Barbaric as it sounds to most of us in this day and age, it was fairly typical in most cultures for a husband to have the right to "discipline" (as the English common law put it) his wife under certain circumstances. If mama had gien Vito a reason to hit her, he would have.
Exactly right DT. It was almost "accepted" by the old school people in those days. Horrible and disgusting as it sounds, it was not uncommon.
