There are a number of possibilities.

For example, he could expose the inner workings of the compound or he could provide information to Micheal's enemies - such as the fact that Senator Gearry 'belongs' to him. Not to mention how much he already knows about Micheal, factors that could be used against him, such as the murders he has committed etc.

Its ridiculous to assert that theres absolutely no way Fredo could have hurt Micheal if he was allowed to live. Where theres a will, theres a way.

1) Of course, the inner workings of the compound could not possibly have been know to the two assassins who attempted to murder Michael nor to the person or persons who murdered the two assassins. Oh no.

2) Senator Geary's belonging to anyone was moot long before Fredo's murder.

3) Michael only committed two murders both of which were judicially disposed of long ago. Fredo was not privy to any murders Michael ordered nor would such knowledge, had he possessed it, placed Michael in any legal jeopardy as the attorney's on the Board will so confirm.

I doubt Mike would appear weak in people's eyes. I mean he whacked 4 top bosses at once for god sake. Roth was smart but he made a dumb move by making of move on mike. All Mike had to do is banish Fredo. but like I've said mike was close to a psychopath

Before the betrayal, Fredo obviously wasn't a part of the business, and knew nothing about the Cuba deal. But Johnny Ola told him about the Cuba deal, and found in Fredo a willing partner--because Fredo had a grudge against Michael. Banished or not, he still had a grudge, which would have deepened with banishment. Anyone who knew him would know that--and might find out something of value from Fredo because he'd be willing to seek revenge--again.

Michael had several options: banishment to some very remote place, imprisonment within the compound, or (my personal favorite) institutionalization.

The head of the Family was (as Michael told Kay) "responsible for other people." As Vito's son and Michael's brother, Fredo was one of the people Michael was responsible for. For Michael to place Fredo in a position where Fredo could be manipulated was Michael's failure, and Michael should have taken responsibility for it.

Fredo knew of the murder of Johnny Ola and the initial attempt on Roth's life. He also knew of the incident with took place in his brothel between Gearry, Neri and the prostitute.

Fredo was Micheals brother, he had inside knowledge of his operations and knew what his weak points were. I may not be able to point to specific instances in which Fredo could use these attributes, but to dismiss them completely is ignorant.

Even as a worse case scenario, Fredo could have himself attempted to take Micheals's life, angered at being banished from the family. Considering the resentment he felt towards Micheal, this situation is quite plausible.

What would that entail exactly in your opinion?

Exactly.

People seem to take it as a given that if Fredo was banished, Micheal would never see him again. In reality, Fredo's resentment toward Micheal would have probably worsened and could have manifested itself in any number of ways. Having someone that hates you that much and knows that much about you is obviously a precarious situation.

As I hinted above, I think the best solution would have been to have Fredo institutionalized. Stick him in the room of someone who had died, and make him a non-person.

[quote=mustachepeteAs I hinted above, I think the best solution would have been to have Fredo institutionalized. Stick him in the room of someone who had died, and make him a non-person. [/quote]

Put him in a room with Billy Bob Thornton mmmm hmmmm

Again, Michael's own actions regarding Fredo indicate that he was not concerned about any of those things.

Do you really think that if Michael were concerned about Fredo implicating him in a murder or other malfeasance would he have allowed him to roam free?

Or that, if Michael felt Fredo could use knowledge of the inner workings of the compound against him, he would allow Fredo access to the compound?

Sure, we can hypothesize about potential threats posed by Fredo but it is clear that Michael, in the period of his deepest paranoia, did not view Fredo as a threat. So I don't, either.

I really don't think Fredo was that stupid to betray Michael again. I think he was too relieved that Mike had forgiven him and that he was allowed to return. Fredo would always be in the position to do damage to Michael, but I think he wouldn't have tried it again. Especially if Michael kept him out of the family business.

RE the last woltz


Well made points but I disagree with the main premise.

For me, Micheals ordering of Fredo's murder indicated that he did see Fredo as a threat, or atleast a potential threat, particularly after the boat-house scene. Other's believe it indicated no more than revenge on Micheals part. In my opinion, both 'reasons' justified the eventual outcome.

