Al Neri

Infobox character
colour = #DEDEE2
name = Albert Neri


caption = Al Neri, as portrayed by Richard Bright in "The Godfather Part II".
first = "The Godfather"
last = "The Godfather's Revenge"
born =
death =
cause =
alias =
species =
gender = Male
family = Tommy Neri
age =
portrayers = Richard Bright
creator = Mario Puzo

Albert "Al" Neri is a fictional character appearing in Mario Puzo's novel "The Godfather" and the three films based on it. He is portrayed by actor Richard Bright. In the , he is voiced by Gary Chalk. He functions as the personal bodyguard, "caporegime" and chief assassin/enforcer to Michael Corleone. He is completely devoid of fear and completely loyal to Michael Corleone.

In the novel "The Godfather", Neri began his career as a New York City policeman where he earned a reputation as a legitimately tough officer thanks to his fierce temper, quick reflexes, and tremendous physical strength. He frequently patrolled with a large flashlight which he used to great effect, either cracking 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 left him in fear of his temper, he killed a drug dealer and pimp by shattering his skull with the flashlight, and was convicted of manslaughter. Tom Hagen and Pete Clemenza saw in his record a parallel to Luca Brasi, Vito Corleone's previous enforcer, and arranged for his release from prison. Michael, appealing to Neri's sense of loyalty and Sicilian roots, recruited him into Clemenza's regime where he "made his bones" and became Michael's chief lieutenant. Tom Hagen once said to Michael following the completion of Neri's training, "Well, now you've got your Luca."

After Salvatore Tessio is killed for attempting to betray Michael, Neri takes over as "caporegime" of Tessio's former "regime." When Michael and his family moved to Nevada, Neri became head of security for all hotels controlled by the Corleones.

In "The Godfather Part II", Neri is seen to be an unofficial second-in-command to Michael, and serves as one of Michael's capos along with Rocco Lampone and Frank Pentangeli. He is responsible for a prostitute's murder that guarantees the loyalty of Senator Pat Geary. Neri was also personally responsible for the assassination of Michael's brother Fredo Corleone, under Michael's orders for Fredo's previous betrayal.

This is demonstrated further in the novel "The Godfather's Revenge", where he and his nephew take part in an attempt to obtain information from Nick Geraci's father. He is seriously wounded in the final shootout at the end of the novel.

By the time of "The Godfather Part III", the aging assassin was still working for the Corleones, his loyalty to Michael extending to the new Don, Michael's nephew Vincent. His talents were called upon once again at the conclusion of the film when Vincent ordered him to kill Archbishop Gilday in revenge for the priest's intrigue against the family.

Assassinations carried out by Neri

* In the novel, Neri shoots Moe Greene to death, although the movie doesn't reveal Greene's shooter in the hotel spa. When Michael went to Las Vegas to make the hotel deal with Greene, Neri accompanied him. As the deal failed due to Greene's disagreement with the terms, Michael returned to New York; Al Neri didn't come with Michael to the plane, arriving from elsewhere to meet Corleone at the airport to come back to New York. Neri then told Michael while tapping his forehead, “I got Moe Greene mugged and numbered up here.” Later, after the death of the Don's godson and Johnny Fontane's friend Nino Valenti, Neri is sent to Vegas as a family representative to attend Nino's funeral on the same day Moe Greene is shot to death. After having Greene killed, Neri went for a long vacation.

* The Corleone Family purge that took place right after the death of the Don, killing all five family heads, had an important role for Neri. As the Don made peace with other families, the Corleone family was falling behind in the race with the others, and the Barzini family became the most powerful, almost overpowering the Corleone empire. The head of the Barzini family, Emilio Barzini, who was on top of Michael's hit list, was shot to death by Neri (disguised as an NYPD officer) as Barzini exited the New York Supreme Court complex at Foley Square. Barzini's personal bodyguard and chauffeur were also shot to death by Neri.

* In "The Godfather II", Nevada Senator Pat Geary tried to extort Michael's earnings from his two hotels in Las Vegas. As Michael bought all shares and completely took over the two hotels, Geary attempted to get bribes from Michael to clear licenses for those hotels. Senator Geary, while meeting Michael, bashed the Corleone family by saying, "I don't like you to be here with your oily hair and silk suit... your whole fucking family." After this, Michael decided to not give a penny to Geary. Ultimately, Michael formed a smart blackmailing plot, where the Senator was caught in a Las Vegas brothel. Geary was passing time with a girl in a room in Fredo's brothel and Al Neri infiltrated them, rendering the Senator unconscious and murdering the girl with him with extreme brutality. After the Senator came to senses, he was traumatized to discover the dead girl tied with a cloth beside him, her blood pouring all over the room. The success of Neri's murder allowed the family to pull the Senator into being blackmailed by Tom Hagen.

* After the assassination attempt on himself, Michael soon discovered it was his father's old mate Hyman Roth who had tried to have him killed. In a meeting in Havana during the Havana Conference, a conversation with Fredo led Michael to realize that his brother was one of the conspirators of that attempt and was a traitor to the family. The Havana Conference was interrupted by the Cuban Revolution crackdown that led Michael, Fredo and everyone else to return Stateside. After a Senate committee was formed to investigate allegations of Michael's organized crime ties, Fredo was kept under house arrest. Neri asked Michael if he should kill Fredo, but Michael asked him to wait until their mother died. After Carmela Corleone died of a heart attack, Fredo prepared to go to fishing with his nephew, Michael's son Anthony. Anthony was suddenly taken away by Connie, and Neri accompanied Fredo fishing instead. As Fredo delivered his habitual Hail Mary for good luck, Neri shot him dead.

* As Michael's nephew Vincent infiltrated the enemy front of the family, he soon gathered a lot of information. It is assumed that the Corleone family then had to face a group of enemies more powerful than any they have faced before.Fact|date=June 2008 It was understood earlier that Licio Lucchesi (based on Licio Gelli) and Frederick Keinszig (based on Roberto Calvi) had important roles in the plot against the Corleones, but Vincent found that the group also included Archbishop Gilday (based on Archbishop Paul Marcinkus) and Don Altobello, who pretended to be allies of Michael. There were also some other people, unknown, probably belonging to P2 or may be higher. All of them were led by Lucchesi and wanted to get to the Vatican conglomerate, International Immobiliare. But Michael too was able and ready to have the Immobiliare by all means, as he was in the way of that syndicate of Italian Mafia, politicians and the church. Michael soon understood he was no more able to face these things. He retired from the position and left everything (business, family etc.) for his nephew Vincent Corleone. On the day of "Cavalleria Rusticana", the final purge of the Corloenes took place, which wiped out the whole front of their enemies. Planning of this purge was done by Vincent himself and had an important role for Al Neri. Al Neri traveled to Rome from Palermo by train. Then in the church, he shot Archbishop Gilday personally, shortly after the new Pope John Paul I was assassinated.