This has come up before (as most things have)

Here's what I said in an earlier thread....

I never interpreted Mike asking Rocco ("Rocco?...."Difficult, not impossible") to mean that it actually had to be Rocco himself who carried out the hit.

I'm sure Mike would have known Rocco's plan and approved it, but had Rocco had an alternate yet viable plan for killing Roth, I'm sure Michael would have approved that one as well.

Rocco probably figured it was a suicide mission, and when Mike heard Rocco's plan, he probably figured out it was a suicide mission also.

We could even add to the plot that Mike tried to talk Rocco out of carrying out the hit himself.

But I think the plan itself was Rocco's idea, not Michael's, and that's why I think there's the element of Rocco seeking some type or redemption here (as Turnbull will argue). Either for his complicity in the "Assassinate Michael" scheme (unlikely, I think), or his failing Mike in not having the premises adequately secure on the night of the attempt on Michael (more likely, IMO).

Or maybe it's what I think Turnbull has suggested in the past: Rocco was being pushed out by Neri, and he simply intended to re-establish his importance in Michael's eyes.

I like the way he answers Michael so quickly, while calmly munching on a piece of fruit.