Pete Clemenza [CB Streetboss]

Peter Clemenza (1890-1957) is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather and two of the three films based on it.In his young adulthood, in The Godfather Part II, Clemenza is portrayed by Bruno Kirby. In his later years, he is portrayed by Richard S. Castellano.Peter Clemenza is one of two caporegimes in the Corleone Family (the other being Salvatore Tessio), ruling over the family's territory in Little Italy. Although he is less intelligent than his friend and counterpart Tessio, he is said to be more brutal and direct in the book. In the film, he may be perceived at first as a fat, dim witted thug, but later on he is shown to be a formidable assassin.Clemenza became a friend of Vito Corleone after immigrating from Sicily, when Corleone held a package of guns for him to prevent their discovery by the police. A friendly and jovial man, he was known as a storyteller among many of his acquaintances and family members - a trait that endeared him to Vito, who Puzo described as "a listener to storytellers." Clemenza got his start selling stolen goods such as dresses and guns with Vito and Tessio as far back as 1917, and became a key figure in the growing Corleone family. Vito kept him close through the years - even making him godfather to his oldest son Sonny - though this was all to control his brutal and more ambitious tendencies.Clemenza plays a key role in aiding Michael following the shooting of Vito. He retrains Michael how to fire a gun, walking him through the scenario for assassinating Virgil Sollozzo, and plants the gun prior to the assassination. During the murders of the heads of the five families Clemenza shot Don Stracci and his bodyguard, as well as eliminating Carlo Rizzi, Connie Corleone's husband and Michael's brother-in-law in retaliation for setting up Sonny's assassination.Clemenza's forces include soldiers Paulie Gatto, Willie Cicci, Al Neri, and Rocco Lampone. He handled many of his men closely, proud of picking Lampone as a caporegime and locating Neri as a successor to Luca Brasi. He could also be cruel with them - when he found out that Gatto had been collaborating with Sollozo, he saw it as a personal betrayal and orchestrated the execution personally.Ironically, clemenza literally means "mercy" or "forgiveness" in Italian. The English cognate is clemency.In Mark Winegardner's novel The Godfather Returns, Clemenza stands in as consigliere at Commission meetings during the course of the book (since Tom Hagen is no longer consigliere and his is also not Sicilian, so cannot be involved in these meetings.) He died of a heart attack shortly before 1958, a consequence of his excessive lifestyle - an autopsy revealed his heart was "twice the size of a normal man's." (In the film The Godfather: Part II, Willie Cicci, appears to deny this, stating "that was no heart attack" but no further info is given.) Pete Clemenza was succeeded as caporegime by Frank Pentangeli.