I tend to think that Rocco was involved in the hit in some way. I think that because I don't think Michael would waste a member of the Family as Rocco was.

There's a line in the book, in which Kay reflects that one of the things she likes about Michael is that he is "always fair." I think the only way Rocco's death is fair to Michael is if Rocco was involved in the Tahoe conspiracy.

I agree with DT and TB that there is 0 evidence that Rocco had anything to do with the Tahoe assassins.

However, I disagree with this persistent theory that Neri passed over Rocco. Nothing of the sort happened. Neri was selected by Michael to be Michael's bodyguard, his Luca. In that position, Michael came to trust him and depend on him. He accompanied Michael on his trips including what apparently is his initial foray outside of NY to Las Vegas resulting, in part, in Moe Greene's murder. Rocco came later thru Clemenza and was "only" a capo. Consistent with the Corleone's propensity for a limited number of capos, Rocco receives the attention in that capacity.

Oli the pnly problem I see with your assesment is that it was Neri, and only Neri in whom Michael confided that he wanted Fredo killed. Further, in the scene in whch Michael dresses Tom Hagen down, Rocco has a little smirk onhis face. I believe Rocco was keeping tabs on Tom's doings, his mistress job offers etc., and was passing this on to Mike, nor so much on Mike's orders but with the sense that he was Michael's eyes and ears. He also was in on the killing of the hooker/compromise Geary operation. All this amounts to a great deal more than being another Luca or a bodyguard.

Shrewd as Michael was, I believe he set up a kind of rivalry between Tom and Neri, with each thinking he was the No. 2 man, but never being entirely sure about it.

I don't understand your reply. I stated that Neri was not in competition with Rocco because Neri was unassailable as Michael's protege.

We see Rocco, in both the novel and the film, long before Neri was recruited. In fact, we see Rocco chowing down with Sonny, Tess, Clem, Michael and Tom while they're chowing down and planning the Sol/Mac hit--pretty heady stuff for a guy who'd made his bones only a couple of days (or even hours) earlier.

To my mind, Rocco was security--we see him scanning the crowd at Anthony's party while Neri is nowhere to be seen. Michael dispatches him to get food for Ola's men; Neri introduces himself to Ola and participates in the discussion. In a deleted scene, Michael dispatches Neri to force out Klingman, then he orders around the showgirls. And in the penultimate boathouse scene, Neri's sprawled out, almost leading the discussion on Roth, snickering at Tom's humiliation, while Rocco remains standing.
Bottom line: Rocco was Clem's man, Neri was Michael's man--a parallel to Tom being Vito's choice for consigliere, not Michael's.

In the Corleone family Neri and Rocco were equally important. The difference is that Neri was closer to Michael, while Rocco was closer to Clemenza. Neri acted as Michael's right-hand man, but Rocco was in charge of the muscle. I think after Rocco's presumed death, Neri took over his regime.

If Rocco was merely a Clemenza guy then why does Michael promote him? And keep him as a capo for many years??

The question is simple. If Rocco didn't kill the shooters, who did? Fredo doesn't have the ability nor the gumption to carry out two flawless murders...while restraining his hysterical wife

Don't look for a zebra in a field of horses. Someone just tried to assassinate Michael. Michael knows this wasnt amateur night and whomever planned this sent the culprits on a suicide mission, just like he does with Rocco. If Rocco was in on killing Michael, Michael would have to eliminate Rocco as quick or quicker as they did with Paulie. Rocco was more powerful and closer to Michael than Fredo and Carlo. If Michael thought it was Rocco, he knew he wouldnt get a second chance. I remember the post about the Rosatos killing Clemenza by poison or something. Come on now.

It is one of the enduring mysteries of the Trilogy: who murdered the assassins? I agree with those above who state that Fredo did not have, physically or mentally, what it takes to murder two assassins.

Also, it wasn't Rocco; that makes no sense. Rocco surely recognized that his was quite a rising star in the Corleone family. Why would he align himself with several upstart Mafiosi in the Bronx and an ailing non-Mafioso who commanded no troops?

If I had to guess I would say whoever was waiting to transport the assassins out after the hit killed them. Why trust that many guys on such an important hit? Let them do it and ambush them while they are only worried about "getting away". Would be my guess.

I don't believe the Roth hit was a why to get back into his good graces.

I will have to look again about the necks of the assassins. Never noticed that.

I too don't think that Rocco was in any bad graces. There's no date and time stamp on the Trilogy, but based on the number of events that transpired between Michael's attempted assassination and Roth's murder, there must have been quite a bit of time that transpired. Thus, why does Michael leave Rocco alive during that time and seemingly fully participating in family activities? Doesn't add up.

