The Alto Knights - Why Did The De Niro Mob Movie Bomb?

Broad & Liberty ran my piece on The Alto Knights film. 

You can read the piece via the below link or the below text:

Paul Davis: The Alto Knights — Why did the DeNiro mob movie bomb?

I recently watched The Alto Knights on HBO. As a fan of mob movies, from Jimmy Cagney’s 1931 The Public Enemy to Martin Scorsese’s 2019 The Irishman, I had hoped that The Alto Knights would be as interesting and entertaining as the classic mob movies that preceded it.   

But I was disappointed with the film. 

Alto Knights was directed by Barry Levinson, a veteran director who also helmed Bugsy, a good mob movie. The Alto Knights was written by Nick Pileggi, who wrote Martin Scorsese’s classic mob films Goodfellas and Casino, and the film starred Robert De Niro, who portrayed classic gangsters in The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas and other fine organized crime films. 

So why did the film bomb? 

To begin with, in my view, the stunt casting of Robert De Niro portraying both Cosa Nostra bosses Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, the successors of Salvatore “Charlie Lucky” Luciano’s crime family after he was deported to Italy. 

Perhaps another reason is due to Robert De Niro’s “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” I know a good number of people who refuse to watch De Niro’s films because of his crude, insulting and often dumb comments about President Trump. 

I don’t agree. We should separate the artist from the person, and De Niro’s personal opinions and his acting are two distinctly different things.  

But I must admit that some years ago, as a Navy veteran who served on an aircraft carrier during the Viet Nam War, I refused to watch Jane Fonda’s films because of her support of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Communists. I believe her visit to North Vietnam and her posing with an anti-aircraft battery crew that had shot down many aircraft carrier pilots, including John McCain, was traitorous. 

But today I agree with conductor Arturo Toscanini, who reportedly said of composer Richard Strauss, “For Strauss the composer, I take off my hat. For Strauss the man, I put it back on.”   

Robert De Niro is a fine actor, but he should have portrayed only Frank Costello. Barry Levinson should have cast Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, or some other fine actor to play Vito Genovese. Robert De Niro and the other fine actor would have had several sit-down scenes with each other. They could have faced off like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino did in Michael Mann’s Heat. 

Another reason the film bombed was the awful title. The Alto Knights (named after a mob social club in New York) sounds more like a Knights of the Round Table movie than a mob movie. The working title was Wise Guys, the title of Pileggi’s true crime book about gangster Henry Hill, which was turned into Scorsese’s Goodfellas. 

I would have called the film The Prime Minister of Crime, which was what Frank Costello, a power broker and fixer for his Cosa Nostra crime family, was called.   

The rivalry between Costello, the racketeer and Genovese, the gangster, makes for good drama. Frank Costello’s dramatic appearance before a Congressional committee is well portrayed, as were the events of the Apalachin mob meeting in up-state New York. The aborted major mob meeting was filmed for both drama and comedy as we see the well-dressed mob bosses flee through the woods to escape the police. 

I also liked the absurd and unbelievable but true contentious court case involving Genovese and his wife, portrayed well by Katherine Narducci. I also liked Debra Messing as Frank Costello’s wife. And I especially liked Michael Rispoli as Albert Anastasia, known as “The Lord High Executioner,” who was the head of the mob’s “Murder, Inc” assassination crew. 

Cosmo Jarvis was also very good as Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, the former boxer who was ordered to shoot and kill Costello by Genevese. (Gigante later became the powerful boss of the Genovese crime family and walked around in pajamas, slippers and a robe to faint madness to avoid being arrested).  

The film opens with Gigante shooting Frank Costello in the head in the lobby of Costello’s apartment building. But Costello survived the assassination attempt and subsequently retired from mob life.   

The film captures the right look of the late 1950s, and the wardrobes and sets are spot on. Unfortunately, the film lacks the fast pace of Goodfellas and Casino, and The Alto Knights drags on at times. 

Being half-Italian and raised Italian in South Philly, the hub of the Philadelphia Cosa Nosta organized crime family, I was aware of Cosa Nostra culture from an early age. I lived a few blocks from then-mob boss Angelo Bruno. And I grew up with the sons and nephews of Cosa Nostra mobsters, some of whom also became mobsters themselves. 

As a writer, I’ve covered organized crime for many years, and I’ve interviewed a good number of current and former mobsters, such as former Philadelphia mob boss Ralph Natale, former Philadelphia mob underboss Philip Leonetti, and former New York Colombo captain Michael Franzese. 

