Boekverslag : Mario Puzo - The Last Don
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 1321 woorden.
De taal ervan is Engels en het aantal woorden bedraagt 1321 woorden.
Title
The last don
Summary
The story begins when Don Domenico Clericuzio, the leader of an Italian / American Mafia family, sees how his grandchildren are being baptised. The grandchildren are Dante Clericuzio and Croccifixio deLena. The Don has the wish that these grandchildren won't ever have to get involved in the illegal business of the family. He doesn't want to achieve this by not accepting them in the family but by letting the family retreat itself from the underworld. This isn't an easy task because if they give up big parts of their power other families might decide that it's their time to take control and they could decide to start a war and to kill all the members of the Clericuzio family. If the family would maintain the position it has now, the position of the most powerful Mafia family of the United States, it would get big problems with the justice department, because the power of the family was to visible. The task the don has is to make the family invisible for the law but to still at the same time maintain the power the family has. This day, the day his grandchildren where being baptised, he convened a meeting with the ten most powerful don's of the country. Non of them had the power the Clericuzio family had. The don gave them a proposal. He decided to retreat all of the family's interest in the illegal world except for the family's interest in gambling. All the other families could have the share in the contacts the Clericuzio family had in unions, the politics, transport alcohol, tobacco and drugs. In return the don proposed to manage all of the profits the families made. They wouldn't have to worry for the Government tracing the money, for that he gave them his word. For this work he would just ask the families a commission of five percent. The families, who realised that the Clericuzio family was powerful enough to declare war on them and to take all of there shares in the underworld were grateful to the don and were willingly to take the offer the Don gave them.
After this deal the Clericuzio family was reorganised and Pippi deLena 'the family hammer' and also the father of Croccifixio deLena got a new function in the family as bruglione (a representative of the family) in the west of the US. He got his own company and he had to take care of the family business in the west. He would assist Mr. Gronevelt who runs the Xanadu hotel, a gambling paradise that for 51% belonged to Mr. Gronevelt and belonged to the family for 49%. Here in Vegas, Pippi also had to promote the battle to legalise gambling all over the US, so that the dream of Don Domenico Clericuzio could be reality.
As the years went by the two children Dante and Croccifixio (Cross for short) grew out to be men. Cross grew up in the Xanadu and became Mr. Gronevelt' favourite person and one of the few he had ever trusted in his life. Cross, became involved in the family business and when he was twenty he also managed parts of the casino. When Mr. Gronevelt died he left his stock share of the casino to Cross-deLena. Because of this, the position of Cross in the family changed and he also became a powerful figure in the family. Don Clericuzio was proud about this, and Cross respected the man very much.
But there was another child the Don loved very much. And for a special reason. This child was Dante. Dante was the opposite of Cross. He was short, had a hard face, and he was a bad student. He was also a killer. He didn't want the family to retreat. The reason why the Don loved Dante so much was because of the dead of his father. Dante's father was the sun of Don Santadio, the leader of another Mafia family. His mother Rose Mary was in love with the sun of the Don, Jimmy Santadio. They wanted permission to marry, but the families where in war so that wasn't possible. Don Clericuzio's oldest sun, Silvio, saw how in love the two were and decided to meet Jimmy in a restaurant together with Rose Mary. They talked for a while and Silvio promised Jimmy and Rose to convince the old Don Clericuzio to give his blessing to the marriage. When he left the restaurant with his car he was followed, stopped and then shot to dead. The Santadio killed him. Jimmy Santadio showed up at the funeral where he denied his family's responsibility of the murder. After that he again asked the Don to marry Rose Mary. The Don gave his permission and scented Pippi deLena as the best man. When Rose Mary and Jimmy got married and the party was over he gave the brothers of Jimmy a present. At the same time the suns of Don Clericuzio busted into the house and they shot all of the brothers. Pippi changed clothes quickly and killed Don Santadio and then the husband Jimmy. Rose Mary recognised Pippi and her brothers and was overwhelmed by grief. So Don Clericuzio was responsible for the dead of Dante's father.
Dante, who realised this guilt feeling of the don, wanted to become the first hit man. And when Pippi had to leave for Sicily for a year he became first hit man. Cross became bruglione of the west. They both hated eachother.
Then Dante gets more and more ambitious and Cross is also making moves to expand his power by going into the movie business. They're both becoming the greatest threat of the Dons' dream. The conflict between the ambitious Dante and the powerful Cross determents the future of the entire Clericuzio family.
Most important figures
Don Domenico Clericuzio. He is the leader of the family and the most powerful boss in the underworld. He is an old man and also very wise. He looks far into the future and he always knows what is going on in the family although he is very old. You think of him as if he s a loving grandpa but he's also a very hard man who decides ver who lives and who dies.
Pipi deLena. He is the best killer the family ever had. He is the one who formed Cross deLena and who defeated the Santadio family. He plays a crucial role in the family. He can be a very passioned man, who loves romancing and dancing. At the same time he can be a merciless executioner.
Cross deLena. Cross is the sun of Pipi and together with Dante the favourite grandchild of the Don. He owns 51% of the Xanadu hotel and he becomes Bruglione of the west. This makes him after the Don, his suns and after Pippi the most powerful person in the family. He is a handsome guy, tall and dark. He is very romantic and also very quiet and calm. He can get almost everything done. He is charming but also very lethal.
Dante Clericuzio. He's also the grandson of the don. He becomes the family hit man when Pippi goes to Sicily for a year. He's a short man with thick short black hair. He is a born killer and very lethal. He wants the world to know about the power of the family and he is very dangerous for everybody, including the Don.
Movies
There is a movie of this book. It's also called the Last Don. The movie is a short story of the book. The order of experiences is not the same. The story begins in another way. (Although the scene where it starts is a scene from the book. The movie isn't so precise as the book.
Other books
The godfather stories
Home - Contact - Over - ZoekBoekverslag op uw site - Onze Boekverslagen - Boekverslag toevoegen