The first bullet caught Don Corleone in the back. He felt the hammer shock of

Its impact but made his body move toward the car. The next two bullets hit him in

The buttocks and sent him sprawling in the middle of the street. Meanwhile the

Two gunmen, careful not to slip on the rolling fruit, started to follow in order to

finish him off. At that moment, perhaps no more than five seconds after the Don's

Call to his son, Frederico Corleone appeared out of his car, looming over it. The

Gunmen fired two more hasty shots at the Don lying in the gutter. One hit him in

The fleshy part of his arm and the second hit him in the calf of his right leg.

Though these wounds were the least serious they bled profusely, forming small

Pools of blood beside his body. But by this time Don Corleone had lost

Consciousness.

Freddie had heard his father shout, calling him by his childhood name, and

Then he had heard the first two loud reports. By the time he got out of the car he

Was in shock, he had not even drawn his gun. The two assassins could easily

Have shot him down. But they too panicked.

They must have known the son was armed, and besides too much time had

Passed. They disappeared around the corner, leaving Freddie alone in the street

with his father's bleeding body. Many of the people thronging the avenue had

Flung themselves into doorways or on the ground, others had huddled together in