After the Sonny tragedy and the Don meets with Barzini and the others - he says now he has to clear his youngest son from the Solozzo charges.
Now I have not yet read the book, but I understand that to mean Michael is in a lot of trouble from the law when he gets back to the states - but who knew he did it? I mean besides the other 5 families, but they wouldn't say anything to the law, would they?

Everybody knew he did it.

The other families would have no need to 'say anything' to the law, even they knew it was Michael Corleone who committed the murders of Sollozzo/McClusky. Trouble is, once he was dead McClusky's ties to organized crime was revealed via the Corleone's people in the newspaper business.

Yes, Michael may have been in trouble legally upon his return from Sicily, but it was now up to Vito to use HIS connections (the judges in his pockets, etc...) to clear Michael of these 'false charges'. Which of course were not really false at all. I'm sure more drawn out detail is made of this in the novel, but that's about it in a nutshell.

However as Vito later lamented...there went his hopes for a 'Senator Corleone', or a 'Governor Corleone'.

Incidentally, helpful as it is, one need not have to 'read the book' in order to to comprehend all this over time.

AppleOnYa
Non-reader of the book

Apple - how did everyone know? Okay who knew? The waiters and patrons at restaurant knew what the shooter looked like, but no one knew who he was. Who gave the name? How did "everyone" know it was Michael? He was a nobody, a civilan? During those days, people killed people all the time and got away with it - That's the part I never really got.

Maybe they just put two and two together.. Solozzo and Cpt. McCluskey are murdered (I assume that Barzini/Tattaglia's people knew he was going to meet with Michael, or at least some member of the Corleone family) and then Don Corleone's youngest son is gone for.. however long (two years, I think?).

It's been a while since I read the book, so I might be off here, but it's like we all know OJ did it, but he got off. Michael is the same. Vito worked the politicians and Michael was allowed to come back and get back into the game.

And don't forget that Michael eventually faced the chareges in Part II even though it was only because Hyman Roth's men made it happen.

Actually the book explains ( it's been a long time since I read it, so don't hold me word for word ) that a member of another mob family associated with the Corleone's had been found guilty of murder and was facing the death penalty, or life in prison. So Vito made them an offer : Being that this family member was already going away for life or facing the death penalty, The Corleone's would take care of his Immedeate family finacially in exchange for this person confessing to Killing McClusky and Sollozo. This is how Michael was cleared of all the charges that he was facing upon his return to the states.


Don Cardi

As you saw in the film, Vito Corleone's shooting was big news. And that big scene outside the hospital would have been reported, even if the newspapers didn't report that McCluskey hit Michael. So, when McCluskey and Sollozzo were killed by an "unknown" person at their dinner table, everyone would have guessed that the murders were connected to Corleone business. And when Michael, well-known war hero, turned up missing, the finger would point at him. That's why he couldn't come back from Sicily until someone else took his place as the admitted murderer. It happened as Don Cardi described--one of the best passages in the novel that was, alas, not put in the film.

So if everyone figured it was Michael, did Kay assume that too? I mean when he comes home shes more upset that she hadn't heard from him - I don't remember her questioning about the murder until after the senator hearings.

They glossed over that part in the film. In the novel, when Kay visits the compound to give Tom the letter for Michael, Mama Corleone invites her in, gives her coffee, and advises her to forget about Michael and marry someone else. She takes away from that exchange that Michael did indeed kill the two of them and she got it from an unimpeachable source--Michael's mom.

To add some detail to Turnbull's comments (While he posted the above, I was busy looking up the exact quotes)...

There is a passage in the book where Kay is visited at her home in New Hampshire by two New York Police detectives, who are seeking information from her about Michael's whereabouts.

One of the detectives tells her "We're looking for your boyfriend because he killed a police captain in New York plus an informer the police officer was contacting. We know Michael Corleone is the person who did the shooting."

Kay, of course, does not believe the detectives, given Michael's explanation to her about his non-involvement in the "family business".

But she later visits Mama Corleone at the mall, and is told "You forget about Mikey, he no the man for you anymore."

Kay then comes to the realization that Michael did, indeed, commit the two murders.

On her way back from the mall, Puzo writes that "She was trying to get used to the fact that the young man she loved was a cold-blooded murderer. And that she had been told by the most unimpeachable source: his mother."

Thanks Turnbull and Plawrence, that explains a lot. See I had no idea Kay had coffee with Mama Corleone and I did not know police went to her home - I've got to read the book.

Well, the movie does sort of gloss over these facts. However, since Vito was shot and Michael was his son, it wouldn't have taken a genius to connect the dots when McCluskey was killed. I believe that the waiter had identified Michael's picture as well.

The book actually devotes a whole chapter to it. There is a rival Mafia family (the Bocchichios) who had gained a reputation as using members as negotiators/hostages in war situations between the other families. They were used by the other families as go-betweens to help settle disputes One of the members of this family was going down, as i recall, on an unrelated murder rap - he was going to the chair anyway.

Vito had some favors to call in from this family so he arranged for the other guy to confess to the murder and take Michael off the hook.

I know I've forgotten all the names and gotten half the details wrong, but that's what happened.

True Sicilian Babe, anybody can get that "everyone" knows that Michael killed Solozzo and captain, but I was curious if KAY knew and if she did why did she marry him. Now I understand a little more.

I think that Kay did know, in her heart. It was confirmed in the book by Mama Corleone. However, since Michael had been away, it was impossible for Kay to understand his transformation from the college boy with the questionable family to the cold, ruthless man he had become. When he returned, he professed his continuing love for her. Since she had loved him and lost him, it's understandable why she married him, despite what she really knew to be the truth about him.

agree

In the book Michael all but tells her himself.After he comes back from Sicily,there is a scene (diffrent from the one in the movie) where he askes her to marry him.He tells her that she cant ask him about his business and whatnot.When she sees him again,she starts believing again that he didnt shoot them, up until that part.

i Look at it as if he was Oj Simpson everyone knew he did it but no one proved it but everytime u look at him even though he was aquitted u think to yourself dat he did do it