Luca Brasi
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Luca Brasi is a character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather, as well as its 1972 film adaptation (portrayed by Lenny Montana).
In The Godfather, Luca Brasi is Don Vito Corleone's personal enforcer. The slow-witted, brutish Brasi is often mocked (behind his back) as weak, but his ruthlessness and his loyalty to Don Corleone means he is both feared and respected. Fluent in Italian and able to handle himself in any fight, Brasi is fiercely loyal to Don Vito. He has a dark reputation among the underworld as a savage killer.
Brasi's talent, it was said, was that he could do a job, or murder all by himself, without confederates, which made finding and convicting by the law almost impossible. He is also well known for killing six men in two weeks for attempting to kill Don Corleone. These six deaths ended the famous "Olive Oil War".
Many years before The Godfather opens, Brasi impregnated a young Irish prostitute and later murdered her, but did not stop there; on the day of his daughter's birth, he forced the midwife, under pain of death, to hurl his own daughter into a furnace, an act for which she never forgave herself, describing him as an unholy demon that night.
Shortly before Vito Corleone is shot, Brasi intends to draw out rival mobster Virgil Sollozzo and the rest of the Don's enemies. Sollozzo, after promises of friendship and a job offer, rams a knife into Luca's hand, pinning it to the bar as an assassin garrottes him from behind. A Sicilian message is later sent to the Corleone family: a fish wrapped in Brasi's flak jacket. The meaning is made clear to the Corleones: "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes."
It is mentioned in the novel and implied in the film that Luca Brasi is perhaps the only man Vito Corleone fears and vice versa
[edit] Trivia
- The Boston band, Urban Verbs had a song titled Luca Brasi.
- The song "I Am The Mob" by Welsh band Catatonia, contains the line "Luca Brasi, ah he sleeps with the fishes".
- The song "Come Get me" by Nas contains the line "I'm like Luca Brasi, Vito's best hitman".
- The song "Luca" by Brand New is a reference to Luca Brasi, with the line "Unless you have friends among fish, there'll still be no air to breathe."
- The song "Click Off Gone" by Sleeper contains the line "Luca Brasi's got nothing on you"
- In the official game, the player both witness the murder of Luca and also has the chance to avenge him by killing the assassin.
- Professional Wrestler, "Big" Vito's finishing move was called "Luca Brasi."
