All that is said above is true. While there is absolutely no doubt that Montana was to blame for all that occured, due to both arrogance and the drugs, Manolo was the one who lit the fuse for Montana's rapid demise. Manolo was the one who pushed Tony to meet this Cidelbaum character and put the meet together. We know that Cidelbaum turned out to be an undecover cop. This Cidelbaum deal put together by Manolo put Tony into the situation that caused him to have no choice but to do what the cartel needed him to do in order for Tony to beat the charges against him. I do believe that even if this did not happen with Cidelbaum, eventually Tony would still have self destructed, but not as quickly and in the manner that it occured. Manolo was careless in his connecting up with Cidelbaum and in my opinion was more worked up for Tony to meet this guy because for once it would be Manolo who made a big contribution to thier business. Manolo's judgement was definatley clouded by his excitement of wanting to be the one to put this deal together and it ignited the fall of Montana's empire.


Don Cardi