Out of Bondage (23 page)
Authors: Linda Lovelace
Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Linda Lovelace, #Retail, #Nonfiction
thirty-seven
Despite the obvious lies in his deposition to Mandina, Chuck Traynor no longer bothers to deny that our relationship was basically a brutal one. And that fact, the basic fact of
Ordeal,
has been substantiated by more than a few witnesses.
Ordeal,
has been substantiated by more than a few witnesses.
A few years ago in a syndicated column by Marilyn and Hy Gardner, Chuck was asked what I was like when he first met me. Here he told the truth: “She was better at housework and cooking than sex. She was a lousy lover. When I first dated her she was so shy, it shocked her to be seen in the nude by a man.” In England’s
News of the World,
Traynor talked about our first days together: “She was frigid in bed and even kept her curlers on at night. She wouldn’t undress in front of me because she was too shy. She was better at housework and cooking than sex, about which she was most unimaginative. . . . She often used to cry and tell me she had hardly any previous sex experience.”
News of the World,
Traynor talked about our first days together: “She was frigid in bed and even kept her curlers on at night. She wouldn’t undress in front of me because she was too shy. She was better at housework and cooking than sex, about which she was most unimaginative. . . . She often used to cry and tell me she had hardly any previous sex experience.”
And here he is in
High Society:
“When she got involved with me, she got involved with that lifestyle. But at any time
in those early stages
[italics mine] she could have walked away. In her book she indicates from the very first I captured her and that was it. That’s a bunch of shit. First of all, there were ten or twelve girls who were a helluva lot better looking than her. . . . ”
High Society:
“When she got involved with me, she got involved with that lifestyle. But at any time
in those early stages
[italics mine] she could have walked away. In her book she indicates from the very first I captured her and that was it. That’s a bunch of shit. First of all, there were ten or twelve girls who were a helluva lot better looking than her. . . . ”
In that particular interview, Traynor set several records straight. Here he answers the question of whatever happened to all the money that Linda Lovelace earned: “She got the money and gave it to me. That’s probably the way it came down.”
The part I liked best is when they asked him about beating me. To Mandina and others he denies that ever happened. Here he skates closer to the truth!
“I was raised in the country and I still live in the country,” he explained. “I don’t consider it beating if you slap your old lady for something. To me that’s almost a sign of feelings, of closeness. When your old lady does something wrong or when she’s giving you too much lip or something—I don’t really consider that beating up.”
In many interviews, Traynor also admitted that I had nothing whatever to do with the writing of the quickie-cheapie book under my name: “I wrote the book
Inside Linda Lovelace
with another guy before Linda and I split up,” he told Hy Gardner. “The book and its theme were totally my idea. I created all the sex situations in it, just like I created Linda Lovelace.”
Inside Linda Lovelace
with another guy before Linda and I split up,” he told Hy Gardner. “The book and its theme were totally my idea. I created all the sex situations in it, just like I created Linda Lovelace.”
Incidentally, Traynor also makes a liar of Mandina. Mandina has denied that anything sexual ever went on among us. In my book I had described the time Mandina telephoned us on the West Coast to get some eleventh-hour deep-throat instruction for his girlfriend.
Chuck has told the same story to
Screw
magazine: “A funny thing happened one night in Malibu. The phone rang, it was a friend of mine, an attorney, in Miami. A young guy, you know, and he’s got a girl who’s been seeing him for several years, and he called me up and we were casually talking about one thing and another and he said, ‘Say, Chuck, about that deep-throat thing, how do you do that? How does Linda do that?’ And I said, ‘She lays on her back and puts her head back to elongate her neck.’ I didn’t tell him about the hypnosis because he didn’t ask. . . .”
Screw
magazine: “A funny thing happened one night in Malibu. The phone rang, it was a friend of mine, an attorney, in Miami. A young guy, you know, and he’s got a girl who’s been seeing him for several years, and he called me up and we were casually talking about one thing and another and he said, ‘Say, Chuck, about that deep-throat thing, how do you do that? How does Linda do that?’ And I said, ‘She lays on her back and puts her head back to elongate her neck.’ I didn’t tell him about the hypnosis because he didn’t ask. . . .”
