Well TB, not completely....Sonny is talking about killing EVERYONE not just Solozzo. Michael's conclusion that killing Vito is the key for Solozzo is based on evidence.
That's what I meant when I said logic was on Michael's side in both cases.
I wonder... if Sonny had not killed Bruno, and if Michael had killed Sollozzo and McCluskey and fled to Sicily, couldn't a deal to avoid a full scale war been reached?
The novel made it pretty clear that the police made a massive crackdown on all the Mob rackets they'd formerly protected following Sollozzo's murder. No money was coming in. A representative of the Five Families visited Sonny and asked if the Corleones would give up the murderer. After Sonny told them it was none of their concern, a bomb went off at the mall, several Corleone men were assassinated at dinner--and the Five Families War of 1946 was launched. So, I conclude that the murder of McCluskey, not those of Bruno Tattaglia and Sollozzo, triggered the war.
