Carlo Rizzi is a supporting antagonist in The Godfather by Mario Puzo. He is the husband of Connie who marries her for her money and attempts to gain a better position in the Corleone family while abusing Connie.
He was played by Gianni Russo.
What Makes Him Pathetic?[]
- He’s an abusive bully with no likable traits whatsoever as he marries Connie only for money and status and almost immediately becomes abusive to her.
- He regularly belittles Connie and beats her while taking her money and blowing it on gambling, while also cheating on her and rubbing it in her face. He even beats her when she's pregnant, meaning if he wasn't careful he could have killed his unborn child.
- When Connie’s brother Sonny discovers the abuse and beats Carlo up, Carlo plots with the Barzini family to kill Sonny, escalating the abuse to lure Sonny into an ambush where he’s brutally gunned down by Barzini’s men. The Corleones however realize what happened, and after becoming the new don Michael pretends he’s going to show mercy, only to have Carlo killed immediately after.
- As soon as he sees a angry Michael, he swears on the life of his children, only to quickly reveal himself.
What Makes Him a Pinhead?[]
- He's a coward and a social climber who wants to get a powerful position in the Corleone family, but is too incompetent to be given it.
- When put in charge of a minor gambling racket, he immediately screws it up by recording the wrong odds on a game, creating a situation called a “middle” where the gambler couldn’t possibly lose and he would have to pay out more than he should, causing a loss of thousands of dollars, resulting in Tom Hagen subsequently ordering men to supervise Carlo to make sure his figures were right, with Carlo just being allowed to think he was still in charge.
- He doesn't stop to think that routinely abusing and beating the daughter of a Mafia don might get him into serious trouble, and when Sonny comes after him Carlo cowardly tries to run away, not even trying to fight back for fear it will make the beating worse. He also doesn't listen to Sonny's warning but escalates the abuse in order to lure Sonny to his death.
- His complicity in Sonny's death is quickly seen through by the Corleones and when Michael confronts him he cowardly begs for mercy, and when Michael pretends he's merely exiling him from the family business Carlo actually believes he's getting off this lightly despite getting Michael's brother killed, and is taken by surprise when he's garroted by Clemenza moments later.