The Last Godfather

A bloody business can only have one leader. Holy Communion without communion, without wine and without mercy awaits the superfluous. Mafia don Domenico Clericuzio had the foresight to have the elite of a rival Bronx clan shot in time in the sweet 1960s. At the same time, he decided that it would be more beneficial for the top organized crime figures in the US to target the top management of the gaming and film industries for the sake of a peaceful image. Twenty-five years since the strategy session, it's clear that the tactics worked for the Clericuzis in Las Vegas and Hollywood. And anyone who wishes to antagonize a famiglia with bigoted Catholic roots will be silenced in the "Holy Communion" ceremony. But on the threshold of the millennium, even the toothy empire is facing a generational change and a decision on who will put the court in order under Domenico's patronage. Will it be his grandson Dante, a creep on the surface, provoking with funny hats, but deep down a cruel man who doesn't go far for a gun? Or his great-nephew Cross, the orderly manager of Las Vegas' Xanadu Hotel, where the elite of the corrupt politicians and the upstart dream factory lose their millions? For he had just become involved with a damsel in distress, something the aging don had always warned him against. The surplus will have to get out of the round and not take a sip of the wine during the silencing ceremony... The author of The Godfather is once again in enviable form. Mario Puzo's fresco about a merry-go-round of killing has also been adapted. Danny Aiello, Rory Cochrane, Joe Mantegna and Jason Gedrick played the lead roles in the miniseries of the same name. "Puzo's chronicles of American crime have reached an era where we are talking ourselves to death. And literally. But even in a semi-darkness full of big and even bigger crooks, there is a 'black sheep' who will test his moral limits." - Frankfurter Allgemeine "A universally biting portrait of the movie business is coated with a satirical gloss not seen since Nathanael West's Day of the Locust. There is a comparable amount of wit, only rivers of blood flow through it, and Byzantine manipulations dominate the scene, not unlike the Medici palace." - Publishers Weekly "In characterizing cold-blooded criminals in Armani suits, he also gets to indict those who milk others for profitless gains with perfectly reconstructed teeth. (...) The author himself became the character of Ernest Vail, a novelist and screenwriter exploited by the madmen of Hollywood, who's seriously considering he's gonna commit suicide, so that the survivors will receive a somewhat fair royalty." - The New York Times Don was well aware, however, that love, however deep, is quote, that you can't bet on. Love does not imply gratitude nor does it imply obedience. Love does not yet bring the harmony that this complex world lacks. No one knew it better than Don Clericuzio. If one wants to be truly loved, one must also inspire fear. Love in itself is actually despicable if it is not accompanied by faith and devotion. What would love be worth to him if it were not a confirmation of his rule? - excerpt from the text "He once told me that when you're buying, you should take your business partner to a Chinese restaurant, but when you're selling, invite him to an Italian restaurant. Do you understand?" Claudia mused aloud. (...) "I understand the bon mot well. Typical movie humor. Chinese food is cheap and pushes the price down, while Italian food puts you to sleep and makes you lose your guard. I love both." - excerpt from the text