Even Michael volunteers that 'Roth misled him' in order to beckon him home. That wasn't just to lull Fredo into a sense of false security. They all believed he knew very little, and provided just enough information (whatever that may have been - it's never revealed) to enable the plot to be carried out.
What did Michael think? Did he believe Fredo knew about the hit? When did he change his mind? During the boathouse conversation?
It's one of the moments that I don't really understand even though it's powerful: "Fredo you're nothing to me now you're not a brother, you're not a friend."
Was Michael angry because
- Fredo didn't deliver more infor about the hearing?
- Fredo by his epileptic behavior showed that he knew in fact it was going to be a hit?
- Fredo put his own interests over the family?
I'm still not sure about this. DT has some good arguments.
But I think I still have to come down on the side that Fredo was not explicitly told that it was going to be a hit. His anger at the late night call from Ola seems genuine.
However, people lie to themselves ALL the time. In the movie
"Devil in a Blue Dress" the hero Easy Rawlins subdues an enemy and tells his extremely dangerous friend Mouse "
not to shoot him." When Easy comes back he finds that the man is dead and angrily confronts Mouse with "
I thought I told you not to kill him!". Mouse coolly responds "
You told me not to shoot him. So I strangled him. If you didn't want him dead, why'd you leave him with me?"Similarly it's unlikely that Fredo could have believed that Roth meant any good towards Michael. Roth/Ola might not have said anything to make Fredo face the facts of what they were planning.
The mechanics of the hit, people who knew where Michael's home was, were either able to get on the property at will, or hide on the property undetected for hours, show that Fredo had to be involved on some level. If he truly didn't know that it was a hit then he is too stupid to be trusted. And although he's not as smart or as tough as his brothers I don't think he was
that dumb. And Michael didn't either..
I like to think that if Fredo hadn't dropped the mask in the boathouse and shown his utter jealousy of and frustration with Michael and had stuck to his line of "I didn't know, Mikey" that he might have just gotten away with the internal exile. But the hatred revealed there made Michael realize he could never trust Fredo again with anything. Fredo had to go. The boathouse scene might have made Michael feel that he didn't know Fredo anymore, "You're not a brother, you're not a friend". Also I think Michael had had more time to think about what had really happened-he and his wife and children were nearly killed because of Fredo. As Michael saw it he had protected and watched out for Fredo and was paid back by the ugliest betrayal possible.
I don't think there can ever be a drapes answer because even Fredo can't be stupid enough/cunning enough to waltz into his sister-in-law's bedroom at just the right time, avoid detection and open the drapes, all the while not knowing it was a hit.
And who killed the two hitters? They were outside of Fredo's home which suggests some sort of planned rendezvous. And if Fredo killed them (slitting their throats?) then he is more dangerous and capable than he was letting on.
Or maybe there was another traitor..