Again, in this interview, the subject of beating me came up. You’ll remember that Traynor, under oath, denied to Mandina that he beat me.
“I wouldn’t bullshit anybody,” Traynor said to
Screw.
“I’ve always tried to deal with people two ways: I talk to them as long as I think I can talk to them, and then I hit them. With Linda, you know, if she and I got into a hassle, it wouldn’t be beneath me to backhand her or bend her over my knee and beat her ass. Linda dug it, you know.”
Screw.
“I’ve always tried to deal with people two ways: I talk to them as long as I think I can talk to them, and then I hit them. With Linda, you know, if she and I got into a hassle, it wouldn’t be beneath me to backhand her or bend her over my knee and beat her ass. Linda dug it, you know.”
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.
In going over all of his statements about our life together, I see one thing more clearly now than ever before. I describe life with Chuck as twisted and brutal, demented and violent, insane and sadistic; he describes it as normal—believe it or not, we’re both telling the truth.
Traynor is the one responsible for the creation and marketing of Linda Lovelace. Over and over again, he told reporters, “She was nothing, nothing—I made her everything she was.”
At times his pride of creation takes an almost humorous turn. As when he was speaking to investigative reporter Martin Yant: “I
did
create Linda Lovelace. That’s what burns me up almost more than anything else. I gave her a real opportunity. There are hundreds and thousands of girls who would have loved to be in her place and
this
is what I get in return.”
did
create Linda Lovelace. That’s what burns me up almost more than anything else. I gave her a real opportunity. There are hundreds and thousands of girls who would have loved to be in her place and
this
is what I get in return.”
Many seem to think that I’m at least partially to blame for what Chuck was able to do to me. I hear conjecture that perhaps I am a “natural victim,” a masochist who thrives on abuse.
I know better. I’m a person who thrives on affection and love, on being with decent people who behave decently toward each other. And I don’t believe there was anything within me that caused Chuck to suddenly act this way. In fact, I know otherwise.
One of the nicer byproducts of my book,
Ordeal
was that it brought me into contact with many people who have had similar experiences. One was more than just similar, it was identical. For one of my correspondents, now a close friend, was the woman who lived with—and escaped from—Chuck just before he got hold of me.
Ordeal
was that it brought me into contact with many people who have had similar experiences. One was more than just similar, it was identical. For one of my correspondents, now a close friend, was the woman who lived with—and escaped from—Chuck just before he got hold of me.
At this point, I won’t reveal her first or last name. The truth is, she is still terrified of Chuck and fearful that he’ll discover where she lives or what she is doing. I will just say that she’s a university graduate, a professional woman, charming and lovely and intelligent.
She was fortunate enough to escape—she ran off leaving all her belongings behind—but she still lives in absolute dread of Traynor. She, too, was once taken by Traynor to Mandina’s office: “When I met the attorney for the first time, he looked me over and said something like, ‘Is she your newest one?’ And I thought he meant girlfriend!” She saw the same thing I did—both men knew that Traynor was guilty and both were working together on the construction of the defense; at that time: “Their approach was going to be illegal search.”
In one letter, she mentioned her thoughts of escape: “When you wrote of watching the door on occasion, in hopes of escaping, it brought back the feelings I had had several times. It would be quiet in the house and I would look at the door briefly. Then, from out of nowhere, Chuck would walk into the room. It seemed as if he sneaked around in his own house.”
She wrote about Chuck and physical violence: “He tried to choke me one time because I would not get on my knees and tell him he was superior to me because he was a man. He ran after me to the bedroom and started to choke me. . . . He yelled at me
a lot
if I did not clean the house fast enough or if I ate too much. . . .”
a lot
if I did not clean the house fast enough or if I ate too much. . . .”
She wrote about the threats: “His only other means of keeping me, and these worked, were telling me that a big honcho in the Mafia owed him a favor and he would have me killed.”
