HOW DID FREDO NOT KNOW OLA?

Fredo spent years "in the casino business" under Moe Green. Since Moe was the protoge of Hyman Roth, and since Johnny Ola was Roth's Sicilian messenger boy, how is it that Fredo never hung out with Ola when he came to Vegas, and no doubt was treated well by Moe? Certainly they would have shared a cocktail waitress or three.

Anything is possible. But, we've got to give FFC some leeway here for dramatic purposes.

Roth wasn't located in Vegas. His messanger boy Ola maybe wasn't in Vegas that often, if at all.

Protoge? I got the impression that Moe was an associate, someone with whom Roth was connected, but not a "protoge" with whom he was especially close. I always put Roth's little hissy fit ("This is the business we chose!" etc) down to Michael's insolence in calling him for attempting to whack Pentangeli when Michael had been involved in killing the heads of the Five Families and Moe; i.e. "How dare you have a go at me for setting up Frankie when you killed so many others, including my mate Moe".

Even if Moe was Roth's protoge, he had moved on by the time that Fredo entered the casino business.

Alternatively: maybe Roth was clever and didn't want too many connected made guys hanging around together. (Like how Vito didn't was Clemenza and Tessio associating). In case they conspire against him or something. So maybe Roth told Moe that he wanted Fredo kept out of his other business (which is probable, given Fredo's lack of usefullness in any real business) and so Fredo never met Ola.

Finally, maybe Fredo did meet Ola "innocently" (i.e. in the course of his business as opposed to the conspiracy) but was shaken by Michael's question and his own guilt that he denied it. If that is the case, then Michael's question is very very clever: he know that, if his brother denied knowing Ola, his is "protesting too much" and maybe hiding something. This is then confirmed when Fredo makes his remarks at the Superman show.

How do we know that Fredo didn't hang out with or meet Ola in Nevada? At the nightclub in Havana, Fredo obviously lied when he said he and Ola never met. Later, in the boathouse, he admitted that "Johnny Ola bumped into me in Beverly Hills..." That may have been true for the purpose of that meeting ("He said you were being tough on negotiations..."). But it still doesn't preclude their having met in Nevada.

Sure it doesn't preclude it (i.e. does not prove the negative), but there's nothing to positively suggest that he did meet Ola ... dontomasso's original question suggests that they must have met, not that they could have.

Because at the time Fredo was being 'treated well' by Moe Green in 'The Godfather', the characters of Roth and Ola had not yet been written.


Like oliviant says, sometimes you've just got to give some leeway.

Apple

Apple...what do you mean the characters were not written yet?

Are you suggesting the entire Godfather Trilogy is fiction???????

This makes good sense.

I can just imagine Fredo meeting Johnny Ola for some drinks and complaining one night about how he was overlooked by his father, and Michael.....how everyone thinks he is weak, and dumb. He was probably drunk, and Johnny Ola figured that he would be the weak link they needed to get to Michael......after all, his brother was his weakness.....just like Vito's weakness was his kids.

Could be Barry, but I would bet it was the other way around. It was well known that Fredo was dim, and I would bet Ola plied him with drinks and told him that Mike had stepped over him and that he was a bad Don and that Fredo should be the head of the family.

I think Fredo was the only one that could have fingered Mike and Roth knew that, it was probably easy to see... an older brother stepped over by his younger brother who everyone respect much more, I bet he'd been sittin in Vegas the whole time grumblin about his situation, It dind't take long for the word to get to Roth and he waited to use Fredo when the time was ripe

Well Moe Green was already slapping him around for banging cocktail waitresses two at a time, and Moe also witnessed Fredo take sides with him against the family, and there is no doubt Moe gave this information to Hyman Roth before someone put a bullet in his eye.

He did know OLa......At that thing with teh guy with the big Shlong he says Johny takes me down here all the time...And michael konws it's fredo and he broke his heart



Joe Batters