Godfather who is luca brasi

Everyone around him is alight with joy and then there is Brasi, mumbling to himself, a heap of nerves. It is emotionally affecting.

Yes, he kills for Don Corleone, but he also receives an invitation to an exclusive family wedding; we come to know him purely through this bond to Don Corleone. At the start of the scene that leads to his death, we already know what Luca Brasi really is. He is a fabricated defector who must, for now, bury his unshakable allegiance to Corleone. When he steps into this lavish place of meeting, we as viewers are thrust into a moment of waiting, a moment of pressing uncertainty. The gold ornamentation, the trendy aesthetics, the overall unspoiled feel—burgundy walls, golden dim lights, everything shrouded in shadow: all these elements foster a mellow ambiance.

Surely, no violence can erupt in a place as sedate and sophisticated as this? And even if it does, we have faith in the reliable, tried-and-true Brasi. When we meet the figures of Bruno Tattaglia and Virgil Sollozzo inside, there is something about them that blends into this cool, fashionable setting.

This is the Italian-American Mafia—sleek entrepreneurs, cleverly veiled criminals—and this is where they meet, as businesspeople accustomed to a tableau of luxury. Brasi, in fact, seems incongruously situated here from the start.

The inaptness of the meeting is magnified by his unrelenting stoniness. Tattaglia maintains an easy casual aura, standing directly under a cascade of light, smiling as he speaks, professional and almost jovial.

When Sollozzo enters, taking his place beside Bruno, he mimics this air of friendliness. The opposing sides are clear contrasts in this way. Sollozzo, chatty and encouraging, leads the conversation with a piercing, alert gaze. He dresses warmly, in welcoming beige and camel-colored tones—all in all, appearing as a lighter flash of color against Luca, who is on the opposite side, darkly attired, stoic and shadowed, with a reserved nature that seems unwittingly out of place.

As with many scenes in The Godfather , we could not possibly have guessed the coming action. In a brief, preceding scene, Brasi, in preparation, dons a bullet-proof vest while he loads his gun. He is also known for killing, in two weeks, six men who attempted to kill Don Corleone at a festival. One of their men had managed to put the Don in the hospital, which prompted Luca's killing spree, and he might have continued had Vito not recovered enough to call him off.

These six deaths ended the famous " Olive Oil War ". His almost fanatical loyalty to Don Corleone was unquestioned, and was said to have killed a Corleone soldier just for making the Corleone family look bad. Brasi often claimed that he'd sooner kill himself than betray the Godfather. Since Vito was the only one who could halt one of Brasi's rampages, this made the Godfather a far more risky Don to attempt killing than the others.

Luca's killing ability, his strength in a fight, and the sheer terror his reputation generated in the New York underworld was said to account for nearly a third of the Corleone's military strength, just by himself for reference, the Corleones had three entire regimes comprised of nearly a hundred button men as the other two thirds of it's fighting strength.

Michael explains that his father went to convince bandleader Les Halley to release Johnny from a personal service contract that was holding back Johnny's singing career. Luca Brasi had held a gun to the bandleader's head while Don Corleone "assured him that either his brains or his signature would be on the contract.

Brasi did not expect to be invited to the wedding of the Don's daughter, since he normally avoided public contact with the Don to protect the Godfather's reputation. Luca was very surprised and grateful when he received an invitation, and spent a great deal of time deciding on how best to pay his respects to his mafia benefactor. He gave a large sum for Connie's bridal purse directly to Vito, which was said to be the largest given by any of the guests.

At the wedding he acted rather strange; reciting what he would say to the Don when he went in to thank him, presumably nervous about what to say to the Don at this important event. Shortly before Vito Corleone is shot, Brasi was summoned by the Don, who intends to draw out rival mobster Virgil Sollozzo and the rest of the Don's enemies by having Luca pretend he had switched allegiances. He did this by hanging out at Bruno Tattaglia's nightclub, and complaining about being held down in the Corleone Family.

Bruno took notice of this, and began holding regular meetings with Brasi at the nightclub. He offered Brasi a job to work for the Tattaglia's as an enforcer. Brasi seemed swayed, but warned Bruno that he would no go against Don Corleone, but was promised by Bruno that he would not have to do anything against the Corleone's.

On the night before the shooting of the Don, Luca met with Bruno who arranged a meeting for later that night. Brasi caught a cab to his apartment to prepare himself. Before heading to the meeting, Luca put on a bulletproof vest, and took a revolver with him with the intent of murdering Sollozzo.

At the meeting, Luca meets Virgil Sollozzo who wishes to offer Luca employment. Luca and Sollozzo discuss business while Bruno observed the meeting. With Brasi dead, Sollozzo's men were free to attempt a hit on Don Corleone without fear of Luca hunting them down later. After Vito is shot, Sonny and the rest of the Corleones fail are unable to make contact with Luca, but assume that this means that the brutal enforcer is already out looking for reprisal. Sonny feels confident that his father's would-be assassins will soon be dead.

A traditional Sicilian Mafia message is later sent to the Corleone family: a fish wrapped in Brasi's bulletproof vest. The meaning is made clear to the Corleones: "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes. Tom Hagen once said to Michael following the completion of Neri's training, "Well, now you've got your Luca.

Luca was shown to be the "strong, silent type", as he spoke very little. When he did it was either to Don Vito, his family, or when he did a job that required him to speak. During Prohibition , Luca Brasi became the leader of a gang of stickup artists who stole shipments from Giuseppe Mariposa and stashed them at a warehouse in The Bronx , where they sold their goods. Eventually, Brasi was recruited by Don Vito Corleone of the Corleone crime family and became a fearsome hitman. Although he was theoretically stronger than his boss, he was scared into being loyal, because Vito could have him killed if he ever betrayed him.

Brasi had a relationship with prostitute Kelly O'Rourke, and he beat her many times, causing her to have a secret affair with Corleone consigliere Tom Hagen. When she died during childbirth, Luca had the midwife Filomena throw the baby into a furnace, not wanting to have children like himself or possibly a child of mixed Irish and Italian race.

That night he had an overdose of sleeping pills as the NYPD came to arrest him; this overdose left him with permanent brain damage. He tried to kill himself with a broken bottle while in prison, but he survived, and Don Corleone had him released from prison.

Unfortunately, Luca's mother killed herself when she heard of his arrest. They arrived at the train station, but Brasi brought them to a warehouse, where he put a towel in one man's mouth as he hacked the other to death with an axe; the other man swallowed the towel out of fear, killing him. In two weeks he killed six men who tried to kill Don Corleone at a festival, and these deaths ended the Olive Oil War between Corleone and Giuseppe Mariposa.