I know their marriage was bad from the start. But it seemed like it was going on for some time at that point.
The whole Carlo situation has always confused me. I am sure he knew the family he was marrying in to. Did he marry Connie just to be part of the family? Assuming he did, why would he allow himself to be a target of the family by abusing Connie? It seems to me that since Connie grew up in the family, she was knowledgeable in the way a family members wife should act. In other words Carlo would have have lots of freedom, without Connie constantly questioning him, so why would he take the chance of flaunting his "activities", and why would he beat her? At least Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in "Goodfellas" learned by Carlo mistakes.
