Ottilio Cuneo - Role of The Cuneo Family in The Story

Role of The Cuneo Family in The Story

In both the novel and film, the Cuneo family is one of the Five New York Families. The Cuneo family, along with the Tattaglia family, Barzini family and the Stracci family, invest in Virgil Sollozzo's heroin trade and fight in the subsequent war against the Corleones.

Eventually, Cuneo and Emilio Barzini decide to assassinate Sonny Corleone, and so contact Carlo Rizzi and use him to set Sonny up; at their command, Rizzi beats up his wife and Sonny's sister Connie. Sonny drives towards Carlo's home in a fit of rage, where Barzini and Cuneo's assassins gun him down.

After Vito Corleone declares peace among the Five Families, he promises not to break the peace and thus, Victor Stracci, Emillio Barzini, Phillip Tattaglia, and Carmine Cuneo have their families start taking away territory from the Corleones. Later, after Don Corleone's death, they summon Michael to a fake peace summit where he is to be assassinated.

Michael, however, had already foreseen this move, and has Cuneo and all other dons in New York assassinated, eliminating almost all of the Five Families' interests in New York—and, therefore, eliminating the Cuneo Family. Cuneo meets his end when Corleone family soldier Willi Cicci traps him in the revolving door of a hotel lobby before shooting him through the glass.