The "Michael Corleone says hello" line has inspired more debate and speculation on these boards than any topic except maybe the identity of the person leaving the drapes open at the Tahoe assassination attempt.
Danny Aiello has said that he ad-libbed the line,and his explanation makes the most sense. You can definitely search this board and come up with hours of reading as afar as why the line was left in the movie.
As far as the possession that Pentangeli was nailed on, I believe they were referring to narcotics.
As Lou said: Danny Aiello ad-libbed "Michael Corleone says hello." And, yes, it has been much discussed here, but not recently.
"Michael Corleone says hello" could fit in the following way: It was intendet for Richie, the bartender. He was obviously a civilian, and obviously nervous ("Carmine, no, not in here...") The cops might question Richie, and he'd be too scared to rat out the Rosatos. So, they fed him that line so he could say, "I dunno who the guys were, but one of them said, 'Michael Corleone says hello' just before they killed Pentangeli." That would steer the cops directly to Michael. Of course he'd have an airtight alibi, but it'd make headlines that would tarnish his "legitimate" cover--especially damaging because he was scheduled to appear before a Senate subcommittee that was investigating him.
And, no, Roth
did not engineer Frankie's survival. He ordered the Rosatos to kill Pentangeli. Frankie survived by luck. That scene was a replay of the real-life attempted murder of Larry Gallo in a Brooklyn lounge.
