If Michael had been killed in his bedroom early in Part II, who do you think would have become the new don? Obviously not Tom, since he wasn't Italian (although Tom might well have served temporarily as acting don just as he actually did at one point in the movie). Fredo would not have been a serious candidate. Would Pentangeli have been a possible successor to Michael?

Good question, VC. I tend to think Al Neri's role would have temporarily escalated if Michael was killed in his bedroom. However, keep in mind that Michael did not share much info with anyone about the Roth/Cuba dealings. If Michael was killed, nobody within the Corleone Family would really know who their immediate threat would have been. It is only after the attempt, Mike shares enough info with Tom before leaving Nevada that night.

The family would have fractured with everyone looking out for
himself. Rocco and Neri may have been able to form some kind of alliance to hold on to the Corleone interests in Vegas, but
there was always Roth. Tom could have thrown himself in with them and use his legal skills to get a judge in Nevada to say
Michael's interests in the hotels were the rightful property of Kay and the kids. For sure Frank Pentangeli would be a dead man.

Interesting question. By II, Mike has promoted Fredo as his Underboss (although this was viewed as favoritism, nepotism). The structure is something like this.

Corleone - Main Family
Don - Michael Corleone
Underboss - Fredo Corleone
[top] Capo - Al Neri
Capo - Rocco Lampone

Corleone - NY Faction
Don - Frank Pentangeli
Capo - Carmine Rosato
Capo - Tony Rosato
Soldier - Willy Cicci

What it comes down to is who would be willing to step up to the position. For various reasons, Frank, Fredo, and possibly Al would feel entitled and entirely qualified. So it's a tough question. The Corleone Family always stressed the importance of family, on passing down your empire to blood relatives. So by what the family has always stood for, Fredo should be boss. But in my opinion, if Fredo tried to go for it, it would cause a lot of conflict. Possibly even some infighting. Since all the other Corleones would be dead, no one could vouch for Fredo, since that was all he had going for him. If Fredo made a play for boss and then wouldn't step down, I'm not sure what would happen, but something big definitely would.

I suppose you can strike out Rocco too, because since Nevada Al has always upstaged him. Al would only try for the top spot if his ego had gotten the best of him. He rose through the ranks so quickly, its definitely possible, and after Michael's death he would be radically shaken up. So it's definitely a possibility. Al would have the backing of his entire regime, which counts for a lot.

Frank would have to pass on his New York faction to one of his top guys, move out of the Corleone mansion, and then head to Nevada. Which is a lot of effort, but still a possibility. To me its more likely that Frank would be content with running the family he already has, but it could go either way. Frank could argue that he is the highest rank.

All 3 of them have legitimate claims to be boss. But Frank would be taking an unnecessary risk by putting himself right in the middle of a heated power struggle, when he already has his own family and has the privilege of residing in Vito's former home. Eventually it would be left to Al vs. Fredo. Al has the muscle (his regime) to back him up if there is any infighting. But by the time of II, we all know Fredo isn't afraid to take action when he feels robbed of a position. Fredo wouldn't let himself get stepped over twice, that's for sure. I'm going with Fredo.

There is no evidence in the film that Mike had an underboss and certainly none that Fredo would have been designated as such.

Were the Rosato Brothers officially made guys in the Corleone Family? Or were they a rival family looking to cause headaches to an apparently weakened Pentangeli and muscle the Corleone's out of NYC altogether?

I remember that from one of the novels. But I do have legitimate memory loss (short term), I jumble things up a lot.

Mark: They were promised territories shortly before Frank took over, and I think the whole conflict was that he wouldn't give it to them since he didn't trust Roth ("your father did business with Hyman Roth, but he never trusted Hyman Roth"). I saw it as a similar scenario as at the end of part 1, where Tessio and Clemenza are promised their own territories. The Rosato Bros. as caporegimes was really just my own theory, since the soldiers were basically lackeys and drivers, not trusted with much important business. And by extension, probably wouldn't be promised territory by a don.

On the Corleone chart at the senate hearings Fredo is listed as underboss. But that was probably only symbolic as Fredo didn't seem to held any real power.

I think it's the most likely that they were part of Clemenza's organization. Why else should Clemenza promise them territories?

In the mob, promising you're rivals some of you're own territories would be incredibly stupid as that would be considered a sign of weakness. A very experienced oldtimer like Clemenza would never make such an idiotic mistake.

What novels? There's only one and it never mentions an underboss.

Well there is a lot of evidence actually. as someone pointed out at the senate hearings The Corleone Family Chart shows Mike as boss, fredo as underboss, and al,rocco,pantangeli as capo. also in the novels they mention fredo as underboss. Now even though Al neri was seen as the unofficial underboss Fredo was given the title. also fredo did have power in the family i mean he had his own crew of soldiers who were probably the ones who killed the guys who tried to assasinate Mike

In the novel it is mentioned that Vito Corleone made Sonny his underboss.

