"This is the business that we've chosen."
— Hyman Roth
The Godfather Part II is a 1974 gangster film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and co-written by Coppola and Mario Puzo. Utilizing Flashback B-Plot, the film is both a prequel and a sequel to the original film adaptation of Puzo's novel The Godfather. The prequel section adapts some of the novel's backstories left out of the first film, while the sequel section follows an original story.
Before he was the respected Don Vito Corleone, Vito Andolini was a nine-year old boy in Sicily who barely escaped with his life to America after his family was killed by the mafia. From 1901 to 1922, the film follows Vito's turn to and rise in the criminal world and the start of the Corleone family. Meanwhile in 1958, Vito's son and successor Don Michael Corleone has to defend his family's position from fellow mob boss Hyman Roth while his actions slowly detoriates the family's relationships on his own.
Originally intended to close Michael's story, the film received a sequel titled The Godfather Part III in 1990 to close the trilogy. Like the first film, The Godfather Part II received a video game adaptation published by Electronic Arts in 2009, although its mixed reception dashed hopes of an adaptation of Part III.
The Godfather Part II contains examples of:
- The '50s: Michael's half of the film takes place in 1958, with the Cuban Revolution being relevant to the plot.
- Abortion Fallout Drama: Kay's revelation that she aborted what would have been their third child blows up her marriage to Michael.
- Actor Allusion: Robert De Niro is seen running over the rooftops of Little Italy during the annual Feast of San Rocco festival.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: An inter-criminal example as the film has several hitmen infiltrating Michael's compound at Lake Tahoe in an attempt to gun Michael down, who is uncharacteristically and justifiably inflamed by the attack.Michael Corleone: IN MY HOME! IN MY BEDROOM WHERE MY WIFE SLEEPS! Where my children come and play with their toys. In my home.
- Ambiguous Situation: Frank Pentangeli is about to testify about the Corleone family's business dealings to Congress when he sees his brother sitting next to Michael, having been flown all the way from Italy. Pentangeli immediately recants his previous testimony and pleads ignorance of anything to do with the Corleone family. Did he do this because he was ashamed of snitching to the feds in front of his brother? Or was his brother's presence an implied death threat on the part of Michael?
- And This Is for...: Said verbatim by Vito (in Sicilian) to Don Ciccio before gutting him.
- Answer Cut: Michael explains to Pentangeli that lulling Hyman Roth into a sense of trust is key to finding the traitor in the Corleone family. Cut to Fredo, at home with his wife, taking an unwanted call from Johnny Ola.
- Artistic License – Awards: Michael makes a statement to the Congressional committee that he was awarded the Navy Cross. At the wedding in the first film, Michael's Marine uniform has a Silver Star and a Navy and Marine Corps Medal, both high level decorations for valour for combat and non-combat, respectively, but no Navy Cross.
- Artistic License – History: The Statue of Liberty greets Vito upon his arrival in New York in its iconic shade of green, when in 1901, it was still mostly bronze and would only turn visibly green several lustrums later as the copper fully oxidized.
- Bath Suicide: Near the end, Hagen visits Pentangeli in prison and talks about this practice in the Roman Empire, hinting that if Pentangeli does this his family will be spared. He does, and they are. The camera shot depicting the outcome is a Shout-Out to the painting The Death of Marat
. - Big Bad Wannabe: Don Fanucci, the local kingpin. He is very feared and acts all ruthless, but he is a Paper Tiger: there are some paisans who don't pay him any tribute, he has no real muscle and resorts to police threats to enforce his demands. After Vito tests him by only paying half of his debt, he decides that he's no threat and kills him.
- The Big Board: During the Senate investigation there is a big board with a diagram showing how the Corleone family is organized and branched.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Subverted by "Superman" in the sex show, where it's implied that the sex will be very painful for the woman.
- Bludgeoned to Death: In extended scenes, Vito takes revenge on one of Don Ciccio's former enforcers by beating him to death with an oar.
- Bookends:
- Young Vito's story begins with his flight from Sicily to America after Don Ciccio kills his father, mother, and brother, and tries to kill him. It concludes with Vito, now a powerful Mafia Don in New York, coming back to Sicily for a visit and exacting revenge on a now-feeble Don Ciccio more than 20 years later.
