In the novel, we read:
"He put three bullets in Barzini’s barrel chest before the other three men unfroze enough to dive for cover. By that time Neri had darted into the crowd and around the corner where the car was waiting for him. The car sped up to Ninth Avenue and turned downtown."
Wasn't that a little risky? Anything could happen in between. What if all of the three unfroze not to dive for cover but to shoot. I mean, it was risky not only for Neri but for the Corleones.

I can't speak to the area or traffic patterns but given that IRL Gotti was able to plan and execute the removal of Castellano and Bilotti in midtown Manhattan, I don't think Neri's plan was untenable.

Neri was supposed to be physically even better than Luca-younger, faster and with better reflexes. Also the fact that he was dressed as a cop would have given him the critical extra half second or so , which is all he would have needed.

So it was a risk-but not outrageously so. And from Neri's point of view he was treated very well to take such risks on behalf of the Corleone Family.

Exactly. No risk, no reward. Hitmen aren't well paid because the job doesn't have risks attached.

As far as getting away, Lilo makes a good analogy (the Castellano hit). Midtown Manhattan is quite possibly the easiest place in the entire world to blend into the scenery (yes, even after shooting someone ).

Yes, Lilo said it all.

If Castellano could be hit under those circumstances, then anybody can be hit and escape.

Also, in the novel Clemenza states to Mike when he is training him with the pistol not to worry about accidents: "You'd be surprised how well these affairs go."

right, because traffice patterns didnt develop or change at all between the late 1940's and 1985

As I mentioned the people who live there or grew up there can speak to it more than I could but in both Manhattan and the entire five boroughs there were MORE people living there circa 1950 than there were circa 1980. The population level was about 35% more in Manhattan alone and about 11% more for the entire city. Manhattan has always been crowded and packed. IRL in 1957 people killed Anastasia in broad daylight in midtown Manhattan and disappeared so Neri's plan wasn't implausible.

Manhattan's major avenues were two-way in 1955, and so were the major cross streets, like 42nd and 57'th. A good driver could have maneuvered in and out of traffic both ways, made quick u-turns (like the one on the GW Bridge earlier) and with a modicum of luck he'd have gotten away. I thought the anomaly in the scene was that Neri was sent to take on Barzini single-handedly, armed only with a six-shot .38 revolver, knowing that Barzini was always heavily bodyguarded. Four shooters were used in the Castellano murder, and they knew it'd be only Big Paul and his driver, Bilotti.

quote=Guiseppe Petri]olivant;

i agree, how may times in neri's career do you think he practiced using that gun on and / off duty and in training? back then you didn't have the luxury ( usually so ) to have anything more for police work than a .38 caliber revolver. not like today where you can get pretty much any caliber and magazine capacity you want and in any combination of sizes, finishes, etc.. not only that, but shooting at moving and stationary targets and make those 6 shots count. when neri takes those 3 shots at barzini, the pose he takes as he aims at barzini and steadies his arm for the shot, he's not going to miss. the 3 shots that barzini is hit with are right in the area of (a) the spinal cord, (b) the heart and (c) the lungs. any combination of which would be fatal. you're only talking a distance of what, maybe a 100 - 125 feet, which is nothing for a .38.. he had to use his "duty" .38 to make it appear to be a "rogue duty cop" to divert an investigation in a different direction. if he had used a .45 or anything else, it could have possibley aroused suspicion if any witnesses report anything to responding officers.

neri is good at his job, because he doesn't leave room for mistakes. [/quote]

neri took out the bodyguard first, the limo driver second. that only left barzini. these hits where well executed ( no pun intented ) so there was no room for mistakes. all the buttons knew how many threats they were going to run into in the baptism scenes. if they were going to have any more threats, they could have had more guys with thompson machine guns to wipe out the threats very quickly

Also keep in mind, that his murder was totally unexpected. Vito and Sonny were dead and there was absolutely no reason for anyone to anticipate any threat from Michael. Afterall, Barzini had already arranged for Michael's murder.