Luca Brasi is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's 1969 novel The Godfather, as well as its 1972 film adaptation. In the film, he was portrayed by Lenny Montana, an ex-wrestler and former bodyguard and enforcer for the Colombo crime family. Fictional character biography Luca Brasi is Don Vito Corleone's personal enforcer, and the only man Vito himself fears. Brasi is fiercely loyal and has a reputation as a savage and remorseless killer. He once murdered six men single-handedly to protect Don Corleone; only when Vito himself ordered him to stop did Brasi end his rampage, which contributed significantly to ending the "Olive Oil War." Brasi's loyalty to Don Corleone and the Corleone family is unquestioned; he is said to have killed a Corleone soldier just for making the family look bad. Brasi reportedly said he would sooner kill himself than betray the Godfather. In a notable incident, Brasi intercepted two hitmen sent by Al Capone to assassinate Don Corleone as a favor for one of Corleone's rivals. Brasi subdued both men with his bare hands before binding and gagging them with towels. Watching as Brasi brutally dismembered and butchered his partner with an axe, the other man became terrified and choked to death on the towel. An old Sicilian woman who had once worked as the neighborhood midwife once told Vito's youngest son Michael that, years earlier, she attended a young Irish girl as she gave birth to Brasi's child. Brasi forced the midwife to throw the crying infant into a burning furnace, saying he wanted none of "that race" to live (she does not know whether he referred to his own blood or the woman's) and a few days later murdered the girl. The distraught midwife, fearing she would be next, sought Vito Corleone's help. Don Corleone intervened, protecting the woman while covering up Brasi's crime and bringing him into his family, thus gaining his undying service and loyalty. Brasi was surprised to be invited to Connie Corleone's wedding. To show his respect and gratitude, he personally presented the Don with a large cash gift for his daughter's bridal purse, which Brasi intended to be the largest sum given, in addition to a pledge of loyalty to the daughter and future grandchildren. This scene also exposes another aspect of Luca: while ruthless and loyal, he is not particularly intelligent or articulate, and he struggles to deliver the speech