But some Board members have essentially posted that once Vito was eliminated, Sonny could just simply continue to bribe judges despite the loss of Vito's personal relationship with those judges since it was, apparently, all just a matter of money.
I'd bet that a lot of those who'd bail out if Vito died would do so because they knew Sonny was a hothead and couldn't be relied upon to be discrete and measured.
In the novel, Tom visits Johnny in Hollywood and says Vito will help him get the Oscar. Johnny right away senses that he'd be called on to do some things in return, and tells Tom something to this effect: "If my Godfather wants me to do something, I have to hear it from him...I'm not gonna take it from Sonny." The novel then says something to the effect, "Hagen was impressed by the good sense of this. Vito asking for some favor was one thing, Sonny asking was quite another."
