Because Fredo was weak and stupid. No, that's really the reason - because of this, Fredo couldn't be trusted. Recall the scene in GF I where after Fredo sides with Moe Greene, Michael tells him,"don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever."
Michael made good on that promise. And killed Fredo. Just like he made Connie a widow.
I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.
The turning point was not the assassination attempt, nor what Michael discovered in Cuba, as Michael states that he realized that Roth deceived Fredo and F should come home. No, it was the scene in the boat house, when Fredo revealed astonishing and hitherto unsuspected hatred and deviousness (he had known for some time that Roth owned Questadt, but had kept this vital info to himself). Not only could he never be trusted again, but his existence posed a danger to the Corleones. What was to stop some other enemy fooling him, and using him against the family?
There is no future in England's dreaming.
I think it works two-fold; just like these other guys said - Fredo's animosity and harbored feelings of inferiority next to Michael will always mean he's a risk. No matter what he says. If he's held on to those feelings for this long, why should Michael believe he'll just get over it all of a sudden? Fredo is also very dim-witted. I truly believe that he didn't know they were gonna hit Michael (debatable, but that's what I like to think). He just wanted to get some action for him self without "little brother" helping him. This makes things all the more dangerous - he's too stupid to realize what he's getting himself into.
Secondly, I also think it shows how Michael has become a different Don than his own father, Vito. Throughout the first movie, it was stressed how important family was to Vito and it's hard to say if this situation would've happened to him, if he would've forgiven Fredo or not. I truly think he would have, because he felt like Fredo was innocent and just stupid. Vito would've let him survive because he's family and he "doesn't know any better", which is conversely the same reason Michael has him whacked. Michael is a "darker" Don than his father was, that's for sure.
As an aside: even though it was decades later, in The Soprano's, Tony's uncle had a failed hit attempt on him, and Tony still didn't set out to have his uncle whacked. Now of course in that case, at the time, Uncle Junior was more important and had more connections/friends than Fredo, but even years later when Tony was the true Boss of the family, he could never bring himself to kill Jun'. Yet he has no problem eventually offing his cousin, as well as Christopher.
Point: justification for killing family within the mob is very erratic.
" He just wanted to get some action for him self without "little brother" helping him. This makes things all the more dangerous - he's too stupid to realize what he's getting himself into. "
How do you tell such a man that he should simply accept that his little brother always knows what's best for him? That would be incredibly patronizing.
I think the fact that Michael kills him really reflects on what we should think of Michael: his overt displays of strength, meant to defend his family, only alienate them from him.
How Vito would have handled a betrayal by Fredo is a difficult question to answer. As stated, he would never knowingly have done so, and Vito knew how to make Fredo feel wanted and valued. Those feelings of hatred and resentment didn't just happen. They happened because Michael wasn't the Don his father was. Michael ruled, while Vito led.
These are all very interesting perspectives. Every time I watch the film, I wonder if Michael's telling the truth when he tries to get Fredo to come home with him in Havana; and, if Fredo had come with him right then and there, if Michael might've forgiven him. I usually find myself deciding that Michael really did make up his mind to kill Fredo in the sex club, but the idea that the boathouse scene is what seals his fate is one I'm going to keep in mind the next time I watch the movie.
In any event, to build on what others have said here, it's more evidence for what a lousy Don Michael really turned out to be. All sentimentality aside, he didn't know how to keep the people in his organization happy so that he could benefit from them later, or, at the very least, not have them turn on him. Fredo would've never turned on Vito not just because Vito was "pop" but because "pop" made him feel loved, respected, and useful. Michael obviously shows his love to Fredo, but he also fails to make Fredo feel like there's a real place of honor for him in the Corleone empire.
Fredo would never have turned on Vito because Vito is his father, an authority figure since his birth. Michael otoh, is his 'little brother', a little brother who never had authority over him until Michael became Don.
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