Fredo and Frank Pentangeli seem to have enjoyed a long-delayed reunion at Anthony’s party. The dialog (“Fredo, you sonofabitch, you look great!” “I thought you was never comin’ out West, you big bum”) tells me they hadn’t seen each other in years—perhaps not since Sonny sent Fredo to Nevada 12 years earlier. But, after the shooting, Johnny Ola calls Fredo to tell him he needs more information, specifically: “Pentangeli says he's willing to make the deal. All we want to know is if he's on the level or if he's gonna bring his boys.”


How would Fredo know, or find out, that information? Michael never confided in Fredo to begin with, and he certainly would not have called anyone other than Tom while he was away in Florida, New York and Havana. Fredo could not have known about Frankie’s upcoming with the Rosatos because Michael had just proposed it to Frankie. And, since Fredo and Pentangeli obviously hadn’t seen each other in years, it’d be absurdly suspicious if Fredo suddenly called Pentangeli and said, “Hiya, Frankie, I hear you’re gonna make the deal with the Rosatos. Are you on the level or are you gonna bring your boys?”

Sloppy writing is one possible explanation: FFC and Puzo needed to tip us off that Fredo was the traitor, and so they just wrote some throw-away dialog to bring it off. But I think there’s another possible explanation:

I’ve always believed that Fredo was in with Roth and Ola far deeper than he let on. One example: After conspiring with R&O to set Michael up, Fredo might have looked ahead and asked about possible retaliation from New York. Pentangeli was still loyal to Michael and would have provided muscle in a war that might have resulted following Michael’s assassination and Fredo’s ascendency to the Donship, which is no doubt what R&O promised him. So, Ola told Fredo, “Don’t worry. We’re using the Rosatos to set up a rift between Michael and Pentangeli so it’ll look like he ordered the hit. Then the Rosatos will take over New York—and they’ll be loyal to us, and to you.”

Your thoughts?