This goes into the whole Neri ousting Tom to get more power thing.

This is off topic but that got me thinking, do you think that Neri was pissed that vincent became the Don and not him?

Actually Tom WAS the only person that Michael could completely trust at that point.

After the hit attempt, Michael could NOT take anyone with him that was from within his inner circle.

Michael : "That's why at his moment you're the only one I completely trust."

TOM: "What about your people ROCCO and NERI? You don't think that they had something to do with this."


MICHAEL: "You see -- all our people are business men, their loyalty is based on that. Now, one thing that I learned from Pop was to try to think as people around you think. Now on that basis, anything's possible."

So at that point Michael could NOT trust any of his own people and that's why he could not take Neri with him.

Not at all. If that were the case then Neri would have never carried out Vincent's order to "take a train to Rome and light a candle for the Archbishop."

Neri was a loyal servant to Michael. Neri would lay his life on the line for the Corleones because they gave him a second chance in life. Neri was done for until the Corleones fixed things for him and gave him a new life in the Corleone family. ( read the Neri story in the novel).

Every time I watch GFII I'm always struck by Neri's remarkable reaction after Michael tells him and Rocco to step outside. First he hesitates; then, after he closes the sliding door, he stands there and stares inside for a good few seconds. He then abruptly sits down with his back to Michael and swiftly puts his head in his chest. He then swings around again very abruptly, facing inside. Finally, he is sitting in the same position Michael is in after Michael leans forward, having just heard of the "miscarriage." Neri looked like a favorite child who just got snubbed by his parents.

Yes, it's well known in mob circles than Neri was prone to freckles.

I think Neri remained behind because he couldn't take the sun, and this was before sunblocks were invented. Busetta on the other hand, even though he didn't know how to dress for the sun had weathered skin and could more easily deal with the sun in Florida and Cuba.

Plus, Buscetta could speak Yiddish and Neri couldn't. In a deleted scene, which contains Buscetta's only speaking part, he and Roth are holding forth on the terrace of the Havana hotel on the relative merits of belly lox vs. Nova Scotia.

I always wondered why he would pick an older guy like Buscetta. He was probably pretty experienced, but his skills would have slowed down by his age. Also, he stood out like a sore thumb, but maybe Mike wanted that.

I always wondered why he would pick an older guy like Buscetta. He was probably pretty experienced, but his skills would have slowed down by his age. Also, he stood out like a sore thumb, but maybe Mike wanted that.

He didn't look like he had any trouble strangling Johnny Ola with that clotheshanger!

Skills? What skills? Being a murderer requires skills! I would imagine that he wasn't that much older the Luca Brasi, before Luca was whacked.

Murder may not require skills, but killing does.

Well, that makes my point. Luca was whacked. A younger guy might have struggled successfully against the garrote and avoided the knife in the hand.

Excuse me, but killing with a coathanger does require great skill. I tried it with a wooden hanger, and the damned thing broke on the guy's neck. So I switched to a wire coathanger, and that stupid thing bent. Guess Buscetta had real skill.