I just don't why they don't want Michael to take over, is it just because they want to keep running things corruptly?
shareThey wanted Michael's money to cover that they've been laundering Vatican Bank's money but didn't want Michael to take over (so they can keep laundering money). They tried to stall the deal until Michael can be assasinated.
shareI agree they didn't explain it very well, but basically the villains were stealing money and they needed Michael's money to cover it up, but they never wanted to give him control of the company. So once Michael paid the money they would stall the deal (the pope getting sick was just an added bonus, another reason to stall the deal) so they would have time to kill him. If the deal went through however that would mean they would have to give him controlling interest over the company as the pope was not in on it.
It seems the harder Michael tries to make his family business legitimate the more he destroys his family.
One line I didn't get was from Keinzig when he says "If Corleone dies everything will be out in the open". Does he mean his embezzlement practices? I thought if Michael died then that would be good for them?
Yes. As Keinzig was eaves dropping on Mr. Harrison's plea to the Archbishop that the Corleone transaction still goes through it would open the books to Italian/Vatican regulators since Michael is a US citizen. The Archbishop replies telling Keinzig to bide his time.
shareRight but if they wanted Michael dead wouldn't it be good for them if he died by the stroke or had the money not exchanged hands yet at that point?
shareI'm with you. If Michael had already put the money in the Vatican Bank (and it seems he did), then his death-by-stroke is a struck of luck similar to the Pope's illness. Michael dying would eliminate the possibilitie of him taken over Immobiliare, even in the improbable event that the Pope accepts his inclusion.
It seems to me like a sloppy sequence in order to establish the Archbishop's villain status, instead of being narrative coherent and thus more effective.
If someone can clarify this point I'll be grateful
Yeah that is the one thing I am confused on, also the whole pope getting sick thing wasn’t very well thought out because at first him getting sick was good for their plan but then when he dies and the new pope wants to clean house that’s bad for their plan, again it just wasn’t very coherent. The plot in Part II wasn’t very well spelled out either but in that one there are enough subtle clues as to what’s going on that you can figure it out
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