Iceman, you picked a very revealing bit of dialog when you cited the flashback at the end of II. A perfect indication of Tom's role in the family vs. Michael's controlling nature. That's the key to their relationship, IMO. Michael always wanted to be in charge. Tom was Vito's choice for consigliere, not Michael's. Tom was Sonny's choice for brother, not Michael's.

We have gone back and forth, many times, on this board about whether or not Tom could have done more to prevent Sonny's assassination. True, a charging bull elephant couldn't have stopped Sonny from getting in his car, and Tom did dispatch bodyguards after him. But Tom, IMO, should have foreseen that Carlo would want vengeance on Sonny for being publicly beaten and humiliated. In the novel, Tom blames himself for Sonny's death ("He knew now that he was no wartime consigliere...old Genco would have smelled a rat").

But I believe Tom was to blame for letting Michael fall into the Senate's perjury trap. After Michael realizes Pentangeli was alive, Tom says, "Our people with the NY detectives say he was scared, half-dead, talking out loud about how you betrayed him." Where were you, Tom, before you advised your only client to lie under oath? How come you only learned about Pentangeli's survival after Michael committed five acts of perjury?