Godfather 2-Senate Organized Crime Hearings

I was watching the “Godfather prt. 2” again after getting the DVD set for Christmas and something occured to me.

I realize it’s probably just a flaw in the script, but it still brings up a point. At the Senate Organized crime hearings, Micheal is asked if he murdered Virgil Sollozzo and Capt. McClusky in 1947 and the heads of the Five Families in 1950. He says he isn’t and then he is told he might be brought up on counts of perjury.

Okay, he’s committed perjury for denying he is the head of the Corleone crime organization(but his manuevering with pentagelli’s brother pretty much makes that a moot point).

However, correct me if I’m wrong, but I distinctly remember the murder of Sollozzo and the police captain being killed early in 1946, and I believe the five families were murdered much later then 1950 (Sonny is killed in 1951, so I’ve read).

Don’t legal procedings require a certain amount of accuracy? Considering the SOCH got their dates wrong, doesn’t this mean that Micheal didn’t commit perjury on that question? (IE, “Your honor, I swear I didn’t kill ANYONE in 1947 or 1950”) Same as if I robbed a 7-11 in 2002, but the prosecution charges me with commiting the crime in 2001.

I’m not particulary familier with the legal system, but am I on to something here.

And shouldn’t you make sure your dates are right when attempting to prosecute a Mob Boss? Is it really that hard to do a I]New York Times* newspaper search for the appropriate dates?

No comment on the legal questions, sorry, but I have a cite in case anybody wanted to verify the dates:

http://www.jgeoff.com/godfather/timeline.txt

Not a very athoritative cite to be sure, just a compilation of dates from what appears to be a devoted fan; but the list is thorough (to the point of differing from the official timeline included in the DVD box set on a few dates) and corroborates your recollections.