Al Neri

[close] Al Neri began his career as a New York City policeman where he earned a reputation as a legitimately tough officer due to his fierce temper and quick reflexes. He frequently patrolled the streets with a large flashlight which he used to great effect, either cracking up the foreheads of Italian youths that ran with street gangs or shattering the windshields of diplomats who showed no regard for traffic laws. After his wife, Rita, left him because of her fear of his temper, Neri killed violent pimp Wax Baines who was in the process of slashing a little girl. Neri accomplished this by shattering Baines' with his flashlight; he was later convicted of voluntary manslaughter.

Tom Hagen and Peter Clemenza saw in Neri's record a parallel to Luca Brasi, Vito Corleone's previous enforcer, and arranged for his release before he served any prison time. Michael, appealing to Al's sense of loyalty and Sicilian roots, recruited him into Clemenza's regime. He "made his bones" soon afterward, and eventually became Michael Corleone's chief lieutenant and most loyal ally.