Carlo Rizzi (The Godfather)

For the Italian conductor, see Carlo Rizzi (conductor).

Carlo Rizzi
Gianni Russo as Carlo Rizzi in The Godfather
First appearance	The Godfather
Last appearance	The Godfather Part II (flashback cameo)
Created by	Mario Puzo
Portrayed by	Gianni Russo
Information
Gender	Male
Family	Rizzi and Corleone crime families
Spouse(s)	Connie Corleone (1945-1955)

Carlo Rizzi is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. In the 1972 film adaptation, he was portrayed by Gianni Russo.

In the novel and film

A native of Nevada, Rizzi migrates to New York City following trouble with the law. He befriends Sonny Corleone, through whom he meets Sonny's sister, Connie, in 1941 at a surprise birthday party for Sonny's father Vito (depicted in a flashback in The Godfather Part II). They are married in 1945; both the book and film open with their wedding. Vito dislikes Connie marrying a small-time criminal, and is also displeased by the fact Rizzi is not a full-blooded Sicilian; his mother was from northern Italy. He only grants Connie's hand in marriage on condition that they have a traditional Sicilian wedding.

Rizzi is thrilled by the prestige that comes with marrying a member of the Corleone crime family. However, Vito instructs consigliere Tom Hagen to forbid Carlo any significant knowledge of the Family's workings, and only to "give him a living". He is given a small sports book to operate under the family's supervision, though he proves incompetent at the job.

Described in the novel as "a punk sore at the world", he is resentful of the Corleones' treatment of him. He regularly beats up and cheats on Connie as a means of exerting his own power over the Corleone family. When Connie eventually complains to her parents, Vito coldly refuses to intervene, presumably to punish her for her poor choice in a husband. In truth, Vito is enraged by Rizzi's behavior, but he feels powerless to act because Italian tradition forbids a father from interfering with a daughter's marriage. However, Connie's brothers Sonny, Fredo and Michael grow to despise Rizzi for how he treats her; Vito has to forcibly restrain Sonny from intervening.

Sonny visits Connie and finds her bruised and battered after a particularly brutal fight. She begs him to do nothing, and he promises her he will not. Sonny is enraged, however, and mercilessly beats Carlo in the street, threatening to kill him if he ever hurts Connie again. Not long afterward, the Corleones are forced to shut down Rizzi's bookmaking racket as the war with the Five Families escalates. Angered by this, and still seething after Sonny's brutal public beating, Rizzi seeks revenge by secretly making a deal with the Corleones' chief rival, Emilio Barzini, to murder Sonny.

Rizzi sets the plan in motion by having his mistress call his house, provoking a pregnant Connie into an argument where he severely beats her. When Connie calls Sonny, he flies into a rage and rushes out to confront Carlo. En route, Sonny is killed by Barzini's men in a hail of gunfire on the causeway.

After Sonny's death, Vito seems more tolerant toward Rizzi, and allows him to run a family-controlled labor union. When Michael becomes operating head of the family after Vito semi-retires, he plans to move the family's business interests to Nevada. Michael treats Rizzi as a trusted lieutenant, promising he will be his "right-hand man" once the move is complete. Michael even agrees to be godfather to Rizzi's and Connie's second child. However, Vito and Michael figured out early on that Rizzi set up Sonny, and they have brought him deeper within the family fold solely as a ploy to make him vulnerable.

Vito dies in 1955, and Michael inherits the family business. While Connie and Rizzi's child is baptized, the other heads of the Five Families and Las Vegas casino kingpin Moe Greene are being massacred on Michael's order. Hours later, Michael confronts Rizzi, saying he knows Rizzi was complicit in Sonny's death seven years earlier. He assures Rizzi that his life will be spared, but he is being exiled from the family; Rizzi, believing he is safe, confesses that he conspired with Barzini. As he is about to be driven to the airport, Peter Clemenza, Sonny's godfather, fatally garrotes him. Connie is enraged at Michael, despite Carlo's abusiveness and his role in her brother Sonny's death. She resents Michael for many years afterward. In the novel, Connie quickly recovers from Carlo's death and a few weeks later, apologizes to Michael for accusing him. Connie assures Kay it was a mistake. Unshackled from her abusive spouse, Connie remarries about a year later.

Casting

In the 2006 book Supermob by investigative reporter Gus Russo (no relation), Russo states that Gianni Russo secured the role by acting as an intermediary between Paramount Studios and New York City Colombo crime family mob boss and patriarch Joseph Colombo, whose Italian-American Civil Rights League had shut down early production of the film in Little Italy, Manhattan over protests. The mob boss Colombo met with the film executives, who then hired Russo to play Rizzi.