Also, I can't see the assassins necks either or the I heart New York t-shirts they wore (since they look like they were hired out of New York).

That's what makes me leery of that theory, if Rocco was on Roth's side he surely would have leaked more info especially after all the ways Roth tried to get Michael and failed. Also, Roth would have noticed something was up had he seen Rocco waiting for him at the airport. He was totally surprised meaning to me he never even met Rocco.

I think there is definetly a possibility Rocco killed the shooters.

I watched last night just to see if I can see their necks and it was way too dark in that scene to see their necks so I'm with you.

Yea, in NO way is a "slit in the neck" visible on either of the assassin's. It's simply too dark to tell, and I doubt FFC would even put that in that scene as it makes no sense. Both assassin's were found in the water drainage tunnel and had to be fished out, we weren't shown any wet soldiers in any of the scenes or anything, so the whole garroting thing wouldn't make sense nor fit in that scene.

Fredo WAS the inside man, and I think Fredo WAS capable of killing. In the novel, Fredo was once the toughest of the three brothers and was looked at as a capable brute, that was until Vito was shot and he was so shocked from it all, that he had to be drugged up and was alone in his room for days. That whole situation was said to change him, in the novel. However we see in II and even GFI to an extent that Fredo can still occasionally revert to some traitorous, typical mafiosi, all about self, tendencies. I think him killing the assassins to keep his role in the scheme secret, is perfectly plausible. Not saying thats really what happened, but I think it's more plausible than the Rocco theory.

Agreed. I rewound The Godfather Epic about 4 times the other night looking for neck marks. There is no way they can be seen, and I was laying just mere feet from my 49" 4k tv and like you said it was way too dark.

My take, for what it is worth!

Among others,

I believe there was a third [!] assassin who took care of the first two assassins who were probably told to wait by Fredo's bedroom for assistance but were always going to be killed to leave no loose ends

There was a car at the gates trying to drive off or something just after the gun fire and Michael's guards were shouting Stop! Stop! then Halt! Also the sentry was slack leaving the gates open

It seems everyone was pretty much slack after the big party
Rocco failed to secure the compound but “never seen any direct [or even indirect!] evidence” that he was a traitor

If there was the slightest suspicion Rocco was the traitor, I believe there was no way Michael would have let Rocco live let alone continue to be in charge of security and safety of the compound and the family - “trusting [Rocco] with the lives of his wife and his children - the future of the family”

Rocco would have been eliminated the moment Michael was back from Cuba No doubt Michael would “just murder a traitor” Noone gets a pass from Michael not even his own brother

Nobody [including Rocco until he actually saw Michael alive] would have thought Michael survived the shooting
Who can that sort of machine gun fire in such a confined space of a bedroom?!

Rocco's trepidation [we'd try (to take them alive)] in trying to capture assassins armed with machine guns is understandable
How can machine gun armed professional killers be captured alive? Now that is a suicide mission!

Besides even if Michael's assassins were captured alive there would have been so many buffers and still none the wiser as to who gave the order

Rocco's killing of Roth need not have been a suicide mission at all
Rocco seems to have not planned the operation well, no escape plans at all
He could have easily shot Roth, camouflaging his gun and then instead of trying to run away in full view of the Federal agents, with the smoking gun still in his hand! could have just lost himself in the crowd The airport was full of people

The Don might give the killing order to the Capo but it is up to the Capo to work out how to kill the target and get away with it

Neri is deemed to be Michael's Luca Brasi, Michael's personal bodyguard and for special projects [killing of Barzini, the hooker/compromise Geary operation, Fredo] Hence Neri was always by Michael's side

I am not sure about rivalry if any between Neri and Rocco They had different roles and equally important in their respective fields However it seems Neri was more brains than Rocco who was more muscle

If my memory serves me right,
At the “Is it a boy?” scene even though Rocco was already in the room waiting, when Michael, Neri and Tom walked in, Michael asks Neri to get him a wet towel
So I don't think we can read too much into such things – as to who is asked to do what

When Michael said to Neri and Rocco to step outside, Rocco immediately leaves the room

Neri walks over to the table and takes a cigarette or something before walking out Neri also pushes the lock on the door in, before pulling it shut so that the door does not lock presumably for both Neri and Rocco to get back in without Tom having to unlock the door

What I found really interesting was neither Neri nor Rocco engaged in any conversation whilst waiting to get back in. It was like they both avoided and kept their distance from each other!

