With its brilliant portrayal of the Corleone family, The Godfather by Mario Puzo burned its way into our national consciousness as the definitive novel of the Mafia underworld. Don Vito Corleone is the head of a New York Mafia family, presiding over a vast underground empire that includes rackets, gambling, bookmaking and unions from his fortress of a home in Long Island. His influence runs through all levels of American society, from the cop on the beat to the nation’s leading politicians. But he is constantly at war with the four other families of the New York Mafia in their endless fight for power. As Corleone’s desperate struggle to control the Mafia underworld unfolds, so does the story of his family. A tale of family and society, law and order, obedience and rebellion, The Godfather reveals the dark passions of human nature played out against a backdrop of the American dream.