How realistic is this cut scene from Godfather 2 where Klingman is assaulted in his own casino?

Question

I always thought this could have been included in the film. It is referred to in the conversation the senator has with Michael although it had not yet occurred but the senator knew of plans for Klingman to be removed.

One might have thought that initial legal offers had been made to Klingman for his ownership or his share of ownership in the casino, but the man sounds genuinely surprised by Al Neri -- it is as if this is the first he is hearing of even Coreleone's interest in buying and is genuinely outraged by Neri's behavior.

The thing that allows this to even occur is that none of the security guards do anything -- had they intervened, Klingman could have made himself scarce in the future in the casino or had bodyguards and he would never have had to sign over the casino.

His final line is, however, "Okay, I'll clear out" and this almost sounds like he either knew all along what was going on or just finally accepted that he could do nothing about it.

But how realistic is this? One could certainly not expect something like this to work at any normal company, like GM or US Steel or Microsoft -- huge amounts of paperwork associated with selling a company or even a house, probably rules that arose long ago to prevent things like this. At some point Klingman would have to sign something and not only that, if the transaction greatly undervalued the casino, he could later sue.

Presumably also Al Neri had had to bribe all the security guards -- they tend to be loyal to the man who pays their salaries.

Maybe the implausibility of the scene is why it was cut. On the other hand, it is implied that the Coreleones managed to force a buyout of Moe Greene by the expedient of murdering him and presumably his share reverted to someone who was amenable to selling.

Answer 1

Is this "realistic" in a "real world" context, probably not, but there are factors in the movie which help explain what is going on.

Firstly, Klingman is not in fact the owner, he merely is the Gambling Licence holder and is a front for criminal interests.

This is mentioned earlier when Michael meets Johnny Ola.

The hotel's registered owners are one Jacob Lawrence, and Sidney Barclay, both Beverly Hills attorneys. In reality it's split between the Old Lakeville Road Group from Cleveland, and our friend in Miami. He takes care of others outside the country, you know who I mean. Meyer Klingman runs the store, and does all right, but I've been instructed to tell you, that if you move him out, our friend in Miami will go along with you.

So word is in the air about how the Corleone's plan to take over, which is probably where Geary hears of it.

As for security not taking any action, this does seem unlikely initially BUT it's possible that are "in the know" and, as I said, Klingman is a front so their loyalty is not really to him but rather the mob who actually own the casino...something I'm sure they know.

Quickly, Neri moves toward Klingman, and slaps him hard several times in the face, knocking off his glasses... Red- faced, Klingman gets down on his knees to pick them up once, again. Glasses on, he looks to his guards.

WHAT HE SEES

They stand, motionless.

Comparisons with the transfer of ownership in the real world aren't really relevant since Klingman is not the actual owner of the casino and it's only the licenceholder that needs changing (as the registered owners are a front anyway) and Geary is the one who will attend to that.