Indictment alleges Roger Stone channeled the 'Godfather II'

Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, throws up peace signs outside court January 25 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Credit: AFP/Getty Images/JOSHUA PREZANT
Fiction and show business go a long way nowadays in shaping real-life politics. So it should come as no surprise that a popular "Godfather II" reference would supply dialogue for those on the winning side of a presidential campaign.
According to a new indictment, President Donald Trump's longtime adviser Roger Stone advised radio host and comic performer Randy Credico to "do a Frank Pentangeli" before a congressional committee. That is, Stone allegedly urged Credico to cover up their communications regarding the famous Russian-hacked and WikiLeaks-published Democratic emails.
In the 1974 film, the late actor Michael V. Gazzo, playing turncoat mobster Pentangeli, rescinds his earlier statements to congressional investigators that incriminated second-generation "godfather" Michael Corleone, sending a public committee hearing into chaos.
Stone's wildest fantasy in this scenario might have been casting himself in the disciplined and tactical role of the Al Pacino character. In real life, it is only his referencing of Pentangeli that fits the persona he's cultivated as a venom-spouting, self-described dirty trickster who even sports a Richard Nixon tattoo. For decades, Stone shared with Trump, and with their mutual mentor the late lawyer-fixer Roy Cohn, the habit of putting political cynicism and bile on display.
Federal agents showed up at pre-dawn Friday to arrest Stone at his Fort Lauderdale home just as Paul Manafort, his one-time business partner, prepared for a court appearance. Both denied what special counsel Robert Mueller had to say. Stone said he is not guilty of obstruction, false statements and witness-tampering charges; Manafort, already convicted, denied he lied about several topics during cooperation interviews and grand jury testimony.
Nearly 30 years ago, Manafort testified before another congressional committee about the use of his GOP political contacts to secure a potentially lucrative federal housing contract. He and Stone were then partners in Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, which counted foreign dictators among its clients.
“The technical term for what we do — and law firms, associations and professional groups do — is lobby," Manafort told the committee. “For the purposes of today, I will stipulate that, in a narrow sense, some people may term it influence-peddling.”
Looking back, Manafort's 1989 testimony proved way more candid than fictional Frank Pentangeli's — seemingly because real-life New York character Credico refused to play the Pentangeli role.
“You are a rat. A stoolie,” a fuming Stone allegedly told Credico. “You backstab your friends.”
Stone also wrote that he would “take that dog away from you," a reference to a white therapy dog Credico travels with named Bianca
Stone soon wrote back, Mueller says, “I am so ready. Let’s get it on. Prepare to die [expletive].”
All of this sounds terribly overwrought and un-Godfatherlike. Maybe, from the Oval Office on down, "tough-guy" talk needs to be made great again.
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