Virgil Sollozzo, the Turk, that asked the Godfather Vito Corleone to help him get a heroin distribution racket going in New York. Vito turned Sollozzo down. Sollozzo sent men to gun down Vito outside his olive oil business. Vito survived the attack but ended up in the hospital.
When Corleone refused, Sollozzo had Bruno Tattaglia murder Luca Brasi, Vito's most trusted enforcer, and put a hit out on the Don, which resulted in Vito's wounding.
Michael quickly realizes that Roth ordered the hit. Remembering his father's advice to "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer", he maintains a good business relationship with Roth. Michael also suspects a mole within the Corleone family aided Roth, and needs time to uncover his identity.
Vincent tells Michael that Altobello has hired Mosca, a veteran hitman, to assassinate Michael. Mosca, disguised as a priest, kills Corleone family friend Don Tommasino as he returns to his villa. While Michael and Kay tour Sicily, Michael asks for Kay's forgiveness, and they admit they still love each other.
Enraged, Sonny speeds towards Connie's apartment in Hell's Kitchen ahead of his bodyguards. At the Long Beach Causeway toll plaza, Barzini's men trap Sonny and shoot him to death. During a meeting with the other crime family dons to establish peace, Vito realizes that Barzini masterminded Sonny's murder.
In the late summer of 1948, Sonny Corleone was lured into a trap and was killed at the Jones Beach Causeway by Barzini family hitmen in order to avenge Carlo. The hit was engineered by Emilio Barzini after Carlo, angered at the loss of his income and at the fact that Sonny had beaten him, helped set it up.
Furious, Sonny finds and beats Rizzi up in the street, threatening to kill him if he ever hurts Connie again. Humiliated, Rizzi seeks revenge by secretly making a deal with the Corleones' chief rival, Emilio Barzini, to murder Sonny.
Ultimately, Tessio betrays Michael by helping arrange his assassination at a peace summit with Barzini and Philip Tattaglia. The summit will be held in Tessio's fiefdom in Brooklyn, where Michael will presumably be safe. In return, Tessio was to inherit the Corleone family upon Michael's death.
He is also mentioned many times throughout the film; the dialogue makes it clear that Michael is tormented with guilt over ordering his brother's death, and that it has alienated him from his ex-wife, Kay (Diane Keaton), and his son, Anthony (Franc D'Ambrosio), both of whom know the truth about Fredo's death.
Fredo's decision is most likely a result of resentment toward Michael, by whom he felt he had been passed over. Michael was Fredo's "kid brother," and the fact that their father chose for Michael to take over the "family business" came as a great insult to Fredo, who was neither as intelligent nor as strong.
Al Pacino's portrayal of Michael Corleone in The Godfather is iconic and synonymous with the character's image in the minds of audiences. Jack Nicholson turned down the role of Michael Corleone because he believed that actors should stick to playing characters of their own ethnicity.
Paulie has seemingly betrayed Vito—and thus the family—by selling him out. In The Godfather, this kind of betrayal is the worst of all sins. We see the matter discussed, in the Corleone family office, just before the viewer spends time in front of Clemenza's cozy abode.
Who betrayed Vito Corleone in The Godfather, and how were they caught? One of the soldiers employed to guard Vito, Paulie Gatto, was the traitor. Sollozzo's people persuaded him to call in sick on the day they intended to shoot the Don leaving him only with Fredo who probably didn't even know how to use a gun.
The two of them surmised that someone in the family would betray Michael in this event by setting up a meeting with Don Emilio Barzini, Vito's main rival and the mastermind behind the Sollozzo scheme. In 1955, he died of a heart attack at age 68, while playing with his grandson Anthony in his garden.
As Fredo prays the Hail Mary (which he claimed brought him luck whilst fishing), Neri shoots him in the back of the head, not knowing that Anthony was watching from his bedroom window.
After her brother's debut concert, the assassin Mosca tries to kill Michael. One bullet grazes Michael's shoulder, but the other accidentally hits Mary in the chest, fatally wounding her. Michael is devastated by Mary's death, and screams in torment while cradling her dead body.
Luca Brasi is Don Vito Corleone's personal enforcer and the only man Vito himself fears. While slow-witted and brutish, Brasi is fiercely loyal with a reputation as a savage and remorseless killer.
Vincent is the illegitimate son of Sonny Corleone and his mistress Lucy Mancini. He eventually succeeds his uncle Michael as head of the Corleone family.
When she started the car to drive towards him, she unknowingly ignited a bomb planted in the car, intended for Michael, the subsequent explosion killed her instantly. The attack was orchestrated by Michael's trusted bodyguard, Fabrizio, who was paid off by the Barzini family from New York.
Victor Rizzi was the son of Connie Corleone and Carlo Rizzi. He was at Anthony Corleone's first communion and seen with his brother Michael Rizzi coming in the door at Carmela Corleone's funeral. Victor was arrested in Reno for theft some time shortly before Anthony's first communion.
In the novel, Greene is murdered shortly afterward by Al Neri. At the end of the film, Michael has Greene killed as part of his slaughter of the Corleone family's enemies. Neri surprises Greene while he is getting a massage and shoots him through the eye.
