'Godfather III' Accused of Plagiarism : Movies: David Yallop claims that the film's plot coincides with his 1984 book 'In God's Name.' It alleges that Pope John Paul I was murdered.

‘Godfather III’ Accused of Plagiarism : Movies: David Yallop claims that the film’s plot coincides with his 1984 book ‘In God’s Name.’ It alleges that Pope John Paul I was murdered.

By DAVID GRITTEN

March 13, 1991 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

LONDON — A best-selling British author is preparing a lawsuit against Paramount Pictures, director Francis Ford Coppola and writer Mario Puzo for an alleged breach of copyright in the film “The Godfather Part III.”

David Yallop claims that his 1984 book “In God’s Name,” which alleges that Pope John Paul I was murdered, has been plagiarized by the filmmakers.

“I am consulting lawyers both here and in Washington, D.C.” Yallop said. “They are considering where best to mount an action. They will communicate with Paramount in the next few days, and if they don’t get the right answers, I will proceed to court.”

“We haven’t been contacted by Mr. Yallop and therefore will not comment on statements he has chosen to put out by means of a press release,” a Paramount spokesman said.

The Oscar-nominated film, which opened here Friday, tells how Godfather Michael Corleone, played by Al Pacino, tries to turn his family’s business legitimate, and engages in a business deal involving the Vatican Bank.

Yallop cited three instances of plagiarism from what he says are many. Both “In God’s Name” and “The Godfather Part III” detail close relations between a senior Mafia figure and the head of the Vatican Bank. And both book and film explain how the Patriarch of Venice discovered the Mafia’s links with the bank. The author also says that the voting figures for the election of the Pope in the film are identical to those in his book, where they were revealed for the first time.

“Part of my anger stems from the fact that having plagiarized my material, they used it so ineptly,” said Yallop. “If it had been used as an indictment of the Mafia, one could at least begin to rationalize it.

“But in the film there is no indictment of corruption in the Vatican, and the Mafia are presented as glamorous, good-looking sexy people. They’re not. They are people who will kill others if they get in the way of their business affairs.”

Yallop rebuts the argument that many of the plot lines in the film are facts that are in the public domain. “These are my interpretations of facts, and as such they are copyrightable,” he said.

Ironically, Coppola’s first film in the “Godfather” trilogy was attacked by Yallop in “In God’s Name.” He said the movie “takes a highly glamorous and amoral look at the Mafia.”

Yallop’s book sold almost 5 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 30 languages. He wrote two drafts of film scripts based on the book, but it proved impossible to finance a movie independently.