The Lawyer With The Briefcase Can

From Mario Puzo's The Godfather (1969), attributed to Vito Corleone. The line is the Don's pragmatic acknowledgement that institutional power — wielded through legal processes — is a more effective instrument of theft than brute force. It carries an ironic edge coming from the head of a crime family who himself employs violence as a last resort and who, in his own hierarchy, places lawyers and consiglieri above soldiers.