Excellent analysis, JC. Thanks for posting it.
I agree that Barzini was brilliant in using Sol and Tatt as his proxies in his quest to become Numero Uno. I posted a while back that Sol, knowing Barzini's ambitions, probably approached him first, thinking he'd have the most to gain from an alliance. I never cease to wonder why Vito said, after the Commission meeting, "Until this day I never knew that it was Barzini all along...Tattaglia is a pimp--alone he could never have outfought Santino." If that was true, then why didn't you figure it out sooner? Duhh, Vito.
Vito always knew it wasn't Tattaglia but didn't have enough information to know who was really behind things.
The same dynamic was repeated in GFIII with Michael and Zasa, prompting Michael's "Our true enemy has not yet shown his face" quote.
I think Vito played it beautifully, organizing a meeting with all his potential adversaries and waiting for one of them to slip and reveal himself, which Barzini did. That set the groundwork for the Corleones' eventual victory. Until that day, Vito was only guessing and the Corleones were losing.