- As a whole, the film begins and ends with the murder of a brother...Vito's older brother in 1901 Sicily and Fredo in 1959 Lake Tahoe.
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Implied to be the case with Don Cicio likely having no clue who the man who murdered him was.
- Cain and Abel: Michael and Fredo, mixed with Finding Judas; Fredo claims he thought his actions would unblock a deal and be good for the family too.
- Call-Forward:
- Don Tommasino, the friend of the Corleone family that looks after Michael when he has to hide out in Sicily in the first film, has partial paralysis in his legs. In this film's flashback half, Tommasino takes part in Vito's revenge against Don Ciccio, and takes a blast from a lupara shotgun that knocks him flat when he and Vito are escaping the house grounds.
- Vito's flashbacks innocuously highlight the fatal flaws of his eldest sons: Sonny's propensity for violence and Fredo's weakness.
- The Cameo: Among the senators on the Kefauver committee are Roger Corman (who mentored a young Coppola and got him started in Hollywood) and famous author/screenwriter Richard Matheson.
- Cleanup Crew: Michael and co. "offer" to clean up after their own frame job on Senator Geary, who was drugged and left in a hotel room with a Disposable Sex Worker. The idea is that he'll owe them a favour, and thus be in their pocket.
- Convenient Miscarriage: Subverted. Kay Corleone apparently suffers this trope, only to be revealed later that she aborted the child out of hatred towards her husband and because she can't stand the idea of another child being raised into his criminal family.
- Corrupt Bureaucrat:
- Senator Geary of Nevada, who tries to extort and bully Michael... and not out of greed but because Geary is a racist spiteful bastard.
- Additionally, the Senate attorney Questadt is working for Hyman Roth.
- Criminal Craves Legitimacy:
- The overarching theme of the Corleones' transition into legitimate business persists; Kay confronts Michael regarding his unfulfilled promise, highlighting his struggle to actually achieve it.
- Hyman Roth outlines his ambition to transmute underworld influence into overt political power, aiming to install a sympathetic president in the White House.
- Darker and Edgier: Part II has a few moments that are somewhat Lighter and Softer than the original (the landlord practically collapsing into a quivering puddle in front of Vito during one of the flashback sequences is more comedic than anything in the original, for example), but in general Coppola felt that the first movie had shown The Mafia in too warm and sentimental a light, so Part II was consciously made darker and edgier. It emphasizes the corruption and ugliness inherent in organized crime. Michael grows colder, more murderous and increasingly paranoid as his power grows; he's betrayed by longtime henchmen and ultimately his own brother, besides driving away his wife and kids. His murders are less cathartic and justifiable, with Michael having a prostitute killed to frame Senator Geary, sending Rocco on a Suicide Mission to kill a terminally ill Roth and ordering Fredo's execution. It's virtually a deconstruction of the original film's treatment of the Mafia lifestyle.
- Destroy the Evidence: After Vito kills Don Fanucci, he smashes the gun he used and disperses the parts among chimneys and vent pipes along the street.
- Disowned Sibling: Michael effectively disowns his brother Fredo when he hears his reasons for selling out the family, only sparing his life for the sake of their still-living mother. After she passes, however, he has Fredo executed during a fishing trip.
- Disposable Sex Worker: The Corleones get corrupt U.S. Senator Geary in their pocket when he wakes up in a room with a dead and bound prostitute in a brothel run by Fredo. It is very, very strongly implied that the Corleone family drugged the senator and then killed the poor girl, as shown when Al Neri is idly washing his hands and Tom gives Al a get out of here side-eye. Ironically, this is averted by Geary himself, who is in horrified tears over what he's supposedly done, even untying her and frantically trying to cover her up, all the while wailing "That poor girl!"
- Domestic Abuse: Michael hits Kay hard enough to knock her down when she says she had an abortion.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Politely implied by Vito when he refuses to accept the basket of food that a heartbroken Abbandando gives to Vito as severance and genuine gift, after Don Fanucci's nephew gets Vito's job. Vito is like family, but the handout does not sit well with his pride or his self-governing nature. Subsequently Vito finds his own ways to provide for his family... and sets in motion the entire epic.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: A major issue for Fredo, who is unhappy that he is barely given respect in the family business despite being Michael's older brother
- Et Tu, Brute?: Michael discovers that Fredo was in cahoots with Johnny Ola, involved somehow in the plot to kill him, and thus a traitor.Michael: I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart..
