The Godfather: Chapter 10 Summary & Analysis

Having moved Don Corleone to a different hospital room, Michael steps outside to wait for Sonny’s reinforcements. Suddenly, Enzo, the baker’s helper emerges from the shadows outside of the hospital. He wants to pay his respects to the Don who prevented his deportation. A car drives slowly by, giving the impression that its driver recognizes Michael. Enzo is terrified but remains by Michael’s side. Then a police car pulls up and two officers approach Michael. Michael asks what happened to his father’s guard detail, to which one of the officers, Captain Mark McCluskey, angrily responds that he “pulled them off.”

Michael suspects that Sollozzo was in the first car that drove by, and that McCluskey is on the Turk’s payroll. He concludes that McCluskey called off Don Corleone’s guard detail so that Sollozzo could finally murder the Don. McCluskey tells his officers to send Michael to jail, but they protest that he is a war hero and they have no reason to jail him. “How much is the Turk paying you to set my father up, Captain?” Michael asks. McCluskey responds by savagely punching Michael in the face, breaking his jaw and dislodging several teeth.

As Michael reels from McCluskey’s attack, Sonny’s men arrive with a lawyer to guard Don Corleone. The police retreat. Michael awakens the next morning to find that his jaw has been wired shut and that Hagen has placed a small army of private detectives around Don Corleone. Michael also learns that the Corleones successfully hit Bruno Tattaglia earlier that morning. With Bruno dead, Sollozzo once again calls Sonny to set up a meeting.

Later that morning, Sonny, Hagen, Michael, Tessio, and Clemenza discuss whether to meet Sollozzo. The Turk refuses to negotiate with the hotheaded Sonny and prefers to speak with the more even-tempered Michael instead. Sollozzo says he will provide a hostage in Michael’s place to ensure Michael’s safety. Hagen urges Sonny to agree to the meeting, but Sonny wants to demand that the other families give up Sollozzo “or fight the Corleone family.”

Hagen then confirms that McCluskey is indeed on Sollozzo’s payroll and stands to gain “a piece” of the Turk’s drug operation. Hagen argues that Sollozzo is “invulnerable” under the protection of a police captain, and that attacking the two men would cause an uproar both in the Mafia and among the police and other officials who are on the Corleones’ payroll. “The Corleone Family would become outcasts,” he states, “even the old man’s political protection would run for cover.” Sonny decides to wait, but Michael suggests that Sollozzo will not stop until Don Corleone is dead. “You have to get Sollozzo right away,” Michael reasons.

Michael believes that “there are times when the most extreme measures are justified,” and lays out a plan. He will meet with Sollozzo and McCluskey at a public place that will guarantee his safety. He will go unarmed, but if Tessio or Clemenza can stash a gun at the site beforehand, Michael will retrieve it and “take both of them.” Sonny teases his “high-class college kid” brother for becoming “mixed up in the Family business.” Despite Sonny’s teasing, Michael’s stern demeanor indicates the seriousness with which he has concocted his plan.

Michael adds that the Corleone Family’s newspaper connections will appreciate printing a story about a corrupt police captain who got what he deserved. An impressed Sonny finally admits to his brother, “you’re a Corleone after all, you son of a bitch,” and welcomes Michael’s desire to “kill those fucks that are trying to destroy our father and our Family.” Clemenza begins teaching Michael how to handle an untraceable gun wrapped in fingerprint-resistant tape. As the plan is set in motion, Michael feels a “delicious refreshing chilliness all over his body.”