The CRAZY True Story of Moe Greene | The Godfather Explained 

I should also add, when Moe Greene insults Michael Corleone and makes to walk out of the room, Fredo stops him and tries to talk to Tom Hagen. Greene waits by the door, as if he is waiting to see if something can be worked out, implying he is in a position of vulnerability and does want some kind of deal to be arranged in his favor, because he knows the mob (not just Michael) are closing in on him. He waits until it is confirmed the Corleones won’t budge before leaving. A gangster who was truly outraged and powerful would have walked straight out.

We already know his past.. He's Moe Greene, he made his bones will micheal was still dating cheerleaders...

"I talked to Barzini" - Darth Vader voice

This scene was, to me, Alex Rocco's Five Star moment.... he was spot on...body language, glasses, hand gestures (moved the glass) this man deserved the Oscar just for these few moments on screen....

07:00 What is amazing is how careless Bugsy Seigal/Moe Greene were to the possibility of being assassinated even though they were supposedly former hitmen for Murder, Inc.

It’s amazing how so many people underestimated Michael after he was Marine Corps captain and a decorated war hero. Why would they think he is weak?

Alex Rocco was so convincing in the role not only because he was a great actor, but because he had a real-life background in the mob. He intimately understood "the life" and on how carry himself as a boss.

The biggest reason Michael had for killing Moe Green was because Green was planning to cut a deal with Michael's biggest enemy Don Barzini, basicly the same deal he had with the Corleone's, and thus eliminating any need for Green to continue protecting Fredo's life. Moe Green made the mistake of revealing this fact to Michael, just like Sonny did in the first movie. As we see in both movies, Michael will kill anyone who betrays him.

Green came late - He met them in a room not when they arrived. He was spoiling to throw some smack. Great vid. Thanks .

Moe Greene completely underestimated Michael's bravery, intelligence and ruthlessness. He might thought just because Michael is Fredo's little brother, he won't have the leadership skills and mindset to run the family business, so wrong. Never underestimate someone's little brother.

“You straighten my brother out?”

I never noticed that Green refused the drink given to him in this scene. Great point by CineRanter. Moe probably was doing a poor job or running the casinos in the 1st place. The fact that he couldn't keep his cool and bargain for a newer casino or work with the Corleone family instead of against it sealed his doom.

Its all metaphor. The names. The characters. Take the name Moe Greene. What was his main thing??: More green. Take the name Hymon Roth. What was his main thing? He was "jewish", the hymon part, and he had a bloody history, the Roth part, which means red- as in blood. Take the name Don Vito Corleone. The Don part is the power, the Vito part is the life, and the Corleone part is the " heart of a lion" or Lionheart. Take the name Virgel Solazzo. The Virgel part means the first, and the Solazzo part means sunshine. He was one of the main first gangsters looking into business in South Florida... Its all metaphoric if you study the meanings.

"Last Call" by Tim Powers has a very interesting take on why Ben Siegel was killed and why The Flamingo was important.

Tell me this man was not the inspiration for Richie’s adult counter part in the original Stephen King’s IT. Obv. not the mob traits, but def the voice, looks, and personality. 😂

He was loosely based on Benjamin Bugsy Siegel. With Roth being loosely based on Lansky . That’s why Roth says to Michael about Mo Green who kick started Vegas to what it was. ( like bugsy did with the Hotel/casino he created ).

Alex Rocco was from Somerville Mass. John Cazale ,who played Fredo was born in Revere Mass.

I spotted Moe Greene immediately as a thinly veiled Bugsy Seigel. Alex Rocco, the actor who played him, didn't have to work hard to be convincing in his role, as he was in "the life" before taking up acting.

In the movie Greene was killed by Willie Cicci. Cicci can be seen in the second movie as working directly under Frank Pentangeli.

BEST FILM EVER MADE!!!! Doesn't need a reboot

I always thought the Barzini thing was BS by Moe Greene. Because if he made a deal with Barzini, he probably would have bought him out, too. What deal did he supposedly make? What deal would Barzini even want with Moe Greene, that didn't include at least part ownership? And Mo's ANGER, to me even justifies he didn't have any deal, and was bluffing. And if he really did make a deal, you don't think Michael wouldn't have known? Or why he'd send his brother Fredo out there, knowing his life could be in danger, if Moe is now backed by Barzini. And him showing up would tip off Barzini, that Michael may be coming for him, if he's trying to 'muscle in' on a hotel he now owns, or a guy he now controls. So none of that adds up. So we know Barzini doesn't own or control the hotel. "I talked to Barzini, I can keep my hotel". Is just BS to me. It was a very flimsy bluff, one, I don't think Michael bought for even a second. Moe knew the Corleono's were on the run, and thought he could back off Michael by name dropping and make it appear as if he was backed by Barzini. I think Moe Greene was just a complete idiot. And even Hyman Roth, didn't argue otherwise. As to why Michael killed him was easy. He wanted his hotel, Greene barked, and Michael bit. He gave him one offer, to get out alive. He refused, and he died. When a mob boss comes to muscle in on you, and you refuse, chances are you'll be dead. Moe didn't know what he was up against. Again, he wasn't very smart.

