I know this is a GF III question and the obvious answer is the movie was poorly written, etc., but I'll ask anyway.

It seems like the Atlantic City hit wiped out a good portion of the Comission. Presumably that would have allowed Zasa to consolidate his power, but as we know Zasa gets whacked pretty soon after that.

I would think the only logical families to have the power to pick up the pieces were the Corleone Family and the Altobello Family. That being the case, how could Michael not have suspected Altobello from the get go?

Further, once Altobello was whacked and after Mary died, are we to believe Vincent went back and took everything over, or should we assume it went as it really did, the Siciliam mob in NY became weaker, and Colombians, Russians etc moved in. Assuming that to be the case where DID that leave Vincent?

That's the answer, right there...


Zasa didn't know it, though.


If I read the scene correctly, it was supposed to be Michael's final Commission meeting. Even before the meeting, he no longer had "feet on the street." And Michael was supposed to be killed in the same attack. Therefore, Zasa would pick up all the pieces in a coup much like Michael's Great Massacre of '55. Presumably Altobello would have gotten something from Zasa, but his role in the NY Mob was never made clear. And later, he introduces Vincent to Lucchese as "the hero who killed Joey Zasa." More poor writing.


I often wondered about that, too. I thought FCC, Puzo and Paramount were leaving the door open for a GFIV.

There is a comment Vincent makes in Sicily about how the Corleones need to keep a presence on the street in New York
in light of the vacuum that had been created, and I think he specifically mentions that if they don't the Colombians will,
and I suspect Michael would have gone along with it, given his statement "Everytime I think I'm out they pull me back in."

Also by the time Michael realizes that Altobello has betrayed him and he sends Vincent to make a "deal" with him (same plot device Vito used with Luca and the Tattaglias ....sheesh don't these people ever learn?) there is an implication made when Vincent meets Luchese that if he comes to work for them he will in effect be the new and improved Joe Zasa.

While the dons were wiped out, their families were not. There were plenty of replacements for the vacancies.

Michael knew it was Altobello,from the beginning.Remember in #1,when Vito tells him that the traitor would be the one who would apporach him as a messager,in order to "straighten things out".That's why he tells Altobello: "I have learned a few things from my father".

ALso I seem to recall Neri saying that although most died, the Dons who survived the commission attack had made deals with Joey Zasa.

Vincent leaves Sicily, goes back to New York and rebuilds.

Why would any dons make deals with Zasa? What did Zasa have that they would have wanted? As Michael said, he's just muscle, an enforcer.