The way I've seen it. Mike whacked the whole heads of the five families in one shot. I doubt too many people wanted to fuck with him after that. Roth was a jewish gangster and used his brain more than muscle but he failed. Killing fredo wasn't gonna make Mike look weak. I think new york didn't want to mess with mike since they knew how crazy he was. fredo could have been treated like shit and kept a close eye on but no reason to kill him
Disagree. Even Vito's enemies thought he was slippin', and obviously Roth didn't fear Michael even after he whacked the heads of the families as well as Moe Green, Roth's friend.
No matter how ruthless they were in the past, if someone appears to be weak at a certain time, they can get got.