- The Exile: A young Vito makes America his new home out of necessity when he has to flee from Corleone after Don Ciccio refuses to spare his life.
- Face Death with Dignity: Implied to be the case for Fredo, when he learns that Anthony won't come with him to fish, and that Al Neri will come instead.
- Facepalm:
- Michael's appalled reaction when he realizes Fredo's betrayal.
- Frank Pentangeli's lawyer during the former's testimony denying his sworn statements.
- Family Extermination: Don Ciccio orders the whole family of Antonio Andolini killed. They are all killed except for Antonio's son, Vito, who escapes to America and becomes Vito Corleone. Vito returns decades later and kills Don Ciccio.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: "Michael, why are the drapes open?" seconds before a rain of gunfire is unleashed inside the Corleone's bedroom.
- Flashback: The film ends with a flashback that goes all the way back to four years before the first movie begins, at Don Vito's birthday party. It shows the family all together and happy, before everything went bad.
- Flashback B-Plot: While the film mostly focuses on telling the story of Michael Corleone as the new Don of the family, we also get flashbacks to the first years of his father in New York to show the difference on how they balanced their power and their families.
- Happy Flashback: A particularly effective one ends the film. The Corleone children waiting for Vito and sitting around the dinner table, as Michael tells them he is joining the Marine Corps and going off to fight in World War II and thus bluntly detaching himself from the family business. There is a lot of character definition and foreshadowing and the moment represents the end of the happier, together times in the Corleone family's life. This is counterpointed by the final shot of Michael sitting alone in the Lake Tahoe compound.
- Hauled Before a Senate Subcommittee: A large section of Part II features Michael being interrogated by a Senate committee on organized crime, who produces Pentangeli as its surprise witness.Michael: In the hopes of clearing my family name, and in the sincere desire to give my children their fair share of the American way of life, without a blemish on their name and background, I have appeared before this committee and given it all the cooperation in my power. I consider it a great dishonor to me personally to have to deny that I am a criminal. I wish to have the following noted for the record: that I served my country faithfully and honorably in World War II and was awarded the Navy Cross for actions in defense of my country. That I have never been arrested or indicted for any crime whatsoever. That no proof linking me to any criminal conspiracy whether it is called Mafia or Cosa Nostra, or whatever other name you wish to give, has ever been made public. I have not taken refuge behind the 5th amendment, though it is my right to do. I challenge this committee to produce any witness or evidence against me. And if they do not, I hope they will have the decency to clear my name with the same publicity with which they now have besmirched it.
- Heel–Face Turn: Subverted, Pentangeli is put under Witness Protection and is going to testify against the Corleone family. Michael and Tom Hagen find a way to prevent him breaking the omertà; his brother shows up the day he has to testify. It's not stated if they stop Pentangeli by shaming him in front of his old school brother or there's some kind of Implied Death Threat going on. note
- Historical Domain Character:
- Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista appears.
- Amazingly, "Superman" the sex show performer was an actual guy, legendary in Havana's pre-Castro club scene.note
- Hope Spot: In a seeming Pet the Dog moment Michael embraces a crying Fredo at Connie's behest, appearing to forgive him. Instead he gives a pointed look at Al Neri, signifying that the protection from assassination Fredo had while Carmela Corleone was alive is over.
- I Want Them Alive!: Following the attempt on his life, Michael tells Rocco that he wants the gunmen captured alive. He even repeats the order, to make absolutely sure.
- An Immigrant's Tale: Vito's subplot, which details how he fled his Italian hometown (due to being targeted for a hit by a mob boss who eliminated his family, when he was still a kid) to live in New York City, eventually growing up to start his own family and becoming a career criminal himself.
- Impossible Task: Getting to the overprotected Pentangeli and Hyman Roth. Discussed in a clear reference to John F. Kennedy's assassination. The latter's outcome is a Shout-Out to Jack Ruby vs Oswald. The movie takes places years before the historical magnicide (around the time of the Cuban revolution.).Tom: It would be like trying to kill the President! There's no way we can get to him!
