Fredo Corleone

Fredo Corleone
First appearance	The Godfather
Created by	Mario Puzo
Portrayed by	John Cazale
In-universe information
Gender	Male

Federico "Fredo" Corleone (December 14, 1917–January 30, 1959) is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather. He is the middle brother to oldest brother Santino Corleone and younger brother Michael Corleone. Their father is Vito Corleone, head of a fictional New York Mafia family. Fredo was portrayed by late Italian-American actor John Cazale in Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of the novel, as well as in its sequel.

Role in the novel and film

As revealed in Puzo's novel, Fredo was always thought of in the Corleone crime Family as the weakest and most foolish of the three Corleone brothers, and so was given its unimportant businesses to run.

In a pivotal scene in the novel and film, Fredo attempts to immediately retaliate after the attempted assassination of his father on a New York street by men working for drug kingpin Virgil Sollozzo. However, he fumbles with the gun, drops it, and is unable to return fire. He then sits on the street curb next to his unconscious father and weeps.

After Sonny's assassination and Vito's death, the younger Michael was appointed head of the family over Fredo, causing a deep rift between the two brothers which is expanded upon in Coppola's later sequels to the first film adaptation.

In the sequels

At the Lake Tahoe party at the beginning of The Godfather Part II, Fredo is unable to control his intoxicated wife, Deanna. After she danced with another man, he furiously dragged her off the dance floor and threatened to hit her. Deanna mocked him by saying that he "couldn't belt [his] momma," and that he's jealous because he's not "a real man."

In a flashback to the early days of the Corleone family, there is a scene where an infant Fredo is being treated for pneumonia. The scene showed Fredo to be sickly even as a youth.

Fredo betrayed Michael when approached by Johnny Ola, an agent of rival gangster Hyman Roth. This betrayal ultimately resulted in an assassination attempt on Michael at his Lake Tahoe home. The film left unclear the details of Fredo's deal with Ola and Roth. Fredo ambiguously claimed that his goal in that deal was simply to get something for himself, on his own, and swore that he did not realize he was being used as part of a larger plot to kill his brother. However, in the event of Michael's assassination, Fredo would likely have led the Corleone Family, at least as a figurehead.

When Michael discovered Fredo's role in the plot, he disowned his brother. Upon their mother's death, and at the urging of their sister Connie, Michael relented toward Fredo and seemingly offered reconciliation. However, it was only to draw Fredo in so as to have him murdered, something Michael did not dare to do while their mother was alive.

Towards the end of The Godfather Part II, Fredo and his nephew, Michael's son Anthony, developed a relationship and were to go fishing on Lake Tahoe. However, Anthony is called away by Connie, who tells him that his father wants to take him to Reno. Fredo is left alone in the fishing boat with Al Neri and he takes the boat far out onto the lake. His suspicions prior to his death are left up to interpretation. As Fredo prays the Hail Mary, Neri shoots him in the back of the head. Fredo is dead at 39 years old, less than one year short of his 40th birthday.

Family members outside of Michael's power circle were told that he drowned in a tragic boating accident. Ordering Fredo's death would haunt Michael for the rest of his life, and further alienated him from his wife Kay and son Anthony. In The Godfather Part III, Michael expressed deep remorse at ordering his brother's death years later while confessing his sins to Cardinal Lamberto who, in the film, later became Pope John Paul I.

Connie maintained in the third film that Fredo had drowned accidentally. This may have been in (perhaps willful) ignorance to the actual events surrounding Fredo's death, or an attempt to convince Michael that he should not dwell on Fredo's murder and instead live the lie he created.

Many aspects of Fredo's life, his marriage to Deanna, and his role in the assassination attempt on Michael were clarified in Mark Winegardner's 2004 novel The Godfather Returns. The novel also portrays Fredo as being gay or possibly bisexual. Although his wife Deanna knows about it, he denies and loathes this aspect of himself. He believes his sexuality to be a secret, but Michael and family consigliere Tom Hagen have their suspicions.

Within the pages of The Godfather Returns, and followed up on in The Godfather's Revenge, also by Winegardner, it is stated that Fredo had a child before he died, and the child was given up for adoption by the mother. The child's name is never revealed. Template:Endspoiler

As cultural figure

• In popular culture, Fredo has become representative of the "weak link" of an organization. Referring to someone as "Fredo" indicates that the person is not competent enough to be trusted with important tasks or knowledge. It is usually used to suggest not treachery, but weakness and stupidity.

• In the television series, The Sopranos, Anthony, Jr., was referred to by a teacher as "Fredo Corleone" after the dean strong-armed him into raising Anthony's poor English grade.

• In the movie "Analyze This" starring Robert de Niro and Billy Crystal there is a reference to Fredo in a dream scene which replicates "The Godfather" almost exactly. Billy Crystal gets shot down as Vito Corleone does and Robert de Niro is unable to help as is with Fredo. When Billy Crystal tells Robert de Niro about this dream he had, de Niro says "I was Fredo? No way!" suggesting a negative connotation of being related to Fredo.

• In the episode "Busey and the Beach" from the first season of the HBO series Entourage, Turtle refers to Johnny Drama as Fredo during one of Drama's trademark angry rants. Turtle and Drama fight like this throughout the series, often making references to The Godfather and other pop-culture entities that have Italian stereotypes.

See also

• Vito Corleone — Father; played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather and by Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II
• Santino 'Sonny' Corleone — Elder brother; played by James Caan
• Costanza 'Connie' Corleone-Rizzi — Sister; played by Talia Shire
• Michael Corleone — Younger brother; played by Al Pacino
• Mary Corleone — Niece; played by Sofia Coppola
• Anthony Vito Corleone — Nephew; played by Anthony Gounaris in Godfather I, played by James Gounaris in Godfather II, played by Franc D'Ambrosio
• Carmella Corleone — Mother; played by Morgana King
• Vincent 'Vinnie' Mancini-Corleone — Illegitimate nephew and succeeding 'Don'; played by Andy Garcia.

References

• Plot Summary - The Godfather