Apologies if this has been asked before, or if there's an obvious answer that I somehow missed.


So I was rewatching GF III (but without viewing I or II again), and as I was watching I realized I've never understood Altobello's motivations for betraying Michael. Was he simply angry at being cut out of the immobiliari deal? Was he simply facilitating the designs of Lucchesi, or was there a more personal aspect to his betrayal?

I always got the impression that Altobello was marching to other peoples' tunes. Doubtless he was looking out for his own family's interests, and with Zasa in his pocket he becomes very powerful indeed. But I still think he was merely a cog in the vast machine trying to kill the Immobiliari deal. One of the themes of III is that even the Mafia is a bit player in the larger scheme of things.

I'm sure Altobello would have simply said "It's not personal, it's business." He didn't do anything Michael hadn't done before.

Again we have sloppiness creeing into III. Altobello, badly played, is supposed to be a long time friend of Vito, and Connie's Godfather. Never mind that his name never came up in I or II either as the head of a family which he seemed to be, or a capo regime.
Suddenly this "old friend" from Staten Island appears, and not only does he control Joey Zasa in New York, but he also has super secret international connections which somehow motivate him to double cross Michael.

DT, you hit it on the head. III was a stretch to begin with and the guts of it were stretched and sometimes broke.

Although some here have speculated on who Altobello was in his earlier days, like you, I can't think of a credible reason why he was scheming against Michael. For that matter, I can't think of a credible reason why Michael wanted Immobiliare. Or a lot of other things in III. As Oli and dt have said, this was one poorly scripted film. A friend, after seeing it for the first time, concluded that there must have been a dozen hours of film on the cutting room floor.

I just got some vague sense that by buying it he'd become spectacularly wealthy, like, top 1% wealthy (although he already put down 700 million dollars with seemingly little issue... How much more rich could he really get?). You're right though, it's never explained why or how, we're just meant to accept that it will. It's too bad we'll never know how much ended up on the cutting room floor and what sort of movie we might of had if it hadn't.

But in lieu of an actual answer, I think Toad's is as good as it gets. Is Altobello supposed to be like a Luciano or Bonanno or something? How good of a job do you think the GF trilogy portrays italian mob families from those various periods?

From a couple of accounts, Altobello was supposedly the consigliere of the Tattaglia family from 55-61 and boss from 1962 onward.

If that's accurate, why would Vito have someone from a rival family be godfather to his only daughter?

I think it's pretty clear why Michael wanted Immobiliare.

Gilday says it himself: "This deal with Immobiliare can make you one of the richest men in the world. Your whole past history, and the history of your family, will be washed away."

As for Altobello, I see two possible, reasonable reasons for his treachery.

1. He's been well-connected with Sicily, and presumably Lucchese, for years, so it's not surprising that he would side with Lucchese over Michael. Is that even treachery, by Mafia standards?

2. Alternately, he wanted a piece of Immobiliare as well, for the same reasons Michael wanted it. Big money and, equally importantly, clean money. He says as much to Michael, although he blames the rest of the commission and denies any personal interest. Michael denies him and he turns on Michael.