Michael: If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone. - Indignant Slap: After Kay confesses to have had an abortion, Michael slaps his wife so hard that she hits her head on the wall.
- Intermission: The film has an intermission.
- Kiss of Death: One of the most famous examples. Given to Fredo by Michael in Cuba."I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!"
- Last Disrespects: The film opens with the funeral of Vito's father, which gets interrupted by Don Ciccio's enforcers killing Vito's brother and dumping his corpse into the funeral party.
- The Living Dead: The dead prostitute used to frame Senator Geary can be seen breathing.
- Malicious Misnaming: When Senator Geary addresses the party that opens the film, he horribly botches the pronunciation of "Corleone". Later, when talking privately with Michael, he pronounces it correctly, revealing the insult. He's also publicly implying that he's not familiar with the Corleones.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: In the climax of Part II, Tom clearly feels this way about Michael’s planned assassination of Hyman Roth. The Jewish gangster took his shot at Michael and failed. Now his allies (the Rosatos) are on the run and Roth’s out of safe harbors. He’ll be taken into Federal custody upon arrival in Miami and, with his terminal health, will be dead within months anyway. Michael’s already won and trying to assassinate Roth here and now is pointless (not to mention it means likely sacrificing Rocco on a Suicide Mission).
- A Minor Kidroduction: The beginning of the film is of the 9-year old Vito attending his father's funeral.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal:
- Pentangeli has some disagreements with the Godfather and then flips to the authorities because he believes Michael is the one who put a hit on him.
- Fredo cites being displaced by his kid brother and only trusted with minor and distant business as a reason behind his behavior.
- Motive Rant: When Michael asks Hyman Roth who ordered the hit on Pentangeli, Roth responds by revealing his close connection to Moe Greene, whom Michael had killed in the first film. This provides greater clarity about why Roth would want Michael dead, even though Roth is never explicit about this.Roth: This was a great man, a man of vision and guts. And there isn't even a plaque or a signpost or a statue in that town! Someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn't angry. I knew Moe, I knew he was headstrong—talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go. I said to myself, "This is business that we've chosen." And I didn't ask who gave the order! Because it had nothin' to do with business!
- Mugging the Monster: Senator Geary tries to extort and bully Michael for a gambling license. A nonchalant Michael bides his time and turns the tables with a cold Frame-Up. It's worth pointing out that the Senator knows Michael is a powerful criminal but misevaluates him as harmless thinking that a political leader is out of his nefarious reach.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: In the final act, Tom questions the decision to kill Roth because Michael has already won, the hit is impossible and Roth is a very ill man with a low life expectancy. Michael rebukes him and replies that "Roth has been dying from the same heart attack for the last twenty years" and anybody can be killed. An extra layer of poignancy is added if you assume Tom knows that Michael is going to have Fredo killed as well and is subtly trying to talk him out of it.Michael: I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Michael's expressions at the end shows that he regrets having Fredo killed the instant he died.
- Named After Someone Famous: A deleted scene reveals that Hyman Roth is named after real life gangster Arnold Rothstein.
- Nepotism: Literally, as Vito is made redundant and loses his job because Abbandando has to accommodate Fanucci's nephew.
- Nervous Wreck: Don Roberto, when he realizes the man who was trying to get him to let the old lady stay in the apartment is a Mafia boss. He's so petrified that he can't get the door open as he desperately tries to leave Vito's office.
- New Year Has Come: Michael's failed hit on Hyman Roth, his discovery that Fredo was the traitor, and Fulgencio Batista's hurried departure from Cuba, take place on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, 1958-59. Fredo and Michael are actually at a New Year's party when Batista shows up to bid his farewell.
- Ordered to Die: Frankie Pentangeli retracts his testimony against Michael Corleone when he sees that Michael has flown in his older brother from the old country to sit in the audience. Later, Tom Hagen visits Frankie in protective custody. They discuss the Roman Empire, and Tom reminds Frankie that when a conspiracy against the Roman Emperor failed, the conspirators would be given the chance to let their families keep their lives and fortunes. Frankie doesn't have to have it spelled out to him. At the end of the film, Frankie had committed suicide in the prison bath.
