I always assumed Don Vito was shot December, 1945, which would mean that Michael kills both Sollozzo and the Captain in 1946.

But during the Senate Hearings in II, the Senator produces a timeline of the Sollozzo/McCluskey murders as 1947.

I further assumed that Sonny was capped in 1947, during the year Michael was away. Does that mean, then, that Sonny was killed in 1948?

The 1947 reference the senator made was just a mistake, just as he said that Michael divised the murder of the heads of the rival families in 1950.

Some Senator. Some Hearing. What a farce. Corleone was lucky he wasn't up against Robert F. Kennedy. lol.

So I'm right, then. Mike "makes his bones" (outside of the Marines) in 1946, flees to Sicily. Sonny is gunned down in 1947, and Michael shortly returns in late '47, early '48. That's the way I see it.

Turnbull made a very specific timeline about this at the novel section.

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=580389#Post580389

You can drive yourself nuts trying to reconcile all of the timelines. Many of we ancient members of the Board have discussed and debated those tmelines incessantly.

Agreed, Oli. You're much better off resigning yourself to the fact that FFC just wasn't that much of a stickler for accuracy where the timeline was concerned.