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29-479: Albert "Al" Neri is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzo 's 1969 novel The Godfather and Francis Ford Coppola 's trilogy of films based on it . In all three motion pictures, he is portrayed by actor Richard Bright . He functions as Michael Corleone 's personal enforcer, bodyguard and assassin. In the novel The Godfather , Neri begins his career as a New York City police officer, where he earns

58-730: A fictional member of the Kennedy family dynasty who becomes President of the United States early in the 2000s. Puzo never saw the publication of his penultimate book, Omertà , but the manuscript was finished before his death, as was the manuscript for The Family . However, in a review originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle , Jules Siegel , who had worked closely with Puzo at Magazine Management Company , speculated that Omertà may have been completed by "some talentless hack". Siegel also acknowledged

87-475: A limited theatrical release in December 2020 followed by digital and Blu-ray. Coppola said the film is the version he and Puzo had originally envisioned, and it "vindicates" its status among the trilogy. In mid-1972, Puzo wrote the first draft of the script for the 1974 disaster film Earthquake , but he was unable to continue work because of his prior commitment to The Godfather Part II . Work continued on

116-422: A reputation for a fierce temper, quick reflexes, and physical strength. He frequently patrols with a large flashlight, which he uses to assault Italian youths who run with gangs or to shatter the windshields of diplomats who disregard traffic or parking laws. Neri is married, but his wife becomes afraid of him after he mercilessly beats up his sister's son. His nephew had been disrespectful towards his sister during

145-465: A staircase. In Mark Winegardner 's novel The Godfather's Revenge , Neri and his nephew take part in an attempt to obtain information from antagonist Nick Geraci's father. He is seriously wounded in a shootout at the end of the novel. In The Godfather: The Game , Neri is voiced by Terry McGovern . Mario Puzo Mario Francis Puzo ( / ˈ p uː z oʊ / ; Italian: [ˈmaːrjo ˈputtso, -ddzo] ; October 15, 1920 – July 2, 1999)

174-506: A visit and Neri wanted to see the kid straightened out. After his wife leaves him, Neri kills a drug-dealer and pimp by cracking his skull with the flashlight and is convicted of manslaughter . Tom Hagen and Peter Clemenza see Neri as a potential replacement for Luca Brasi , Vito Corleone 's feared enforcer, and arrange his release from prison. Normally, policemen are barred from becoming made men , but they were impressed enough with Neri to recommend that Michael grant an exception to

203-459: Is executed for betraying Michael, Neri is promoted to caporegime of Tessio's former crew, and plays a key role in the wave of murders that re-establishes the Corleones as the most powerful crime family in the nation. When Michael and his family move to Nevada , Neri becomes head of security for all hotels controlled by the Corleones. In the film version of The Godfather , Neri's backstory

232-531: Is handled by another, anonymous gunman. In The Godfather Part II , Neri is portrayed as Michael's unofficial second-in-command in his operations in Nevada, and is one of Michael's capos along with Rocco Lampone and Frank Pentangeli . In a deleted scene, Neri is shown "convincing" Meyer Klingman, a hotel owner, to give his interest in the hotel to the Corleone family. When Klingman protests, Neri slaps him in

261-453: Is not mentioned. He does not say a word in the first film and following Michael's return from exile in Sicily, Neri becomes his bodyguard, accompanying him everywhere. In the famous " baptism sequence", Neri, disguised in a police uniform, guns down Barzini and his bodyguards on the steps of a courthouse, much as he does in the novel. However, the murder of Greene, which occurs simultaneously,

290-588: The 1978 Superman film and its 1980 sequel . His final novel, The Family , was released posthumously in 2001. Puzo was born in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York City to Italian immigrants from the Province of Avellino ; his father was from Pietradefusi and his mother from Ariano Irpino . When Puzo was 12, his father, who worked as a trackman for the New York Central Railroad ,

319-615: The Commission in Atlantic City , Neri saves Michael's life and later helps Michael's nephew, Vincent Mancini , to plan Zasa's murder. When Michael retires and transfers control of the family to Vincent, Neri is the second to pledge his loyalty, after Calò, the former bodyguard of Don Tommasino. In the closing scenes of the film, Vincent calls upon Neri's skills one last time, sending him to infiltrate Vatican City , where he guns down corrupt Archbishop Gilday and tosses his body down

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348-409: The advertising. Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for Richard Donner 's Superman , which then also included the plot for Superman II , as they were originally written as one film. He also collaborated on the stories for the 1982 film A Time to Die and the 1984 Francis Ford Coppola film The Cotton Club . In 1991, Puzo's speculative fiction The Fourth K was published. It centres on

377-404: The back of the head. By the time of The Godfather Part III , with Michael's decision to "go legitimate" by selling his casino interests and transferring control of his rackets to former subordinate Joey Zasa , Neri continues to serve as his bodyguard, as well as becoming the new underboss (replacing Fredo Corleone). When Zasa betrays Michael and attempts to have him murdered at a meeting of

406-399: The boss free, sometimes the underboss will gain enough power to become the effective head of the organization, and the boss will become a figurehead. An underboss likely has incriminating information about the boss, and so bosses often appoint people close to them to the underboss position for protection. In most families, the underboss arbitrates many disputes. Depending on the seriousness of

