Can you escape being garroted with a piano/guitar string?
If you’ve seen the excellent first Godfather movie when Carlo, the treacherous brother-in-law of Michael Corleone, is garroted (whacked) it’s seems such a horrible and cowardly way to kill someone (Someone comes up behind you and strangles and cuts through your neck with a guitar or piano string). It also looks like an impossible situation to get out of – the fact that there is very little information online probably reflects this.
In one blog the author and several of the comments listed techniques and thoughts on evasion techniques. The main point is you only have a few seconds to find a way out before you are in deep trouble.
From my various readings the best advice is:
1. Being aware of your surroundings is in the number one defense. Don’t get in the front seat of a car with guys who could potentially do this to you sitting in the back. Added to this, being aware means you may be able to evade or get a hand between your neck and the wire.
2. If it the garrote is around your neck then move backwards towards the garroter and try and turn to face them. This closing the distance and turning and facing opens the possibility of attacking with a headbutt, gouging their eyes, striking their neck, stomach or groin. Unfortunately it’s easier said than done as your neck is being cut and constricted at the same time you try to carry out the countermeasures.
3. A few commentators mentioned trying to stamp on your attacker’s feet or kick them in the groin. To me, this seems highly speculative as you are facing away and struggling against the garroter so for any backward attacks to be successful it would be a matter of pure luck.
Scenarios:
Carlo in the car – the Godfather: he should have never sat in the front passenger seat as per point 1. I can see virtually no other way he could get out of this situation unless he managed to get a hand under the garrote and had a gun handy.
Luca Brasi in the Godfather: he departed from point 1 but the closed bar seemed an easier location than the front seat of a car to mount a fight back. However, in terms of point 2 he was never going to get out because the knife pinning his right hand and Bruno Tattaglia holding his left meant he couldn’t turn to deal with the gangster administering the garrote.
Tom (aka Joey) evades a garrote in A History of Violence: Joey gets a hand between the garrote and his neck. In terms of point 1, Joey probably should have chosen a safer place to meet but in terms of point 2 after analyzing this scene it seems harder to turn and face with your hand pinned between the garrote and your neck, so Joey going to ground and kicking the garroter in the head was probably the next best thing for him to do.
I’m very interested in anyone who has further thoughts on escaping a garrote.
