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Michael Corleone
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.
Frederico “Fredo” Corleone Quotes in The Godfather
The The Godfather quotes below are all either spoken by Frederico “Fredo” Corleone or refer to Frederico “Fredo” Corleone. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 27 Quotes
“But don’t ever take sides with anybody against the Family again.”
Related Characters:
Michael Corleone (speaker), Frederico “Fredo” Corleone
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
372
Explanation and Analysis:
In this quote, Michael reprimands Fredo for siding with Moe Green, who has served as Fredo’s surrogate (and abusive) brother in Las Vegas. Fredo initially supports Greene’s refusal to sell to the Corleone Family—and then tries to convince Michael that Moe isn’t disrespectful and abusive—and earns a severe rebuke from Michael. In this passage, Puzo highlights the supreme role loyalty plays in the Corleone Family’s business decisions. Loyalty to the crime Family always trumps loyalty to the Corleone blood family, because the Family business cannot abide traitors of any sort. The Mafia model guarantees benefits only to those who swear total and unconditional loyalty to the Don, and this edict is so powerful that even Michael’s own brother is not permitted to transgress it. The Mafia places such a premium on loyalty because rival Families perceive any hint of weakness as grounds for subversion and attack from the outside. Thus, the Corleone Family must immediately snuff out even the slightest hint of treachery. Fredo, for example, does nothing to betray Michal and the Family. He merely voices a mild concern over Michael’s belief that he can muscle Moe Greene into a deal and shrugs off Michael’s concern that Moe is “slap[ping] [Fredo] around.” The Mafia’s ruthless approach to transgressions real and perceived, however, causes Michael to treat Fredo’s comments as evidence of his taking sides “against the Family.” Thus, Even for a member of the Corleone blood clan, betrayal is an unforgivable offense.
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Frederico “Fredo” Corleone Character Timeline in The Godfather
The timeline below shows where the character Frederico “Fredo” Corleone appears in The Godfather. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...with a Cupid-like face, a quick temper, and notoriously large phallus. The middle son, Frederico “Fredo” Corleone is short, burly, and curly haired. He is deeply loyal to his father but...
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Chapter 2
...sick, and Don Corleone wonders why Paulie is sick for the third time that month. Fredo offers to drive his father home from his city office. He leaves the office and...
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Suddenly, two black-clad men open fire on Don Corleone. Although he is armed, Fredo is afraid to shoot back at the assassins. His father collapses into “a blackish lake...
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Chapter 4
...mall. Clemenza greets him and tells him that the Don is going to be okay. Fredo is sleeping in another room, while Sonny and Tessio are waiting in Don Corleone’s corner...
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Chapter 8
...members of the Corleone Family are working on a plan to deal with Sollozzo, and Fredo is still in a state of shock over his father’s near-assassination. Michael and Kay try...
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Chapter 17
...him from discussing any business matters, but the Don plans to ignore this edict. Meanwhile, Fredo now works in Las Vegas, where he helps run a luxury hotel-casino complex under the...
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Chapter 20
...meeting. He lingers for a bit to thank the San Francisco Don for looking after Fredo, and then he departs.
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...the mall and asks that a Family representative go to Las Vegas to check on Fredo. Expressing his desire to semi-retire and tend to his garden, he dismisses the meeting.
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Chapter 22
...her a front that masks the Corleone Family’s ownership. She also agrees to look after Fredo Corleone, who, under the wings of casino magnate Moe Greene, has become a hopelessly reckless...
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...Eastern medical establishment’s blacklisting. At the hotel, Segal now performs abortions on cocktail waitresses whom Fredo Corleone recklessly impregnates.
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...Frederick Kellner successfully performs the operation on her. The next morning, Lucy awakens to find Fredo, Jules, Nino Valenti, and Johnny Fontane at her bedside. As she greets the men, Jules...
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Chapter 26
...in Las Vegas. Lucy says she and Jules are having dinner with Michael, Tom, and Fredo tomorrow, and that Michael got his face fixed after consulting with Jules. Nino wakes up...
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Chapter 27
...Vegas with his new bodyguard, Albert Neri, and Tom Hagen. That evening, Michael dines with Fredo, Tom, Lucy, Jules, Nino, and Johnny. Everyone notes how Michael resembles his father in both...
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...makes him medical director for the Family’s existing hotels until the hospital opens. Michael tells Fredo that Don Corleone has special plans for him, and Fredo wonders if the Don is...
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...Moe, who curses out the “goddamn Dagos” and calls them ungrateful for him looking after Fredo.
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Michael coldly accuse Moe of “slap[ping] [Fredo] around in public.” Fredo sticks up for Moe, claiming that “Moe didn’t mean anything” by...
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The next morning, Fredo tells Michael that Moe will not give up his casino, to which Michael shrugs. They...
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