She wrote about Chuck’s idea of love: “He spoke often about loving me and after I crossed him one time he said the bubble had burst and I would have to work extra hard to convince him that I loved him. . . . One fight was because I would not tell him I loved him as much as he would like me to.”
She talked about finally escaping, running away from him and leaving her clothes behind: “He said something about sending my clothes, but of course he didn’t. I noticed when I was living with him there were all sorts of female clothes in boxes. I thought later that I was not the first lady to leave in a hurry.”
The most recent news story I read about Chuck Traynor appeared in the New York Daily
News
. It may seem a non sequitur, a shaggy-dog ending. To me it seems strangely right. This is the story, quoted in its entirety.
News
. It may seem a non sequitur, a shaggy-dog ending. To me it seems strangely right. This is the story, quoted in its entirety.
“Marilyn Chambers, who was a porn movie queen, now is in business. She and husband Chuck Traynor are selling machine guns which they manufacture along with a silent partner.”
thirty-eight
I’ve always felt you get what’s coming to you. If you do well, you’ll be rewarded. If you do evil, that’s what you’ll get in return. So what has happened to the other figures from my past? The men who destroyed years of my life and then haunted my nightmares.
For some the punishment has already begun. Consider the men who profited most from
Deep Throat.
And profited is the right word. The producers of
Deep Throat
have made as much money as some countries spend on their national budget.
Deep Throat.
And profited is the right word. The producers of
Deep Throat
have made as much money as some countries spend on their national budget.
These men are members of the Peraino family. I got to know Lou (“Butchie”) Peraino, a 250-pound hulk who borrowed $25,000 from his father, an investment that has returned a profit that some estimate to be in the neighborhood of $300,000,000. It has been widely reported that the Perainos were mob-connected.
Chuck Traynor denies that fact. Here is how he described the porno business to the Los Angeles
Free Press:
“It is a business operation. I’ve been in and out of the porno business since 1960. It’s operated mostly by younger guys who’ve seen maybe 500 nude girls and are not overwhelmed by a naked body. And there’s no casting couch because there’s not time for that sort of thing. People say ‘It’s the Mafia.’ That’s bullshit. I was production manager on
Deep Throat,
and people said that was a syndicate film. It’s not.”
Free Press:
“It is a business operation. I’ve been in and out of the porno business since 1960. It’s operated mostly by younger guys who’ve seen maybe 500 nude girls and are not overwhelmed by a naked body. And there’s no casting couch because there’s not time for that sort of thing. People say ‘It’s the Mafia.’ That’s bullshit. I was production manager on
Deep Throat,
and people said that was a syndicate film. It’s not.”
Let me tell you what bothers me most about this particular lie: It covers up one of the most powerful arguments against pornography. Because the truth is that the Perainos
are
mob-connected; the truth is that the money made by
Deep Throat,
and indirectly by me, has poured into Mafia coffers; the truth is, furthermore, if you are involved in the pornography business, the odds are very good you are involved with mobsters. And this is the bottom line: If you buy a ticket to a pornographic movie, some of that money probably goes directly to the Mafia.
are
mob-connected; the truth is that the money made by
Deep Throat,
and indirectly by me, has poured into Mafia coffers; the truth is, furthermore, if you are involved in the pornography business, the odds are very good you are involved with mobsters. And this is the bottom line: If you buy a ticket to a pornographic movie, some of that money probably goes directly to the Mafia.
Pornography today is reported to be at least a $7 billion a year business—and it is estimated that half of that money goes to the Mafia. According to government officials, only gambling and narcotics supply more money to the crime industry than pornography. The connection between pornography and organized crime becomes stronger every year.
The
Deep Throat
story began with that modest investment by “Big Tony” Peraino, a man now in his seventies. Printed reports reveal that both “Big Tony” and his brother, Joe are “made” members of the Joseph Colombo “family”—one of New York’s five Mafia families. And the three Perainos—Lou, his father Anthony, his uncle Joseph—were the ones who most profited from
Deep Throat.
