Frank Pentangeli - in The Film

In The Film

Near the beginning of the story, Pentangeli approaches Michael to ask for his help in eliminating the Rosato brothers, rivals in New York, who claimed to have been promised territories by Clemenza prior to his death. Michael refuses, however, and orders Pentangeli to do nothing, as he does not want a war to interfere with an upcoming deal with Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg), who supports the Rosatos. Pentangeli takes this as an insult and leaves in anger. Later that night, Michael narrowly escapes an assassination attempt at his home.

Suspecting that Roth was behind the assassination attempt, Michael meets with Pentangeli and asks him to help take his revenge. As part of his plan, Michael insists that Pentangeli capitulate to the Rosato brothers, so that Roth will not suspect that Michael is conspiring against him. Pentangeli, preferring open warfare against Roth and the Rosatos, is again very aggravated by Michael's demand that Pentangeli give in to them. However, he reluctantly agrees to comply with Michael's wishes.

Back in New York, Pentangeli arranges a meeting with the Rosato brothers. At the meeting, Tony Rosato (Danny Aiello) ambushes Pentangeli with a garotte, telling him, "Michael Corleone says hello." A policeman passes by and the attack degenerates into a shootout in the street. Pentangeli disappears and is believed to be dead.

Later, at a Senate hearing investigating the allegations of Michael's criminal activities, the committee presents Pentangeli as a surprise witness to corroborate Cicci's testimony against Michael. Pentangeli and Cicci have been in the protective custody of the FBI since the apparent attempt upon his life. Believing that Michael ordered him to be murdered, Pentangeli has told investigators, and is now prepared to testify before the Senate, that Michael is the head of the most powerful Mafia family in the nation, controls virtually all gambling activity in North America, and has ordered countless murders. Most damningly, Pentangeli tells investigators that Michael personally killed Captain McCluskey (Sterling Hayden) and Virgil Sollozzo (Al Lettieri), and also began planning his mass slaughter of New York's other Mafia bosses as early as 1950. Cicci also told this to investigators, but is unable to directly implicate Michael in any illegal activity because he never received orders directly from him. However, since Pentangeli is a capo, there is no insulation between Michael and himself. The Senate subcommittee and the FBI thus consider Pentangeli very credible, and are certain that he can corroborate Cicci's testimony and send Michael to prison. As it turned out, the whole hearing was engineered by Roth as part of his plan to eliminate Michael from the scene; the committee's lawyer is on Roth's payroll.

Because Pentangeli's protective custody is so secure, Michael knows he will be unable to have Pentangeli killed before he testifies. Instead, Michael flies Pentangeli's brother, Vincenzo, in from Sicily, and Vincenzo accompanies Michael to the hearing at which Frank is scheduled to testify. Vincenzo and Frank exchange a silent glance before the hearing. Understanding the threat, Frank recants his earlier statements and now claims that the Corleone family is innocent of any wrongdoing, thus committing perjury against the Senate committee and subjecting himself to federal imprisonment. This testimony catches the Senators completely off-guard and effectively derails the government's case against Michael.

After the hearing, Tom Hagen (Robert Duvall) visits Frank in custody. Hagen tells Frank that he did the right thing by recanting, and that if he accepts responsibility for turning on the Corleone family, Frank's own family will always be taken care of. He thanks Hagen, returns to his room, and commits suicide by slitting his wrists while taking a bath.

The finished film leaves unclear exactly what about his brother's presence motivated Frank to change his story. The final film only states that Vincenzo is himself a Mafia chieftain in Sicily. An early draft of the film explains that Vincenzo, shocked that Frankie is about to break his blood oath and betray the Corleones to government authorities, attends the hearing to remind Frankie that he must not break the Mafia's code of silence, Omertà. His brother's presence, as well as the stare they exchanged, serves as a threat that if Frankie follows through with his planned testimony, retribution will be taken against his children, who are living in Sicily under Vincenzo's guardianship.