As a student of Cosa Nostra history I believe The Alto Knights is historically accurate for the most part. Sadly, the film did not perform as well as The Godfather films or Goodfellas and Casino. 

The film bombed, but for those who are interested in Cosa Nostra history, The Alto Knights, for all of its flaws, is still worth watching.    

Paul Davis, a Philadelphia writer and frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty, also contributes to Counterterrorism magazine and writes their online Threatcon column. He also writes an online Crime Beat column. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com  

A Little Humor: The Mob Boss, The Lawyer And The Bookkeeper

A mob boss discovered that his bookkeeper had cheated him of out of two million dollars.

The bookkeeper was deaf and could not speak, so when the mob boss went to confront the bookkeeper, he brought along his lawyer who understood sign language.

The mob boss ordered the lawyer to ask the bookkeeper where the money was.

Using sign language, the lawyer asked the bookkeeper where the money was.

The bookkeeper responded in sign language that he didn’t know what they were talking about.

The lawyer looked back at the mob boss. “He says he doesn’t know what you’re talking about.”

The mob boss pulled out a gun and put it to the bookkeeper’s head. He told the lawyer to ask the bookkeeper once again where the money was.

Using sign language, the lawyer told the bookkeeper that the mob boss would murder him if he didn’t tell where the money was.

The bookkeeper was frightened for his life, so he told the lawyer in sign language that the money was in the trunk of his car.

The mob boss asked the lawyer what the bookkeeper said, and the lawyer replied, “He said fuck you. You don’t have the balls to pull the trigger.”

Note: The above photo is of Robert De Niro in Goodfellas.

10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Making Of Martin Scorsese's 'Mean Streets'

Before Raging Bull, before Goodfellas and before Casino, Martin Scorsese made a great crime film called Mean Streets.

The 1973 film about young Italian American hoodlums in New York starred Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro and many other talented actors. As I’m half-Italian and grew up in South Philly’s “Little Italy” section with the local hoodlum Mean Streets' counterparts, I found the film to be both recognizable and entertaining. Mean Streets is one of my favorite films.

I also love the music from the film. The late film critic Pauline Kael called the music the soundtrack of the character’s lives.    

Jake Dee at Screenrants.com offers 10 behind the scenes facts about Mean Streets.

Despite the poor box-office performance at the time of its release in 1973, Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets has gone to be recognized as one of the greatest gangster movies ever made.

The film currently boasts a 97% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 96/100 Metascore. In 1997, the film was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Mean Streets stars Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel as a pair of low-level street hoods trying to make it big in New York's Little Italy. For a better understanding of the movie that put Scorsese on the map, here are some behind the scenes facts about the making of the film.

10 Conception

Following the poor critical and commercial reception of his previous film, Boxcar Bertha, Scorsese's friend, and fellow filmmaker John Cassavetes urged him to get back to his roots and make a personal film, much as he did with Who's That Knocking at My Door in 1967.

Scorsese agreed and decided to make the semiautobiographical Mean Streets as a result. Scorsese based the story on his own personal experiences coming of age in New York's Little Italy, molding many of the characters on people he knew in real life.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://screenrant.com/behind-the-scenes-facts-about-making-of-martin-scorsese-mean-streets/

As I noted in my Crime Beat column on Martin Scorsese, I’ve been a Scorsese fan since Mean Streets came out in 1973.

I was a young aspiring writer at the time, hanging out at a bar in South Philly that was the same type of bar that Scorsese portrayed in Mean Streets.

The characters in the film, based on people he knew from the Lower East Side of New York, had their counterparts in South Philly. Replace New York’s tenements with South Philly’s row homes, and you had the same type of neighborhood and people.

… I later read The Playboy Interview with Scorsese and he mentioned a story about another crew that had flocked to see Mean Streets. He said that while filming Goodfellas, Henry Hill told him that he and Paul Vario’s son had seen Mean Streets and loved it. They saw Paul Vario, who was a capo in the Lucchese crime family, and urged him to see the film. Vario, who rarely went to the movies, gave in and saw the film.

Vario, who would years later be portrayed by Paul Sorvino in Scorsese’s Goodfellas, called his crew together and instructed them to see Mean Streets. Vario, a man of few words, simply told his astonished crew, "It’s about us."

