How did Vito Corleone know it was Barzini all along?

in the godfather we are introduced to the behind the scenes of the corleone crime family run by the notorious don vito corleone we all watched the intriguing series of events unfold and the story was brilliantly made by the legendary francis ford coppola but there is something that until today has us wondering a question that wasn't clearly answered and still captivates many debates is how did don vito instinctively know that the individual behind all these treacherous events wasn't the obvious philip italia rather the more cunning don emilio barzini in the film after sunny was taken out we see don vito needing to step in while he still had not fully recovered in order to prevent his empire from collapsing he calls a meeting with the heads of the five families who rule over new york at this meeting vito goes in to make peace with the other families in order to safely bring back his son michael from his exile in sicily but veto's goal and intentions behind the meeting were not limited to the reasons he gave the other dons vito needed to verify who was behind these lethal attacks on his family and somehow after the meeting he realizes that it actually was don barzini who was behind all these attacks not just philip italia as it had seemed at first and so the question that to this day has not been answered is how exactly did vito manage to come to the realization that it was barzini all along how could he have exposed the true culprit from that one meeting and discerned that it wasn't just italian responsible for all these events that's exactly what we will uncover in this video so after watching this video you will know how and why don vito was able to uncover such a well laid out plot taking you through his thought process and allowing us to learn from this scenario at this time don vito was at the peak of his power and pretty much controlled the entire city of new york he did share some of his power with a few other dons dividing the city so that they can live in peace in which was a genius move as instead of constant fighting they were peacefully operating in the shadows away from the law and the public maximizing their profits and thriving so to keep the peace the five families agreed to a set of laws that they would enforce through the commission at the time the families were only engaging in outlawed activities such as gambling and smuggling liquor however some weren't satisfied with just these business ventures and were looking to start something far more dangerous but extremely more profitable than just the status quo this is where the ambitious virgil salazo comes in salazzo had been establishing his new business in manufacturing and dealing narcotics he had built his infrastructure in sicily however to sell the product he needed a base in new york and in order to be allowed to operate in new york he needs to be backed by at least one of the families but most importantly he needs the blessing of don corleone and so after getting the support of the titalia family he met with don vito as we all know veto was totally against this from the beginning but wanted to see what selazo had to say you're telling me that natalya's guarantee are invested unfortunately during the meeting sunny makes a vital mistake and shows his interest in the deal this little incident gave selazo all he needed to proceed with his plans and as we all know a little while later there was a hit on don vito he does manage to narrowly survive however he is in very bad shape and taken out of action therefore his oldest but brash and reckless son sunny in charge but sunny too would taken out and this time it was definite which as we know is what brings out don vito to finally settle this once and for all now before we get into exactly how vito knew it was barzini it's essential we know a bit more about these characters philip titalia was the head and the founder of the titalia crime family one of the five major families of new york although he was initially somewhat liked and respected by the other power grew his greed and unpleasant traits became unbearable by the other dons he would constantly rant whinge and complain about running his business out of the five dawns titalia was seen as the weakest because of his heavy reliance on others whether it was his constant need of don barzini's approval and backing to and needing his sons to do most of the work for him this does not mean that t'talia was a complete he did indeed manage to become one of the five major bosses of new york an achievement that not many ever managed to conquer therefore even with his lack of strategic prowess in comparison to the other dons totalia still found a way to survive amongst them don emilio barzini was the head and founder of the barzini crime family one of if not the most powerful family in the criminal underworld almost equal to the corleone family in the early days barzini was one of don giuseppe mariposa's capos however his ambition in his former don's actions made him become more disgruntled at his current position after mariposa went to war with vito corleone barzini was sent to assassinate vito at a parade however vito seems to be extremely lucky and managed to survive that attack but veto's retaliation was so swift and lethal barzini knew if he was to remain in power or better yet take over he would need to align himself away from his former powerful dawn and accept the new shift of power therefore he betrayed mariposa took over the organization and renamed it as the barzini crime family barzini was definitely one of the most cunning and intelligent bosses second to only veto his progressive attitude towards business and lack of belief in what he considers as outdated ideals of loyalty discipline chivalry or even honor all made him focus on one thing his profits which frustrates him as some of the other dons still believe in these principles and hold on to their traditions which in his eyes restrict them for maximizing their potential profits and therefore power barzini was a very eloquent and charismatic man who carried himself as a very courteous and gentleman-like figure however hidden very well behind all the witty remarks in socializing was