Originally Answered: Why did Michael kill Fredo? Fredo was part of a plot to assassinate Michael. Arguably Fredo could have been forgiven as his character was known now and he could be controlled, but putting things in the perspective of "Corleone Family" the act of betrayal by Fredo deserves special treatment.
After telling Michael that he has never met Ola, Fredo later carelessly tells Geary that he had been to a nightclub with Ola. Michael overhears the conversation and realizes that Fredo betrayed him to Roth. He confronts Fredo, delivering the kiss of death.
Fredo betrayed his brother to rival gangster Hyman Roth, who used him as a pawn in a plot to destroy the Corleone Family. Fredo provided unspecified information on the Corleone family in return for receiving compensation (what kind is never specified) independently of the family.
Fredo, having betrayed him, needed to be held accountable. Killing him shows the entire world that Michael is nobody to mess with. Knowing a guy killed his own brother for disloyalty makes them think twice about betraying him themselves. It kept him safe for years.
Fredo's decision to betray his brother Michael and pass information about him to Hyman Roth is likely driven by resentment towards Michael for being chosen as the family's successor.
Why Did Michael Corleone Kill Fredo? & Why Did Fredo Betray the Corleone Family?
Would Michael have killed Fredo if he got in the car?
In The Godfather Part 2, if Fredo had gotten into the car with Michael in Cuba would he have been killed and left dead on the island or allowed to return to the family compound alive and maybe live? Michael would not have had him killed as long as their mother was alive, that is fairly certain.
During a heart-to-heart chat with Michael, Fredo laments that he was stepped over for the position of Don. Michael counters by accurately reminding him that it's what their father wanted, but Fredo goes on a rant, claiming everyone thinks he is dumb, hence they don't respect him.
Yes. The way she reminded Michael that poor Fredo had drowned seemed to make it clear she was telling him she knew. It was her speech, manner, and inflection that inferred the truth. A woman who had become as astute and clever as Connie wouldn't just make an idle comment such as that.
Fredo has pneumonia and is being tended to by his mother and a nursemaid using a glass tumbler with a flame underneath. The thought was it would suck the illness out of his tiny body. It's a centuries old routine done by the Chinese, the Greeks and the Italians among others.
Why did Michael pretend to forgive Fredo and Carlo before ordering them killed instead of just doing so outright? Mario wanted to make a point about Michael Corleone. Michael's inability to forgive leads to the destruction of his family.
No, Fredo Corleone was not intellectually and socially deficient in the movie The Godfather. He was simply not as smart or as savvy as his brothers Michael and Sonny. This is evident early on in the movie when he gets caught up in a scam with Johnny Ola that nearly costs Michael his life.
Following the death of their mother, Connie forgave Michael, stating that he was only being strong for the family as their father had been. She then begged Michael to forgive Fredo for betraying him, and Michael appeared to do so; however, it was merely a ploy to draw Fredo in so Michael could have him killed.
After the performance, Mosca shoots Michael, wounding him, and a second bullet hits Mary, killing her. Mary's death breaks Michael's spirit, and he screams in agony over her body. In an epilogue scene set in 1997, an elderly Michael dies in the same courtyard where he married Appollonia.
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. This allows Greene's casinos to become property of the Corleone family.
Hyman Roth, played in The Godfather: Part II by actor Lee Strasberg, was based on real-life mobster Meyer Lansky. Lansky is widely credited for coming up with some of the key innovations upon which the casino and gambling industry is built today.
However, when his father is nearly assassinated in late 1945, he is thrust back into the world he has avoided for so long. Reaffirming his loyalty at his father's bedside, Michael volunteers to kill both the men responsible: the drug kingpin Virgil Sollozzo and corrupt police captain Mark McCluskey.
At the end of Part III, Michael dies alone in the yard of his Sicilian villa. The death of his daughter, Mary, has sealed his fate, severing his ties forever with the rest of the family, the family that he tried to save and bring to legitimacy. Instead, he brought them only pain and death.
Shortly afterwards, on July 29, 1955, Vito dies of a heart attack in his garden while playing with his grandson, Michael's son Anthony. In the novel, his last words are, "Life is so beautiful."
It's one of the most memorable scenes in movie history: Al Pacino, as Michael Corleone grabs his brother Fredo's face, gives him a long kiss on the lips and says, "I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart!" Fredo then stares at his brother, terrified, and runs away into the crowd.
No way, in fact the only Corleone that would have had Fredo killed was Michael. Every other member of the Corleone family ( especially Vito) would have realized that Fredo's actions were the result of him being dim witted not because of any malicious intent!
Believing that Michael ordered him murdered, Pentangeli provides a sworn statement to investigators that Michael is the head of the most powerful Mafia family in the nation, controls virtually all gambling activity in North America, and has ordered countless murders.
Michael Corleone figures out that Hyman Roth is plotting against him when Roth accidentally exposes his true motives, and Roth got his new name from Vito Corleone after admiring Arnold Rothstein.