435-436: The face and pursues him through the casino's showroom, while casino security guards (now under Corleone control) do nothing. During a Senate investigation of Michael's criminal syndicate, Neri is identified as a capo for the Corleone family on an organization chart. He also carries out the execution of Michael's brother Fredo Corleone , under Michael's orders: while out fishing together on Lake Tahoe , Al Neri shoots Fredo in

464-429: The family. In some crime families, the appointment is for life. If a new boss takes over a family with an existing underboss, that boss may marginalize or even murder the underboss appointed by his predecessor. On the other hand, if a boss is incarcerated, the underboss may become acting boss. As bosses often serve large periods of time in prison, an acting boss will often become the crime family's effective boss. Even with

493-426: The first book in what came to be a series . Patrick Gallo plays Puzo. Victoria Kelleher plays his wife, Erika. All short stories, except "The Last Christmas" and "First Sundays", were written under the pseudonym Mario Cleri. Underboss The power of an underboss greatly varies; some are marginal figures, while others are the most powerful individual in the family. Traditionally they run day-to-day affairs of

522-408: The original film, The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990). Coppola and Puzo preferred the title The Death of Michael Corleone for the third film, but Paramount Pictures found that unacceptable. In September 2020, for the film's 30th anniversary, it was announced that a new cut of the film titled Mario Puzo's The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone would have

551-428: The problem, he might consult with the boss. Some conflicts are immediately referred up to the boss. In those cases, the underboss usually sits in and offers his opinion. In either event, the ultimate authority rests with the boss. An underboss receives monetary compensation in various ways. For example, he may be a partner in several rackets and thus get a cut. In addition, several capos may pass their envelopes through

580-475: The rule. Michael, appealing to Neri's sense of loyalty and Sicilian-American roots, recruits him into Clemenza's regime . Clemenza is initially impressed by the ferocity that Neri displays in their first meeting. Neri later " makes his bones " and becomes Michael's chief lieutenant by personally murdering Moe Greene and Emilio Barzini on Michael's behalf. Neri carries out the latter murder while disguised in his old police uniform. After Salvatore "Sal" Tessio

609-418: The script without his involvement, with writer George Fox (working on his first, and only, motion picture screenplay) and producer / director Mark Robson , who remained uncredited as a writer. Puzo retained screen credit in the completed film as a result of a quickly-settled lawsuit over story credit (most elements from his first draft made it into the final film), and Puzo's name subsequently featured heavily in

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638-493: The temptation to "rationalize avoiding what is probably the correct analysis, that [Puzo] wrote it and it is terrible". Puzo died of heart failure on July 2, 1999, at his home in West Bay Shore, New York , at the age of 78. In April 2022, Paramount+ began streaming The Offer , a 10-episode dramatic mini-series telling a fictionalized story of the making of The Godfather , including Puzo's decision to write

667-481: The underboss, who takes a percentage and passes the remainder to the boss. However he makes his illegal earnings, it is a significant enough amount to make his position one of envy, especially when prestige and the possibility of additional advancement are weighed. Sometimes an underboss will have his own crew. Just like the boss of a family, an underboss may also have a right-hand man. This right-hand man may speak in place of an underboss or carry out additional tasks for

696-608: The work, with an option for $ 80,000 if the finished work were made into a film. Despite Puzo's agent telling him to turn down the offer, Puzo was desperate for money and accepted the deal. Paramount's Robert Evans relates that, when they met in early 1968, he offered Puzo the $ 12,500 deal for the 60-page manuscript titled Mafia after the author confided in him that he urgently needed $ 10,000 to pay off gambling debts. The film received three awards of its 11 Oscar category nominations, including Puzo's Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay . Coppola and Puzo then collaborated on sequels to

725-542: Was an American author and screenwriter. He wrote crime novels about the Italian-American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia , most notably The Godfather (1969), which he later co-adapted into a film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola . He received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first film in 1972 and for Part II in 1974. Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for

754-856: Was committed to the Pilgrim State Hospital for schizophrenia , and his wife Maria was left to raise their seven children. Mario Puzo served in the United States Army Air Forces in Germany in World War II , and later graduated from the City College of New York . Puzo married a German woman, Erika Lina Broske, with whom he had five children. When Erika died of breast cancer at the age of 57 in 1978, her nurse, Carol Gino, became Puzo's companion. In 1950, Puzo's first short story, "The Last Christmas,"

783-517: Was expanded into a novel in October 1967, and adapted into a film in 1982. In 1969, Puzo's best-known work, The Godfather , was published. Puzo stated that this story came from research into organized crime, not from personal experience, and that he was looking to write something that would have wide popular appeal. The novel remained on The New York Times Best Seller list for 67 weeks and sold over nine million copies in two years. The book

812-410: Was later developed into the film The Godfather (1972), directed by Francis Ford Coppola . Paramount Pictures originally found out about Puzo's novel in 1967 when a literary scout for the company contacted then Paramount Vice President of Production Peter Bart about Puzo's unfinished sixty-page manuscript. Bart believed the work was "much beyond a Mafia story" and offered Puzo a $ 12,500 option for

841-581: Was published in American Vanguard and republished in the 1953 anthology New Voices: American Writing Today #1 . After the war, he wrote his first book, the novel The Dark Arena , which was published in 1955. In 1960, Bruce Jay Friedman hired Puzo as an assistant editor of a group of men's pulp magazines with titles such as Male , Men . Under the pen name Mario Cleri, Puzo wrote World War II adventure features for magazine True Action . A November 1965 short story, "Six Graves to Munich",

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