You can read my column on Martin Scorsese via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/11/happy-birthday-to-martin-scorsese.html

You can also watch clips from Mean Streets via the below link:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ7UwnfQ2nA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkGDaroLl_M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag9zbMV5URM

Oldfellas: Frank Sheeran, 'The Irishman' And 'I Heard You Paint Houses': My First Washington Times Weekly 'On Crime' Column

The Washington Times ran my first weekly On Crime column. 

The column covered Frank Sheeran, The Irishman and I Heard You Paint Houses, the book The Irishman was based on.

You can read the column via the below link or via the below text:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/dec/25/comparing-the-irishman-and-i-heard-you-paint-house/ 

By Paul Davis - - Wednesday, December 25, 2019 

Netflix reported that more than 26 million people initially watched Martin Scorsese’s crime drama “The Irishman.” 

I’ve enjoyed Martin Scorsese’s classic crime films, such as “Mean Streets,” “Casino” and “Goodfellas,” so I looked forward to watching “The Irishman.” I was also interested in watching the film as part of it covers organized crime in South Philadelphia, where I grew up. 

I watched “The Irishman” on the night it premiered on Netflix and although the film was slow, long and a bit too talky, I enjoyed it. 

But I viewed the film as fiction. 

I read “I Heard You Paint Houses,” the book “The Irishman” was based on, some years ago. According to the author, Charles Brant, Frank Sheeran confessed to him that he murdered former Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa and New York mobster “Crazy Joe” Gallo. He also confessed that he was involved in the murder of President Kennedy and that he knew of a bribery scheme between President Nixon and Jimmy Hoffa.  

I don’t believe a word of it. 

The late Frank Sheeran (portrayed by Robert De Niro in the film) was a Philadelphia small-time crook who became a Teamsters union official and grew close to Jimmy Hoffa (portrayed by Al Pacino), and he was connected to Western Pennsylvania Cosa Nostra boss Russel Bufalino (portrayed by Joe Pesci) and South Philly/South Jersey Cosa Nostra boss Angelo Bruno (portrayed by Harvey Keitel). 

According to the criminals and cops from that era that I spoke to, Sheeran was a serial liar.

I interviewed former Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss Ralph Natale and I asked him about Frank Sheeran’s claims. 

“Let me tell you about Frank Sheeran. He’s nothing but a drunk and he imagines things,” Natale said “I know who killed Hoffa. His name was Tommy Andretta. His brother was with him and there was the other guy they killed in New York, Salvatore Briguglio. This was a hit squad from “Tony Pro” Provenzano, who was my dear friend. You know how many guys claim to have killed Jimmy Hoffa? I think 15.”     

Bill Tonelli, a writer who grew up in South Philly, debunked Sheeran’s claims in a piece at Slate. He called Sheeran “the Forrest Gump of organized crime.”  

“Only if you had been paying close attention to the exploits of the South Philadelphia mafia back in its glory days (the second half of the 20th century) might you have noticed Sheeran’s existence. Even there he was a second stringer — a local Teamsters union official, meaning he was completely crooked, who hung around with mobsters, especially Russell Bufalino, a boss from backwater Scranton, Pennsylvania. Sheeran was Irish, which limited any Cosa Nostra career ambitions he might have had, and so he seemed to be just a 6-foot-4, 250-pound gorilla with a dream. He died in obscurity, in a nursing home, in 2003.”  

Bill Tonelli spoke to John Carlyle Berkery, who allegedly was the boss of Philly’s Irish mob, which had connections to South Philly’s Cosa Nostra. 

“Frank Sheeran never killed a fly. The only things he ever killed were countless jugs of red wine.” 

Dan Moldea, an investigative reporter and author of “The Hoffa Wars,” also dismissed Sheeran’s claims. He said that Sheeran was in the car that lured Hoffa, but he believes “Sally Bugs” Briguglio, an enforcer for the Genovese crime family, killed Hoffa. 

“This is a one-source story about a pathological liar,” Dan Moldea said. 

Dan Moldea said he met with Robert De Niro and told him that Sheeran’s story was not historically accurate. 

“He of course is an authority on Hoffa and everything else,” Mr. De Niro said. “As Marty says, ‘We’re not saying we’re telling the actual story. We’re telling our story.’” 

In a roundtable discussion with Martin Scorsese, Al Pacino, Robert Di Nero and Joe Pesci that appeared on Netflix following the premiere of the film, Mr. Scorsese addressed the criticism that Sheeran’s story was false. 

“Who knows what really went on? We don’t know,” Mr. Scorsese said. “This is a version thereof, so to speak.” 

