re: If Sonny Corleone doesn't get whacked, does the Corleone family win the war?

He betrayed Michael with Johnny Ola and Hymann Roth. It led Ola to try and clip Michael.

quote:

---

What I never understood was Michael killing Fredo.

---

Fredo was barely above being a functioning retard. As long as he stayed away from the business, he seemed pretty harmless. Michael should have kept him confined to the estate and let him fish. Only whack him if he tried to get out of line again. I think Fredo knew it was only a matter of time though before he got one in the back of the head.

Sonny was a hothead. Michael was cool and calculated. Sonny may have eventually won the war, but at a much higher body count for his family and the others.

Fredo was a liability that Michael could ill afford to have. The fact that Michael does not kill him once he gets back from Cuba shows remarkable restraint on Michael's part. I'm sure that Fredo did not think his actions would lead to a hit on his brother but they did and all he had to do was to keep his mouth shut in Havana.....but as the Romans would say . In Vino Veritas

quote:

---

What I never understood was Michael killing Fredo.

---

that was essential to the story

- it left Tom as Michael's only brother (this is the mafia, his only brother has no blood ties)

-Fredo was gay.


When Michel finally realized it, he knew instantly that Vito had been aware and it was Tom's job to keep it secret. Vito/Tom arranged to send Fredo to Vegas, 'for his protection'.
Mike, originally thought that Vito's issues with Fredo's sexuality was him "banging two cocktail waitress at a time" not him being homosexual.

Micheal decided that Fredo had to go, when he admitted to going with John O to strip clubs. It was then Fredo started talking about the size of men's dicks when in Cuba, Michael made his decision.
Your Capo dei capi, you can't have your brother going to gay strip clubs with you the Jewish mob's underboss.