Carlo Rizzi

Connie's abusive husband, the man who sold Sonny to Barzini.

Carlo Rizzi is Connie Corleone's abusive husband in Mario Puzo's The Godfather, the small-time criminal who sets up Sonny's murder, played by Gianni Russo in the 1972 film.

Quick Facts

First: The Godfather
Last: The Godfather Part II (flashback cameo)
Creator: Mario Puzo
Portrayed by: Gianni Russo
Spouse: Connie Corleone (1945–1955)
Gender: Male
Family: Corleone family
Children: Victor; Michael Francis

Facts from the source article.

Background

Born in Nevada and driven to New York by trouble with the law, he befriends Sonny and meets Connie at Vito's surprise birthday party in 1941; they marry in 1945, Vito consenting only on condition of a traditional Sicilian wedding, since Rizzi's mother was from northern Italy. Vito has Tom Hagen keep him away from the family's inner workings and merely give him a living, a small sports book he runs badly.

He resents the way his in-laws treat him and takes it out on Connie, abusing and cheating on her to prove he has power of his own. When Connie complains to her parents, Vito coldly refuses to step in, since Italian tradition forbids a father, even a Mafia boss, from interfering in his children's marriages. Sonny has no such patience: finding Connie with a black eye, he beats Rizzi in the street and threatens to kill him if he ever hurts her again.

Humiliated, Rizzi secretly makes a deal with the Corleones' chief rival, Emilio Barzini, to murder Sonny. He has his mistress call the house, provoking the pregnant Connie into an argument in which he whips her with his belt. When Connie calls Sonny, he races off to find Rizzi and is killed by Barzini's men in a hail of gunfire at a causeway toll booth.

After Sonny's death Vito seems to warm to Rizzi and lets him run a family-controlled labor union. When Michael takes charge and plans the move to Nevada, he treats Rizzi as a trusted lieutenant, promises he will be his right-hand man and even agrees to be godfather to Rizzi and Connie's second child. In truth Vito and Michael had worked out early on that Rizzi set Sonny up, and they keep him close only to make him complacent. Vito will not widow his own daughter, so the killing is left for Michael to carry out once Vito has died, in 1955.