I think the simplest canonical explanation is that Rocco was sent on a suicide mission because he had failed in his task to protect Michael and his family. It was basically a way to redeem himself.

Sure thing Rocco failed to secure the compound “he had failed in his task to protect Michael and his family”

This ridiculous security breach “in my home” would have been the laughing stock

“In my home! In my bedroom, where my wife sleeps! Where my children come and play with their toys. In my home!”

What happened in Michael's home was a disgrace! However it seems Rocco's incompetence was forgiven!

How is Rocco's 'suicide' [sorry, beg to differ Ref: below] mission was basically a way to redeem himself?

Rocco's killing of Roth need not have been a suicide mission at all
Rocco seems to have not planned the operation well, no escape plans at all
He could have easily shot Roth, camouflaging his gun and then instead of trying to run away in full view of the Federal agents, with the smoking gun still in his hand! could have just lost himself in the crowd The airport was full of people

Rocco could have even used a silencer if available back then

Among others,
Michael committed a double murder including the New York Police captain in a public restaurant
Neri killed Emilio Barzini including the driver, bodyguards, in public at the steps of the [court house?]

These murders were well planned, executed and the 'killers' got away

Rocco is right next to a flight of stairs when he's shot, so if the agents don't shoot into the crowd and drop him he could get to those stairs and anything could happen. The other side to this is you don't know if Rocco had any way to know where Roth would stop and talk to the press.

Completely and fully without reservation, I find nothing in I or II to indicate yet alone support the contention of some Board members that Rocco's attempted or actual murder of Roth was a suicide mission embarked upon by Rocco in an effort to redeem himself.

Woltz, I agree that there were any number of variables associated with Rocco's plan to murder Roth. But reading your post, it dawned on me that we've seen this scenario before: Jack Ruby's murder of Oswald.

Let me rephrase. I don't think it was set in stone Rocco was going to die. I called it a suicide mission because it was going to be extremely difficult to kill Roth at the airport while he was taken into custody and get away with it. I think Rocco offered to do the job in order to redeem himself to Michael. And Michael allowed him to do it for that very reason and because of this among other things Rocco had become dispensable.

This is my canonical explanation. In reality Rocco, as well as Willi Cicci were supposed to be still around in GF III.

I agree that Rocco had become dispensable the end of II. Rocco was Clemenza's protege, Neri was Michael's protege--just as Tom was Sonny's choice for a brother, not Michael's; and Tom was Vito's choice for consigliere, not Michael's.

One thing that always interested me: Rocco was completely identified with Michael--we even see him listed as a caporegime in the FBI chart at the Senate hearing. Since Rocco was killed at the airport (or if he had been captured), the police and FBI would immediately see that he was acting on Michael's orders. So (attention: Oli), we might make a case that Michael intended Rocco to escape, if for no other reason than to protect his own reputation--so recently under attack at the Senate hearing. On the other hand, Michael may have wanted Rocco killed--and indentified with him--as yet another warning to his enemies that no one gets a pass from Michael Corleone no matter what.

TB, I don't find any of that persuasive. Tom, Neri, and Fredo were all intimates of Michael's operations and were subject to subpoena. Thus, what ever nefarious expectations Michael had of Rocco he could equally have of Tom, Neri, and Fredo.

Although you cite Rocco as Clemenza's, at Michael's direction Rocco built a secret regime and Clemenza was already dead during Rocco's tenure in Nevada. Per the novel, it was Rocco who murdered Phillip Tattaglia and then reported it to Michael.

I just don't understand why some Board members continue to impugn Rocco's standing in the family. What would have been the reason for any pass?

The Godfather Novel - What did Don Vito Corleone see in Rocco Lampone

I came across this old post, perhaps aptly put? by user Danito on 23 May 2009

Extract:
“So, just as Neri is Michael's Luca, Rocco is Michael's Clemenza”

Rocco was Clemenza's choice for an important mission: killing Paulie Gatto, after which he "made his bones." Vito was gravely ill at the time, and Rocco fit in with Clemenza and was accepted by Sonny. Michael accepted and trusted him in GF--building a "secret regime" after Michael started planning Thee Great Massacre. for example. But, Neri was Michael's choice.
SPOILER
The novel tells us that Michael saved him from prison, brought him along, won his loyalty. That's when Clemenza said: "You've got your Luca Brasi."

Exactly TB. After the massacre, Neri was sent to take command of Tessio's regime (by the way, he was discovered by Clemenza) although temporarily. He ended up as security chief for the Corleone Nevada hotels and Rocco became the Corleone's capo.

It seems so unrealistic that Puzo would limit the Corleone family to one capo.