Then why the lie? Why tell Frankie that "Michael Corleone says hello" 10 seconds before he's dead? Why not tell him "That jew in Miami sends his regards"?
There's no sense to it. The only reason to do so is to make Frankie believe that Michael ordered the hit on him. And why do that if the main goal is Frankie's death? That's as much nonsense as Sollozzo telling Luca Brasi that "Vito says hello".
Taunting? I'm not buying it. Especially when it's revealed by Tom later that Roth engineered the whole thing.
Keep in mind that the "Michael Corleone says hello" line wasn't originally in the script. Neither Puzo or Coppola came up with it. Danny Aiello thought it up when they were filming it and asked if he could slip that line in and Coppola said he could.
Yes, but I believe it's because Coppola knew it added to the narrative of the deception.
Aiello obviously knew the reason for the deception. Aiello didn't just say it without a good reason. The reason is Roth pulling a fast one to turn Pentangeli against Michael. This was Roth's "ace in the hole" if things didn't pan out in Cuba.
There was enough in place for Pentangeli to blame Michael anyway (siding with the Jew, taking the side of the Rosato brothers over the territories). Aiello's ad-lib just put a stronger emphasis on that sense of betrayal. It was a great line and I'm thankful Aiello and Coppola ran with it.
Roth certainly wasn't going to simply trust a second assassination attempt when the first one failed so miserably. Roth wanted a guarantee. Pentangeli was it. If Michael DID get killed in Cuba then Pentangeli's testimony would be pretty worthless to the Senate Committee and he would go away for many years anyway and Roth's problems would still be solved.
It was a sure thing. Except Roth didn't plan on Vincenzo showing up to shame his brother.
(Incidentally, though it would be easy to take one's time garroting Pentangeli until the cop showed up, the cop popping in at that particular time is really irrelevant. the cop could have popped in two minutes later or even ten minutes later. The only reason for the cop is to find Pentangeli alive with heroin on him so they can start cutting a deal with him)
And one more thing I just thought of: If the Tahoe assassins were "out of New York", they were likely Rosato buttonmen. IF that's the case (and I'm not saying it is) then the Rosatos killing Pentangeli would only serve as a reward for their incompetence in Tahoe. Roth wouldn't really gain much by it but the Rosatos would. Why would Roth reward the Rosatos by giving them permission to kill Pentangeli? Just a thought.
I would imagine the Rosatos owed Roth BIG TIME for screwing up the hit in Nevada (provided, of course, they
WERE Rosato buttonmen)
