When he and Connie got married - Vito was specific not to let Carlo into "the family business". He was "to be given a living" but nothing more than that.

Yet Michael wants to make Carlo his "right hand man" in Vegas, and then ends up having Carlo killed after the heads of the five families were killed.

I guess i am confused. Did Vito see something in Carlo that Michael didn't see, until the end, or was Michael using Carlo to smoke out someone else?

Michael's giving Carlo a more important position was all part of the plan to lull the other Families into believing a weakened Corleone Family was keeping the peace. This also gave Carlo a false sense of security, believing he finally had a prominent place within the Family and was free from blame of Sonny's death.

I believe the announcement Michael made was for Carlo to be his 'right-hand' man once the move was made to Vegas. As you can see, Carlo never made it to Vegas.

Connie was absolutely correct when she hysterically proclaimed that Michael knew all along he was going to kill Carlo.

Apple

Thank you - great answer. Clears things up a lot.

You are 100% correct, Apple, but I think there was a terrible consequence to this, namely the betrayal of Tessio.
When he saw what Michael was doing I think he concluded the family would go nowhere after Vito died, and by moving Hagen out, and thus having only Vito as a consigliere, and relying on Carlo to set things up in Vagas, he rightfully thought the family was on the skids. Remember...it was the smart thing to do, and Tessio was always smarter.

So in effect, they were setting at trap for Tessio as well.

Michael stated several times in that meeting that they were to be patient, that there were things he couldn't share right now, that they could form their own Families "..AFTER the move to Nevada...". Michael & Vito knew that someone in that room was not going to be able have faith & stay true to their Don. It was the nature of the business they were in.

All they had to do was wait & see who would turn traitor out of imagined necessity.

Kewl.



Apple

But Michael FORCED one of them to play their hand. Tessio was even honest enough to say he would fall under Barzini sooner or later. In front of the don!! Michael was being unreasonable and patronizing to both caporegimes who were unstandably upset and desperate. Clemenza is lucky that Barzini approached the smarter of the two, but Tessio knew he couldn't resist Barzini once he 'made him an offer he couldn't refuse'

This was probably Mike's desire to get rid of a capo, in order to install Rocco's secret regime.

In the book, at least, Al Neri takes over Tessio's regime, for the duration of the war.

Are you referring to 'The Godfather Returns'?

Nothing in that piece of garbage counts with reference to the movies.

Apple