- Plot Parallel: The film juxtaposes the creation of Vito's family in the flashbacks with the gradual dissolution of Michael's in the present
- Plot-Triggering Death: The film opens with the funeral of Vito's father Antonio Andolini, who was murdered for insulting Don Ciccio. This event leads to the death of Vito's brother Paolo and their mother's sacrifice, forcing Vito to escape to America and the rest of the story commences from there.
- Pride Before a Fall: The American "businessmen" certainly have Cuba in their pockets, which allows Hyman Roth to boast that "we are bigger than US Steel." Not long afterwards, Batista's deposition breaks the Mafia's ownership of the island and forces them into a hasty return to the USA in the middle of the revolution on New Year's Eve.
- Pretty in Mink: Connie and her mother wear mink coats.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: The flashback half explores Vito's journey, starting out as an immigrant orphan fleeing from a Mafia don, making an honest living, then being pushed into crime after being fired.
- The Punishment Is the Crime: By the end of the film, Michael has escaped a Congressional inquiry into his criminality, he has control of several casinos, and has crushed traitors and enemies. But his marriage has bitterly ended, his children are not happy, his sister fears him, and he has killed his own brother. The greatest Pyrrhic Victory imaginable.
- Refuge in Audacity: When Senator Geary demands a bribe from Michael, Michael tells him, "You can have my answer now, if you like. My final offer is this: nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally."
- Remember the New Guy?:
- Frank Pentangeli, reflecting he's Clemenza's Suspiciously Similar Substitute.
- Also Hyman Roth is mentioned as having a long history with the Corleone family despite never being mentioned in the first movie.
- Revealing Hug: During Mama Corleone's funeral, Michael and Fredo reconcile with a hug. As Mike embraces him, he makes a signal to his hitman Al Neri to kill him.
- Reveal Shot: Tom has gone to a Nevada brothel where he finds Senator Geary, clad only in his underwear, sitting on the floor by a bed, weeping and babbling variations on "I don't remember." The camera pans left and reveals a dead hooker, under a bedsheet soaked in blood, handcuffed to the bed frame.
- The Roaring '20s: The parts where Vito begins his career as a gangster takes place in the 1920s.
- Saying Too Much: Fredo claims he never met Johnny Ola, but during the sex club scene excitedly talks of how Ola introduced him to the place. Michael's shocked expression says everything as he realizes his own brother has betrayed him.
- Series Continuity Error: The film ends with the family throwing a birthday party for Vito on Dec. 7, 1941. The opening establishes that Vito was nine when he came to America in 1901 so his birthday is probably Dec. 7, 1891, but also possibly Dec. 7, 1892. The only problem is that his tombstone at the end of the first movie shows his birthday as April 29, 1887.
- Shame If Something Happened: What is most likely implied by Michael having Frank Pentangeli's brother flown in from Sicily to attend Pentangeli's Congressional hearing.
- Sickbed Slaying: Subverted with Hyman Roth, his would-be killer is killed at the last second, pillow in hand.
- Shout-Out: Troy Donahue's character is named Merle Johnson, the actor's birth name.
- Some of My Best Friends Are X: Senator Geary says it word for word regarding Italian-Americans, just before excusing himself during Michael's hearing.
- Spotting the Thread: When Fredo is gushing over a lurid live show with Johnny Ola and a few other family associates, he gets excited and accidentally reveals that he took Johnny (whom he'd previously claimed to have never met before) to see the show a few days earlier. This tips Michael off that Fredo has betrayed the family.
- Suicide Mission: At the end, Michael assigns Rocco to assassinate Hyman Roth at the Miami airport. Tom tries talking him out of it, pointing out that the police and FBI will be waiting to arrest Roth. Michael orders the hit anyway, and Rocco's killed moments after shooting Roth.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Richard Castellano, who played Clemenza in the first movie, was not brought back for the second film. So the character of the loyal capo who turns against the Corleone family became Frank Pentangeli, who In-Universe took after Clemenza's "family" after Clemenza died.
- Switch to English:
- The characters speak in Sicilian during the whole Vito's segment. Vito only starts to use English when he begins to deal with his community as the Godfather. His job is linked with his Americanization.
