Do you think Vito knew about the plans for the Massacre of the heads of the other four families?

How "in the loop" was Vito after he became semi-retired? Would it be akin to a Boss/Acting Boss dynamic in the real Mafia--With Vito still being the Boss and Michael being the Acting Boss until Vito died? Or did he remove himself entirely from the criminal enterprise?

Vito was definitely the mastermind on wiping out the families. Once Vito knew Michael was hungry for revenge, that's where he devised his long term plan for Michael to succeed.

Michael was not experienced enough to come up with a plan like that.

From the film:

MICHAEL: (reaching over, touching his father): What's the matter? What's bothering you? I'll handle it. I told you I can handle it, I'll handle it.

VITO CORLEONE (as he stands): I knew that Santino was going to have to go through all this. And Fredo -- well --
-- Fredo was -- well -- But I never -- I never wanted this for you.

VITO CORLEONE: Now listen -- whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting -- he's the traitor. Don't forget

From the novel:

Michael: "He planned alot of it."

There is a deleted scene where Michael, after returning from Sicily, and Vito are discussing how the Corleones will take their revenge. Vito says he took an oath that he would never be the one to break the peace and Michael retorts that may be, but HE never took such an oath.

In the scene to which Oli refers, there is also Vito's comment about how he hopes Michael doesn't mind his going over every detail many times... he says its an old habit.

So yes he was an integral part of the plan. Too bad he didn't live to see it.

Vito knew for all the reasons Oli, Trilogy and dt said.

A question that has always puzzled me: Would Michael have moved on the Five Families if Vito were still alive? As we saw in the fishtank scene, Barzini was already moving on Corleone territory while Vito was still alive. But, I'm not sure he would have plotted with Tessio to have Michael killed during Vito's lifetime.

Well, during that scene there's no indication that Vito/Michael had abandoned or modified their revenge plan. Not responding to Barzini's provocation was part of the plan intended to give the Corelones time to build their resources and to lull Barzini et al into a false sense of security.

Did Vito really want peace forever with the families because of his "word"? Or did he secretly have a plan to wipe them out, even before Michael was taking over.

That's why I got confused why they deleted the scene.

I think Vito's overarching need was to bring Michael home so he could head the family. Revenge may have been on Vito's mind, but I don't think it was uppermost. Then again, Michael probably didn't need much encouragement to plan the Great Massacre.

Well TB, at the Dons' meeting, Michael's safe return was certainly Vito's priority. However, once achieved, revenge took its place. As you stated in another post, Vito was a huge part of the massacre's planning of which Micahel supplied the energy.

I think Vito's death and Tessio's betrayal accellerated the plan. Otherwise I think Michael would have gone through with it after he had Vito safely in Nevada.

I agree that getting Michael home was Vito's top priority, but I also think he realized that he was slippin' and no longer had it in him to fight those major battles. After all, he couldn't even bring himself to whack Carlo, much less orchestrate a major plan.

So, while Vito may not have wanted peace, I think he knew he couldn't handle war.

He wanted Michaeal back so Michael could be trained to take over the family and win the war. It was Vito's fginal triumph although he never lived to see it.

In the novel Vito states "... I haven't got the heart anymore."