Factual error: In the parade scene with Joey Zasa, they are having a raffle where they can win a Cadillac Eldorado. On the car a sign reads "Win THIS 1979 CADILLAC Diesel." The mistake: This a not a 1979 Cadillac Eldorado, it's a 1980 Cadillac Eldorado. The difference is the grill and a light under the headlights. The grill for the 1979 model has 14 spaces between the vertical metal beams, the 1980 model has 18 spaces between the vertical metal beams. Also the 1980 model has orange lights under the headlights, 1979 model has no such colour. Even though these two models are almost identical, there is a small difference in appearance. (01:17:55)
Factual error: When Keinszig (Swiss banker) gets killed, they knock over a pile of money including US dollars. They show US $100 bills with one problem - Ulysses S. Grant is on them. Benjamin Franklin should appear on the $100 bill. Grant is on the $50 bill. (02:28:45)
Factual error: The opening scene shows the 1979 NYC skyline with the World Financial Center (now known as Brookfield Place) visible, which wasn't built at that time.
Answer: Michael is trying to divest the family of all ties to organized crime. Internazionale Immobiliare is an international real estate concern and owning it would legitimize the family, making them respectable landowners. Michael is attempting to buy out the Vatican's 25% of the shares in it to gain controlling interest, but the other families either want in on the deal or want to steal it out from under him, forcing him back into his old criminal ways.
Captain Defenestrator