In II, the Rosatos attempt to garrote Frankie. In an AHC episode about the Mafia, the Gallo brothers attempt to garrote someone (I forget who). I wonder if it was FFC copying real life Mafia events or simply the TV production co-opting real life events. Of course some of that is part of the Trilogy, but I just wonder how valid are the AHC accounts.
oli, I think you're referring to the real life incident in which Larry Gallo (Crazy Joe's brother) was almost strangled to death by members of the Profaci Family in a bar in Brooklyn. Gallo was close to death when a cop walked in and interrupted the strangling.
I have some personal memories of this. It was the summer of 1961 and I was ten years old. That was the year that Mantle and Maris were trying to break Babe Ruth's home run record for a single season. My dad was in the jukebox business and one of his stops was the Sahara Lounge. Since it was the summer my mom didn't want me hanging out on the streets all summer so a few times I went to work with my dad. My job consisted of handing him tools while he fixed jukeboxes and pinball machines or help him empty the coinboxes and separate the nickels, dimes and quarters while he rolled the coins and split the take with the bar owner. Well, this one day in the middle of the summer the bar hadn't opened yet and my dad went to collect his money. I sat at the bar with him and did my coin sorting (which was a great job for me.... I collected old coins and that was when there were still lots of them in circulation). Anyway, I remember talking to the bar owner about the home run chase and as luck would have it the Yankees game was on television then so he turned it on so I could watch it. One of the M boys (Mantle or Maris) hit a home run (I can't remember who) but I was excited by seeing that. OK, a few weeks passed and my dad came home after work with one of the local newspapers and showed it to me. The front page had a big photo of Larry Gallo with a big red mark around his throat (from the strangling attempt). I didn't know why my dad was showing this picture to me but then he explained it all happened at the bar where I watched the home run being hit just a few weeks before.
BTW - It was actor Danny Aiello who strangled Frank Pentangeli in that scene in Part II. And Aiello ad-libbed the line, "Michael Corleone sends his regards". FFC decided to keep the line in the movie (which added a little confusion to the storyline).
