[1] They're telling me that I am going on a suicide mission. NOW, if I actually was the one who betrayed the boss who is sending me on this suicide mission, than I am not showing up that day. If I know that I am a traitor and now figure that my boss knows it to, if I refuse to carry out the order, I am a dead man. If I carry out the order, I am a dead man. So I accept the order and then run for the hills.
[2] However it didn't play out that way. It actually was Rocco who told Mike that getting to Roth would be "difficult, but not impossible."
[3] So it's obvious, by his own words, that Rocco figured that he could pull it off. And If he did pull it off, he would be bigger and better than Neri ever was and then Michael would have to at least treat him as an equal to Neri.
Rocco was expendable. Neri was not.
I should start by saying that this exchange is very beneficial to me. I've been away from the board for quite a while, and I'm glad I'm back on.
To [2] & [3], I think we must take into account Turnbull's correct observation that Rocco had no choice but to say it was a doable hit. Turnbull wrote:
"Michael, the old manipulator, gave Rocco no choice. Put yourself in his shoes:
--In the boathouse, Neri reclines in the chair and leads the discussion on Roth. Rocco stands guard, like the security guard he's become (when he's not a waiter, feeding Johnny Ola's men).
--After Michael brutally humiliated Tom about his job offer and mistress (watch Neri smirk; he was obviously the source of that info), he then says he wants Roth's plane met.
--Tom, true to form, falls right back into character: "Impossible...like assassinating the President." Sets stage for another humiliation: "Y'know, Tom, you surprise me...if there's one thing that's certain...it's that you can kill anyone."
--And then Michael turns and says, "Rocco?" He doesn't say, "Al?" He says, "Rocco?"
Now, what's Rocco going to say? "Uh, Mike, uh, I agree with Tom: impossible"?? After Tom was humiliated giving the "impossible" answer? Not a chance! Michael gave him no options."
Now this doesn't necessarily mean that Rocco was lying here. Also, just because he says it's difficult, but not impossible, it doesn't mean he's at this moment volunteering for the hit. He is just answering a question: is killing Roth possible? If he said, "I think I can do it myself," that would be different. But to infer that Rocco's statement was meant as self-enlistment for the hit is a stretch. Again, he's only answering a question, and as Turnbull observes there was only one answer he could give, whether that answer was his true opinion or not.
There is a lingering problem for me here. You seem to agree that objectively speaking the Roth hit is a suicide mission. Do I understand you correctly in thinking that in your view Rocco thought he could outmaneuver "half the FBI" in an airport and make it out alive? I think Rocco would know better than that. And if he thought there was 0.0000001% chance of getting away alive, did he really think it was still worth a shot if it meant supplanting Neri? This is a tough sale for me as well, as it's not the calculation of a businessman -- "All our people are businessmen -- their loyalty is based on that."
Regarding [1], there are things that can be done to get the guy to "show up" on the day of the hit. Firstly, you assign him to the job on that day, not before -- an old trick of clever ringleaders of conspiracies. The other aspect of my little theory is that Rocco is given a Pentangelli type deal. "You have to die, now there are two ways we can do this: Neri blows your head off right now, or, you do me this 'service' (kill Roth), and in exchange . . . ." Now what is the "in exchange"? Here I admit I'm really speculating, but perhaps not too wildly: wouldn't Rocco have had a family, like Pentangelli did?