Mr. Scorsese said he relied on Charles Brant’s book, and that the book’s story was as good any other. 

Regarding Hoffa, the director said, “The point is, he disappeared.” 

“The Irishman” is no “Goodfellas,” but it is a fine film that showcases the talents of its elderly actors. (The film could have been called “Oldfellas”). 

A good number of people refuse to watch “The Irishman” due to Robert De Niro’s outspoken views of President Trump. It is one thing to express one’s political views publicly, but it is quite another thing to do so crudely, stupidly and with such vitriol. 

So watch “The Irishman,” if you will, but I suggest you regard it as fiction. 

• Paul Davis’ On Crime column covers true crime, crime fiction and thrillers.

The Lies Of the Irishman: Netflix And Martin Scorsese Are Making Their Biggest Bets Ever On The Confessions Of A Mafia “Hitman” - The Guy Made It All Up.

In a previous post, I stated that I was looking forward to watching Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman on Netflix, as the film stars Robert De Niro (who is half-Irish), Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel and a cast of other fine actors. 

I love Martin Scorsese’s crime films, such as Goodfellas, Mean Streets and Casino. Goodfellas, in my view, is the best crime film ever made.    

I'm also looking forward to watching The Irishman as I'm from South Philly and the film has a South Philadelphia connection.

But, as I noted in the post, I’ll view The Irishman as a work of fiction.

The Late Frank Sheeran was a Philadelphia Teamster and a low-level crook who confessed in a book, I heard You Paint Houses, that he murdered former Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa, and New York mobster “Crazy Joe” Gallo. He makes other claims in the book as well. 

I don’t believe a word of it. 

I interviewed former Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss Ralph Natale, and when I asked him about Sheeran’s claims, he responded, “Let me tell you about Frank Sheeran. He’s nothing but a drunk and he imagines things. He begged for me to see him when I was home and I did. I went over to South Philly and I met him there. He was half-drunk and that was it. He said he killed Jimmy Hoffa. I know who killed Hoffa. I have a picture in the book with me and a few of the guys from Lewisburg and one of the guys in the photos was one of the three guys who killed Hoffa. His name was Tommy Andretta. His brother was with him and there was the other guy they killed in New York, Salvatore Briguglio. This was a hit squad from “Tony Pro” Provenzano, who was my dear friend. He was a capo. I get a little angry. You know how guys claim to killed Jimmy Hoffa? I think 15.”    

Several former law enforcement officers I spoke to also dismiss Sheeran's claims.

Bill Tonelli (seen in the above photo), a writer and editor who grew up in South Philly, does a fine job of debunking Frank Sheeran’s claims in a piece at Slate.

Assuming you were alive in April 1972 and old enough to cross the street by yourself, you could take credit for the spectacular murder of mobster Crazy Joe Gallo—gunned down during his own birthday party at Umberto’s Clam House in Little Italy—and nobody could prove you didn’t do it. 

Of course, anyone who knows anything about New York City organized crime can tell you who was behind it: The murder was payback for an equally brazen shooting—in broad daylight, in midtown Manhattan—of mob boss Joseph A. Colombo Sr. a year earlier, an attack Gallo supposedly ordered (though even that no one can say with absolute certainty, since the shooter was shot dead on the spot). But no one has ever been arrested or charged in Crazy Joe’s killing, and so technically it’s still unsolved. 

The same is true about the disappearance, in July 1975, of Teamsters’ union legend Jimmy Hoffa. He had made some lethal enemies in the mob. After serving a prison term, he persisted in trying to regain control of the union even after he was warned, over and over, to back off. The last time anybody saw him, he was standing outside a restaurant in the suburbs of Detroit, waiting to be driven to what he believed would be a peace meeting. The FBI and investigative reporters have devoted decades of effort to solving the mystery, but all we have is guesswork and theories. So if you want to step up now and say you whacked him, be my guest. 

That’s the thing about these gangland slayings: When done properly, you’re not supposed to know who did them. They’re planned and carried out to surprise the victim and confound the authorities. Eyewitnesses, if there are any, prove reluctant to speak up. And nobody ever confesses, unless it’s to win easy treatment from law enforcement in exchange for ratting on other, more important mobsters. Those cases often turn into the ultimate public confessional—the as-told-to, every-gory-detail, my-life-in-crime book deal. Followed by—if you’re a really lucky lowlife—the movie version that fixes your place forever in the gangster hall of fame.

And then there’s the strange case of Frank Sheeran. 

