Why does Mike feel that he has to approach Carlo in front of everyone (when he confronts carlo about sonny's death?)

was he (michael) trying to prove a point, or did he want everyone else in the room to know he wasn't conned by his game?

thoughts?

Everyone? His Consigliere, bodyguard, and capo. Today he settles all family business and he has his three protagonists in that settling with him.

Some people here have speculated that Michael needed to make Carlo confess, in front of witnesses, so he (Michael) could be sure that he was doing the right thing by having Carlo whacked. In the novel, Hagen and Rocco are "astonished": wasn't it plain that Carlo was guilty? They were thinking that Michael "wasn't yet the man his father was" for having that tiny moment of hesitation and doubt. I think FFC included it for dramatic effect. Also, by telling Carlo he'd be punished merely by being out of the family business, he was making Carlo more pliable, to get him into the car without fighting for his life.

Perhaps the best acting moment of Gianni Russo, when Michael tells him: "Come on, you think I'd make my sister a widow?" And Carlo forces himself to smile. A smile with a look of sheer terror.

I think Michael would have done it that way because Carlo's betrayal was more personal and intimate than anyone elses and required his individual attention.

Or perhaps he did it so the people around him saw how they would be dealt with should they turn on him.

This is a little off-topic, but I like how, once he gets in the car, Carlo seems truly surprised by his garroting at the hands of Clemenza. This contrasts the much earlier scene where Paulie is driving Clemenza and Rocco and Paulie is very wary of Rocco sitting behind him.

I don't think Paulie was the sharpest knife in the drawer, but the two scenes show that even Paulie was more savvy than Carlo, which says more about Carlo than Paulie.

That's a good point.

But, Carlo thought he'd been given the ultimate pass by Michael. He was probably so overwhelmed by relief at the time that, whatever wariness he might have had (and should have had, with Clem in the backseat) was turned off.

I agree that Paulie wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. How the hell did he think he could set up Vito for the shooting and not be found out?

Like you always say Tb, his greed made him blind to the fact he'd be found out.

Just watched this on AMC, and I have an additional thought about the Carlo scene.

Michael wanted to know which Don it was that betrayed him. In order to get this information from Carlo, he had to make him feel comfortable and safe. Hence the fake plane tickets, etc. Once Michael has the information he wants from Carlo (it was Barzini), he can kill him off.

Maybe...maybe not. Vito figured out "it was Barzini all along" after the Don's convention. No doubt he told Michael about that. And he warned Michael, "Whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he's the traitor." So, it's possible Michael asked the question (already knowing the answer) simply to make Carlo humble himself and confess his guilt. On the other hand, though Michael knew it was Barzini all along, he simply wanted to know who made the initial approach.

I believe Michael knew Carlo set up Santino for Barzini, and he anticipated that Carlo would deny it, so he used the tactic of relaxing him with a drink and the assurance he would not make his sister a widow, and then got him to confess in front of witnesses that it was Barzini who apprached him. This way Michael was making sure that there were witnesses to Carlo's admission of guilt just in case there was backlash from Connie or other family members.