Peter Clemenza

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Peter Clemenza is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather and two of the three films based on it. He is played by Academy Award-nominee Richard Castellano, and by Bruno Kirby (who was billed as B. Kirby, Jr.) as a young man.

The Godfather

Clemenza starts off as one of Don Vito Corleone's caporegimes and oldest friends, as well as the godfather of his eldest son, Santino. As a mere supporting character, few of his actions are integral to the plot. For example, he is ordered by Don Corleone, via Tom Hagen, to handle the beating of two teenage boys who assaulted the daughter of Vito's undertaker and escaped punishment for it. Clemenza then assigns his "button man" Paulie Gatto to the job who then recruits two former professional boxers turned Corleone Family loan shark enforcers to assist. (A deleted scene from the film depicts Paulie Gatto delivering the reprimand.)

He later assists Rocco Lampone in killing Paulie for conspiring with the Tattaglia Family to have Vito assassinated in return for refusing to help their associate, Virgil Sollozzo, in his heroin deal. Lampone then succeeds to Gatto's position as "button man." According to the novel, Clemenza is originally under suspicion for being a part of the conspiracy, but is eventually cleared. In order to lull Paulie into a false sense of security, Clemenza and Lampone drive around in a car with him for at least two days (backing out of the drive, Clemenza asks Paulie to "mind the kids" - it is not specified whether or not these are Clemenza's children) looking for good sites where Corleone men can hide out on matresses in the imminent war. After Lampone kills Paulie, Clemenza - who has left the car to "take a leak" - utters [to Lampone] his most famous line in the movie: "Leave the gun. Take the cannoli."

When Vito's youngest son, Michael, offers to kill both Sollozzo and Police Captain McCluskey, who is on Sollozzo's payroll, it is Clemenza who teaches Michael how to use the gun and who plants the gun inside one of the bathrooms of the restaurant. The plan goes well, and while Michael hides out in Sicily, Clemenza joins his crime family for an all-out war against the remaining four families. The war ultimately claims the life of Sonny, and Vito returns from the hospital following the assassination attempt. Upon his return to New York, Michael is appointed head of the family, but Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio, unsatisfied with the way things are going, request that they be given permission to break off from the Corleone family to start their own families. Michael accepts, only after their business is over. When Michael is again targeted for assassination by Don Barzini, who was behind Sonny's murder, Clemenza is initially the primary suspect of being the Corleone family traitor, but it is later revealed to be Tessio, who is killed for his treachery. Clemenza, on Michael's orders, personally murders both Don Stracci (in the movie only) and Carlo Rizzi, Michael's brother-in-law, who conspired with Barzini to kill Sonny. He is last seen in the film greeting Michael as "Don Corleone".

The Sicilian

Clemenza appears briefly in Puzo's second Godfather installment, The Sicilian. He meets with Michael during his exile in Sicily, at his brother Domenic Clemenza's home in Trapani. They discuss what the fate of Turi Guiliano is to be, following the orders of a recovering Vito Corleone. Clemenza tells Michael that he should report to him after a week, with or without Guiliano, and that Michael could return to America afterward. Clemenza then leaves on a boat to the African town of Tunis, telling Michael that he would be back the following day to bring him back to date with the Don's orders.

The Godfather Returns

Clemenza's gradual takeover of the Corleone empire in New York is briefly covered in this sequel to the original novel. It also tells of the capo's involvement during Michael's return from exile and eventual, official initiation into the Corleone crime family. Most noteworthy, the novel depicts Clemenza's heart attack (mentioned in the second movie), and the many conspiracies that he had actually been murdered by the Rosato Brothers.

However, the book states that Clemenza "must have been about seventy" at the time, which is possible given Clemenza's involvement in Vito Corleone's developing crime syndicate as a young man (1917-1920s). In the first film (1945-mid 1950s) Clemenza appears rather well-preserved for a man presumably in his late fifties or early sixties (the actor Richard Castellano was in fact in his late thirties at the time of filming), albeit sweating and panting with exertion after climbing several flights of stairs prior to assassinating Don Stracci as he emerges from a lift. Clemenza's wife appears to be younger than her husband.

The Godfather: Part II

Clemenza does not appear in the present timeline of the film (due to a disagreement between Castellano and Paramount Studios), it is explained that he died some time ago of a heart attack and was replaced as don of the Corleone Family's New York operations—a position he assumed upon Michael’s departure to Nevada and the betrayal and subsequent execution of Tessio—by his soldier, Frank Pentangeli.

Clemenza, however, appears in several flashbacks focusing on Vito Corleone's early days, played by Bruno Kirby. As described in the original novel, he is already overweight, although his voice is higher-pitched than in later life. He first meets Vito when asking him to hide some guns for him from the police. Vito does so, and Clemenza repays the favour by assisting Vito in stealing an expensive carpet for his house. Around the same time, Vito and Clemenza befriend a young Tessio. One of their lines of business is selling stolen dresses door-to-door; in a scene deleted from the cinema version Clemenza is shown charming his way into the apartment of one young housewife and emerging a little later having presumably "had his way" with her; it is not specified in the film whether Clemenza is himself married at the time.

Later on, the trio's partnership is discovered by the local blackhander, Don Fanucci, who attempts to extort them out of six hundred dollars. Clemenza initially demands that they pay Fanucci to avoid any problems with him, but Vito talks him and Tessio into paying him less money, and shortly thereafter, Vito himself kills Fanucci. Later on, Clemenza and Tessio accompany Vito and his family to his home town of Corleone, Sicily, where they aid Vito and his friend, Tommasino, in murdering the local mafia chieftain, Don Ciccio, who had killed Vito's entire family when he was just a boy. Tommasino is shot and crippled in the ensuing gun battle, but nonetheless succeeds Ciccio as mafia boss in Corleone. Clemenza and Tessio then return to New York with the Corleones.

After Pentangeli's death in the film, his position as caporegime is taken by Joey Zasa, played by Joe Mantegna in The Godfather: Part III. The role was originally written for Willi Cicci, Pentangeli's soldier, but as Cicci's actor, Joe Spinell, died of a blood clot in 1989, Cicci was killed off and the Joey Zasa character was created instead.

Video game version

The video game title "The Godfather: The Game" depicts Clemenza as his movie counterpart due to Castellano's estate giving permission for his likeness to be used in the game. However, due to Castellano's death in 1988, all of Clemenza's dialogue had to be recorded by Jason Schombing. In the game, he became partners and good friends with Aldo Trapani and gave him several missions, such as killing members of rival families, particularly the Cuneo Family.