Only if you had been paying close attention to the exploits of the South Philadelphia mafia back in its glory days (the second half of the 20th century) might you have noticed Sheeran’s existence. Even there he was a second-stringer—a local Teamsters union official, meaning he was completely crooked, who hung around with mobsters, especially Russell Bufalino, a boss from backwater Scranton, Pennsylvania. Sheeran was Irish, which limited any Cosa Nostra career ambitions he might have had, and so he seemed to be just a 6-foot-4, 250-pound gorilla with a dream. He died in obscurity, in a nursing home, in 2003. 

Then, six months later, a small publishing house in Hanover, New Hampshire, unleashed a shocker titled I Heard You Paint Houses. It was written by Charles Brandt, a medical malpractice lawyer who had helped Sheeran win early parole from prison, due to poor health, at age 71. Starting not long after that, Brandt wrote, Sheeran, nearing the end of his life, began confessing incredible secrets he had kept for decades, revealing that—far from being a bit player—he was actually the unseen figure behind some of the biggest mafia murders of all time.

Frank Sheeran said he killed Jimmy Hoffa. 

He said he killed Joey Gallo, too. 

And he said he did some other really bad things nearly as incredible. 

Most amazingly, Sheeran did all that without ever being arrested, charged, or even suspected of those crimes by any law enforcement agency, even though officials were presumably watching him for most of his adult life. To call him the Forrest Gump of organized crime scarcely does him justice. In all the history of the mafia in America or anywhere else, really, nobody even comes close. 

Now, though, Frank Sheeran is finally going to get his due. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://slate.com/culture/2019/08/the-irishman-scorsese-netflix-movie-true-story-lies.html

You can also read my previous post on The Irishman via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2019/08/netflix-releases-trailer-for-martin.html

And you can also read my Q&A with Ralph Natale via the below link: 

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2017/04/my-crime-beat-column-my-q-with-ralph.html 

And you can read my Crime Beat column, Goodfellas Don’t Sue Goodfellas; A Look Back at Organized Crime and the Philly Mob, via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/09/goodfellas-dont-sue-goodfellas-look.html 

Netflix Releases Trailer For Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’ & The South Philly Connection

Netflix has released a trailer for its much-anticipated Martin Scorsese film, The Irishman, staring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Harvey Keitel and a host of other fine actors.

The film, which will have a limited run in movie theaters (to be eligible for Oscar Awards) is based a supposedly true crime book called I Heard You Paint Houses, by the late Frank Sheeran, a Philadelphia hit man and Teamster official, and Charles Brant. 

You can watch the trailer, which features the technical “de-aging” of the actors, via the below link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaQ6tHK4yq8 

There is a South Philly connection to this story, as Sheeran is from Philadelphia and he received his first murder contract in South Philly from Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss Angelo Bruno. 

De Niro portrays Sheeran, Al Pacino portrays former Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa, Joe Pesci portrays Pennsylvania Cosa Nostra boss Russell Bufalino, Harvey Keitel portrays Angelo Bruno and Bobby Cannavale portrays South Philly Cosa Nostra captain “Skinny Razor” DiTullio.

I look forward to watching the film, as I’m a huge fan of Scorsese’s crime classics, such as Goodfellas, Casino and Mean Streets, but I’ll consider the film to be a largely fictional story, as I doubt that much of what Sheeran told Brant was true. 

I don’t believe he killed Hoffa. I don’t believe he killed Crazy Joe Gallo. And I don’t believe his involvement in President Kennedy’s murder or that he had any real knowledge of a bribery scheme between President Nixon and Hoffa. 

I interviewed former Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss and federal cooperating witness Ralph Natale, and he said Sheeran didn’t kill Hoffa and he didn't kill Galo, as he was in Prison with two of Gallo's three killers. I confirmed the names of the killers with former law enforcement officers. 

You can read my Crime Beat column on the Frank Sheeran book via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/05/i-heard-you-paint-houses-man-who.html 

And you can read my Q&A with Ralph Natale via the below link:

www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2017/04/my-crime-beat-column-my-q-with-ralph.html 

The Irishman: The 'Real Story' Of The Man Who Murdered Jimmy Hoffa

Michael Kaplan offers a piece in the New York Post about the story of Frank ‘the Irishman,” Sheeran (seen in the above photo), the late gangster who claimed to have murdered Jimmy Hoffa - and the subject of the Martin Scorsese film The Irishman starring Robert De Niro as Sheeran.

