They never thought he'd amount to much.
He had been a scruffy kid when Luca found him. They'd all laughed at his rolled up shirt and suspenders, pushed him around when The Don wasn't looking, sent him on errands and the like.
They were all surprised when he was made an associate of the Corleones. They had to admit though, he'd done good, saving a innocent girl, and the Don from an assassination attempt to boot. They still didn't trust him much though. He bought himself a suit, before discovering he needed glasses to see long distances. They'd laughed at him for that. One guy even laughed in his face, a policeman actually. He found himself pushed off a building.
They didn't laugh at him after that.
At least, not to his face.
Then he was promoted to their ranks. A soldier of the Corleone family. They gradually came to accept him, treated him with the same respect he had since he'd joined them.
Then, disaster struck, in the form of his girlfriend's assassination by the Tattaglia. He got real mad after that. Took out a entire Warehouse with nothing but a pistol and a shotgun.
They didn't just respect him now, they feared him.
He was Sonny's right hand for a while, right up to his death. A few people blamed him for that. No one ever said it to his face though. They had a good reason to, as Monk discovered what happened to people who wrongfully blamed him a few weeks later.
He was promoted again, at the death of the old Don and the rise of the new one.
He was well known by now. A made man. He had destroyed the Tattaglias, weakened the others, taken over Brooklyn and New Jersey, with Hell's Kitchen about to fall.
He seemed to trust nobody. He killed people he had once called friends without batting an eyelid. He would mercilessly tear up shops and bars with an ever present poker face if they didn't agree to pay protection money to the family.
Then, the Don sent him on a daring mission; to assassinate the other heads of the Families.
They weren't surprised when they heard All four Dons were dead. A few eyebrows were raised however at the brutal slaughter of Don Barzini, whose body had been found with an entire clip from a Tommy gun embedded in his bloodied form.
They were later informed that the man had killed his father in much the same way.
They never crossed him again after that.
He was made Underboss for this feat. People felt he mellowed out. He settled down. Had a kid, yet he still kept his reputation, bombing the remaining families compounds, taking businesses and rackets for the family.
Then, the Don died. Natural causes, or so they were told. He himself was into his sixties, yet still retained a ruthlessness about him.
They never expected him to be made Don, yet they all approved of the decision, at least on the outside.
And then, a few years later, the last Warehouse was seized. The last pockets of resistance eliminated. The last racket and business "Persuaded" to join the family.
They never thought he's amount to much.
Yet here he sat, behind his desk,
The Don of the Corleone Family.
The Don of New York City.
The Don…of Dons.