Английский язык с Крестным Отцом - Илья Франк

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

114

arm. He completely controlled Staten Island. He had some of the sports betting in the

Bronx and Westchester. He was in narcotics. He had close ties to Cleveland and the

West Coast and he was one of the few men shrewd enough to be interested in Las

Vegas and Reno, the open cities of Nevada. He also had interests in Miami Beach and

Cuba. After the Corleone Family, his was perhaps the strongest in New York and

therefore in the country. His influence reached even to Sicily. His hand was in every

unlawful pie. He was even rumored (о нем даже ходили слухи; rumor [‘ru:m∂] – слух,

молва) to have a toehold (точка опоры /напр. для ноги, когда взбираешься на гору/,

зацепка; toe – палец ноги) in Wall Street. He had supported the Tattaglia Family with

money and influence since the start of the war. It was his ambition to supplant

(вытеснить, занять чье-то место [s∂’plα:nt]) Don Corleone as the most powerful and

respected Mafia leader in the country and to take over part of the Corleone empire. He

was a man much like Don Corleone, but more modern, more sophisticated, more

businesslike. He could never be called an old Moustache Pete and he had the

confidence of the newer, younger, brasher (brashy – щетинистый, шероховатый)

leaders on their way up. He was a man of great personal force in a cold way, with none

of Don Corleone's warmth and he was perhaps at this moment the most "respected"

man in the group.

The last to arrive was Don Phillip Tattaglia, the head of the TattagIia Family that had

directly challenged the Corleone power by supporting Sollozzo, and had so nearly

succeeded. And yet curiously enough he was held in a slight contempt by the others.

For one thing, it was known that he had allowed himself to be dominated by Sollozzo,

had in fact been led by the nose by that fine Turkish hand. He was held responsible for

all this commotion (волнение /моря/; смятение; суматоха, суета), this uproar that had

so affected the conduct of everyday business by the New York Families. Also he was a

sixty-year-old dandy (щеголь, франт) and woman-chaser. And he had ample

(обширный, достаточный) opportunity to indulge his weakness.

For the Tattaglia Family dealt in women. Its main business was prostitution. It also

controlled most of the nightclubs in the United States and could place any talent

anywhere in the country. Phillip Tattaglia was not above using strong-arm to get control

of promising singers and comics and muscling in on record firms. But prostitution was

the main source of the Family income.

His personality was unpleasant to these men. He was a whiner (to whine – скулить,

хныкать, плакаться), always complaining of the costs in his Family business. Laundry

bills, all those towels, ate up the profits (but he owned the laundry firm that did the work).

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

The girls were lazy and unstable, running off, committing suicide. The pimps were

115

treacherous and dishonest and without a shred (лоскуток, клочок) of loyalty. Good help

was hard to find. Young lads of Sicilian blood turned up their noses at such work,

considered it beneath their honor to traffic and abuse women; those rascals who would

slit a throat with a song on their lips and the cross of an Easter palm in the lapel of their

jackets. So Phillip Tattaglia would rant (говорить напыщенно, декламировать,

проповедовать) on to audiences unsympathetic and contemptuous. His biggest howl

(вой, завывание) was reserved for authorities who had it in their power to issue and

cancel liquor licenses for his nightclubs and cabarets. He swore he had made more

millionaires than Wall Street with the money he had paid those thieving guardians of

official seals.

In a curious way his almost victorious war against the Corleone Family had not won

him the respect it deserved. They knew his strength had come first from Sollozzo and

then from the Barzini Family. Also the fact that with the advantage of surprise he had

not won complete victory was evidence against him. If he had been more efficient, all

this trouble could have been avoided. The death of Don Corleone would have meant the

end of the war. It was proper, since they had both lost sons in their war against each

other, that Don Corleone and Phillip Tattaglia should acknowledge each other's

presence only with a formal nod. Don Corleone was the object of attention, the other

men studying him to see what mark of weakness had been left on him by his wounds

and defeats. The puzzling factor was why Don Corleone had sued for peace after the

death of his favorite son. It was an acknowledgment of defeat and would almost surely

lead to a lessening of his power. But they would soon know.

There were greetings, there were drinks to be served and almost another half hour

went by before Don Corleone took his seat at the polished walnut table. Unobtrusively

(unobtrusive [Λn∂b’tru:sıv] – ненавязчивый, скромный), Hagen sat in the chair slightly

to the Don's left and behind him. This was the signal for the other Dons to make their

way to the table. Their aides sat behind them, the Consiglioris up close so that they

could offer any advice when needed.

Don Corleone was the first to speak and he spoke as if nothing had happened. As if

he had not been grievously wounded and his eldest son slain (to slay-slew-slain –

убивать /книжн./), his empire in a shambles (в развалинах, руинах), his personal

family scattered, Freddie in the West and under the protection of the Molinari Family

and Michael secreted in the wastelands (пустынные, невозделанные земли) of Sicily.

He spoke naturally, in Sicilian dialect.

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

"I want to thank you all for coming," he said. "I consider it a service done to me

personally and I am in the debt of each and every one of you. And so I will say at the

beginning that. I am here not to quarrel or convince, but only to reason and as a

116

reasonable man do everything possible for us all to part friends here too. I give my word

on that, and some of you who know me well know I do not give my word lightly. Ah, well,

let's get down to business. We are all honorable men here, we don't have to give each

other assurances as if we were lawyers."

He paused. None of the others spoke. Some were smoking cigars, others sipping their

drinks. All of these men were good listeners, patient men. They had one other thing in

common. They were those rarities, men who had refused to accept the rule of organized

society, men who refused the dominion of other men. There was no force, no mortal

man who could bend them to their will unless they wished it. They were men who

guarded their free will with wiles (wile – хитрость, уловка, обман) and murder. Their

wills could be subverted (to suvert [sΛb’v∂:t] – ниспровергнуть; разрушить) only by

death. Or the utmost reasonableness.

