Sonny Corleone

Santino 'Sonny' Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather and its 1972 film adaptation. He is the oldest son of fictional New York Mafia 'Don' Vito Corleone His brothers are Michael Corleone and Fredo Corleone. Sonny was played by James Caan in the film.

Born on December 31, 1916, Sonny is the most impulsive and violent of Vito's three sons, and, before Michael's rise to power, the most involved in the Corleone crime family. Vito always blamed himself for this, as the boy saw his father murder a rival at the age of 11, although, if one checks the dates given in the book, Sonny would have been a mere two years old when his father killed his rival. Sonny is not without a softer side, however; the same year, he took in a homeless boy, Tom Hagen, to live with the family. He also acted as a protector to his younger siblings, especially his sister Connie.

The normal course of events in Sonny's life is upturned when Virgil 'The Turk' Sollozzo comes to Don Vito with an offer of entering the drug business. He is backed by the Tattaglia family. The Don does not want to enter the drug business as he believed that it would spoil the youth. Sonny, however, shows interest in the deal. This led Sollozzo to believe that if the Godfather could be taken out of the way, Sonny may agree to work with him. An assassination attempt on the Godfather is arranged.
The assassination attempt fails but leaves the Godfather near death, although he eventually recovers. Sonny, now acting as the Corleone Family's Don, with Vito incapacitated, prepares for an all-out war against the Tattaglias and Sollozzo. Michael, showing for the first time his ability to lead a crime enterprise, develops a plan to kill Sollozzo and his bodyguard, police Captain McClusky. Michael succeeds in their plan and is sent immediately to Sicily to wait out the inevitable crackdown on the Five Families. Bruno Tattaglia, Don Philip Tattaglia's son, is also killed in his nightclub.

In retaliation for the killing of rival boss Philip Tattaglia's son, Tattaglia's partner and the Don of one of the most powerful of the Five Families, Emilio Barzini, enlist the help of Sonny's brother-in-law, Carlo Rizzi, in setting a trap for the impulsive new Don. In the state of mob warfare that existed, Corleone family members know better than to go out much in public, particularly without bodyguards. Thus, they remain secluded in the family's fortified estate. To draw Sonny out into the open, Rizzi inflicts a particularly vicious beating on Sonny's sister, Connie. Connie telephones Sonny, who in a fit of rage leaves the family compound unaccompanied and heads for Connie's apartment with the intention of taking revenge upon (and perhaps killing) Carlo. In giving reign to his rash behavior, however, Sonny plays into the plan of Barzini, Tattaglia and Rizzi. The trap is set. As Sonny approached a toll plaza, a number of Tattaglia's men emerge from the toll booths and car ahead of Sonny's with submachine guns and viciously gun him down. Sonny's death persuades Vito to call a truce with the other Families.

Sonny, though married, is a womanizer, his most prominent dalliance with Lucy Mancini, a friend of Connie's. He fathers a child out of wedlock with Lucy (in the movie, not the novel). That child, Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone, grows up to succeed Michael as Godfather.

Family

*Vito Corleone — Father; played by Marlon Brando
*Costanza 'Connie' Corleone-Rizzi — Sister; played by Talia Shire
*Fredo Corleone — Younger brother; played by John Cazale
*Michael Corleone — Youngest brother; played by Al Pacino
*Tom Hagen — Unofficially adopted brother; played by Robert Duvall
*Mary Corleone — Niece; played by Sofia Coppola
*Anthony Vito Corleone — Nephew; played by Anthony Gounaris in Godfather I, played by James Gounaris in Godfather II, played by Franc D'Ambrosio
*Sandra Corleone — Wife; played by Julie Gregg
*Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone — Son; played by Andy Garcia.

Trivia

Sonny's death scene in The Godfather was staged by Francis Ford Coppola deliberately to be reminiscent of the final death scene in Bonnie and Clyde.

References

*Plot Summary - The Godfather