The Senate hearings surely scuppered any chance of his going legitimate.
Pentangeli's renunciation of his affidavit apparently brought a swift end to the hearings, and Tom seems to have had the last word: "This committee owes an apology...an apology, Senator!!" On the other hand, the hearings put on record accusations of Michael's criminal activities, and people always believe what they want to believe. In the end: Money talks! Michael in III bought a Papal Knighthood. What's interesting is that, at the Senate hearing in II, Michael denied owning three casinos and said he owned some stock in the hotels, but very little." But, at his party in III, Abbandando tells the press that Michael "sold the casinos."
But any remaining possibility went totally out of the window when he sent his very high profile capo to murder his enemy in front of cameras at an international airport. Utterly lame-brained.
That is troubling. The FBI knew all about Rocco--he was in the Family organization chart shown at the Senate hearing in II. Even if he'd somehow gotten away and gone into hiding, his face would have appeared in some of the many pictures snapped by press photographers at the airport. It could be argued that Michael wanted to send a message to his enemies that nothing would stop him from getting vengeance--even if, as Tom said in the boathouse, it was like "killing the President." But, that would hardly be consistent with wanting to maintain a "legitimate" image.
