The day the most important family in the New York mafia tried to stop the filming of ‘The Godfather’: “The time has come”
One of the bosses of the New York families set his sights on the film.
Mario Puzo drew inspiration from real criminal families in New York when writing ‘The Godfather’, his most famous work. It is said that the author from Hell’s Kitchen was in debt and his previous books had gone unnoticed, so this novel was his big chance to break out of obscurity. He succeeded handsomely, and Paramount quickly approved the project, with a producer who hadn’t even read the novel.
Filming began with two big stars: Francis Ford Coppola behind the camera and Marlon Brando in the role of Vito Corleone. In addition to its initial success, over the years it would become not just a classic, but one of the best films in history. But not everyone was happy with this production...
Joe Colombo was one of the godfathers of the five New York families, but he was also active in the cause to improve the image of the many Italian immigrants. For this reason, Colombo thought that the film could put them in a bad light, so after his son’s arrest, he decided not to stand on the sidelines and take action.
Colombo organized protests in front of none other than an FBI building, with signs reading messages such as “The time has come for Italians to take sides.” Meanwhile, he denied belonging to the Mafia, but his organization, the Italian-American Civil Rights League, continued to grow. Then Colombo set his sights on the film.
Those responsible, aware of this problem, believed that moving the shoot from Los Angeles to New York would be enough, but this was far from the case. Some Italians allowed the film crew access to their businesses, which appeared to be “mysteriously” closed days later. However, the worst was yet to come, as Paramount boss Robert Evans, who had recently become a father, received threats regarding his newborn son, or at least that is what he recounted in his biography.
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Finally, producer Al Ruddy set up a meeting with Colombo to present the project to him and even ask him to read the script. Colombo’s demand was simple, and easier to fulfill than Ruddy had thought before meeting him in person: he wanted the word “Mafia” removed, which appeared only once in the entire script.
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