MovieChat Forums > The Valachi Papers (1972) Discussion > Is the castration scene true?

Is the castration scene true?

posted 17 years ago by gonog998
12 replies | jump to latest

I remember seeing this movie on its initial release back in the early 1970s. Theres a nasty scene where a man gets castrated for playing around with the Don's wife. Even nastier in that it seems that the woman in question wants the mans balls as gift! My question is - is this sequence based on fact because I read the book The Valachi Papers a few months later and if my memory serves me well there was no scene like this in it. So was this scene made up by the screenwriters and thrown in as a sensational titbit?

[–] jonas_pulido_valente 16 years ago

This situation happened in real life, but it was a bit different. In real life they cut his balls and his penis and shoved them down his throat, and left him in the street where he would eventually bleed to death while suffocating on his own genitalia.

It's quite a gruesome death, but it had exactly that intent into it. Because he fooled around with Genovese's comare.

"Jonas. What kind of name is that for an Italian?"

[–] solex10 16 years ago

This 'Gap' fellow was not real, but was a combination of several people that Valachi knew, one of who might have had this done to them, I'll bet.

[–] giorn1 16 years ago

Movies often conflate characters for ease of storytelling. There's no instance of anyone getting castrated in Joe Valachi's testimony, so I consider it to be false. It's not something he'd be likely to forget.

[–] BKinzeys 13 years ago

From Wikipedia on Joe Valachi:

...In the early 1930s, through mob contact Dominick "The Gap" Petrilli, Valachi was introduced to the Cosa Nostra or Mafia...

[–] MrPie7 16 years ago

I imagine that this was done, but it was not true as far as "The Valachi Papers" go. The Gap wasn't even fooling around with Vito's wife.

[–] giorn1 16 years ago

It's not true. It's a fictional scene. If I remember correctly, the person was a business partner with the Don's wife and he was strangled, not castrated. I don't think it had anything to do with cheating either.

[–] JarJarRocks 15 years ago

A terrible scene that prevents me from ever watching it again. I can take a lot, but that scene put a scar on my soul.

[–] Bevan - #4 15 years ago

It's not as if they lopped off the guy's bits on screen or anything.

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It's not that I don't understand what you're saying; I don't <b>agree</b> with what you're saying.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] MrBigglesworth999 12 years ago

Walter Chiari would not have approved of that level of realism!

BTW,a recent 2012 movie "Lawless" has a similar castration scene.

[–] LesterFester 9 years ago

y gonog998 » Sun Jul 20 2008 03:43:49
IMDb member since January 2005

I think reality is much more sadistic than any movie. After all the MAFIA has had a great deal more time dreaming up ways to kill their fellow man.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jackson_(gangster)

" Made It Ma... Top - O' - The - World! "

[–] whkon 9 years ago

Is it a castration scene? The quote in the film by Bender is 'Cut it off.' He doesn't say 'Cut them off.' My impression was that he was referring to the penis rather than the testicles.