Jul 13 2007
Hit inspired Pesci role in gangster flick Casino
MOBSTER Tony “The Ant” Spilotro met a grisly end because he broke the Mafia code – by having an affair with another gangster’s wife.
Spilotro, said to be the inspiration behind Joe Pesci’s chilling character in the gangland movie Casino, was buried in a cornfield along with his brother. Continue Reading »
Jul 06 2007
Producer Joseph Isgro nails the rights to a legendary mobster’s life story.
BEFORE Tony Soprano or Don Corleone or Tony Montana there was Lucky Luciano — the real-life patriarch of modern organized crime.
Luciano was the Sicilian immigrant who rose to power in the Mafia in the U.S. in the 1920s and transformed it into a flourishing enterprise based on legitimate economic models. He ordered gangland killings, consolidated warring crime factions and began laundering profits from narcotics and prostitution through lawful businesses. Continue Reading »
Mar 05 2007
For decades, gritty stories about the Mafia have occupied the pages of popular literature and dominated the big screens of Hollywood. And yet, few people know the real story behind how and when this formidable system of organized crime actually began. Continue Reading »
Feb 13 2007
“The Departed” is up for five Academy Award nominations including best picture and best director for seven-time nominee Martin Scorsese. Now it is out on DVD.
The special edition two-disc DVD is full of special features, including nine additional scenes with introductions by Scorsese. Continue Reading »
Jan 19 2007
One of several flavorful morsels of Sicilian dialect that go untranslated in the re-release of Alberto Lattuada’s 1962 film “Mafioso” is picciotto. It means child, or little man, and is also a term for a mafia foot soldier. Another indigenous word that pops up in the subtitles is cornuto, or cuckold. It means the same thing all over Italy, but in the proudly patriarchal southern region in which most of “Mafioso” takes place, it’s an especially loaded word. “Never, ever call a Sicilian cornuto,” warns the brief (and cleverly conceived) vocabulary lesson that precedes the opening credits. “Never.” Continue Reading »
Dec 28 2006
Actor James Gandolfini may be too old to exercise, but that does not worry him, for he feels that he needs to be overweight to play Tony Soprano in ‘The Sopranos’. Continue Reading »
