Frederico “Fredo” Corleone Character Analysis

Fredo is Don Vito Corleone’s second-youngest child. Like his older brother, Sonny, Fredo wants to join the Family business. However, Fredo is a passive, often weak-willed individual who lacks Sonny’s ruthlessness and Michael’s intelligence, making him ill-suited to leading a criminal enterprise. As a baby, Fredo contracted pneumonia before growing into an aggressive child who often got into physical fights with his brothers. The adult Fredo witnesses the attempted murder of his father, during which he becomes paralyzed with fear. His shameful failure to protect Vito relegates Fredo to relatively minor roles in the Family business. What Fredo lacks in toughness and intelligence, however, he compensates for with his gregarious personality. His personal charisma secures him a role overseeing parts of the Corleones’ Las Vegas casino operations alongside Moe Greene. Even in this role, however, Fredo largely works to entertain and placate guests before business meetings, and his penchant for womanizing leads Greene to deny Fredo a full partnership in the casino rackets. Fredo’s character demonstrates that, in the world of the Mafia, those who cannot tolerate violence cannot hope to gain real power.