“教父”维托·考利昂是纽约五大地下势力集团之一的头头。以他为首的考利昂地下势力集团主要经营的是从欧洲走私进口橄榄油、开设赌场等等。他的势力遍及美 国东西南北各地，在政府各个要害部门也都有他的人。他神通广大，渴求保护和支持的人们虔诚地尊称他为“教父”。他对下面的人也有求必应，说话算数，从而赢 利了们的敬畏。随便什么事，只要他暗地或公开一插手就会按照他的意志发展变化。他是美国社会真正叱咤风云的人物。
《教父》通过对美国地下势力集团之间真刀真枪的“战争”的叙写，淋漓尽致地揭示了美国社会的表层下面的最隐蔽的本质。
The story of Don Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia family, inspired some of the most successful movies ever. It is in Mario Puzo'sThe Godfatherthat Corleone first appears. As Corleone's desperate struggle to control the Mafia underworld unfolds, so does the story of his family. The novel is full of exquisitely detailed characters who, despite leading unconventional lifestyles within a notorious crime family, experience the triumphs and failures of the human condition. Filled with the requisite valor, love, and rancor of a great epic,The Godfatheris the definitive gangster novel.