If it was your on brother in the same situation, could you give the order like Michael?

Personally I dont think i could..I would send him away somewhere far and cut him off from all family business but who knows lol!

If you didn't have the heart to do it, you probably would not need to take that decision!!!

Meaning: if you did not have the heart to make such decisions, you probably would not make it as a Don, and as such would not have to make such decisions anyway!

But do not despair; all of us here are Don-School Dropouts.

Welcome to the community!

Welcome, Hx, hope to see many more thoughtful posts from you.

Michael's decision to have Fredo killed has troubled many of us here, and we've had many discussions on one aspect or another of that decision. But I think Desertwolf has nicely summarized the answer: None of us here is a Mafia Don, so none of us here would have the same criminal circumstances that surrounded Fredo's betrayal of Michael--and Michael's necessity to have Fredo killed to protect himself, his family and his criminal empire in the future.

Personally, I don't think I could either.

However, if someone had asked a young, wide-eyed Michael Corleone, newly enlisted in the Marines the day after Pearl Harbor...if he would ever consider having his brother (or anybody) murdered for betraying the Family...I bet that he would give the same answer.

IF I was a Mafia family boss, then I could. Growing up in that culture, living it fully, then yes. However, being ME, then no.

Hi, thanks for the welcoming!

Actually I was reading from another thread about the conspiracy from Fredo, alot of interesting points were made. It seems like his betrayal wnet alot deeper then I thought. I never guessed it would go that far because they were brothers.

Its quite sad actually, all Michael did was love Fredo but Fredo was always looking the other way. What a tragic story with in the family. So I might actually agree with some other people that Michael did the right choice.

p.s. sorry if my grammar or spelling is off

as a human being i would not have done it,i would've just kicked him out of the thing but you have to admit that Fredo knew the consequences of betrayal and yet he still did it.

If someone was going to have you killed, or in this case was part of the group that was going to have you killed, then I think your whole frame of mind would change when dealing with a person.

Fredo being dumb was not the issue, Fredo being dumb enough to get you killed was. Fredo was not mentally retarted. He could not get a pass for what he did or what he allowed to happen.

Being a family member does not get you free shots at an attempt on someone life. Fredo excuse that he didn't know, only plays on the hearts of people who are to weak to do what has to be done.

if i was in michaels shoes i would do the same as he did. it doesn't matter if he is blood or not if you betray the family you are basically considered dead to the family. would it be hard yes, but at the time if you think that your personal family is endanger as well as your crime family then you would have to do what is considered safe. remember too michael had connie's husband killed for betraying the family as well, so he knows what has to be done.

To play devils's advocate, would Vito have ordered Fredo's death under the same situation?

I don't think so. Of course Fredo wouldn't have had the same resentments so the whole thing would never have happened in that way. But if it did would Vito have ordered the ultimate sanction. No way. So could Michael have found a way to remove Fredo from any power or influence and not kill him? Yes he could have.

But I think that Michael is so insecure and such a black hole of control and rage that he never really considers letting Fredo live. Well, maybe if Fredo hadn't run from him in Cuba, Michael would have found a way. But the boathouse outburst sealed Fredo's fate.

If Michael had had Vito's people skills, he would have noticed something going on with Fredo and would have tried to make sure Fredo was content with what he was doing. Of course as a Mafia Boss such things aren't really part of his job description, but as a brother and defacto patriarch, they should have been.

Fom a Mafia Don's perspective, Michael makes two grave mistakes when dealing with Fredo. He breaks Don Vito's rules of "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer." and "Never tell anybody outside the family what you're thinking". In Cuba, it is quite clear that Fredo is the traitor and no "friend" of the family. After losing control of his emotions, Michael then kisses Fredo and tells him that he knows about the betrayal. Any other mafia family traitor, without warning, would have been dead in 24 hours or followed to find out who else helped him and revealed the balance of conspirators. Michael should never have told Fredo that he knew it was him. Fredo and his wife should have been moved back to the family compound immediately where he could be monitored. From a brother's perspective, Michael was indeed crushed and heartbroken - no doubt. Back to the original question...No, I could not have had my own brother killed. Great question, HX and wecome to the board.

Two words: mental institution.

Welcome FX

Regarding the quoted post, I think Michael did "keep Fredo closer." Yes he had the "I knew it was you....you broke my heart" scene, but shortly after he tried to get Fredo into his car to allow him safe passage from Cuba. Terrified, Fredo would not go. The first business move Michael made when he got back to Nevada from Cuba was to instruct Tom to get in touch with him, to tell him that things were ok, that Roth misled him, and basically that he could come home to Tahoe, which he did. Fredo lived there in comfort for some time. I believe Michael did not decide that Fredo had to be killed until the
"I was passed over" scene. What happened there were a couple of things. First, Fredo showed how much he resented Michael and the fact that his own father wanted him to be passed over. This demonstrated that Fredo had not lost any of the rage that led to his betrayal of Michael to Roth, and it meant that given the chance, Fredo would do it again.
Second, Michael learned that Fredo knew Pentangeli was alive. Not only did Fredo keep this to himself while Michael and Tom were prparing for the Senate hearings, but after the perjury trap was set he lied to Tom, claiming he knew nothing. Michael got Fredo mad, and obtained this information. This demonstrated that the betrayal was ongoing, and that perhaps Fredo wanted Michael to go to prison so he could "take over."

As a mafia Don, once this happened Michael had to have him killed. Note Michael did not give Neri the order until after that outburst.