No question about it TB. There are parts in the novel that talk about the doubts that Vito had about Sonny one day taking over as the Don.

And as pointed out above, Vito probably did have aspirations and dreams of taking the family legit. I believe that deep down inside, he believed that one day he would get Michael to align with him in the legitimate end of the family business and then would have used all of his political contacts and connections to set Michael up in the "legitimate" political world.

TOM : (after looking off toward Sonny, bends his head toward the Don) "It was Michael -- who killed Sollozzo. But he's safe -- and we're starting to work to bring him back now." [The Don, markedly upset and angry, gestures that they leave him alone. They exit.

VITO : "But I never -- I never wanted this for you -- I thought that -- that when it was your time -- that -- that you would be the one to hold the strings. Senator - Corleone. Governor - Corleone, or something... this wasn't enough time, Michael. Wasn't enough time..."


For me that sums it all up. Earlier I said that Vito was not really looking at the big picture, and he wasn't in terms of the drug trade and how it would grow in the underworld.

But at the same time, in his mind he WAS looking at the big picture realizing that Sonny could never keep the political connections once he ( Vito) was gone and therefore Vito had plans to protect those political connections that he had and not jepordize those connections just for the sake of making money off of drugs. He wanted to protect those connections because he had plans of using them once he guided Michael into the "legitimate" polical world.

But when he learned that Michael was the one that killed Sol and McC, those dreams went right out the widow. Now he had no choice but to alter those plans in order to protect his son and save his family.

There truly wasn't enough time.