Wow another absolutely amazing video!! Even though I’ve watched theses movies 🎥 a dozen times I still feel like I learn something new after watching your videos. Keep up the good work!!!!

Great analysis.I knew Greene had got to be somewhat powerful, but I never thought too much about his back story. Things make sense now that you have presented them as such.

The Godfather movies do mirror actual real life events, that's why they are so good.

Johnny Fontaine, Frank Sinatra ..... Moe Green, Bugsy Sigeel ..... Hyman Roth, Myer Lansky

A Moe green prequel would be the shit

Great vid man easily one of my favorite RU-vid channels keep it up

Very well done CR. As usual, very thought provoking and entertaining.

6:59 the man to the right is the famous Los Angeles attorney Jerry Giesler. He represented movie stars and gangsters.

Moe Green didn't talk to Barzini, he TALKED TO BARZINI!! 🤣

Always thought it's a bit of a coincidence that both Moe and Bugsy were shown on screen, graphically shown as being shot through their eyes.

Great review

Awesome content

Moe Greene getting shot in the eye was a hint that it was based on Bugsy Siegel. When Bugsy Siegel was shot at his Beverly Hills home the bullets went behind his head, through eyes his eyes. One of his eyes was found on the other end of the room. Apparently Siegel purchase that house for around $60,000 in the 1940s.

Very good video!

The guy that played Mo Green is called Alex Roco I couldn't imagine a more perfect Mob guy name

It would be cool to get Moe Greene's back story like the back story of Luca Brasi, but I guess that's for another channel

Thanks yet again for a wonderful presentation and insight into the deeper machinations of this great story and film; one of the greatest indeed. I love your impersonation of Moe Greene's voice. That moment in the film where he speaks that sentence sounds like an overdub; what do you think? Great actor and scene whatever the story with that. Much respect from Ireland.

Very good analysis

Plot twist: he actually survived and took over Itchy and Scratchy Studios 👍

Good stuff, but the Valachi character is surely Cheechi--"...there were a lot of buttons, senator.."

Great video as usual. You should be getting royalties from these franchises. Every video you post makes me want to rewatch the movie more closely.

This video is good !

The only way Moe Green could have survived after the "You beat my brother" part was for him to repent Yakuza style. "You're right. That was unnaceptable Godfather. Let me atone" *chops off his own finger and presents it as an offering to Michael*

“…a second ‘re-opening’?” Is that like a third grand opening? 😂

Before the movie Bugsy, their was a miniseries about creation of Las Vegas, that had a promo showing Bugsy Seigal having the idea to build Las Vegas while driving through the desert.

Hey can you do one on bussetta the body guard for micheal in part 2 please ?

Also Benny Siegel had his eye blown out!!

Love it

These stories are told so we'll. With green insight into how it was on different levels. Another job well done

At least Moe got in a good zinger at Michael before he was whacked. "I made my bones when you were dating cheerleaders". Lol.

I was in Las Vegas back in the early 2000’s. The Flamingo doesn’t sit on the corner lot. It’s off set by a tiny hotel/casino called at the time Bills Gambling Hall. Hilton, current owners of the Flamingo, offered Bills $100 million for their tiny spit of land and Bills turned them down flat.

Pretty good video though odd to not mention that Siegal was also shot through the eye.

His real name is Alex Petricone, gangster from winter hill.

Biggest difference, and ultimately the cause of Green & others death, is Green makes decisions based on this feelings. The older Don & Micheal make decisions via thought & research, never on how they feel. This decision making was Sonny's downfall. Remember-It's only business, not personal.

Let’s go brandon 🍦🍦🍦

There is no greatest flower. There is no greatest film.

Great acting .

That voice change scared me lol

He was Bugsy Siegel.

Moe Green said too much to Michael. Bad career move.

*I talked to Barzini*

Mr Cine Ranter. In the words of Solatso 'The Turk' to Tom Hagen after his impeccable research about the Tatalia family, on your very own video and research: 'My compliments' 😉

When Moe gets it in the eye that was a pretty good stunt , looks like it could have really damaged Alex’s eye if not don’t perfectly, thanks

For years I thought that Moe Greene was played by Harrison Ford.

Alex Rocco deserves a lot more mention for his superb performance. I love The Godfather and Moe Greene is an intricate (but limited) part of the movie. Too bad Alex Rocco didn't get the full credit that he earned during those great scenes. I could just picture Moe bitch slapping Fredo around in public for his transgressions.

you need to review friends of eddie coyle book and movie one of the most realistic gritty novel movie ever

I think there is a parallel between Moe Greene and the real-life Detroit/Cleveland mobster Moe Dalitz, aka Mr Las Vegas.

