The Godfather: The Real Political Scandals That Shaped The Story

It’s a known thing that the American legend Rocky was created by stitching together pieces from real life. The Godfather is not much different from that. In fact, from small details to major events, almost everything in the film is adapted from real life. This is something that has been talked about many times over the years, and most people more or less know it. But when the subject in The Godfather is not sports but mafia and politics, it’s not really possible to know whether what’s being borrowed is rumor or fact. Still, even the rumor can be shocking. Let’s begin.

The Godfather Part II: Senator Pat Geary Talking About The Kennedys

In the film, Senator Pat Geary calls a prostitute to his room in a hotel owned by the Corleone family, and while he is so drunk that he can’t remember what happened, he finds her dead in his bed. This is a massive scandal that would not only end his political career but also send him to prison and disgrace him in front of the whole country. Before the scandal comes out, it is handled by the family. And so our senator, who challenges Michael Corleone at the start of the film, is condemned to remain tied to the family until death and to work on the family’s account.

The Godfather - Senator Patrick Geary

In a way that is too similar to be a coincidence, on the night of July 18, 1969, Ted Kennedy, who was a senator at the time, is traveling by car on a small island called Chappaquiddick. A 28 year old woman named Mary Jo Kopechne is sitting beside him. The next day, the woman is found dead in the vehicle. Ted Kennedy lost control and went off into the water, but somehow managed to get out of the car. The woman did not survive. Ted Kennedy informs the police only after the vehicle surfaces a day later. And again like in the film, Ted Kennedy says in his statement that he remembers nothing. No autopsy is performed on the woman.

And it doesn’t stop there. It is said that in 1960, when John F. Kennedy was running for president as the Democratic Party’s candidate, Joseph Kennedy asked Frank Sinatra to use his mafia connections. Joseph Kennedy asks Sam Giancana, one of the era’s major mafia leaders, to help make sure the votes go to John F. Kennedy, in whatever way possible. In short, the gang leader gets involved, and with a huge mafioso force, contributes to opening the road to the White House for John F. Kennedy, without realizing he would regret it later. After John F. Kennedy becomes president, Robert Kennedy, as Attorney General, gets 288 mafia members convicted in 1963 alone.

And in 2010, in FBI files, in a report dated July 1965, we see a mafia informant describing how they tried to put John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy into a position where they would have to make concessions. The mafia started using Frank Sinatra and his friends (The Rat Pack) to arrange women for Robert Kennedy and Ted Kennedy by setting time and place in a way that would force them to take a conciliatory stance. And Marilyn Monroe is right in the middle of this rumor spiral.

Gianni Russo, who played Carlo Rizzi in the first two films of the series, openly says that Robert Kennedy had Marilyn Monroe killed. In an interview he gave a few weeks ago, Gianni Russo said, “I know how Marilyn Monroe really died.” He showed a photo he took with Marilyn Monroe at Cal Neva Lodge in 1962 to Michael Kaplan, and said, “This photo was taken three days before Marilyn Monroe was found dead of an overdose in Los Angeles.” The photographer: Sam Giancana.

Gianni Russo presents a disputed photo he says was taken days before Marilyn Monroe’s death.

“There was someone known as ‘the doctor’ in the underworld (a hitman, a real medical doctor, he had carried out major murders for the mafia) who injected air into a vein near Marilyn Monroe’s groin,” says Gianni Russo. “She died of an embolism, but the medical examiner said it was an overdose.”

Gianni Russo still insists that it was definitely not the mafia who killed Marilyn Monroe, and that it was the young Kennedy, who was worried that the relationship between John F. Kennedy and himself with Marilyn Monroe would explode. And he makes this bomb comment:

“It had to be Robert Kennedy, for sure. Nobody else would kill her. The mafia would never do it. They loved her. She was a party girl, you know. Give her a few pills and a little booze and she’d sleep with everyone.”

According to Gianni Russo, key members of the mafia were called to a meeting at Cal Neva Lodge. The topic was the trap to be set for President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy. The plan was to film the Kennedys having a threesome with Marilyn Monroe. The footage would be used to persuade John F. Kennedy to invade Cuba, and thus allow organized crime to return to the casinos on the island. But the plan fell apart because John F. Kennedy did not show up.

In the film, we also see Michael Corleone’s plan to expand into Cuba through Hyman Roth. On New Year’s Eve, President Fulgencio Batista resigned and left the country to the guerrillas, and that plan also went upside down.

