I just finished reading the novel for the second time - I officialy decided that if (when) I read it again, I'll just skip the whole story on Lucy Mancini's background. that is BORING! - and just for the sake of the discussion, I was trying to find the most unrealistic event of the novel and I believe hands down it was Barzini's shooting.

I know he was meant to get caught off guard, but still, didn't the Corleones relied too much on luck with that plan? like I said in another thread (in the film boards) "Neri just shot Barzini 3 times in front of 2 bodyguards and a driver and escaped walking into the crowd".

maybe the Corleones had such excellet inside information, they found out that for some reason Barzini was so "safe" in that place, the bodyguards weren't even carrying their weapons, which I do not belive it is very likely.

Public executions are pretty tricky things no doubt. But they can be done successfully if the assassins know what they're doing. Look at the real life hits on people like Albert Anastasia, Willie Moretti, Allen Dorfman, Castellano.

Also since Neri was dressed as a cop there would have been the initial relaxation by Barzini and the bodyguards. Even after the killing of Barzini the bodyguards still would have been fractionally hesitant to shoot a cop. And those split seconds of indecision are all that someone with Neri's reflexes and speed would have needed.

But yes I do think that the Corleones would have had Barzini under surveillance for quite some time and it's even possible that they bought off his bodyguards.

Actually, the assassination in the novel was far more likely of success than the one in the film. In the novel, Barzini was close enough to Neri so that Neri couldn't miss--and he hit him with three shots. The bodyguards, taking self-preservation first, dived for cover. They didn't have their guns out because what they saw was a cop handing out a summons, not an assassin. In the film, as you know, Neri, using a six-shot police-issue Smith and Wesson .38, killed a bodyguard, a chauffeur--and Barzini at a distance. That was a very big risk.

Probably the most unrealistic part of the Great Massacre (at least as portrayed in the film) was the timing. In order for Michael to successfully whack all of the people who died that day, he'd have to have had perfect timing. Probably not more than an hour could have elapsed between the first and last killing. Otherwise, those further down the list would have heard about what was happening, and would have ducked for cover.

How about the fact that in the film he was shot right in front of the Federal Courthouse on Pearl Street?

Difficult, not impossible.

That wasn't NY City Hall?

Some of the Barzini and Tataglia capos switched sides immediately after the hits, so it seems pretty possible that there was high level cooperation beforehand.

It's kind of interesting that "security" may have been disloyal in all three organizations: "Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes," as Frankie would say....