Well, I have the guy figured as kind of a nerd; someone who figured that he couldn't form relationships with women on his own, but would need some "financial aid" to do it.
Anyway, here's more of Chapter 2, the long awaited scene in which Michael explains what really happened the night of the Tahoe assassination attempt, and who killed the shooters.
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
Michael and Tom began walking.
“Fredo never got over what happened the day that they tried to kill Pop.” Michael said.
“How he got out of the car and dropped his gun in panic while the shooters escaped. And then, when he was in Vegas, getting slapped around in public by that fucking Moe Greene. He wasn’t my equal and he knew it, and because he was my older brother, it always bothered him.”
“Enough to help try and have you killed?” Tom said. He was still having trouble with the idea that Fredo was anything more than a dupe in the Roth assassination plot.
“Yeah, enough even to try and have me killed” Michael replied quickly. “Let me tell you what really happened.
“Fredo met Johnny Ola in Beverly Hills.” Michael began. “It was no ‘accidental’ meeting; Roth set the whole thing up. I found out later that he knew Fredo was gonna be there from one of Moe Greene’s old pals who was somehow still working for us at the Tropicalla.”
“He worked my brother over real good, that Johnny Ola. He told Fredo that the family was losing respect, that the Rosatos were walking all over Pentangelli’s crew in New York and making us look bad. How Connie was embarrassing the family by the way she was acting, and how I couldn’t control her. And How Hyman Roth, one of Pop’s “old friends”, felt so badly for us.” Michael couldn’t resist letting a note of sarcasm drip into his voice.
“He told Fredo that of all of the friends of the family, all of the heads of the other families, felt everyone would be better off with me out of the picture.” Michael continued. “How I was nothing more than a ruthless killer who couldn’t be trusted. He told Fredo that the Commission had met secretly and decided that I had to go, and that afterwards they would all endorse Fredo as the new head of the family.”
“He said that we were being run out of New York, and that I was getting in over my head with the Vegas move…..that it was just a matter of time until we lost what little influence and power we had left. He told Fredo that that he was the only member of the family left who everyone felt that they could reason with, the only one with my father’s sense of fairness.”
“And Fredo bought that story?” Tom asked.
“All the way.” Michael answered. “He saw getting rid of me as a way to get the power that he’d always wanted and never had. He’d be even with Pop for ‘passing him over’, and even with me for being Pop’s choice even though I was his younger brother. So he agreed to Ola’s plan.”
“And the plan was….” Tom began.
“The plan was, of course, to assassinate me on the night of Anthony’s communion party. They figured that would be the perfect time to it. With all the guests around, and the governor’s security people, and the caterers and clean-up crew and everyone else, they thought it would be easy to sneak a couple of professionals onto the estate without anyone noticing.” Michael said.
“Somehow, Roth got to the guy who owned the company that supplied all the tables and linens for the party, and they had two extra guys with their weapons hidden inside their truck when they delivered all the stuff that morning. Must’ve cost that old bastard Roth plenty to set that up. Anyway, as soon as they had a chance, the two guys jumped out of the truck and hid in the woods until it was dark. Fredo had already given Ola a map of the property and a diagram of my house, and, of course, it was Fredo who snuck in and opened the drapes. As soon as they saw me inside, they opened fire. It was nothing but luck that prevented Kay and I from being killed.”
“One thing, though, Mike. Who killed the hit men?” Tom asked.
Michael chuckled. “That was the best part of the whole plan, and you’re not gonna believe it. The two guys we found in the ditch weren’t the hit men. They were two fresh dead bodies, smuggled onto the property in the truck with the hit men. Apparently they had been killed a day before the party, and kept on ice inside the linen truck. By the time the truck got onto the estate, they were almost frozen stiff, and would need ten or twelve hours to thaw out, perfect timing for when we were supposed to find them. I swear, I almost had to laugh when I heard this part. The two hit men dragged them into the woods, and when it came time for the shooting to start, they dragged them back and dumped them in the ditch first. Then, when the shooting stopped, they went back into the woods and walked along the shoreline of the lake for about two miles to a spot where Roth had a boat waiting for them. Of course, when we found the bodies in the ditch, we assumed that they were the shooters, and we stopped looking for anyone else. That made it very easy for the real shooters to escape.”
Tom whistled softly. “You’re right, Mikey. That story is unbelievable.
“Yeah” Michael said. “Fredo knew all along that it was supposed to be a hit. Roth was smart. He figured that the only way Fredo would go along with the plan was if it ended with me being killed. Fredo wouldn’t have played along any other way – he would’ve always been afraid that somehow I would find out what happened if I were left alive.”
“True enough” Tom Hagen said. "You left out one part, though, Mike. How did you figure all of this out?”
“I didn’t figure it out” Michael replied. “Fredo told the whole story himself. Last week. When he begged me to kill him because he didn’t have the nerve to do it himself.”
