I’m second to none in my admiration for FFC’s attention to detail and realism in the Trilogy. But, I have a problem with how he handled Fredo’s murder: What happened to the body?

The story the Corleones must have put out was that Fredo drowned; Connie said so in III. We know he was shot because we (and Michael, in the boathouse) heard two shots. Fredo’s body obviously wasn’t recovered, and we saw, after the shots, that Neri was alone in the little boat.

What did he do with Fredo’s body? He and Neri went out on Lake Tahoe in a rowboat with a little, putt-putt outboard motor. They couldn’t have gone far out on the lake, to very deep water. And, they were close enough to shore that Michael (and presumable others) heard the gunshots. Fredo’s “drowning” would have been reported to The Law, who would have dragged the lake bottom looking for the body. But, evidently, they didn’t find it, because they would have seen the gunshot wounds.

Yes, I know: directoral license—the audible gunshots were for effect. Still, I wonder: Could Neri have dumped or hidden Fredo’s body in some way that The Law couldn’t find it? Your views?