Willi Cicci

Willi Cicci is a fictional character in The Godfather film series, portrayed by Joe Spinell. The character of Cicci is loosely based on real-life Mafia soldier and informant Joe Valachi.

Appearances

Cicci began working for the "Genco Olive Oil Company" in 1942. However, in reality he is a top enforcer for the Corleone family, working under longtime caporegime Peter Clemenza. He is introduced in The Godfather standing by a piano amid a group of Corleone soldiers who have "gone to mattresses" (in between battles) during the war between the Corleones and the Tattaglias (in the montage of scenes after Michael Corleone's assassination of McCluskey and Sollozzo). On the day of Michael's nephew's baptism, Cicci assassinates Don Carmine Cuneo in the revolving doors at the St. Regis Hotel after he gets a haircut and shave at the hotel's barber shop while waiting for Cuneo to appear. Later, Cicci tells Sal Tessio that Michael will not be travelling to the meeting as arranged by Tessio as part of a plan to have Michael killed. He then disarms Tessio after he realizes that Michael has found out about his treachery. He is not specifically named in the first film.

In The Godfather Part II, when the Corleone family moves to Nevada in 1955, Cicci remains in New York City, working for Clemenza and his successor, Frank Pentangeli, apparently as the latter's bodyguard and right-hand man. In 1958, when The Godfather Part II begins, he goes with Pentangeli to Anthony Corleone's First Communion in Lake Tahoe and expresses his suspicions about Clemenza's death, supposedly of a heart attack. After the party, Cicci is seen with Pentangeli back in New York when the latter is nearly killed by the Rosato brothers. Cicci opens fire on the Rosatos, but he is struck by a car and severely injured.

He apparently recovers, and joins Pentangeli in testifying against Michael at the Senate hearings on organized crime. He appears nervous and confused at the Senate hearings, reluctant to spell out exactly what euphemisms like "soldier" and "button" mean, having to have the meaning of the word "behest" explained to him by his lawyer, and wrongly addressing the Senate lawyer Questadt as "Senator" and an actual Senator as "counselor". His testimony is damning; he states that Michael not only killed Virgil Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey in 1947, but planned his mass slaughter of the other New York Dons as early as 1950. However, he never received orders directly from Michael. The committee called Pentangeli as a surprise witness to corroborate Cicci's testimony, since there is no insulation between Michael and himself. However, Michael called in Pentangeli's brother, Vincenzo, to intimidate Pentangeli into silence, and the case against Michael fell apart.

Willi Cicci was originally intended to be one of the major characters in The Godfather Part III, but was written out and replaced by the character of Joey Zasa following Spinell's sudden death in early 1989, before any filming was to begin.