Prosecutors ask to air clip from ‘The Godfather Part II’ during Roger Stone trial

Government prosecutors filed a motion Friday to get permission to show a clip from “The Godfather Part II” during the trial for Trump associate Roger Stone.

The roughly 4 1/2 minute scene, the prosecutors say, is one that Stone referenced in conversations that allegedly constituted witness tampering, according to court documents.

Stone, an associate of President Trump and a longtime GOP operative, was indicted in January by former special counsel Robert Mueller on charges of impeding a congressional investigation, lying to Congress and witness tampering. He pleaded not guilty to all charges and will stand trial in November.

“The relevant scene is important context for understanding Stone’s references — including what Stone intended to communicate to the witness and how Stone would have understood the witness’s likely understanding of those messages,” the motion says.

In the scene, character Frank Pentangeli, an associate of organized crime head Michael Corleone, comes to testify before a congressional committee that’s investigating organized crime.

But he changes his mind and denies knowing anything after Corleone makes an appearance in the room. 

Stone GodfatherII by M Mali on Scribd

The Jan. 24 indictment alleges Stone sought stolen emails from WikiLeaks that could damage former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

The indictment also notes that Stone told an unidentified associate known as “Person 2” that they “should do a ‘Frank Pentangeli’ ” before the House Intelligence Committee to “avoid contradicting Stone’s testimony,” according to a copy of the January court filing.

“Frank Pentangeli is a character in the film ‘The Godfather Part II,’ which both Stone and Person 2 had discussed, who testifies before a congressional committee and in that testimony claims not to know critical information that he does in fact know,” the January indictment says.

“To be sure, the scene depicted in the clip is dramatic, and it bears a similarity to some of the facts in this case — a witness in a congressional investigation pressured to give false testimony to scuttle a potential perjury referral,” the new motion states. “But that is not prejudicial or confusing — it is what explains Stone’s references to the scene.”