Originally posted by plawrence:
Had Fredo known of Rocco's complicity he certainly would have told Michael during the "I didn't know it was gonna be a hit" scene. Why would he take the fall himself?
Even if Fredo didn't know that Rocco was involved, as dumb as he was he still would have realized that, given the death of the hitmen, he was not the only one involved on the inside, and offered some theory to Michael as to who else had participated.
You know, just when I start to think I'm "smaht" and can come up with a decent theory, there turn out to be two counter-arguments for every one good argument I propose.
But let me postulate this: Would Fredo necessarily know that the gunmen had been killed? When Tom Hagen ordered Rocco to "get rid of the bodies," I guess one could surmise that he meant that they should be disposed of the "mafia way" -- make 'em disappear as if they never existed. Fredo, or anybody else, could just be left to think that the gunmen had simply gotten away. Possible?
Originally posted by plawrence:
Even without any disclosure by Fredo, I have to give Michael credit for being able to figure out that another or others on the inside were involved besides Fredo. He let Rocco stay as a member of his inner circle for an awfully long time, which leads me to believe that he didn't suspect him.
Originally posted by Turnbull:
After he confirms Fredo and makes the attempt on Roth's life, there's no further emphasis on the Tahoe shooting--except for Michael to lure Fredo into his own lair and whack him.
Now, we know Michael never gives an enemy or traitor a pass. If Rocco had been part of the Tahoe plot, why didn't Michael whack him?
Those are good points, and it is true that the Tahoe incident isn't re-visited after Fredo's confession. But I think there is a reason why it would re-enter Michael's mind near the end of the movie. What I originally thought is that Michael didn't suspect Rocco's involvement until much later in time.
Before Fredo confesses, Michael travels out of state without Al
or Rocco. He has a new body guard instead. This was right after the murder attempt, so I believe he was a bit shaky in the trust of all his subordinates (except Tom). Since the assassins were after Michael and not his family, he felt it safe to leave Al and Rocco at Lake Tahoe under the watchful eye of Tom.
After Fredo confesses, Michael has found the traitor in his family; there was no need to search any further. We see Al and Rocco become more involved again. Rocco is even in Washington with him during the Senate Hearings helping him with paperwork in the hotel room.
I think it was after Mamma's death, when Michael was cementing his plans for Fredo's fate, that he began to mull things over. How could his brother have arranged everything about the hit on his own -- sneaking into his home to open the drapes, killing two gunmen, etc.? He realized that Roth probably needed a second party for these logistics. Rocco was allowed into his home. Rocco was first on the scene to see Michael alive. Rocco led him to the hitmen's corpses.
Note that at this point Michael is becoming quite paranoid. He even questions Tom's loyalty. Rightly or wrongly, he started to believe Rocco could have been swayed by Roth; and Michael would have no qualms about killing Rocco to be "extra sure" about his own future safety. If Rocco hadn't volunteered for Roth's killing, Michael would have had Rocco killed some other way if he now convinced himself that Rocco was a traitor.
Of course, the flaw with this argument is that I'm reading Michael's mind, making assumptions about what he's thinking
. But from the start I had a strong intuition that
this is the point where he began to suspect Rocco, even if out of paranoia. It is clear that Michael is losing his grip on whom to trust. Fredo has to go. Now Rocco has to go
"just in case." Originally posted by plawrence:
Fredo was the only one identified as a being traitor. I believe that it was the intention of MP and FFC to leave us thinking that it was Fredo who killed the hitmen, without realizing that some 30+ years later there would be fanatics like us still trying to figure the thing out.
Originally posted by Turnbull:
In the sequencing of the film, Michael says to Tom, "...and then I'll know who the traitor in my family is..." The film immediately segues, bold and loud, to Fredo and that phone call from Johnny Ola.
And that's the rub -- the issue that puts a big damper on the Rocco theory. Fredo is so obviously the traitor. He has to be -- for dramatic impact, because of the scenes Turnbull mentioned, because of his confession to Michael, etc.
Even if Fredo were the main traitor and Rocco a secondary traitor, it still doesn't pan out logically. As I mentioned before, if Roth & Ola had Rocco as the insider who would open the drapes, check to see if Michael was dead or alive, plan the escape route through the drainage pipes, and/or kill the gunmen --
then what did they need Fredo for? To sneak the hitmen onto the estate? To identify Michael's house? To point out where the bedroom window is situated? OK, but these are all things Rocco could have done since they had him on their side anyway.
This is getting to be a conundrum wrapped in a puzzle. I have to think about it some more ...
