[on how he secured the role of Johnny Fontane in
The Godfather (1972)] Didn't the Don send Tom Hagen to convince Jack Woltz that Johnny Fontane must be in the movie? Isn't it similar to what I did? Woltz didn't want Johnny, and Coppola [
Francis Ford Coppola] didn't want me. There was no horse's head, but I had ammunition... I had to step on some toes to get people to realize that I was in the effing movie. I went to my godfather, [Mafia boss] Russ Bufalino.