Carlo Rizzi

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Carlo Rizzi is a fictional a character in Mario Puzo's The Godfather. In Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation, he was portrayed by Gianni Russo.

Carlo married Connie Corleone. He was proud to be in the Corleone crime family, if only for its riches, but he was very abusive to Connie and regarded his father-in-law, Don Vito Corleone, as an old fool to exploit and replace. Bitter at being kept out of the family business, he often thought of his abusing of Connie as a means of exerting his own power over the mighty Corleones. The Don grudgingly tolerated this, but Connie's brother Sonny had to be forcibly restrained and kept away from Carlo to prevent him from taking action.

When Sonny visited Connie one day to discover his sister covered in bruises, however, he lost his temper and beat him mercilessly in the street and threatened to kill him if he ever abused Connie again. Afterward, Rizzi sought revenge by making a deal with the Corleones' rival Emilio Barzini to kill Sonny.

Rizzi set the plan in motion by by setting up a call from one of his girlfriends, provoking Connie into an argument in which he beat her senseless. Connie called Sonny, who flew into a rage and set out to confront Rizzi. En route, Sonny was killed by Barzini's men.

Vito Corleone forbade any investigations into his son's death, and concluded on his own that the Barzini family was responsible. After he retired, his youngest son Michael took over the family and brought Rizzi in as his 'right-hand man' for the planned family move to Nevada. While Rizzi thought that he was ascending to the top of the family, it was merely a ploy to make him vulnerable. When Michael finally confronted Rizzi, he assured Rizzi that, while he would be exiled from the family, his life would be spared. When Rizzi got into his car to leave, however, he was garroted by Pete Clemenza. Even though Rizzi had done nothing but abuse and cheat on her, Connie was enraged upon learning what Michael had done and resented him for many years afterward.

In Puzo's original novel, Connie initially berates Michael for orchestrating the murder of her husband but a week later apologizes for her outburst and assures Michael's wife, Kay, that Michael had nothing to do with Carlo's death. Connie marries again less than a year later.