Originally posted by CapriCasino:
Since it's fundamental to GF2, I'm sheepish about admitting I don't understand why Roth wanted to kill Michael, especially before Michael turned over the $2 million he planned to invest in the Havana casino operation. It seems that Roth would have wanted that money; instead, he arranged a hit on Michael at Michael's Lake Tahoe estate.
Also, during the hit on Frankie at the bar, why did the killer say "Michael Corleone says hello"? The hit was arranged by Roth, not Michael. And since the idea was to kill Frankie, why bother misleading him about who ordered the hit?
similar to what joethegreek said, the 2 million was just to make michael feel secure about his relationship with roth. if roth's original plan (michael's assassination at his home) had succeeded then michael wouldve been out of the picture, roth would continue to reign in nevada and all is well. michael survived the attempt, and lead roth to believe that he thought it was frankie pentangelli that attempted to kill michael (to keep roth close and see if roth would leak out any info of who the trader in his family was). roth, also being clever, drew michael in to his cuba deal to make michael feel secure and well taken care of. in order for michael to take part in this deal roth told him he needed to invest 2 million, but having michael out of the picture was what roth really wanted. michael saw right through roth's plans which is why the money never made it to roth.
turnbull has mentioned that the "michael corleone says hello" phrase was for the bartender to overhear and relay that to the cops during questioning, which makes the most sense. why? because if indeed roth set it up so that frankie was to survive the "murder" and believe that michael was the one who betrayed him would not make any sense with what roth had planned for michael in cuba. michael was never supposed to live through new years eve, what good would it be for frankie to testify against michael if michael was dead.
robert
