Fredo Corleone

Background

Younger brother of Sonny and elder brother of Michael and Connie, with Tom Hagen as an informally adopted brother, Fredo is more indecisive than his brothers and lacks their determination, so he holds little power or status in the family. In the novel his primary weakness is womanizing, a habit he develops after moving to Las Vegas that earns his father's disfavor. In the films, his feelings of inadequacy and his inability to act effectively on his own behalf are the flaws that lead to his demise.

He is beside his father when Sollozzo's gunmen shoot Vito in the street, fumbles and drops his gun, and sits weeping on the kerb. Sonny sends him to Las Vegas under Don Anthony Molinari's protection, where he learns the casino trade and falls in with Moe Greene, who runs a Corleone-backed hotel and once slaps him in public for seducing the cocktail waitresses. When Michael confronts Greene, Fredo takes Greene's side, and Michael warns him never to take sides against the family again.

After Sonny's death Vito names Michael his successor, opening a lasting rift between the surviving brothers. By Part II Fredo is Michael's underboss in name only, humiliated at a family gathering by his drunken wife Deanna Dunn.