MovieChat Forums > The Godfather Part II (1974) Discussion > Rocco kills Roth

Rocco kills Roth

posted 7 years ago by passedpfv
4 replies | jump to latest

"If history has taught us anything, it's that you can kill anyone."

For years it;s bugged me that Roth was murdered by Rocco Lapone. The reason for this is because Michael's decision to have the act committed by Rocco defies the logic of the entire film including and most important the Senate scene.

In that scene Willie Cicci testifies that there was always a "buffer" between Michael who was giving the order and the button who carried it out. This way the button if caught would not rat on the person who gave the order.

Thus Rocco would have been a terrible choice to assassinate Roth because he likely receive the order from Michael and that order could be traced by Rocco to Michael had Rocco survived. Further, in the Senate scenes the Corleone Crime tree identifies Rocco Lampone as a Caporegime in the Corleone Crime Family. Thus once his corpse is dientified, the FBI can trace Lampone back to the Corleone Crime Family.

I believe Puzo and Coppola chose Lampone for the assassination because he was a convenient character that the audience knew.

Thoughts?

[–] kag2 7 years ago

Some have suggested that Rocco was on a suicide mission, and that he did the hit on Roth at the airport because he (and possibly his family) was facing retribution from the earlier near-hit on Michael in Nevada. Either Rocco was suspected, or held partly responsible for security lapses.

[–] movieghoul 7 years ago

I always subscribed to the suicide theory. No doubt Rocco's family was well compensated. Why else would he run?

[–] BourbonKing (5612) 6 years ago

It sounds logical, but the movie by itself failed to convey this concept which is why many viewers, including myself, have always been perplexed by the very public murdering of Hyman Roth.

[–] vicky_lc2001 (1907) 6 years ago

I think when they said 'button men', they meant the lower ranked soldiers that usually answer to the capos or lieutenants of the family instead of the Don. But the Don, be it Vito or Michael, have sometimes ordered their capos/underboss/bodyguard/etc to directly kill someone themselves like Vito was with Luca/Tessio/Clemenza or Michael was with Neri/Rocco/Clemenza.

The killing of Barzini/Tataglia/Green came from Michael himself to Clemenza/Neri/Rocco but these 3 are not button men despite that direct order.