Hyman Roth

Hyman Roth (born Hyman Suchowsky) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in The Godfather Part II. He is also a minor character in the novel The Godfather Returns. Roth is a Jewish investor and a business partner of Vito Corleone, and later his son Michael Corleone. He is based on New York mobster Meyer Lansky and was played by Lee Strasberg in the movie. 2Character overview Roth's background is supplied in a deleted scene in The Godfather Part II. In this scene, set in Little Italy, New York in the early 1920s, he is working as a car mechanic. He is noticed by Peter Clemenza, who has been calling him "Johnny Lips". Clemenza introduces him to Vito Corleone, who suggests that he change his name, which was originally Hyman Suchowsky. When Vito asks him whom he admires, Suchowsky says Arnold Rothstein for fixing the 1919 World Series; accordingly, he changes his last name to Roth. Expository dialogue later in the film explains that Roth worked diligently with the Corleone family during Prohibition, and was a close friend and ally of Moe Greene, the "inventor" of Las Vegas. Roth, as well as Don Corleone, started out running molasses out of Havana and into Canada. It is suggested that Vito never fully trusted Roth, nor did many of his associates, including Frank Pentangel