Why does pentangeli kill himself

If he shut his mouth and killed himself, his brother would guarantee the safety of his family. He also moved into the old Corleone estate on Long Island.

Pentangeli was reminded of his Sicilian heritage, and that narcking on Michael would be a cardinal sin in the society that he came from. He saw changing his testimony as the honorable thing to do at that point. It was a threat against his family. Later that night, Michael narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at his home.

Suspecting that Hyman Roth was behind the assassination attempt, Michael met with Pentangeli and asked him to help take his revenge. Pentangeli agreed, promising to end his feud with the Rosato Brothers and giving the impression that Michael supported their claim, so as to give Roth the impression that Michael did not know he was conspiring against him. However the deal was a set up and Tony Rosato himself garroted Pentangeli, claiming to have been sent by Michael. He only survived due to his own screams, which alerted a nearby police officer.

Later, at a Senate hearing into organized crime, Pentangeli was presented as a surprise witness. Believing that Michael ordered the Rosato Brothers to kill him, he had been in the custody of the FBI along with Willie Cicci since the murder attempt. Facing charges of first-degree murder, bookmaking and possession of drug paraphernalia, Pentangeli agreed to testify against Michael.

He told FBI agents, and was prepared to tell the committee, that Michael was the most powerful Mafia chief in the nation, and headed a crime family that controlled all of the gambling in North America and had ordered countless murders. Most damningly, he was prepared to testify that Michael personally murdered Captain McCluskey and Virgil Sollozzo in , and made plans for a mass slaughter of the other New York Dons as early as Cicci had testified to this as well, but was unable to directly implicate Michael in illegal activity because he never received direct orders from him.

In contrast, since Pentangeli was a caporegime , there was no insulation between Michael and himself. The committee thus considered Pentangeli very credible, and was confident he could corroborate Cicci's testimony and send Michael to prison. Because Pentangeli's protective custody was so secure, Michael could not have him killed before the hearing. Instead, he flew Vincenzo in from Sicily. Upon seeing his brother in the committee room, Frank denied his written testimony and feigned ignorance of the Corleone family's criminal activities.

Frank has his last conversation with Tom Hagen. Fredo always knew it was a hit on Michael. The failed hit on Pentangeli was just dumb luck. The honor of your family is intact. As we know by the end of the film, Hyman Roth is behind the hit on Michael. There are a few reasons for this, the largest of which is resentment at Michael having killed Moe Greene in Godfather I. To do this, he uses Johnny Ola, his right hand man. It was clear that Fredo had changed.

It was unlikely he would betray Michael again. He perceived that he crossed the line, and he regretted his actions. By letting that little bit slip out then Michael knew that Fredo was the traitor in the family Corleone.

So Michael confronted Fredo.