Michael Corleone: I saw a strange thing today. Some rebels were being arrested. One of them pulled the pin on a grenade. He took himself and the captain of the command with him. Now, soldiers are paid to fight; the rebels aren't.
Kay Adams: Oh, Michael. Michael, you are blind. It wasn't a miscarriage. It was an abortion. An abortion, Michael. Just like our marriage is an abortion. Something that's unholy and evil. I didn't want your son, Michael! I wouldn't bring another one of you sons into this world! It was an abortion, Michael! It was a son Michael! A son! And I had it killed because this must all end! [Michael's eyes begin to bulge]
I know now that it's over. I knew it then. There would be no way, Michael... no way you could ever forgive me not with this Sicilian thing that's been going on for 2,000 years.
[Michael loses control. He slaps Kay across the face. She falls onto the couch]
Michael Corleone: Bitch! You won't take my children!
Michael Corleone: I know what it meant... and I'm prepared to make it up to you. I will make changes; I can.
(he clenches his fist tightly)
I CAN change; that I have learned, that I have the strength to change... And we have another child, a boy... and you'll forget the miscarriage.
Kay Adams: It wasn't a miscarriage. And you with your cunning, couldn't you figure it out! It was an abortion; an abortion, like our marriage is an abortion, something unholy and evil. I don't want your son; I wouldn't bring another of your sons into this world. An abortion, Michael... it was a son, and I had it killed, but this must all end!
Tom Hagen: Sir, my client has answered every question asked by this committee with the utmost cooperation and sincerity. He has not taken that Fifth Amendment as it was his right to do, and which because of the extreme legal complexity of this hearing, counsel advised him to do.
So, I think in all fairness this committee should hear his statement and put it in the record.
Tom Hagen: Sir, my client has answered every question asked by this committee with the utmost cooperation and sincerity. He has not taken that Fifth Amendment as it was his right to do, and which because of the extreme legal complexity of this hearing, counsel advised him to do.
So, I think in all fairness this committee should hear his statement and put it in the record.
Michael Corleone: No Tom, just listen. All my people are businessmen; their loyalty is based on that. One thing I learned from my father is to try to think as the people around you think...and on that basis, anything is possible.
Fredo has a good heart, but he is weak...and stupid, and stupid people are the most dangerous of all. I've kept you out of things, Tom, because I've always known that your instincts were legitimate, and I wanted you to know very little of things that would make you an accomplice, for your own protection.
I never blamed you for the setbacks the family took under Sonny; I know you were in a position of limited power, and you did your best to advise and caution him. What I am saying is that now, for how long I do not know, you will be the Don.
If what I think has happened is true; I will leave tonight, and absolutely no one will know how to contact me. And even you are not to try to reach me unless it is absolutely necessary. I give you complete power: over Neri... Fredo, everyone. I am trusting you with the lives of my wife and children, and the future of this family, solely resting on your judgment and talent.
Tom Hagen: Frankie, you were always interested in politics, in history. I remember you talking about Hitler back in '43. We were young then.
Frankie Pentangeli: Yeah, I still read a lot. They bring me stuff.
Tom Hagen: You were around the old timers who dreamed up how the Families should be organized, how they based it on the old Roman Legions, and called them 'Regimes'... with the 'Capos' and 'Soldiers,' and it worked.
Frankie Pentangeli: Yeah, it worked. Those were great old days. We was like the Roman Empire. The Corleone family was like the Roman Empire.
Tom Hagen: [sadly] Yeah, it was once.
[very gently] The Roman Empire... when a plot against the Emperor failed, the plotters were always given a chance to let their families keep their fortunes.
Frankie Pentangeli: Yeah, but only the rich guys. The little guys got knocked off. If they got arrested and executed, all their estate went to the Emperor. If they just went home and killed themselves, up front, nothing happened.
Tom Hagen: Yeah, that was a good break. A nice deal.
Pentangeli looks at Hagen; he understands.
Frankie Pentangeli: They went home and sat in a hot bath and opened their veins, and bled to death. Sometimes they gave a little party before they did it.
Hagen throws away his cigar. Pentangeli puffs on his.
Hyman Roth: There was this kid I grew up with; he was younger than me. Sorta looked up to me, you know. We did our first work together, worked our way out of the street. Things were good, we made the most of it. During Prohibition, we ran molasses into Canada... made a fortune, your father, too. As much as anyone, I loved him and trusted him. Later on he had an idea to build a city out of a desert stop-over for GI's on the way to the West Coast. That kid's name was Moe Greene, and the city he invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man, a man of vision and guts. And there isn't even a plaque, or a signpost or a statue of him in that town! Someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn't angry; I knew Moe, I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go. And I said to myself, this is the business we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!
Michael Corleone: Fredo, you're nothing to me now. You're not a brother, you're not a friend. I don't want to know you or what you do. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance so I won't be there...
Hyman Roth: I knew Moe, I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So when he turned up dead, I let it go. And I said to myself, this is the business we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order, because it had nothing to do with business!
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