When Vito returned home from the hospital, Sonny told him he’d arranged for Fredo to “learn the hotel business” in Vegas. We weren’t told that the Corleones had invested in Moe Green’s hotel. But they did: when Michael met with Fredo in Vegas, he said, “Now Moe Greene will sell us his share of the casino and the hotel so it could be completely owned by the Family.” And he pointedly reminded Moe that the Corleones had “bankrolled” his hotel.

So, when Fredo told Moe to expect a visit from his brother, Moe had to know that Michael was on a mission to buy him out. His response—“I tolk to Barzini. I can make a deal with him and still keep my hotel”—was a threat to Michael. If true, it would mean that Barzini would provide whatever money Moe needed to keep his money-losing hotel afloat, presumably in return for some part of Moe’s share, and with Moe still in charge. That would put Barzini eyeball-to-eyeball with Michael, in the same property, in newly wide-open Vegas—a new battleground.

In the previous scene, Tessio complained that “Barzini's people chisel my territory, and we do nothing about it. Pretty soon there won't be one place in Brooklyn I can hang my hat!” Barzini “chiseling” by opening betting parlors or loan shark operations in Tessio’s territory was one thing. But, Barzini supporting Moe against Michael by buying into Moe’s hotel and enabling Moe to stay in charge was quite another, vastly more provocative, thing, especially since Vito was still alive.

My question: Do you think Barzini actually told Moe he would invest in his hotel and stand against Michael’s move to buy him out and move him out? Or do you think Moe, “headstrong, talking loud, saying stupid things” (Roth in II), was shooting his mouth off and bluffing Michael?