Vito made several slips that nearly cost him his life. Solozzo put his finger on one when he told Tom after the shooting: “The Don, rest in peace, was slippin’. Ten years ago, could I have gotten to him?” He clearly identified Vito’s complacency as his opportunity to get to him.

The second was sending Luca on that ridiculous mission to Tattaglia with the idiotic story that he was “not too happy with our family.” Tatt and Sol saw right through it. Vito handed them his “most valued friend” on a silver platter. I started a thread on it here:

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=444618&Searchpage=1&Main=16277&Words=%2Bsilver+%2Bplatter&Search=true#Post444618

I want to add a third slip: Not identifying Barzini as his main enemy in the war, and the Don best positioned to profit from it. He told Tom after the Commission meeting: “Tattaglia’s a pimp—he could never have outfought Santino. But I didn’t know until this day that it was Barzini all along.”

Uh, Vito…Tatt was always a pimp. f you knew that Tattaglia, the pimp, could never have outfought Santino, then who else could have been providing most of the force behind the war that had proven to be long and costly to the Corleones? And who was in the best position to come out on top? Barzini was younger than the other Dons, seeing himself as waiting in the wings to become Numero Uno. The war was the perfect opportunity to weaken the Corleones and to step ahead. All of that should have been obvious to Vito all along. And if it had been, Vito could have advised Sonny to focus his forces on Barzini, which could have saved Sonny’s life and assured a Corleone victory.
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Your thoughts?