- Michael switches to Italian in the middle of a cold conversation with Tom Hagen.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Young Vito first shoots Don Fanucci in the chest, which by itself was probably enough to do him in eventually. But just to be sure, Vito proceeds to shoot him again, this time in the cheek, and finally sticks the gun in Fanucci's mouth and lets off a shot for good measure.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Over the course of the film, Michael grows a heart of stone (and far worse he has a completely innocent prostitute killed for the sake of the business) yet personality-wise he is not unprovokedly abrupt until the final part, when he offends Tom Hagen for no reason.
- Unwitting Pawn: Pentangeli, who's callously manipulated by both Michael and Roth and ultimately Driven to Suicide.
- Villain Has a Point: Don Ciccio refuses to spare young Vito's life, fearing that when he grows up, he'll seek his revenge for his murdered brother and father—which is exactly what happens.
- Villainous Breakdown: Michael breaks down twice. The first time when he finds out that Kay had a miscarriage, he suddenly snaps at Tom for not getting a straight answer. The second time is around Kay herself when she reveals that said miscarriage was an abortion.
- Villainous Ethics Decay: A core theme of the second film. The rise to power of Don Vito is juxtaposed with his son and successor Michael's consolidation of power, which costs him everything Vito taught him to treasure.
- Visual Pun: The mafioso American entrepreneurs divide among themselves a birthday cake with the map of Cuba on it. Additionally, in a non-literal sense, Michael and Roth want to have the cake and eat it too.
- We Do Not Know Each Other: This is the fatal mistake Fredo makes in Part II. He pretends not to know Johnny Ola when they meet in Cuba, but later on babbles excitedly about the various places in Havana that Ola took him to, while Michael can be seen covering his face in despair.
- Wedding/Death Juxtaposition: One of the final scenes of the Corleone's family return to Sicily (in the flashbacks) is of Vito and Carmela renewing their vows at the local church. After fading out, the next scene is of Carmela's funeral in the present.
- Wham Line:
- Fredo casually and inadvertently reveals himself as The Mole for Johnny Ola when he talks excitedly about a steamy sex club act. This is after he said he never met that guy before."Johnny Ola told me about this place!"
- Michael immediately realizes Fredo's betrayal and lets him know later on with a Kiss of Death:"I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart."
- And then, Kay's revelation to Michael that her Convenient Miscarriage was anything but:"It wasn't a miscarriage. It was an abortion."
- Fredo casually and inadvertently reveals himself as The Mole for Johnny Ola when he talks excitedly about a steamy sex club act. This is after he said he never met that guy before.
- What Did I Do Last Night?: In Part II, Senator Geary is given a room at a Mafia-run brothel and plied with booze and God knows what else. When he wakes up, there's a dead prostitute in his bed and blood everywhere......and that nice Tom Hagen is there to promise Geary that Michael Corleone will make his problems vanish, and they can be friends. And even more: if he should see fit to drop a federal investigation into the Corleone family, that'd make them even better friends.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Delivered to Michael by almost every main character towards the end. Most painfully by the end, when Tom is trying to talk him out of any revenge against Roth and even Fredo. When Michael coldly taunts Tom about leaving for another job, Tom is offended: "Why do you hurt me, Michael? I've always been loyal..."
- While You Were in Diapers: Hyman Roth tells Michael "Your father and I ran molasses out of Cuba when you were a baby".
- Wicked Cultured: Tom Hagen discusses with a well-read Pentangeli how some things were done in The Roman Empire as a hint about how to solve his situation.
- Wrecked Weapon: After Vito kills Don Fanucci, he smashes the gun he used and drops the pieces down various pipes and chimneys in the neighborhood.
- You Killed My Father: The beginning of the film tells or shows that Vito's father, mother (and brother) are murdered by a Sicilian mafia boss, Don Ciccio, when Vito is a child. He escapes to the U.S., becomes an influential crime boss there, and eventually returns to Sicily to meet Don Ciccio.Don Ciccio: And what's your father's name?
Vito: His name was... Antonio Andolini.
Don Ciccio: Louder, I don't hear so good.
Vito: My father's name was Antonio Andolini... and this is for you! (carves him)