Well I suppose you're right...I'm not the gangster history expert around here.

So I guess instead of playing the game with you, the simple answer is, that it worked out the way it did because Puzo wrote it that way. All the alternate plans and the fact that Mike was taking a big risk and what COULD have happened can be run into the ground. If we had not read/seen it depicted just the way it was, then we would be talking about a different story.

Best,
Apple

PS - To get back to 'the game'...I do think part of the reason the plan worked was that Sollozzo DID trust Michael. They frisked Michael in the car, took that famous abrupt turn on the bridge...and he had McCluskey with him. A fact that even Tom had surmized earlier made him virtually invulnerable. And Michael up to that point was considered 'a civilian'. Plus, how was Sollozzo to know that the Corleones had the informer in the police force to pass on that McClusky would be on call at Louis' in the Bronx.

Considering those circumstances I think Sollozzo took all the precautions he thought he would need to take. I believe he & McClusky thought they were perfectly safe.