Michael Corleone
The youngest son of Don Vito Corleone, Michael has risen to become the most powerful mob figure in America over the seven years which have lapsed since he organized the murders of all his biggest rivals. Michael ultimately rose to head of the family by leapfrogging over his older brother Fredo when their oldest brother Sonny was killed in a gang war. This situation created mutual resentment between the brothers, which drives the events of the film, and much of the story of the second Godfather film revolves around Michael navigating his dual roles as patriarch of his blood family, and business head of the Corleone crime family, as this drama plays out.
Vito Corleone
Just as he was in the first Godfather film, Vito Corleone is a major character. This time, though, we mainly see his early life as an Italian immigrant. His story in this film is told in flashback starting when he was just a small boy in Sicily. His journey brings him through Ellis Island and reveals how he rose from average, everyday hard-working immigrant to head of a powerful crime family, with a constant emphasis being placed on his commitment to his family and neighbors.
Tom Hagen
Michael's half brother, Tom also acts as his consigliere—a term for a glorified lawyer in a mob family. Tom is something of an equal to Michael, acting as his surrogate for much of the film and often acting on orders that Michael has only hinted should be made.
Fredo Corleone
Fredo is the oldest living son in the Corleone family at the start of this film. He's viewed as stupid and weak, and his behavior only confirms this perception. In addition to not being very bright, he is also weak. In the section of the movie that flashes back to young Vito’s life, the connection is made between Fredo’s being a sickly infant and his later incapacity to take over the family’s business.
Kay Corleone
Kay is Michael's wife. Whereas in the previous film, Kay amplifies the side of Michael that is skeptical of the family business, in this film she stands as the moral compass that he refuses to acknowledge. Her disdain for Michael's deeper and deeper involvement in crime meets its apex when she gets an abortion to refuse him another heir to his crown. It results in their splitting up, and Michael's total descent into paranoid darkness.
Hyman Roth
Hyman Roth is the gangster running legitimate gambling in Las Vegas and working with the US-installed dictator in Cuba to ply business opportunities. In other words, he's the type of mob boss Michael aspires to be. Likely sensing Michael as legitimate competition for this exact reason, Roth places a hit on Michael—with Fredo's unwitting cooperation. Roth represents the mob at its most corporate, and its most calculating. He is portrayed as terribly ill for much of the film, but he ultimately dies when Michael has him whacked at the Miami airport.
Frank Pantangeli
A capo in the Corleone family, Frank Pantangeli is first introduced as a drunk, older man at the First Communion party, who is seeking permission to kill the Rosato brothers. Michael denies him the wish since he thinks it will sour a deal with Hyman Roth, and therefore thinks Frank is the culprit of an attempted hit against him. This sets in motion the drama of the film, but as it turns out Frank had in fact been loyal at this point, not going against Michael until later, when the FBI flipped him. Frank commits suicide with the promise that the Corleones will take care of his family.
Senator Pat Geary
A self-righteous yet ultimately corrupt man, Senator Pat Geary is the Corleone's family entry point to both American politics and a good relationship with the Cubans. He joins the Corleone family's side after he's caught with a dead sex worker in Fredo's brothel, and is reduced to a groveling and ineffective champion of Michael at a Senate hearing where Michael risks being indicted.
Peter Clemenza
A character from the first Godfather film, Clemenza is depicted here in the flashback sequences as the man who got Vito Corleone into organized crime in their Little Italy days. The most memorable Clemenza scene in this film comes when he takes Vito to steal a beautiful rug from the house of someone who owes Clemenza money.
Don Fanucci
Don Fanucci is a mafia don in Little Italy who routinely extorts the unfortunate people he happens to takes notice of. We first encounter him shaking down a theater owner, and last encounter him when Vito shoots him during the San Rocco festa. Don Fanucci is the polar opposite of the type of crime boss Vito will become, and his dastardly ways are meant to set a foil to Vito's loyalty and humility.
