# The Godfather (novel) - Lucy Mancini's operation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979 "2025-03-01T17:23:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/1 "2025-03-01T17:23:08Z")
(Perhaps this is more of a FQ question?) I was telling Inna about the above subplot to the GF novel, where… (spoiling for good taste) A character has a vagina that is so ‘large’ that, among other things, she ends up having an operation to make it ‘tighter’. Inna just _died_ laughing, and then asked me… does this sort of surgery actually exist? Hell if I know! I just assumed it was made up for the novel, but that could be an error on my part. So… is there anyone out there with the Straight Dope about Lucy Mancini’s surgery? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/2 "2025-03-01T17:26:35Z")
**Vaginoplasty** , it is real. Apparently goes back to 1931. > **[Vaginoplasty | Aesthetic Genital Plastic Surgery](https://www.plasticsurgery.org/cosmetic-procedures/aesthetic-genital-plastic-surgery/vaginoplasty)** > > Vaginoplasty (also known as posterior colporrhaphy) is a procedure designed to tighten the vagina. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/3 "2025-03-01T17:29:05Z")
I think it’s called vaginoplasty or vaginal rejuvenation. Last month, Brooke Shields was making the rounds to promote her new memoir and [described](https://www.npr.org/2025/01/10/nx-s1-5256141/brooke-shields-surgery-memoir-aging) having this procedure done to her, without her consent. > Reflecting on her own experiences, she also opens up about having labia-reduction surgery – and finding out, upon waking up, that the male doctor had also performed something called “vaginal rejuvenation surgery” (the medical term this tightening process generally refers to is vaginoplasty) without her consent. I remember seeing her discuss this; the doctor seemed to think he was doing her a favor. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/4 "2025-03-01T17:31:37Z")
Holy shit! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2025, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/5 "2025-03-18T16:56:00Z")
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: [Trock Flightless Posts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trock-flightless-posts/1015780/12) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/6 "2025-03-01T18:27:12Z")
She was a front for the Corleone’s to buy into Vegas. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/7 "2025-03-01T18:53:44Z")
In the movie _The Godfather III_, we learn that Vincent Mancini (who changes his name to Vincent Corleone) is actually the son of Lucy Mancini and Sonny Corleone from their affair. Michael Corleone wants him to eventually take over running the Corleone family, so he insists he change his last name to Corleone. Michael also insists that Vincent cease his sexual relationship with his daughter Mary, since the two of them are cousins. Vincent tells Mary that their relationship is now over, since Michael insists so, but he doesn’t explain that this is because they are cousins. In one of the last scenes in _The Godfather III_, Mary is complaining to Michael about his insistence that Vincent and Mary cease their relationship, but as she is talking to Michael, she is shot and then she dies in front of Michael. Her last word is “Dad?”. One other fact about a change of names for the Corleones is that Vito Corleone was born Vito Andolini. When he arrived at Ellis Island as a child, an immigration official misunderstands him when he asks Vito for his name and birthplace. He was born in Corleone, Italy. So the immigration official puts down “Vito Corleone” as his name. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/8 "2025-03-01T19:26:28Z")
That’s one storyline that was wise to leave out of the movie. Reading the novel, I thought that part of the story (along with Sonny’s length and girth) added nothing to the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/9 "2025-03-01T21:41:23Z")
My neighbor told me she had it done. I’m not sure why, to this day, she thought I needed to know that. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/11 "2025-03-01T22:18:38Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > the doctor seemed to think he was doing her a favor. IAIUI it’s not rare among women who’ve had children. (Of course, in the novel, Lucy had not had children.) From @What_Exit’s link: > After childbirth, women may complain of vaginal laxity, resulting from stretching of tissues and separating of muscles, sometimes to the point that a tampon falls out, and this lack of tone can contribute to sexual dysfunction. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/12 "2025-03-01T22:24:35Z")
That may be so; however in Brooke Shields’ case, I got the impression that she had not complained about any issues there or agreed to the procedure. He just did it and thought she would appreciate it. Obviously, he overstepped and I hope he no longer does that. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/13 "2025-03-01T22:28:33Z")
In my effort to be brief, I didn’t mean to imply he should have gone ahead without consent, but that he was familiar with the procedure, figured she needed it, and what the hell. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/14 "2025-03-01T22:33:46Z")
> [@On another topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1015780/12): > > She briefly appears later at the wedding making hand gestures indicating the size of something. If you didn’t read the book you wouldn’t know it was Sonny’s rather large penis to satisfy her large vagina. In the movie, that was Sonny’s wife, who then turns to look back just as Sonny is on his way to his tryst with the clear implication she knows exactly what’s going on. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-godfather-novel-lucy-mancinis-operation/1014979/15 "2025-03-01T22:35:36Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > One other fact about a change of names for the Corleones is that Vito Corleone was born Vito Andolini. When he arrived at Ellis Island as a child, an immigration official misunderstands him when he asks Vito for his name and birthplace. He was born in Corleone, Italy. So the immigration official puts down “Vito Corleone” as his name. I believe that is only in the movie. In the book IIRC it was changed to hide his identity from their enemies. I agree that the adventures of Lucy and Dr. Jules added nothing to the story.