Emilio Barzini

Emilio "The Wolf" Barzini is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather and in its film adaptation, in which he is portrayed by Richard Conte. The Barzini crime family was inspired by the Genovese crime family. 2In the novel Barzini heads one of New York's Five Families, and is the second most powerful Mafia don in the country after Vito Corleone. His criminal interests are in narcotics, gambling, and prostitution, and he is looking to expand his empire to Las Vegas and Nevada. Barzini first appears as a guest at Connie Corleone's wedding. Soon after, Barzini arranges for drug lord Virgil "The Turk" Sollozzo to meet Don Vito with an offer to enter the narcotics trade, openly backed by the Tattaglia Family. During the meeting, Sonny expresses interest in the deal, though Vito refuses the offer. Barzini attempts to assassinate Vito in hopes that Sonny, as his father's successor, will have to accept the deal. When Sonny refuses to enter the heroin trade as long as his father is alive, Barzini secretly conspires with the other families to wage war against the Corleones, forcing them to make peace and open up their territory to drug trafficking. To this end, he approaches Corleone's son-in-law, Carlo Rizzi, with a ploy to draw Sonny into an assassinatio