Deep Throat
story began with that modest investment by “Big Tony” Peraino, a man now in his seventies. Printed reports reveal that both “Big Tony” and his brother, Joe are “made” members of the Joseph Colombo “family”—one of New York’s five Mafia families. And the three Perainos—Lou, his father Anthony, his uncle Joseph—were the ones who most profited from
Deep Throat.
However,
Deep Throat
has been to them what gold was to Midas, both their fortune and their undoing.
Deep Throat
has been to them what gold was to Midas, both their fortune and their undoing.
Lou (“Butchie”) Peraino got into the pornography business early. He was first arrested at the age of 26 when he owned something called All-State Film Labs, a company that divided its time between the processing of straight and porno movies. The charge: possession of obscene movies, a charge that was later thrown out on a technicality.
In 1971 Lou’s career was to take a sudden upward turn. This was because three careers were to suddenly come together and blossom, if that word can be used in this context. Lou Peraino had just started a porno company—Gerard Damiano Film Productions, Inc.—with Gerry Damiano, a former Brooklyn hairdresser.
Their very first feature, an 8-millimeter cheapie-quickie entitled
Sex U.S.A.
starred Harry Reems and a certain Linda Lovelace. As the new film executives saw my little deep-throat freak show for the first time, it gave them their basic concept for
Deep Throat.
Sex U.S.A.
starred Harry Reems and a certain Linda Lovelace. As the new film executives saw my little deep-throat freak show for the first time, it gave them their basic concept for
Deep Throat.
In the beginning the Peraino’s owned two-thirds of the movie and Damiano owned one-third. In 1972 Damiano sold his full interest in the movie (eventually worth somewhere between $50 million and $100 million) to Lou Peraino for a grand total of $25,000. Damiano never explained why he settled for such a pittance. And, when a reporter pressed him on the matter, he said: “You want me to get both my legs broken?”
How much money did the Perainos make on
Deep Throat
?
Deep Throat
?
No one knows for sure. The best answers have been provided by a team of investigative reporters, Bill Knoedelseder and Ellen Farley, who have reported on the Perainos in a detailed series of articles,
Family Business,
that ran in the Los Angeles
Times.
The money that
Deep Throat
earned was largely cash. The reporters described how some of that cash was handled.
Family Business,
that ran in the Los Angeles
Times.
The money that
Deep Throat
earned was largely cash. The reporters described how some of that cash was handled.
They quoted movie distributor Fred Biersdorf describing the scene in Lou Peraino’s office as the money began rolling in: “I was like a kid in Disneyland. Everything was strictly cash. I mean, if someone wanted a mink coat, they’d just walk into Bonwit Teller and plop down $18,000 or $20,000 in cash.”
Biersdorf once asked Joseph Peraino how much money the film had brought in. The answer: “Well, Lou’s got eight kids and Joe [Lou’s brother] has kids, and their kids and their grandkids have nothing to worry about the rest of their lives. Does that tell you how much the movie brought in?”
Well, maybe not precisely—but it gives us some idea. And, in fact, it is known that the movie continues to make huge sums of money for the Mafia. A single theater in Hollywood, the Pussycat Theater, played the movie 13 times a day for ten years and reported a take of 6.4 million dollars. That’s
one
theater. The videocassette, the best-selling sex videocassette of all time, has sold at least a half-million copies at $60 each.
one
theater. The videocassette, the best-selling sex videocassette of all time, has sold at least a half-million copies at $60 each.
One of the first things Lou Peraino did with his profits was to form an independent movie company, Bryanston Distributors Inc. This was followed, quickly, by investment companies, a yacht, porno movie theaters, record and music publishing companies.
From 1973 to 1976, during a time of economic doldrums in Hollywood, the new company was a quick success. Lou had always wanted to appear straight and (on the strength of the
Deep Throat
bankroll) he produced a series of exploitation films, everything from kung-fu epics
(Return of the Dragon)
to milestones of violence
(The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.)
The first-year profits were put at $20 million. Or as a headline in the trade paper
Variety
saw it: “Bryanston Boffo!”
