The old neighborhood on Mott Street in the Italian quarter was little changed from its original. Apartments with fire escapes and little restaurants with time for a coffee or espresso. And then some fruit stands, and on the first floor and an office space bearing the legend on the glass front,,,Genco Olive Oil.

Here was the authentic location picked by Francis Ford Coppola as the director and author of the film script based on the Mario Puzo novel. This location was a pivotal scene in the filming of the first Godfather motion picture.

The street was blocked off by the NYPD and loaded with cranes, gaffes and all the busy crews supporting the filming. At the helm was Coppola as the director with cameras and focused lighting to illuminate the scene in the late afternoon settings.

The fruit vendor stall on the sidewalk was freshened up with the most ripe and colorful produce. Fresh tomatoes and oranges stood out in the evening light. A key moment was about to occur in the filming and all the crew were poised and ready to record a scene that will live forever.

The scene now unfolds. Fredo is the new driver of the car that will take Don Corleone home for dinner. This is surprising as Connie's husband was the assigned chauffeur so something is not quite right adding to the suspense.

The camera crews focus and pivot the lenses to capture Brando as the Don leaving the Genco office, an amazing moment as he pauses in front of the food stand on the sidewalk and views the produce here picking and squeezing a pepper or a tomato or orange to test quality and freshness as he did so often after work. The Don is happy and smiling. Suddenly he bends down to examine the fruit and his inner instincts warn him of danger. Footsteps first silent rush with fast paced energy as we see two fedora hatted killers approach the Don and begin pumping bullets into the Don's body

and quickly vanish from the scene. Brando now almost mortally wounded slumps over the hood of his car and falls to the sidewalk.

The cast and crew hold their collective breaths as the scene is cut. But to the horror of the onlookers Brando lies there unmoving. Did he hit his head on the pavement or did he suffer a seizure? At that instant all hearts stopped a beat. Was this a cruel act of faith that would destroy the production and end the saga? Silence reigned and mouths stood agape at the dormant figure of Brando. Did fiction become life?

A moment seemed like forever the ever joyful and playful Brando arose as if resurrected from the dead, and with a broad smile, tossed a orange that had fallen from the open Kraft bag into the air with a triumphant laugh and tipped his fedora to the stunned crowd. I was just acting! Hearts then resumed their normal rhythms and the epic continued into stardom