As for your other questions, after the boat house scene, perhaps Micheal allowed Fredo to roam free and gave him access to the compound to lure him into a false sense of security, prevent him from running away, knowing that he would eventually be killed.

Before the boat house scene, he may have not been aware of the extent of the resentment that Fredo felt and thus wasn't waware of the 'threat' that Fredo may have posed.

Its all a matter of opinion at the end of the day and makes for an interesting discussion.

He knew Ola was dead/murdered, but he couldn't pin it down on Michael unless Michael had admitted to him that he had given that order.



Which was his brothel and his responsibility. We don't know if Michael himself had actually informed Fredo of that plan.

Disagree.

Fredo seemed quite unrepentent about his reasons for betraying Micheal. Being banished from the family could easily have worsened the resenment he already felt for Micheal and this could have manifested itself in another betrayal. This time he would have much less to lose also.

Micheal admitted to him that he 'had already made his move' and that 'Hymann Roth will never see the new year'.

Yes, but he didn't explicitly said anything about Johnny Ola. And we know that Roth wasn't murdered in Havana.

I know Fredo was dumb but he could have worked out that what happened to Ola was no coincidence. Also, an attempted murder did take place in Roth's hospital room. Anyway, its quite an irrelevant point. I was just pointing out that Fredo did know of some of Micheal's goings on and that he may have tried to use these factors against Micheal in the future. How he would do so is questionable but the possibility still remains, to say that it simply couldn't/wouldn't happen is unreasonable.

Another angle:

Do you think Tom knew that when Michael "forgave" Fredo, he was putting him in a trap and preparing to have him killed? If so, do you think he should have warned Fredo?

No, I think this was something between Michael and Neri only.



Not if he wanted to meet the same fate as Fredo.

The way I've seen it. Mike whacked the whole heads of the five families in one shot. I doubt too many people wanted to fuck with him after that. Roth was a jewish gangster and used his brain more than muscle but he failed. Killing fredo wasn't gonna make Mike look weak. I think new york didn't want to mess with mike since they knew how crazy he was. fredo could have been treated like shit and kept a close eye on but no reason to kill him

He could have rallied other members of the family against Michael: Tom, Connie, the children, other non-kin members of the family like Al Neri (who appeared to have a soft spot for Fredo the way he reacted when Mike gave him the look at the funeral)...Fredo could have also snitched out Mike to the press or the authorities. I don't know any way that Fredo wouldn't have always been a liability to Mike had he spared his life.

Michael may have been able to sequester him from a lot of the family business, but there would always be ways to harm Michael again -- especially if Fredo was still bitter about being cut off from the family business, which you have to believe he always would be, deep down.

Disagree. Even Vito's enemies thought he was slippin', and obviously Roth didn't fear Michael even after he whacked the heads of the families as well as Moe Green, Roth's friend.

No matter how ruthless they were in the past, if someone appears to be weak at a certain time, they can get got.

Probably not because he knew that Michael would have viewed it as a betrayal and then Mike would have had to whack Tom.

Maybe this would have been touched upon in III if Duvall had come back. We'll never know.

My guess is Tom probably knew, but he also probably did not approve of killing Fredol. Ayt that stage of the game Tom knew when to keep his mouth shut. The closest he comes is when he asks Michael "Do you want to take EVERYONE out?" To which Mike replies "No, Just my enemies."

Tom was smart enough to figure things out. I'm sure he didn't accept the accident explanation of Fredo's death. Like Vito, he would never had murdered a member of his family. But his loyalty to Vito's memory probably kept him from overtly reacting to Fredo's murder because that might put Michael in danger. In fact. I'll bet that that his turning to amistress was an effort by Tom to ease the trmendous stress he was feeling over Fredo's murder and his denoument as Consigliere.

Michael would have killed him anyway. He was a sociopath.

Kay always was an idiot. Carlo deserved to die. He wasn't a good husband or father, that was part of him playing the role.