Mario Puzo — American Novelist born on October 15, 1921, died on July 02, 1999

Mario Gianluigi Puzo was an American author, screenwriter and journalist. He is known for his novels about the Mafia, most notably The Godfather, which he later co-adapted into a three-part film saga directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first film in 1972 and Part II in 1974. Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for the 1978 Superman film. His last novel, The Family, was released posthumously in 2001... (wikipedia)

A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.
Like many businessmen of genius he learned that free competition was wasteful, monopoly efficient. And so he simply set about achieving that efficient monopoly.
Friendship and money: oil and water.
Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.
He was a degenerate gambler. That is, a man who gambled simply to gamble and must lose. As a hero who goes to war must die. Show me a gambler and I'll show you a loser, show me a hero and I'll show you a corpse.