Originally posted by DeathByClotheshanger:
Yeah So in Part II, Roth orders the hit because Michael is stalling and because of Moe Green, but that would be taking things personally.
I just never thought that there was any deal going on between Michael and Roth until they went to Cuba... FFC and Puzo should have made their dealings, which took place before the movie began, more known.
Keep in mind one over-arching fact: though Michael says to Fredo, "Roth wants me out," Michael is the one who wants Roth out. Roth and Vito Corleone had been partners, but only in the Prohibition-era booze business, as Roth pointedly reminds Michael several times. But Michael had been greedily horning in on Roth's Western gambling empire even before Vito died. The first business deal we see Michael involved in when he returned from Sicily was to push Moe Green, Roth's best friend, out of his Las Vegas hotel; later he had Moe killed because he resisted. By late 1958, when we first meet Hyman Roth, Michael has moved his entire operation to Lake Tahoe, owns three hotels in Nevada, and is about to force Meyer Klingman out of a fourth hotel, owned by Roth and the Lakeville Road Boys. And it's obvious that Michael has designs on Roth's Havana gaming empire. Small wonder Roth feels threatened!
Roth has been buying time by pretending he's a kindly elder statesman, in the twilight of his years, who regards Michael as his surrogate son and heir. But he's plotting all along to kill Michael—there isn’t room for both of them. He decides to kill Michael at Anthony's First Communion party because he knows Frank Pentangeli will be there, contentious over the Rosato Brothers, whom Michael and Roth favor over Frankie. Thus Frankie has the perfect motivation to kill Michael--and will make the perfect fall-guy for the crime. Even though the attempt failed, Roth is heartened that Michael, as he expected, blames Frankie for the attempt. But, instead of killing Frankie, Michael dispatches him to settle his problems with the Rosatos. Oh-oh! Roth knows Michael would never give an enemy a break, so now he knows that Michael really doesn't suspect Frankie in the Tahoe attack--meaning he could suspect Roth. So Roth orders the Rosatos to kill Frankie, the better to remove one of Michael's allies. The Cuba ploy was another clever plot of Roth's: lure Michael there with the promise of taking over Roth's lucrative gaming empire, meanwhile have his pal Batista assassinate Michael.
