Roth/Rosatos/Michael

Roth lived in Miami, and had legitimate gambling interests in Nevada and Havana. Why would he interest himself in a quarrel between Pentangeli and the Rosato brothers over three territories in the Bronx? And why would Michael take Roth's and the Rosatos' side against Pentangeli, his own caporegime?

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Roth was wily and perceptive enough to know that Michael's ambitions included matching and surpassing/replacing Roth as the foremost casino mogul/legitimate "gangster" in both Nevada and Cuba. So it was in part aggressive self-defense. Keep Michael off balance and worried about what's going on in NY and maybe he won't see coming what your real plans are.

Also as Roth admitted, Michael's murder of Greene rubbed Roth the wrong way. So there was also a little personal revenge involved as well.

For Michael's part, I think it's fair to say that he also, similar to Roth, saw the Pentangeli-Rosato dust up as small potatoes and wanted to cement his power/foothold in Cuba/Nevada before dealing with Roth. This was before the assassination attempt on Michael but after that it was even more important to Michael that Roth underestimate him and think that Michael was blinded by the money that presumably the two could make together.

Lilo, basically I agree with you.

However, I question whether Michael had an authentic interest in Havana's casinos. I think he could take them or leave them. Two things coincided in Cuba: 1) Michael became aware that Castro might succeed and if he did, all bets were off (by the way, I think Michael was astute enough to figure that as a possibility before he went to Cuba); 2) he knew that Roth was behind the assassination attempt and he planned to strike first, then quickly depart Cuba.

Of course, he had to keep Roth assured, so that's why he instructed Frankie to settle these problems with the Rosatos.

By the way, I wonder how and when Michael found out that Roth was still alive since he didn't inquire when he arrived back in the US.

Tom told him--first thing after he asked Rocco and Neri to step outside.

I know. However, Tom's info about Roth was presented as incidental and as a response to a question about Fredo. I would think that Michael would surely want to know if his plot had succeeded. Remember, he yelled to Fredo that Roth was dead. To find out that he was still alive would seem to be a major concern.

In my view, Roth's interest in NY and the Rosatos was strictly defensive. Michael had been trying to horn in on his gaming interests ever since he returned from Sicily--even arranging to kill Moe Green, Roth's best friend. Roth thought it was either kill or be killed. But, NY under Pentangeli, Michael's underboss, was his muscle and his deterrent--without his NY muscle, Michael would have been just another legitimate casino operator in Nevada, fair game for real gangsters.

So, Roth needed to neutralize NY. By pushing the Rosatos' claims, Roth was setting up Pentangeli. If the Tahoe assassination attempt had succeeded, Pentangeli would have been blamed. He'd be on the run, and the Rosatos would take over the "olive oil business" as Roth's allies. When Tahoe failed, Roth went to Plan 2: lure Michael to Havana, get the $2 million, and have him whacked. As a runup, he had the Rosatos plan to kill Pentangeli, so that Michael's successors wouldn't be able to call on NY muscle to avenge him.

A question presents itself: why didn't Michael get suspicious of Roth pushing the Rosatos' claims when he had no obvious interest in NY Mob politics? I'm guessing it was greed. He was hot for Roth's Cuban properties. Roth probably mollified him: "Look, Michael, I owe the Rosatos a favor. Just go along--it'll be good for our deal."

I always thought Moe Green was a little light in the loafers.

I agree with TB, and add this: One thing Michael and Roth had in common was perpetuating the fiction that they had become so successful in "legitimate" gambling in Vegas and in Roth's case Cuba, that they no longer had any interests in what went on in the streets of New York, or the other territories over which they may have had control. Both understood that without street muscle, they were basically at the mercy of the pezzzanovante like "Keefaufaver and the Justice Department," as Roth more or less put it. Running the streets in New York carried the cred that gave them the ability to work within the system and to control it to some degree. Michael never really abandoned the strts, and neithe did Roth, and when their interests clashed, there was always a danger of war.

Nah, not Moe...he of the American Eagle Tatt, the massage, not at all. Fanucci, Fredo, Anthony...maybe but not Moe!....[/i]not that there's anything wring with it![i]

moe gree, the guy who played him was an associate of the boston lcn and moved out to hollywood and got the part!

Well, he [Moe] did make his boners while Mike was hanging with the cheerleaders, something like that.

As TB points out, Roth wanted the Rosatos to be a thorn in Frankie's side and, thus, in Michael's side as well. Indeed, if Michael were killed, Frankie's position would be quite weakened and the Rosatos would be positioned to seriously challenge his control of the Corleone NY turf.