INT DAY: DON'S OFFICE (WINTER 1945)

	SONNY is in the DON's office; he is excited and exuberant.

				SONNY
		I've got a hundred button men on
		the streets twenty-four hours a day.
		If Sollozzo shows one hair on his
		ass he's dead.

	He sees MICHAEL, and holds his bandaged face in his hand,
	kiddingly.

				SONNY
		Mikey, you look beautiful!

				MICHAEL
		Cut it out.

				SONNY
		The Turk wants to talk!  The nerve
		of that son of a bitch!  After he
		craps out last night he wants a meet.

				HAGEN
		Was there a definite proposal?

				SONNY
		Sure, he wants us to send Mike to
		meet him to hear his proposition.
		The promise is the deal will be so
		good we can't refuse.

				HAGEN
		What about that Tattaglias?  What
		will they do about Bruno?

				SONNY
		Part of the deal: Bruno cancels out
		what they did to my father.

				HAGEN
		We should hear what they have to say.

				SONNY
		No, no Consiglere.  Not this time.
		No more meetings, no more
		discussions, no more Sollozzo
		tricks.  Give them one message: I
		WANT SOLLOZZO.  If not, it's all
		out war.  We go to the mattresses
		and we put all the button men out
		on the street.

				HAGEN
		The other families won't sit still
		for all out war.

				SONNY
		Then THEY hand me Sollozzo.

				HAGEN
		Come ON Sonny, your father wouldn't
		want to hear this.  This is not a
		personal thing, this is Business.

				SONNY
		And when they shot me father...

				HAGEN
		Yes, even the shooting of your
		father was business, not personal...

				SONNY
		No no, no more advice on how to
		patch it up Tom.  You just help me
		win.  Understood?

	HAGEN bows his head; he is deeply concerned.

				HAGEN
		I found out about this Captain
		McCluskey who broke Mike's jaw.
		He's definitely on Sollozzo's
		payroll, and for big money.
		McCluskey's agreed to be the Turk's
		bodyguard.  What you have to
		understand is that while Sollozzo
		is guarded like this, he's
		invulnerable.  Nobody has ever
		gunned down a New York Police
		Captain.  Never.  It would be
		disastrous.  All the five families
		would come after you Sonny; the
		Corleone family would be outcasts;
		even the old man's political
		protection would run for cover.  So
		just...take that into consideration.

				SONNY
			  (still fuming)
		McCluskey can't stay with the Turk
		forever.  We'll wait.

				MICHAEL
		We can't wait.  No matter what
		Sollozzo say about a deal, he's
		figuring out how to kill Pop.  You
		have to get Sollozzo now.

				SONNY
		The kid's right.

				HAGEN
		What about McCluskey?

				MICHAEL
		Let's say now that we have to kill
		McCluskey.  We'll clear that up
		through our Newspaper contacts later.

				SONNY
		Go on Mike.

				MICHAEL
		They want me to go to the conference
		with Sollozzo.  Set up the meeting
		for two days from now.  Sonny, get
		our informers to find out where the
		meeting will be held.
		Insist it has to be a public place:
		a bar or restaurant at the height
		of the dinner hour.  So I'll feel
		safe.  They'll check me when I meet
		them so I won't be able to carry a
		weapon; but Clemenza, figure out a
		way to have one planted there for
		me.
			  (pause)
		Then I'll kill them both.

	Everyone in the room is astonished; they all look at MICHAEL.
	Silence.  SONNY suddenly breaks out in laughter.  He points
	a finger at MICHAEL, trying to speak.

				SONNY
		You?  You, the high-class college
		kid.  You never wanted to get mixed
		up in the family business.  Now you
		wanta gun down a police Captain and
		the Turk just because you got
		slapped in the face.  You're taking
		it personal, it's just business and
		he's taking it personal.

	Now CLEMENZA and TESSIO are also smiling; only HAGEN keeps
	his face serious.

				MICHAEL
			  (angrily, but cold)
		Sonny, it's all personal, and I
		learned it from him, the old man,
		the Godfather.  He took my joining
		the Marines personal.  I take
		Sollozzo trying to kill my father
		personal, and you know I'll kill
		them Sonny.

	MICHAEL radiates danger...SONNY stops laughing.