Originally Posted By: Don Cardi
 Originally Posted By: Lilo


As a woman, in that time and place no one would have mistaken Connie for anything other than a civilian. It is even possible that had hitters been able to surprise Sonny with Connie in the car they MIGHT have waited to get him alone.


Possible. But then again, they may not even know that it was his sister, or may not even known that he had his sister in the car. Maybe they learn that he goes to visit his gumare and they think that Lucy is in the car. A million scenerios. But the bottom line is that he took a chance by attempting to put his sister in his company, outside the compound.


I agree. I just don't think the risk was huge. It was there, no doubt. Good point about mistaken identity.

 Originally Posted By: Don Cardi

 Originally Posted By: lilo
As late as the seventies and eighties it was considered a serious breach of mob etiquette to deal with an enemy in front of his women (wife, mother, sister). The events in Philadelphia relaxed this taboo.


Yes, to a degree. But those kinds of mob rules were more folklore more than anything else. How many times throughout Mob history have drive by shootings which were really hit attempts taken the lives of some innocent bystander? Where did that rule of not dealing with the enemy in fron of family go when they killed Crazy Joe Gallo?


Yeah, that's why I qualified that comment by stating as late as the seventies and eighties. It was also a violation of mob rules to do open murder in Little Italy but Crazy Joe was a special case. But the main reason that I think they would have hesitated before making a move on Sonny with Connie in the car (assuming they knew it was her) was that they immediately place the lives of their boss's female relatives at stake-more importantly they place their own lives at stake. If the gunmen kill Connie then Barzini or Tattaglia may well kill the gunmen and sue for peace...

 Originally Posted By: Don Cardi


 Originally Posted By: Lilo
It's fun to speculate. \:D But in any event Carlo lived where he lived and did what he did. It was necessary to move the story along and show the critical flaw in Sonny's nature.


Yes it is. It's absolutely fun to speculate and see what others think "could" have taken place if "this" wasn't allowed to happen or "if so and so" did "this" instead of "that"!

As Turnbull said, "FFC needed a dramatic device to set up Sonny's discovery of Carlo's brutality, and the memorable beating of Carlo." But if we were talking real life here, it would have been poor judgement on the part of a Mob Boss to place his sister in harms way like that.


As mentioned Sonny never should have been outside of the mall in the first place. In real life, probably Carlo would have been even more severely beaten or just disappeared as what happened when John Gotti or Paul Castellano were annoyed by abusive or disrepectful in-laws. Good posts.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.