Deep Throat
bankroll) he produced a series of exploitation films, everything from kung-fu epics
(Return of the Dragon)
to milestones of violence
(The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.)
The first-year profits were put at $20 million. Or as a headline in the trade paper
Variety
saw it: “Bryanston Boffo!”
While Bryanston was considered an up-and-coming concern, the California Department of Justice saw it differently; it placed the firm at the top of a list of mob-controlled corporations: “It appears that Bryanston coordinates the nationwide distribution of full-length films for organized crime.”
As reporters Farley and Knoedelseder pointed out, the film that brought all the profits also began to bring trouble to the Perainos. In August of 1974 a federal grand jury in Memphis indicted all three Perainos on the charge of “transporting obscene materials”—
Deep Throat,
that is to say—across state lines.
Deep Throat,
that is to say—across state lines.
This was another trial where the jury viewed the movie. And found it to be “obscene.” At the end of April in 1976, the Perainos were all found guilty. “Big Tony” was on a yacht in the Bahamas but Lou and his uncle Joe were each sentenced to one year in prison, along with a series of fines. Joe’s conviction was later overturned but Lou did spend time in prison. This ended the short reign of Bryanston pictures, although
Deep Throat
continued to do big business around the country.
Deep Throat
continued to do big business around the country.
The Perainos’ troubles didn’t end with that Memphis conviction. On Valentine’s Day of 1980, precisely at noon, 400 FBI agents and police conducted a mammoth raid on porno movie theaters, warehouses, retail businesses and offices in 13 cities across the country. This was Operation Miporn (short for “Miami pornography”). Among the 40 individuals arrested in this round-up were two of the Perainos—Lou and his brother, Joe-and the charge was again interstate shipment of obscenity.
The following February Lou Peraino was sentenced in Miami to six years in prison (brother Joe received a three-year sentence). That same month, their father Anthony (“Big Tony”) finally had to face the music in Memphis. He served 9½ months in prison and was charged a $15,000 fine.
When Chuck Traynor launched my pornography career he made me pose for obscene photographs taken by one Leonard Campagno, a.k.a. Lenny Camp. Investigative reporter Martin Yant reports that Lenny Camp has been arrested several times on pornography charges.
In one case, vice officers raided a Hollywood (Florida) apartment and arrested Campagno just as he was about to film a 15-year-old girl in a porno movie. On that occasion the officers removed truckloads of pornography from the apartment. In another case Campagno was charged with inducing a 16-year-old girl and a man to take part in a naked sex scene.
Typical. But you do get caught eventually. In 1975, he was found guilty of producing an obscene film and sentenced to 18 months in jail, the longest sentence ever given for a pornography conviction in Dade County.
Yant also tracked down Dr. B.G. Gross, the Miami doctor who injected my breasts with silicone. Gross was suspended for six months in 1977 for performing the same operations on at least 100 patients. Gross admitted doing the illegal operation on me but was angry that I had told about him: “Obviously, her career was finished and she was broke so she got a ghost writer to write a book trying to drum up her new career. She just wants the money she didn’t make the first time around at others’ expense.”
Al Goldstein goes on publishing
Screw
and occasionally he’ll talk about me. Each time he does, he reveals more about himself than he does about me. Here is a quote from a tape-recorded
Playboy
interview describing our first meeting.
Screw
and occasionally he’ll talk about me. Each time he does, he reveals more about himself than he does about me. Here is a quote from a tape-recorded
Playboy
interview describing our first meeting.
“We met in a small, cold $17-a-night hotel room, and it was the most difficult interview I ever conducted, because she’s really inarticulate. Chuck Traynor, then her husband and ‘manager,’ did most of the talking. After the interview, I said, ‘Listen, I’d like you to suck my cock.’ I figured she was just a hooker anyway, so I wasn’t embarrassed. She said fine, Chuck said OK, and she blew me. . . . I ran the photos of her sucking my cock and my description of it. It was a paradigm of personal journalism.”
So much for Al Goldstein’s concept of journalism, personal or otherwise.
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