Well, gosh DSC...I wouldn't have used precisely those words, but gotta give you credit you come pretty close.

Had Fredo possessed a 'human thought process', perhaps he may have considered the consequences in assisting Roth in no matter how minor a way, in the negotiations with his brother. Perhaps he might have wondered, even asked...exactly WHAT was in it for him once he got them what they wanted. Perhaps he would've realized that something in it for him, ON HIS OWN, was virtually impossible whether working for Michael OR Roth.

Perhaps if Fredo posessed a 'human thought process', he might have become just a bit suspicious about simply being 'bumped into' by Johnny Ola, then being wined, dined and treated to Superman shows (playing upon one of Fredo's main weaknesses), and then eventually being asked to help them in dealing with Michael, his Don, his own brother....as if this never would've happened if it were not for their 'chance' meeting. Perhaps if even once he'd bothered to use a 'thought process' and put 2 & 2 together, he'd have come up with 4, pulled out and informed Mike that he'd been approached. Perhaps the gratitude and new found respect from Mike would
have been far greater a reward than any that could be offered by Hyman Roth.

But no....it was precisely because he did NOT posess a thought process that he was chosen as the perfect mark by Ola & Roth. They knew they could count on him to simply follow the carrot they dangled in front of him, and not look beyond or even on either side of it.


Of course he suspected something wasn't right. He was being asked to turn traitor to his Don. He probably knew it would be wrong to do so. But since there was something in it for him on his own...that didn't matter.

No 'human thought process'. Fantastic choice of words, DSC...couldn't have put it better myself.

Thanks,
Apple