Carlo Rizzi (1920-1955) was a Corleone crime family associate and the first husband of Connie Corleone.
Biography[]
Carlo Rizzi was born in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1920, the son of a northern Italian father and a Sicilian mother. He worked as a laborer in Nevada before trouble with the law forced him to move to New York City, where he befriended Sonny Corleone. On 7 December 1941, he met Connie Corleone at Vito Corleone's surprise birthday party, and they fell in love, being married in a traditional Sicilian wedding at the Corleone Compound on 25 August 1945.
Marriage[]
Rizzi after being beaten
Don Corleone had his consigliere Tom Hagen ensure that Rizzi did not learn much of the family's inner workings, instead giving him a living by giving him control of a small sports book. Frustrated with his minor role in the family business, Rizzi regularly beat and cheated on Connie, and Sonny Corleone beat Carlo in the street after finding his sister with bruises. Soon afterward, Rizzi's book was shut down as the result of the Five Families War, and he decided to work with the Barzini crime family to have Sonny killed. He provoked Connie into an argument and beat her, and Connie later called Sonny. Sonny was ambushed and killed on the way to Rizzi's apartment. Michael Corleone, Vito's son and successor, had Carlo and Connie move into a guesthouse at the Corleone Compound following Vito's death in 1955, hoping to keep Carlo close; he suspected that he had betrayed Sonny.
Death[]
Rizzi's death
In the summer of 1955, Don Corleone planned to settle all family business. He stood as godfather to Carlo and Connie's son Michael Francis Rizzi, and, on the day of the baptism, he had the heads of the other Five Families (including Emilio Barzini) murdered in one fell swoop. Michael later spoke with Rizzi at the Compound, where he told Rizzi that he would spare his life and exile him, as he knew about Rizzi's involvement with Sonny's murder. Rizzi was calmed down enough to confess that he had worked with Don Barzini, and Michael then had him leave the house with an airplane ticket to Las Vegas. Rizzi entered a car that was to drive him to the airport, only to be garrotted by Peter Clemenza as the car left the driveway. His death was blamed on the Barzinis, and Connie would not reconcile with Michael until 1959.