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Michael's $2 million
#804351
09/23/14 05:53 PM
09/23/14 05:53 PM
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 19,512 AZ
Turnbull
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The nominal reason that Michael had Fredo bring the $2 million to Havana was to keep stringing Roth along so Michael could buy time to find out who the traitor was in his family. But:
--Michael already knew, by the time Fredo arrived, when and how Roth planned to have him killed. So, it would seem, the $2 million didn't really buy him any more time--he knew he'd be dead shortly after the New Year, and had to act before that, whether or not he found out who the traitor was. --Awfully risky to bring $2 million in cash into Cuba via Fredo if it was just a prop to keep Roth on the hook.
Do you think he brought the money to Cuba for another purpose--i.e., after killing Roth, to see how the dust settled after the rebels took over, and to bribe Castro? At that point, Castro hadn't declared himself a Marxist/Leninist, and Michael might have assumed that, although Batista was on his way out, any successor would still keep gambling going because gambling and the tourism it brought in were pillars of the Cuban economy. --
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu, E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu... E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
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Re: Michael's $2 million
[Re: dixiemafia]
#804684
09/25/14 05:58 PM
09/25/14 05:58 PM
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 19,512 AZ
Turnbull
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Michael didn't have to be prescient to realize that Batista was a goner. The State Dept. in early December 1958 knew it and renewed Batista's US passport (he had dual citizenship), and guaranteed him safe passage to America. The news media were all over that story, and especially on Castro's imminent takeover. I'm guessing that Michael believed that the casinos would stay open when Castro won because they were such a big factor in the Cuban economy. And, in any event, I just can't picture him walking away from Havana because taking over Roth's Cuban empire would have made him the biggest legal gambling kingpin in the Western Hemisphere--something he was obsessed with.
BTW: Castro closed the casinos after taking over, but reopened them a couple of months later because the hotel and casino workers' unions protested--their members were out of work. He even hired Joe Louis as the official greeter, and ran newspaper ads in the US claiming that his beef was with the US government, not with the American people, whom he allegedly loved. He didn't declare himself a Marxist/Leninist until about two years after he took over. But, American revelers got the message: stay away from Cuba.
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu, E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu... E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
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Re: Michael's $2 million
[Re: Turnbull]
#804905
09/27/14 08:26 AM
09/27/14 08:26 AM
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 98 New York, NY
Questadt
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Well, I'm quite certain that gambling is incompatible with Marxist ideology, as is prostitution, graft, and numerous other forms of corruption (not that they don't happen anyway). So the issue really lies with the question of when it became publicly apparent that Castro's sympathies were essentially of the Marxist persuasion.
It seems to me that Michael Corleone, being nothing if not a savvy (and ruthless) businessman, would surely have done his homework (Tom Haden having played a key role) on Fidel Castro & Company, prior to any serious consideration of a major investment in Cuba - especially given the long history of Cuban civil strife, and the increasingly untenable position of the Batista regime. My sense of it is that he would have given the $2 million to Batista only if he was persuaded that the Batista government was likely to hold onto power, and for a considerable length of additional time.
~ Q
"A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns."
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Re: Michael's $2 million
[Re: olivant]
#806685
10/06/14 05:51 PM
10/06/14 05:51 PM
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 19,512 AZ
Turnbull
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Now, besides the obvious question about how Roth knew anything about the $2 million's location, why did Roth conclude (rather plaintively) that the $2 million never made it to the island and why didn't Michael simply tell him that it was on its way? My guess, Oli, is that Roth probably promised Batista some or all of the $2 million, so he arranged for Batista to have the airport watched, and for Roth to be informed. The Customs guys, looking at Michael's luggage, didn't see the $2 million. Roth also probably arranged with Batista to look out for a short list of Corleone representatives, but none showed up until Fredo arrived. Michael probably didn't tell him that the money was on its way in order to keep stringing him along. As you know, I believe Fredo was in with Roth and Ola far more deeply than he let on, so it's possible Fredo was in touch with Ola by phone before he arrived, letting him know the status of the $2 million.
Ntra la porta tua lu sangu � sparsu, E nun me mporta si ce muoru accisu... E s'iddu muoru e vaju mparadisu Si nun ce truovo a ttia, mancu ce trasu.
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