1

When Fredo and Pentangeli meet in Nevada in The Godfather Part II, they talk about Clemenza's death. Willi Cicci says that was no heart attack followed by Pentangeli saying that is the reason for him to visit Michael. When later he meets Mike, he goes on to complain about the Rosato Brothers stepping over their territory. Could the two be related?

1

1 Answer 1

1

Probably not.

Interestingly Cicci's line about it not being a heart attack does not appear in several drafts of the script.

2nd Draft 24th September 1973

          PENTANGELI
  You remember Willy Cicci, don't
  you, Freddie?  We was all together
  with the old man Clemenza in
  Brooklyn... before...uh...

          FREDO
  We were all upset about that.

          PENTANGELI
  That's what I'm here to talk to
  your brother about.  What's with
  him, I got to get a letter of
  introduction to have a 'sitdown'? 

A similarly dated version

      PENTANGELI
   Sure, Pete Clemenza died of a heart
  attack, but the Rosato Brothers
  gave it to him.

     MICHAEL
 We were all heartbroken at the
 news; but that wasn't cause to
 start a war.

This version which does not appear in the movie at least has the implication that the stress of dealing with the brothers caused the heart attack.

In light of Michaels conversation with Pentagelli the idea that the Rosato's were directly involved in Clemeza's death does not really hold up. Frank isn't going to war with the Rosato brother because they killed Clemenza but because they are infringing in his territory. If the brothers had killed Clemenza I think it likely that THAT would swing Michael to Frankie's side and it would have been mentioned.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .