Sal Narducci

Salvatore 'Laughing Sal' Narducci is a fictional character in Mark Winegardner's novel The Godfather Returns.

Biographical summary

Salvatore Narducci was born in Cleveland, Ohio and is childhood best friend of future mob boss Vincent Forlenza. As an adult, he runs half of the gambling rackets in Cleveland. By 1931, he and Forlenza have killed off the competition and become the most powerful gambling syndicate in the U.S.. By the 1940s, he is feared for his temper; he is known to stab people in the back (literally and figuratively).

By the early 1950s, Narducci is growing suspicious of Forlenza and starts plotting against him. In 1955, he orders a satchel containing a bomb delivered to a plane carrying Nick Geraci, Frankie Falcone, and Tony Molinari. Falcone and Molinari are killed in the explosion, but Geraci survives. Narducci visits him in a private hospital and tells him that Forlenza was behind it.

In 1956, Geraci finds out that Narduci is a spy for Michael Corleone, and goes to Forlenza. Geraci and Forlenza plot to kill him and Hyman Roth, thereby strengthening the Chicago Mob and destroying the Corleones' operation in Cuba.

By 1959, Narducci is lured to a meeting in Sicily and ambushed by Geraci and several others. They hang him from the top of a cave and leave him there.