Michael says: "Unless I'm very wrong, they're dead already. Killed by somebody close to us - inside."

So Michael belived that the traitor in the familiy - i.e. Fredo -killed the assassins?

Why did he leave to Miami that abruptly? Whats the benefit of that trip? Did he believe that Roth tells him the name of the traitor?

For one, I'm wondering how many traitors there are. While Fredo may have opened the drapes, I don't believe he had the moxy or skill to knock off one or more assassins.

As far as the Miami trip goes, it's all strategy to deceive Roth. It was planned and if he doesn't follow through than he may tip off Roth that he is wise to him. Michael needs a pacific environment in which to carry out his plans. If he goes after Roth in any way, than war breaks out. It takes two to fight and Michael wasn't going to play Roth's game.

"Who killed the Tahoe shooters" is the Number-One unanswered question on these boards. Some have theories, but none are definitive.

As for why Michael left Tahoe suddenly:

Michael knew that, although he was the target, his enemy had no scruples about killing Kay or anyone who got in the way at Tahoe. So, by removing himself from Tahoe, he removed the target. More important: by sucking up to Roth, he bought precious time to protect himself and his family. His guiding principle, as he told Hagen before he left, was: think as those around you think.

Michael saw that Roth was very careful to mask his role in the Tahoe attack. Roth waited for Anthony’s party because he knew that Pentangeli would be there, contentious over Michael’s support of the Rosato Brothers. Frankie therefore had perfect motivation to kill Michael, and would have made a perfect patsy. Since the attack failed, Michael figured that Roth would have to strike again quickly, before Michael figured out that Pentangeli wasn’t the guilty party. By visiting Roth in Miami, by affirming that their deal was still good, and most important, by agreeing to go to Havana, Michael was helping Roth to find a reason to keep him alive until then, and to leave his family alone.

Michael alive in Havana would provide Roth with an airtight alibi: Roth would stage the father/son routine at the birthday party, and turn over his empire to Michael in front of many witnesses, so he’d look like he had no reason whatsoever to kill Michael. And as the most powerful gringo in Havana, Roth could easily arrange to have his pals in the Cuban government assassinate Michael and get rid of his body. If anyone asked after the missing Michael, Roth could speculate that he’d been caught in the crossfire between the government and the rebels. Or that rival gangsters whacked him because they were jealous that Roth planned to give him nearly all of the Havana empire. The only thing Roth overlooked was that Michael was onto his game and, with “Sicilian cunning,” outwitted him.
Even Michael’s choice of bodyguard was designed to mislead Roth. He didn’t take Neri and/or Rocco with him because, at that point, he couldn’t be sure of their loyalty. And, by bringing Buscetta to Havana, Michael was signaling Roth that he still didn’t know who the traitor was—but it obviously wasn’t Roth because Michael was there with Roth. He had accomplished what he told Frankie he’d do: Roth was relaxed, confident that their deal was still good—and off his guard. Bravo, Michael!

TB great post as always, but there is also another component to the visit to Miami. You are correct that Michael figured that Roth might conclude that he would realize that Frank Pentangeli was not the guilty party. Accordingly Michael was also steering Roth away from coming to such a realization. He deliberatley misleads Roth by asking his permission to kill Pentangeli, which is something he would do out of respect for Roth and to insure that Roth knew who did it, that there would not be a war over it, etc (with all the bad blood with the Rosatos and Frank, Roth would have needed Michael's assurance that the assassination of Pentangeli was a Corleone sanctioned operation so that "things" on the street would continue to run smoothly).

All right, here is my theory...


We know from earlier scripts and Fredo's "I didn't know it was gonna be a hit.." line that Fredo was mislead in some way by Roth. The earlier script indicate that Roth/Ola said they were going to kidnap Michael.

We also know that the gunmen were killed by having their throats cut.

What if....

Fredo is everything MIchael said about him but if he believes they are going to kidnap his brother he is going to insist on protecting Michael in some way.

Fredo goes out and recruits some men on his own, insisting they meet outside his window to participate in the kidnapping. Ola's men have to kill them WITHOUT making a sound, so they cut their throats, ditch them and then proceed with the shooting. The shooters then escape from the island on their boat as planned.

Again, this gives Fredo an awful lot of brains and moxy which I don't think he had much of either.

If Fredo is interested in 'protecting' Michael then he's not going to go along with a kidnapping in the first place.

And Fredo? Recruiting his own men ???



Only thing Fredo was capable of 'recruiting' were coctail waitresses. Two at a time.

Apple

Also Banana daiquiri's.