonny’s death. He also unleashes his soldiers to reassert the boundaries of their business. With these actions, Michael proves to everyone in his organization, as well as all the other families, that he is as smart and brutal as Don Vito Corleone was. Michael’s transformation is complete: He is indisputably the Don of the Corleone family.
In another parallel to his father’s history, Michael has found a man who is loyal to him above all else: Albert Neri, who will be as fierce and brutal as Luca Brasi was on the Don’s behalf. And with the downfall of the Barzini and Tattaglia families, the Corleones will gain their territory, as well as their soldiers. Michael has taken the Corleone family to the next level, making himself the most powerful Don in New York. He goes even further by finishing his family’s expansion out to Las Vegas and Hollywood. Michael, who once tried so hard to keep himself outside of the family business, has revealed himself to be the perfect man to run it.
In another interesting example, Michael again uses the loophole in the Don’s Code in the same way that his father did. He gives his word to Carlo that he will not kill him, then merely has Clemenza commit the act. This act is directly rooted in his father’s strategy and business model. Michael, as the Don, is removed from accountability by the way in which his orders are delivered. It is the same strategy that the Don and Michael used to achieve their vengeance and finish the war.
