The Godfather 教父 Chapter 17

The war of 1947 between the Corleone Family and the Five Families combined against them proved to be expensive for both sides. It was complicated by the police pressure put on everybody to solve the murder of Captain McCluskey. It was rare that operating officials of the Police Department ignored political muscle that protected gambling ¹ and vice ² operations, but in this case the politicians were as helpless as the general staff of a rampaging, looting army whose field officers refuse to follow orders., ,This lack of protection did not hurt the Corleone Family as much as it did their opponents. The Corleone group depended on gambling for most of its income, and was hit especially hard in its "numbers" or "policy" branch of operations. The runners who picked up the action were swept into police nets and usually given a medium shellacking before being booked. Even some of the "banks" were located and raided, with heavy financial loss. The "bankers," .90 calibers in their own right, complained to the caporegimes, who brought their complaints to the family council table. But there was nothing to be done. The bankers were told to go out of business. Local Negro free-lancers were allowed to take over the operation in Harlem, the richest territory, and they operated in such scattered ⁴ fashion that the police found it hard to pin them down., ,After the death of Captain McCluskey, some newspapers printed stories involving him with Sollozzo. They published proof that McCluskey had received large sums of money in cash, shortly before his death. These stories had been planted by Hagen, the information supplied by him. The Police Department refused to confirm or deny these stories, but they were taking effect. The police force got the word through informers, through police on the Family payroll ⁵, that McCluskey had been a rogue ⁶ cop. Not that he had taken money or clean graft ⁷, there was no rank-and-file onus ⁸ to that. But that he had taken the dirtiest of dirty money; murder and drugs money. And in the morality of policemen, this was unforgivable., , ,But usually he draws the line against accepting dirty graft. He will take money to let a bookmaker operate. He will take money from a man who hates getting parking tickets or speeding tickets. He will allow call girls and prostitutes to ply ¹⁹ their trade; for a consideration. These are vices ²⁰ natural to a man. But usually he will not take a payoff for drugs, armed robberies, rape ²¹, murder and other assorted ²² perversions ²³. In his mind these attack the very core of his personal authority and cannot be countenanced ²⁴., ,The murder of a police captain was comparable to regicide. But when it became known that McCluskey had been killed while in the company of a notorious narcotics ²⁶ peddler, when it became known that he was suspected of conspiracy ²⁷ to murder, the police desire for vengeance ²⁸ began to fade. Also, after all, there were still mortgage payments to be made, cars to be paid off, children to be launched into the world. Without their "sheet" money, policemen had to scramble ²⁹ to make ends meet. Unlicensed peddlers were good for lunch money. Parking ticket payoffs came to nickels and dimes ³⁰. Some of the more desperate even began shaking down suspects (homosexuals, assaults and batteries) in the precinct squad ³¹ rooms. Finally the brass ³² relented. They raised the prices and let the Families operate. Once again the payoff sheet was typed up by the precinct bagman, listing every man assigned to the local station and what his cut was each month. Some semblance ³³ of social order was restored., ,The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。,He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯 。