Once again, there are no novels. There's only one and it does not mention Fredo as underboss. In the movie, it was the FBI's assumption that Fredo was underboss, but he was not. SB is correct about the Sonny reference as underboss in the novel, but Vito was only thinking about making Sonny his underboss.

So far we haven't considered Roth as the decisive factor:

Roth didn't simply want to get rid of Michael--he wanted to destroy the Corleone Family. No doubt he and Ola promised Fredo that he'd be the Don after Michael was removed (killed or whatever they told Fredo). Of course Fredo didn't have what it took to run the family, and Roth had him by the balls in any event. An internal struggle would have broken out in Nevada. Neri would appear to be the obvious winner. But Neri didn't have Michael's political power--he was behind the scenes.

I'm guessing that Roth, who was established in Nevada far longer than Michael, would have made a move on the Gaming Commission to yank the Corleones' casino licenses by piling on the assassination and lots of other stuff he knew to prove that the Corleones were a "criminal organization" bad for the gaming industry's "image."

As for NY: All survivors would have focused on Pentangeli as the culprit in the assassination. Since he wasn't, he had no plans to take over, no way to capitalize on the situation even if he wanted to--and he didn't. He'd have been at best, a hunted fugitive; at worst, dead almost immediately. The Rosatos would take over the Olive Oil Business as Roth's allies. Sic transit Corleones.

Once again, great insight TB. I also think the Rosato's would probably take over the Corleone's business. Fredo would just be a puppet.

Initially, Coppola and Puzo wanted to expand the Rosato's more, but for some reason (probably due to other priorities) they were limited to only one scene. However, I found a picture where you see Pentangeli discussing business with them prior before the meeting in which they attempted to assassinate him. This indicates that Coppola did shoot more scenes with them.

I wonder if FFC could be persuaded to produce a Trilogy set with ALL deleted scenes? I'd buy it.

Paramount might very well do something like that with the 40th anniversary.

Fredo was the underboss only in name. Kind of like Junior was boss in the Sopranos since Tony had the real power, Junior was just used as a puppet. Giving Fredo the title of underboss was more of an encouragement. As I said before Neri seemed to be the Unofficial second in command. I'm just asnwering the question that Fredo was underboss but only in name

What a great photo, Sonny!! Where'd you find it?
Have you ever seen photos of another scene that wasn't included--Michael avenging himself on Fabrizzio by killing him with a lupara in his pizzeria? Harlan Lebo has a coupld of photos in his definitive, "The Godfather Legacy."

...but not before Paramount releases the 3D version of the individual movies, than the 3D version of the Trilogy, then the 3D "Directors Cut," by which time there'll be a 4D version with Smell-o-Vision and Taste-o-Vision so we can experience Clemenza's cookery, etc...

I found it at a French website, and it's the most impressive one of the many I found. The original I have is twice this size, so I made it smaller for this forum.

The one on which Michael kills Fabrizio you can find at IMDB, which also has a good collection of Godfather pics.

Here's the exact link:

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm645044224/tt0068646

Nice work, I never have been able to find the pictures. Although here are some deleted scenes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPp0a5OEsTw&feature=related. Here is the whole scene with Fabrizio. But more relevant actually, a deleted scene establishes that Neri is head of security in the Corleone casinos, as far as II ever told us, he was just Michael's favorite. He literally throws Klingman out of his own casino. So um, here's a scene that will tell you more about Neri if you're unsure about who would take over.

Thanks for the link, Barett. The Fabrizio killing scene I referred to was filmed but never included in any compendium of deleted scenes, unfortunately. Just a couple of stills in the Lebo book.

The novel does state that Neri was in charge of security for Michael's Nevada properties. But GFII seems to belie that. At Anthony's party, we see Rocco, not Neri, scanning the crowd. And, after the Tahoe shooting, Rocco, not Neri, rouses the security force. I interpreted the scene where Neri ousts Klingman as--possibly--indicating that Michael was giving Neri a piece of the action for that casino. Neri has a very proprietary attitude at the end of that scene ("C'mon, keep it going..."). BTW: that was some lavish scene. I bet it cost FFC $250k at least, and he didn't include it.

If Michael was killed, I think both Neri and Rocco would transfer their regimes into separate organizations. They'd probably would try to hold on to everything the Corleones had in Vegas. Like TB said, Roth would probably made some moves with the gaming commission to get back what was his. But the Rosatos would take over the New York faction.

With Roth waiting at the gates, it's all a matter of time, ruthlessness and luck. If Neri, Rocco or Tom found out about Fredo, they'd have to kill him or get otherwise rid of him.
We don't know that much about the relationship between Rocco and Neri. With Michael dead, they might be smart enough to realize that they'd have to co-operate, possibly along with Tom.
Another scenario would be: Rocco kills Neri+Fredo. Or Neri kills Rocco+Fredo. Then convinces Tom that cooperation is the best thing to do.
Ruthlessness has always been a good argument in terms of power.