The kids rolled their eyes and snickered. “He’d say, ‘Keep it down, I’m writing a best-seller,'” Puzo’s eldest child, Tony, tells The Post. The basement also held a pool table, and while Puzo typed away, his five children would come down and play loud games, forcing Puzo to admonish the brood.

The broom-closet-like space beneath his Long Island house had enough room for a desk, a typewriter and little more. In the late 1960s, Mario Puzo retreated to the basement nook that served as his office to work on a new book. Talia Shire: Why I shouldn't have been in 'The Godfather' Why John Gotti loved this actor from 'The Godfather' How 'The Godfather' star James Caan taped 'f-k you' onto a co-star's tongue So when he turned up dead - I let it go.'The Godfather' 50th anniversary: A legacy made from gut feelings, pranks and fate No one knows who gave the order - when I heard it, I wasn't angry I knew Moe - I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. And there isn't even a plaque - or a signpost - or a statue of him in that town! Someone put a bullet through his eye. This was a great man - a man of vision and guts. That kid's name was Moe Green - and the city he invented was Las Vegas. Later on he had an idea - to build a city out of a desert stop-over for GI's on the way to the West Coast. As much as anyone, I loved him - and trusted him.

During Prohibition - we ran molasses into Canada - made a fortune - you father, too. Things were good, we made the most of it. We did our first work together - worked our way out of the street. There was this kid I grew up with - he was younger than me. But even with him and a number of truly brilliant actors (including maestro Lee Strasberg), this is ultimately Pacino's film and a masterful performance. This was De Niro's first introduction to a lot of filmgoers, and he makes an enormous impression. As memorable as the first film is, The Godfather II is an amazingly intricate, symmetrical tragedy that touches upon several chapters of 20th-century history and makes a strong case that our destinies are written long before we're born. Coppola weaves in and out of the story of Vito's transformation into a powerful crime figure, contrasting that evolution against efforts by son Michael Corleone to spread the family's business into pre-Castro Cuba. Robert De Niro plays Vito as a young Sicilian immigrant in turn-of-the-century New York City's Little Italy. Francis Ford Coppola took some of the deep background from the life of Mafia chief Vito Corleone-the patriarch of Mario Puzo's bestselling novel The Godfather-and built around it a stunning sequel to his Oscar-winning, 1972 hit film.

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