Michael pleading the fifth was “what was expected before Michael testified†and what Pentangeli wanted (hoping for)
Didn't they know Michael? Didn't they know that's an impossibility that it could never happen!
Of course they (the subcommittee chairman, Questadt, Roth) knew that Michael would bend over backward not to take the Fifth because the only permissible form of response is: "I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that
my answer might tend to incriminate me." The beauty part of the plot against him was that, by hiding Pentangeli's survival until after Michael testified, and by having Cicci testify earlier that he never talked to Michael, they made him relax and think he could get away with lying under oath instead of pleading the Fifth.
- Could you expand on your answer, I'm particularly interested in knowing....
What would Pentangeli have done if Tom hadn't visited with his 'helpful push' for Pentangeli to sit in a hot bath, open up his veins and bleed to death
Pentangeli would have known he was not going to be able to continue living better than most people on the outside ie: “what will happen as a result of his denial†having already stated "My life won't be worth a nickle after this," even before he recanted his sworn affidavit having been jolted into honouring the Omertà by the icy stare of his brother Vincenzo
Pentangeli was stuck between the proverbial rock and hard place. If he testified, he'd have had a price on
his head no matter where the FBI placed him. And, the government undoubtedly offered him "immunity to testify"--if he waived his Fifth Amendment privilege and agreed to testify against Michael, he would not be prosecuted for any of the crimes he admitted to while under oath. By repudiating his affidavit, he violated the terms of his agreement. The FBI would have turned him over to NYPD, which would have prosecuted him for the crimes that Tom mentioned to Michael: "possession, Murder One.." He'd be put in the general prison population, where his life expectancy would have been about five minutes.
There's another possibility, too: When he was discussing his "future" with Tom, he talked about the Romans who had a "little party" before they killed themselves...
"and their families were taken care of." Some people here think it meant that Frankie's family would be killed if he didn't commit suicide, but if he did, they'd be safe and get some financial support.