An even crazier story... The guy who played Moe Green, Alex Rocco, is actually Alessandro Federico Petricone, Jr., a small-time Boston criminal and associate of the Winter Hill Gang, before Whitey Bulger assumed control. During a Labor Day party, an affiliate gang leader's brother was severely beaten for touching Petricone's girlfriend. James McLean, the leader of the Winter Hill gang, send him out to CA to protect him from the inevitable gang war that resulted from the beating. There he took acting lessons from Boston native, Leonard Nimoy, and landed a part in the Godfather.

0:21 PAUSE. Did you say "Vis-carol?" I've never heard someone butcher that word so badly XD The C is like an extension of the S sound here.

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This was an OK analysis of Moe Greene representing Benjamin Siegel, but I think you could have done a better job on the "Bugsy" Siegel backstory. Siegel was called Bugsy as, in the vernacular of the day, an unstable person was said to go "bug house" or crazy. The closing of the Flamingo was due to the Flamingo having no finished hotel, so after dining and gambling, patrons took their cash and left the Flamingo to stay at a casino which also had a hotel. Greene was shot through the eye into his head. Siegel was shot through the head with an eye found across the room carried there by the bullet. It was believed by the mob that Siegel skimmed cash off of construction funds, and the Flamingo wound up costing about seven times more than the original estimates. I agree with those who believe the Godfather was the best movie ever made, but only GF 1 & 2. GF 3 was just made to put some more cash in the pockets of the producers and rode in on the coat tails of the first two films.

Alex Rocco got the part of Moe Greene after he memorably played a psychotic mob henchman torturing IMF agent Barney Collier who went undercover infiltrating a mobster's gang in an episode of Mission: Impossible.

'I tAlKeD tO BaRzInI'

I’m Moe Greene!!!

Makes me wonder if Moe had actually named his price and offered to move aside, would Michael really have bought him out or whacked him anyway and taken the casino.

Read the book Leave the gun,take the cannoli

somebody needs to make a vid about the fact SONNY almost got his father killed by mouthing off in front of SOLOZZO. the movie doesn't elude to it at all.

The character of Moe Green is loosely based on a fellow by the name Gus Greenbaum. At the meeting, as we know, the first issue Green brings to light is skimming. Michael mentions that Green is unlucky, also the women there, they are asked to leave. Greenbaum was murdered because of: womanizing, & gambling debts due to drug use. This meeting in the movie takes place around, say, 1948. Greenbaum was murdered in 1958. So history is rewritten for the movie.

It's said here and in the movie that Moe Greene and Hyman Roth were together as teenagers with Roth being the older. HOWEVER the casting ignores this with Roth played by an 80 year old and Greene by a guy still in his thirties at the time. Other than that minor gripe this was a fantastic scene.

Here's an idea for your next video : Why did Tony Soprano, kill his old friend Bonpensiero, his cousin Blundetto, but not his uncle Junior ? He had the reason to kill him, but didn't, why ?

i would suggest you do more homework and take a look at moe dalitz, a cleveland mobster, who had a bigger hand in developing vegas: Moe Dalitz, who ran the Cleveland Syndicate and operated several illegal casinos in Cleveland, moved to Nevada in the late 1940s, where he became known as "Mr. Las Vegas." He was the driving force behind four of the biggest casinos out here, including the Desert Inn, which is where Howard Hughes lived.

Criminal enterprises dangerous work not many people retire in the rackets...stay healthy Good Luck and FU46

Moe green was bugsy Siegel.

Roth as a character is allowed to be overtly successful without restraint for a long while ..... this role is said to be that of real life Meyer Lansky ..... who was not nearly as unbridled, unhinged and unwilling to play along with the Italian Mob .... which does not share to well, does not play well at all .... with "OTHERS" .... but, Meyer Lansky knew how to pay his dues and draw water from the Mob Well .... with delicacy and respect for The Five Families approval. Roth is an unrealistic wild card element in the gangster world in this movie.

You may believe things out in the desert that only turn out to be a mirage?

Moe Greene was in two scenes...through the eye remember?

"i sPokE To bARZinnI"

The "C" in "visceral" is silent. 🤓

I have it as the best movie of all time.

Are these videos for people who never watched these films?

DYK that Bugsy's murder is still an open case

I recall there was some significance to Greene having been shot through the eye.

The only past about moe green you need to know is when the bullet passed through his glasses

When Michael tell Moe that he wants to buy him out of the casino, that should've been Green's cue to play along while planing Michael's execution. "You wanna talk? Sure we can talk, Mike. Let me put you and your men up in the hotel while we do business?"

Moe Green crossed the line of no return when he bad mouthed the cheer leaders.

Moe green is very very obviously modeled after Bugsy siegel

And he just wanted moe green.

Moe Greene Special

I always assumed that Moe Greene was based on Bugsy Siegel but maybe I misinterpreted that scenario.