Why did Willie Cicci rat?

We get that Frank Pentangelli turns informer because he thinks Michael betrayed him and probably feels he's a dead man either way - Moe Greene wants him dead, so does Mike, so who else is he going to turn to?

But what about Willi Cicci? He was one of Michael's inner circle guys, at least at the end of GF I, I mean he was trusted enough with whacking a Five Families boss. He was part of Sonny's crew and seemed line one of his main guys as well (In almost scene where Sonny is Acting Boss, Willi is with him as both bodyguard and enforcer)...His turning witness was surprising.

Moe was killed near the end of GF. That was way before Pentangeli came into the equation.


The impression I got was that by II, Cicci was totally loyal to Pentangeli, not to Michael. Pentangeli was in NY, Michael in NV. I'll guess that the FBI told Cicci that his boss had flipped, and Cicci inferred it ws ok for him to flip.

I'm inclined to agree with Turnbull. Pentangeli had earned his loyalty and therefore, he felt the way to demonstrate loyalty was to flip. Ironic.

If the feds had Frankie on murder and extortion, I'm sure they had Cicci on the same.

In the end, these are criminals who will do anything in the interest of self preservation. Cicci was no different. He was far removed from Michael at that time and felt no loyalty to him.

I do wonder what became of Cicci though. Do we think he got whacked?

Good question. There was no witness protection program at the time. I doubt that Cicci was important enough to merit 24/7 protection that Pentangeli was promised. They'd probably put him in prison for a reduced sentence in return for his cooperation, and perhaps in an administrative segregation unit. But Michael would find a way to get him if he wanted to.


Would he? Michael had two reasons to whack Pentangeli. First, Pentangeli knew enough about him, firsthand, to be a danger to him down the road, even if he was no longer a credible witness against Michael. The FBI would keep pumping him for info they could use against Michael. Second, he had to show enemies and potential enemies that no one ever gets a pass from Michael Corleone, no matter how "securely" they're being held. I'm not sure either would apply to Cicci.

Yes, but Cicci had information that could have taken Michael down for good. He was involved in the murders of the heads of the 5 families and could/would have pointed the finger directly at Michael. He was also involved in the murder of Tessio. He had more than enough information to warrant a death sentence.

Sure, he had plenty of info on the family, and no doubt he testified about the family's operations and his own role: "You mean you kill people at the behest of your superiors?" "Yeah, that's right, counselor." But, Cicci testified, under oath, that he never got a direct order from Michael: "No, I never talked to him." That statement was enough to provide Michael with enough legal wiggle room to deny everything that Cicci said.

I doubt that somebody like Michael would take that chance. Cicci would have been taken out along with Frankie. No doubt about it.

For what it's worth, Cicci returned as a character in an earlier draft of the screenplay of Part III. He was only replaced by Joey Zasa when actor Joe Spinell died. So according to Coppola and Puzo, Cicci was apparantly forgiven and even promoted after his betrayal, and would turn against Michael yet again in Part III. They probably didn't given much thought to it, or perhaps they intended to replace him anyway in a newer draft.

Thanks for finding that, Sonny.

The problem with III is that they didn't give much thought to the whole damned script. Period.

Exactly!

I'll second that.

And you're welcome TB. I actually have the 2nd draft of the screenplay of Part III, which is not available for free on the web (only the first one is). If you guys have any questions of what's in the script, feel free to ask.

Would he have killed Cicci? I think so. Remember at the end of 2 when Tom keeps trying to talk him out of killing Roth? He even said he was beat and had no chance at Mike anymore and he said something about "just wanting to kill my enemies" and by that point Cicci was his enemy too. So in my opinion is that he would have killed Cicci.

He got a better job offer loan sharking in Philly and making Rocky his collector.

I have a hard time believing that Cicci would have been given a pass by Michael, I mean Michael even had his Brother killed so he's not going to let a button off..