Nice touch indeed Michael pays for his own murder but $2 million is an awful lot of money even for the Head of the most powerful Mafia family!
Roth probably kept some, or most, of it for himself--Batista could be bought cheaply.
Whilst Roth “could have had him [Michael] whacked at any time--including well before the presidential New Year's Eve party†I doubt, the ever astute Roth having planned so meticulously Michael's murder [terribly unfortunate death] - Michael was caught up in the midst of the rebel uprising in spite of being escorted in a military car, can be 'believable' as Roth was acting like Michael was his son – would just bring forward / change Roth's carefully considered and arranged, Michael's demise
Roth's plan to have him whacked after the Presidential party was best case--as was his plan to have Michael whacked at Tahoe. But, as we saw, Roth was nothing if not resourceful. He would have quickly come up with another plan to kill Michael. Look how, after having a stroke, nearly being killed by Buscetta and having to leave Cuba, he still almost snared Michael in a perjury trap!
If Batista hadn't been forced to resign, I believe Michael would undoubtedly have been murdered by Roth's pre-arranged assassins, in the military car plan or somehow if Michael refused the protection offer
You probably saw a thread I started a while back whose point was that Batista's resignation probably saved Michael's life. The assassins assigned to kill Michael no doubt were lurking inconspicuously at the Presidential party to make sure Michael didn't run out on them or change his plans. Wouldn't have mattered if Roth lived or died because they took their orders from Batista, who had no reason to tell them Roth was the instigator. But, after Batista resigned, the assassins were more worried about saving their own asses than about nailing Michael's.