Don Corleone sighed. "How did things ever go so far?" he asked rhetorically. "Well, no

matter. A lot of foolishness has come to pass. It was so unfortunate, so unnecessary.

But let me tell what happened, as I see it."

He paused to see if someone would object to his telling his side of the story.

"Thank God my health has been restored and maybe I can help set this affair aright.

Perhaps my son was too rash, too headstrong, I don't say no to that. Anyway let me just

say that Sollozzo came to me with a business affair in which he asked me for my money

and my influence. He said he had the interest of the Tattaglia Family. The affair involved

drugs, in which I have no interest. I'm a quiet man and such endeavors (endeavor

[ın'dev∂] – попытка, старание, стремление) are too lively for my taste. I explained this

to Sollozzo, with all respect for him and the Tattaglia Family. I gave him my 'no' with all

courtesy. I told him his business would not interfere with mine, that I had no objection to

his earning his living in this fashion. He took it ill and brought misfortune down on all our

heads. Well, that's life. Everyone here could tell his own tale of sorrow. That's not to my

purpose."

Don Corleone paused and motioned to Hagen for a cold drink, which Hagen swiftly

furnished him. Don Corleone wet his mouth. "I'm willing to make the peace," he said.

"Tattaglia has lost a son, I have lost a son. We are quits. What would the world come to

if people kept carrying grudges against all reason? That has been the cross of Sicily,

where men are so busy with vendettas they have no time to earn bread for their families.

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

It's foolishness. So I say now, let things be as they were before. I have not taken any

117

steps to learn who betrayed and killed my son. Given peace, I will not do so. I have a

son who cannot come home and I must receive assurances that when I arrange matters

so that he can return safely that there will be no interference, no danger from the

authorities. Once that's settled maybe we can talk about other matters that interest us

and do ourselves, all of us, a profitable service today." Corleone gestured expressively,

submissively, with his hands. "That is all I want."

It was very well done. It was the Don Corleone of old. Reasonable. Pliant (гибкий,

податливый, уступчивый; to ply – сгибать, делать складку). Soft-spoken. But every

man there had noted that he had claimed good health, which meant he was a man not

to be held cheaply despite the misfortunes of the Corleone Family. It was noted that he

had said the discussion of other business was useless until the peace he asked for was

given. It was noted that he had asked for the old status quo, that he would lose nothing

despite his having got the worst of it over the past year. However, it was Emilio Barzini

who answered Don Corleone, not Tattaglia. He was curt and to the point without being

rude or insulting.

"That is all true enough," Barzini said. "But there's a little more. Don Corleone is too

modest. The fact is that Sollozzo and the Tattaglias could not go into their new business

without the assistance of Don Corleone. In fact, his disapproval injured them. That's not

his fault of course. The fact remains that judges and politicians who would accept favors

from Don Corleone, even on drugs, would not allow themselves to be influenced by

anybody else when it came to narcotics. Sollozzo couldn't operate if he didn't have

some insurance of his people being treated gently. We all know that. We would all be

poor men otherwise. And now that they have increased the penalties the judges and the

prosecuting attorneys drive a hard bargain when one of our people get in trouble with

narcotics. Even a Sicilian sentenced to twenty years might break the omerta and talk his

brains out. That can't happen. Don Corleone controls all that apparatus. His refusal to

let us use it is not the act of a friend. He takes the bread out of the mouths of our

families. Times have changed, it's not like the old days where everyone can go his own

way. If Corleone had all the judges in New York, then he must share them or let us

others use them. Certainly he can present a bill for such services, we're not communists,

after all. But he has to let us draw water from the well. It's that simple."

When Barzini had finished talking there was a silence. The lines were now drawn,

there could be no return to the old status quo. What was more important was that

Barzini by speaking out was saying that if peace was not made he would openly join the

Мультиязыковой проект Ильи Франка www.franklang.ru

118

Tattaglia in their war against the Corleone. And he had scored a telling point. Their lives

and their fortunes depended upon their doing each other services, the denial of a favor

asked by a friend was an act of aggression. Favors were not asked lightly and so could

not be lightly refused.

Don Corleone finally spoke to answer. "My friends," he said, "I didn't refuse out of

spite (назло, со злобы, с досады). You all know me. When have I ever refused an

accommodation (согласование, соглашение, компромисс)? That's simply not in my

nature. But I had to refuse this time. Why? Because I think this drug business will

destroy us in the years to come. There is too much strong feeling about such traffic in

this country. It's not like whiskey or gambling or even women which most people want

and is forbidden them by the pezzonovante of the church and the government. But

drugs are dangerous for everyone connected with them. It could jeopardize

(подвергнуть риску) all other business. And let me say I'm flattered by the belief that I

am so powerful with the judges and law officials, I wish it were true. I do have some

influence but many of the people who respect my counsel might lose this respect if

drugs become involved in our relationship. They are afraid to be involved in such

business and they have strong feelings about it. Even policemen who help us in

gambling and other things would refuse to help us in drugs. So to ask me to perform a

service in these matters is to ask me to do a disservice to myself. But I'm willing to do

even that if all of you think it proper in order to adjust other matters."

When Don Corleone had finished speaking the room became much more relaxed with

more whisperings and cross talk. He had conceded (to concede – уступать; допускать

/возможность, правильность чего-либо/ [k∂n'si:d]) the important point. He would offer

his protection to any organized business venture in drugs. He was, in effect, agreeing