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Could Tony Have Lived If He Handled His Final Conversation With Sosa Differently?


I know everyone says that Sosa would not be bothered by his conscience if two kids were killed, but as a businessman he would have realized that two children being murdered by a bomb in New York in front of the UN because their father was on his way to give a speech about him would bring attention to him he did not need? If he felt the heat was coming down hard on him and his partners because of the discovered bomb, imagine his picture and the school pictures of those two children on the front page for weeks. He'd have the full resources of the US and the international community being brought to bear on him.

I actually felt that Tony could have leveraged this fact to his advantage in his final conversation with Sosa, presenting it as a judgement call rather than an act of conscience, and maybe lived. Sure, Sosa would not have any moral issue with killing children but if Tony said "Hey, how do you think the press will react when two kids are blown up in New York, because their father was speaking to the media about Alexander Sosa? You'd be the worlds most wanted man! The international community would put you at the top of the most wanted list and you'd be finished. I tried to point this out to Alberto but he lacked the judgement to think of the massive amount of press and police/military heat this would bring on you, so I prevented him from doing that. You're welcome!"

Maybe Sosa might have had a moment of clarity and realized that as bad as the heat was with the bomb being found, that Tony had just helped him dodge a bullet (or several thousand). As angry as he might have felt he might have realized that Tony in fact saved his behind.

Any thoughts? Sosa seemed like a shrewd man, and could see the political blowback to kids being killed in front of the UN.

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Your post raises a bunch of interesting questions regarding the manner in which Sosa chose to eliminate the U.N. speaker. Because surely a bomb under a car would itself cause a great deal of hoopla. With all of Sosa’s assumed resources, you think he could have the U.N. speaker taken out in a much less conspicuous manner. They knew what hotel he was in, they probably knew the room and the amount of security surrounding the guy. Seems like if Sosa could muster an army to eventually kill Tony, he could have organized a small team to infiltrate the hotel and take out the U.N. speaker.

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Good point. I've always felt that doing the attack in front off the UN was poor judgement even if there were not kids involved.

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Nah. They wanted a message sent with his very public murder and as such were likely prepared to take the heat from any fallout, so long this guy was dead(Back then it would have been easier to repress/bury this guy's information after his death as he hadn't made the rounds on the big networks yet).

Tony failed to execute his orders which brought down a new level of heat while the target was still alive to continue pushing the issue, now potentially untouchable as well. This failure also would have greatly embarrassed Sosa, who ensured a lot of very high level people that the situation would be handled.

Plus keep in mind, according to Lopez, Sosa was also a guy who would send a hit squad if you failed to produce the necessary mount of money in a deal with him. No matter what Tony "fucked" Sosa and there's only thing that happens to people who do that. =P

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I guess that while I definitely saw Sosa as ruthless, I also saw him as a shrewd analytical strategist, and while a man like him would have no conscience, he would see the folly in murdering two children in such a gruesome fashion right in front of the UN when the whole world would know it was him, even if they could not prove it right away. It makes him seem more reckless than I initially would have assumed.

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Nope, Sosa wouldn't have cared a whit about those kids. He might've even appreciated how cold and ruthless it made him seem.

The important thing is silencing the guy who's now got security up the ass. And who just made the very UN speech that Sosa and his partners wanted to prevent.

The damage was done. Some things get broke you can't fix 'em

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His insistence that it happens in front of the UN makes no sense. If he was worried what attention a speech in front of the UN would bring him, what did he think a bomb going off in front of the UN (killing the guy who was there to speak about him) would do?

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I don't think Tony could have talked his way out of it since he had killed a loyal hit man Roberto. Sosa was possibly childhood friends with him and was angry about having to hire yet another henchman (who knows how henchman economics works but they may not be cheap or easy to replace). On top of that the bad press from the unexploded bomb was already affecting him and his friends, which has made him lost face among the shady businessmen and politicians he was involved with, and that corrupt CIA guy as well. Sosa might have had a target on his back now because of the failed attempt and had to pin the blame on Tony and take him out before he said anything to any of them.

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