Hyman Roth and Michael Corleone

Don Vito Corleone Is A Compilation Of Various Real-Life Mafia Leaders

He uses the olive oil business as a cover, like Joe Profaci. He also carries traces of Carlo Gambino, who adopted a quiet, unshowy style to reach power. But the person Don Vito Corleone is mainly borrowed from is Frank Costello, known as the “prime minister” of the mafia.

Frank Costello supposedly did not like drawing attention to himself or the mafia. As much as possible, he would choose compromise over violence, and preferred to preserve his power through diplomacy and broad political and business connections. In fact, Marlon Brando shaped Vito’s soft, raspy voice after listening to recordings of Frank Costello testifying about organized crime before the Kefauver Committee.

Frank Costello

Moe Greene, Who Claims He Put Las Vegas On The Map, Is Actually The Real-Life Jewish Mafia Leader Benjamin Siegel (Bugsy)

He is the man who built the Flamingo, still one of the oldest resorts in the Las Vegas area. Just like Moe Greene, who is shot through the eye for betraying the Corleone family, Benjamin Siegel is also shot in the head because he stole money from the mafia to build his casino. And just as the Corleones take over Moe Greene’s casino business, in real life, when Benjamin Siegel is killed, the mafia absorbs the Flamingo.

Benjamin Siegel And Moe Greene

Michael Corleone’s Restaurant Murders Strongly Resemble One Of The Biggest Assassinations In Mafia History

In the first film, Michael Corleone sets up a meeting in a restaurant to resolve the dispute and kills both of his enemies by shooting them with a gun placed in the bathroom. In real life, a similar incident happens in 1931. Mafia member Charles “Lucky” Luciano meets his boss Joe Masseria at an Italian restaurant. During the meal, Charles “Lucky” Luciano asks to be excused and goes to the bathroom. At that moment, a hitman bursts in and fires more than 20 bullets into Joe Masseria. Then he leaves.

After this scene in the film, Michael Corleone is smuggled to Sicily by his father. There, he falls in love with young Apollonia and marries her. In real life too, when things went bad, gangsters would flee to Italy. A real-life mafia leader, Vito Genovese, once ran to Italy because of one of the murders he committed, and could only return after the charges were dropped. After being deported, Charles “Lucky” Luciano also settled in Italy and never came back, controlling the strings of the criminal network from there. And while in Italy, Charles “Lucky” Luciano fell in love with a woman 20 years younger than him. Whether they married is not fully known, but they lived together for 11 years until the woman’s death in 1959.

Charles Luciano

The Mafia Threatened The Producers In Corleone Style To Stop The Film From Being Made

Perhaps the clearest intersection of truth and fiction is mafia boss Joe Colombo and the New York mafia coming together against the production of The Godfather. Some say it was because gangsters were tired of seeing Italian Americans portrayed in a bad light in films; others say it was because the mafia already had enough problems and did not want to deal with Hollywood spotlights too. Whatever the reason, gangsters began to harass the production team: producer Albert S. Ruddy’s car was followed, and its window was smashed and expensive equipment inside was stolen. They called Paramount executive Robert Evans at home and threatened him through his wife and newborn son. Albert S. Ruddy asked Joe Colombo for an appointment to meet face to face. In this meeting, Joe Colombo said he would allow the film to be made if the word “mafia” was removed entirely from the script. They handled it easily. In the film, it appears only once.

Joe Colombo

In General, It Has Always Been Said That Mario Puzo Took Inspiration From Real People For The Characters In The Novel

The most obvious one is the Johnny Fontane and Frank Sinatra similarity that everyone knows. In the film, Johnny Fontane is a singer and actor who is going through hard times, then gets the role he wants after a horse’s head is cut off, and thus races toward an Oscar. It is known that Frank Sinatra also got some roles by threatening Hollywood producers through mafia connections. One of these is producer Harry Cohn of the film From Here to Eternity. Harry Cohn did not want Frank Sinatra in his film, but later, after some “friendly advice,” Frank Sinatra got the role and then the Oscar, reviving his shaky career.

Still, in real life there is no indication that a horse’s head was actually cut off for this. But Frank Sinatra got quite angry about these rumors. In 1970, when the novel had not yet been adapted to cinema, Frank Sinatra ran into Mario Puzo at a restaurant in Hollywood and hurled curses and threats at him in front of everyone. And in 1972, Frank Sinatra sued the BBC for pointing to him as the inspiration for the Johnny Fontane character in the film.

Frank Sinatra And Johnny Fontane