Actually, Don Sonny, Pacino was to play the part of Mario Trantino in "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" after "The Panic in Needle Park." Originally, FFC wanted him (of course) to play Michael but the pezzonovantes at Paramount wanted nothing to do with him and wanted James Caan to play Michael. But after seeing the dailies of "Needle Park," the execs agreed to let FFC cast Pacino as Michael if he could also get Caan to play Sonny. The only problem was Pacino was signed on to do "Gang". So Paramount got Pacino out of his obligation to star in "Gang" and brought him over to play Michael, which allowed FFC to recast the part of Paulie and freed up (ironically) Deniro to play Mario in "Gang" only to return as a young Vito in GF2.

I'm confused - what was the question?