Vito’s policy was to give orders to subordinates one at a time, so there’d be no corroborating witnesses against him if someone turned rat. But he had all five members of his hierarchy—Sonny, Tom, Fredo, Tessio and Clemenza—present when he gave his “no” to Sollozzo. Why? He could have more easily said no to Sol in private, or had Tom do it.

I believe the reason was that Vito’s “no” on drugs was aimed as much at his family’s hierarchy as at Sol. He wanted everyone to hear the “no” simultaneously. He knew about the greed that enormous drug profits generated. Sonny and Tom were hot for the profits. If they were, so would Tess and Clem—probably Fredo, too. And Vito knew that Sol knew it. He’d expect Sol to start probing for greed in his family even after his “no.” So, to shore up his armor, Vito fired a shot across everyone’s bows. Now, anyone, even his sons, who might get into drugs behind his back, would be a traitor. And, given human nature, they’d all be watching each other, so any sign of disloyalty (or sudden wealth) would be reported to Vito.

Now for the ironies:

First, when Sonny shot his mouth off, he undid the very purpose of Vito’s holding the public meeting. Had Vito met with Sol privately, Sonny would never have had that opportunity. But Sonny’s gaffe saved Sol months of dangerous probing for weaknesses. He became the c***k in the Don’s armor. He also provided Sol with a rationale for getting the other Dons’ permission to whack Vito. They were greedy for drug profits. But they’d never approve of attacking Vito if it meant a long, costly, bloody war. Now Sol told them: “There isn’t gonna be a war. Sonny’s hot for my deal and Hagen knows it’s the right thing. Sure, Sonny’ll howl for blood. But sooner rather than later, Hagen will convince him that, with Vito gone, the Corleones have been severely weakened, and they need the profits from drugs more than ever. Relax, guys: it’s a slam-dunk.”

Second, by failing to kill Vito, Sol did the one thing guaranteed to prevent a deal on drugs. Tom, at least, was still hot for the deal (“If your father dies, Sonny, you make the deal”). But as long as Vito breathed, he had no authority to proceed. Ditto Sonny. Plus, Sonny already knew that his gaffe had enabled the shooting. Had he made a deal while Vito was alive, he’d be betraying his father—and creating the impression in the family that he may have been in cahoots with Sol all along to become Don and get rich through drugs.

Third, Vito told Michael (much later), “Women and children can afford to be careless. But not men.” He was cautioning Michael--and, as many of us here agree, acknowledging his own carelessness with Sol. But Sol was careless in his choice of assassins for Vito. Those two guys really botched it. They were armed with puny weapons: probably a .32 revolver and a .25 autoloader, both weak rounds fired from guns with short barrels that further reduced the bullets’ velocity and energy. They should have known that Vito’s winter coat would slow the bullets even more. Though the guns held at least 12 rounds total (probably more), they only fired nine shots, of which only five hit Vito—pretty piss-poor shooting. They got close to Vito, but not close enough to score a mortal hit. And they didn’t stick around for the coupe de grace, as did the guys who machine-gunned Sonny.