his true nature of treachery and ruthlessness unlike tatalya who was more brazen and always reacted more barbarically barzini was calculated he was a strategist resorting to more prudent and machiavellian tactics so after don corleone was almost taken out and still recovering sonny had taken over and salazo's plan was beginning to work he's still alive they hit him with five shots when he's still alive but he didn't expect vito to survive and that sunny would retaliate as strongly as he did it's bad luck for me and bad luck for you if you don't make that deal however selazo was still hoping that he would convince michael to persuade sunny into making a deal but as we know michael actually takes him out and flees to sicily so now sunny has embroiled the criminal underworld into a seemingly never ending conflict with the other families however in a seemingly intricate plot played by titalia sunny was also taken out and this time they made sure they completed their job and so the family lost its leader and were now in a very dire position this is when veto musters what strength he has to finally settle all this vito needs to make peace with the five families in order to survive even if it is a sign of weakness and he will have to settle for whatever would make the peace but this is only partly true vito was indeed seeking peace but that's only to be able to bring back his son michael from sicily and scathed he found out michael was involved in the family business so he has no choice but to have michael take over vito also knew that at his current position the family was too weak to take on so many foes from different directions but won't they take that as a sign of weakness but perhaps what vito really wanted from this meeting other than bringing back his son safely was to uncover who was responsible for all this these intricate attacks on the corleone family were extremely precise and lethal not to mention too bold for a man like to tell you to dare to formulate such a well-made plot from his experience bruno titalia never showed such character or personality to even muster up enough courage to do such a thing by himself therefore vito knew something much more sinister was going on the commission was established to be the ruling body of the mafia in the united states it was to be used as an effective way to negotiate and coordinate different aspects of the criminal underworld it was where the heads of the criminal organizations throughout the country would need to settle their differences in order to avoid any unnecessary hostilities its main aim was to ensure that the families could all operate their businesses at the same time maximizing their profits and even helping each other prosper in some cases the commission was actually established by vito corleone he managed to do this during a period known as the pacification of new york so now we know all the information we need we can now take you through don vito's thinking process going into the meeting vito had two goals the first was to make whatever deal was necessary with the other dons to bring back michael the second was to gain a better understanding on what is really going on and so under the guise of wanting peace to bring back essentially his only son and heir to the corleone empire and finally unravel the scheme veto begins the meeting by laying out his cards he states that he is willing to go back to the way things were before especially since this war had costed both men their sons lives so unfortunate so unnecessary interestingly barzini does praise vito's modesty and character however quickly reframes the discussion away from the loss they suffered instead directing the conversation towards vito's refusal of the narcotics trade in which natalya is also quick to comment on almost as if he was told what to say and exactly when to say it but it gets even more apparent after vito lists his reasoning behind his refusal in which were all reasonable barzini quickly interjects and starts to sway the argument by dismissing veto's reasoning is old-fashioned times have changed it's not like the old days but we can do anything we want this was the first hint that vito had that titalia and barzini were both involved however as the meeting progressed barzini began to unintentionally reveal more and more in addition to the suspicious constant eye contact between barzini and italia hinting that they were subtly communicating probably the most obvious clue that vito had that allowed him to realize it was actually barzini all along was when he said a refusal is not the act of a friend if don corleone had all the judges and the politicians in new york then he must share them all he loved is used even though it's very subtle barzini was actually threatening veto when he says refusal is not the act of a friend or in stating that vito must share his connections he is giving veto an ultimatum either accept and be a friend or refuse and you'll be a foe in addition to various other factors such as both barzini's and titalia's subtle body language and the phrasing they used all confirmed veto's suspicions also many of you would have picked up on the small details we mentioned earlier in this video vito and barzini have history back when barzini was only a couple under don mariposa's organization he had failed to take out veto and even after they made peace berzini had aspirations to take over from vito as the most powerful dawn in the country and he could only do so if he had veto's connections which served as one of veto's most important assets [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: The Culture Mafia

Views: 3,336,076

Keywords: the godfather, mafia, marlon brando, mafia documentary, families of the mafia, goodfellas, godfather, michael franzese, the culture mafia, don corleone, don corleone meeting, cosa nostra, mafia boss, the real life godfather, the godfather part 1, the godfather clip, the godfather theme, the history of mafia, real life mobsters, real life mobster movies, entrepreneur, mafia business, al pacino, entreprenuer, francis ford coppola, the godfather trailer, don vito corleone, barzini

Id: tBMYlxIWfR0

Length: 14min 1sec (841 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 05 2021