what if michael didn't feel that he had to kill roth? what if he took tom's advice, and left him alone?

do you think there would have been reprisals from roth?

Yes, absolutely. Roth was Michael's most dangerous adversary, by far. Even after he lost his Havana empire and nearly died from a stroke and the bodyguard's attempt to kill him, Roth was still scheming against Michael. His Senate ploy neary worked. As long as Roth drew a breath, Michael wasn't safe.

i wonder...was roth considered dangerous to don vito?

i dont think they were really contemporaries. in the saga version, hyman roth appears as a teenager, while clem and vito are well in their adult life. i doubt at that time he was considered any type of threat to vito.

But it also showed that Roth was born in 1892 (he was celebrating his 67th birthday with all the mob guys on the balcony in Cuba in 1959). That means he was only one year younger than Vito.

Vito did business with Roth, Vito respected Roth, but Vito never trusted Roth, so I imagine he kept a good eye on him.

And there we have another of those anomalies (like Vito's to birthdays). In a deleted scene from II, after Sr. Roberto makes his trembling exit from Vito's office, Clem introduces him to a kid who says he can fix their truck. Vito says they'll call him "Hyman Rothstein." In that scene, Vito looks about 30, Roth is about 17 or 18. But, in the Havana birthday scene, Roth's cake shows him celebrating his 67th birthday in December 1958, which gives him a birth year of 1891, same as Vito. That would be consistent with Frankie saying "your father did business with Hyman Roth," and Roth telling Michael how he and Vito "ran molasses into Canada," etc.

In that scene, Vito looks about 30, Roth is about 17 or 18. But, in the Havana birthday scene, Roth's cake shows him celebrating his 67th birthday in December 1958, which gives him a birth year of 1891, same as Vito. That would be consistent with Frankie saying "your father did business with Hyman Roth," and Roth telling Michael how he and Vito "ran molasses into Canada," etc.[/quote]

Sorry, but eh....Hyman Roth does not look 67 years old! More like 87.

I wouldn't go that far. He looks like 67 in the late 50s and in bad health.

Yes. Half a century ago, people in their 60's looked older than people in their 60's do today. FYI, Lee Strasberg was 73 when he played Hyman Roth.

Lest we forget regarding Roth.

'He's been dying of the same heart attack for 20 years.' The man had reason to look like sh1t.

Incidentally, I believe Michael is only supposed to be 59 or 60 in 1979/80, Godfather III.

Being a mafia boss is seriously bad for the ageing process.

Yep and all that pasta, wine and birthday cake doesn't help.

And having your best friend shot and watching punk kids chisel in on your Vegas and Cuba action makes things worse..