Outside of Lee’s Tavern, in the Dongan Hills neighborhood of Staten Island, a 1970s Thunderbird was wired to explode.

It was October 2017, but Hancock Street looked like it had time-tripped to 1975 — and morphed into Detroit. The facade of Lee’s had been done up with an awning that read “Nemo’s.” Next door, Karina’s barbershop had been adorned with a hand-painted logo on its window. Men in period-appropriate garb strolled the block. And Martin Scorsese orchestrated the whole scene.

The director has been shooting his next movie, “The Irishman,” around the tri-state area. A boat was blown up in Hempstead Harbor on Long Island, and stars Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci broke bread in character at the Italian eatery Colandrea New Corner in Dyker Heights. “[Pesci] asked if it would be OK to go out a side door in the kitchen to smoke cigarettes,” Joe Colandrea, the founder’s great-grandson told The Post. “He wanted to make sure nobody would bother him out there.”

It’s all to tell one of the most notorious stories of the late 20th century: the 1975 disappearance and presumed murder of Jimmy Hoffa, once the most powerful union boss on Earth.

Over the years, many people have speculated about what happened to Hoffa (played in the film by Al Pacino) and the whereabouts of his body, which has still never been found. Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran (played by De Niro) claimed to have been the killer. Scorsese’s movie is based on a book by Sheeran’s lawyer, Charles Brandt, titled “I Heard You Paint Houses” — mobster code for “I heard you kill people.”

... But not everyone buys his story. Dan Moldea, author of the deeply researched “The Hoffa Wars,” insists that Sheeran did not kill Hoffa.

Moldea — who interviewed mob figures, investigators and prosecutors for his book — agrees that Sheeran flew to Pontiac and lured Hoffa into the car. But he believes that the murder was committed by Salvatore “Sally Bugs” Briguglio, an enforcer for the Genovese crime family. Moldea bases this on interviews with parties including the owner of a New Jersey dump where some believed Hoffa’s body was disposed.

“This is a one-source story about a pathological liar,” Moldea told The Post of Brandt’s book on Sheeran.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://nypost.com/2017/11/19/the-real-story-of-the-man-who-murdered-jimmy-hoffa/

You can also read my Crime Beat column on Frank Sheeran via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/05/i-heard-you-paint-houses-man-who.html   

Watch Don Rickles Roast Robert De Niro And Martin Scorsese In His Final Project

Vanity Fair offers a piece on the late, great comedian Don Rickles.

The piece covers Don Rickles appearance with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese, his co-star and director of the classic crime film Casino, on his show Dinner With Don. 

Even at a rich 90 years old, Don Rickles was among the sharpest comedians of them all. The legendary insult comic, who died in April, was the king of comebacks, a talent he flaunted in his final project, Dinner with Don. The series, taped last year, features Rickles having a nice dinner with an array of famous comedians, including Amy Poehler, Jimmy Kimmel, and Zach Galifianakis. Of course, that nice dinner comes with a healthy helping of Rickles roasting his guests within an inch of their lives.

In an exclusive clip for Vanity Fair, you can now watch the very first episode of Dinner with Don, featuring the late comedian tucking in with fearsome film duo Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. The trio go way back to when Scorsese cast Rickles as a fast-talking manager in the 1995 gangster classic Casino. They remained friends over the years, with Scorsese and De Niro joining a star-studded lineup for a Rickles tribute in 2014. The drama duo tapped into their inner insult comics when celebrating the comic, throwing hilarious barbs with Rickles–esque alacrity.

“I loved and admired Don, but I don’t want to say anything nice about him,” De Niro said in a statement to Vanity Fair. “It might piss him off and make him come back from the dead.”

You can read the rest of the piece and watch the video clip via the below link:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/09/don-rickles-robert-de-niro-martin-scorsese-roast 

You can also read an earlier post on Don Rickles via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2017/04/rip-don-rickles-insult-comic-and-wwii.html 

You can also watch Don Rickles insult Frank Sinatra on the Johnny Carson show via the below link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5_V9RT8aR8 

'Raging Bull' Boxing Legend Jake LaMotta Dead At 95

Bob Fredericks and Laura Italiano at the New York Post report that former middleweight boxing champion Jake LaMotta has died. LaMotta, the author of Raging Bull: My Story. was 95.

Boxing great Jake LaMotta – who was memorably portrayed by actor Robert De​ ​Niro in the flick Raging Bull — has died at the age of 95, his family announced.

“Rest in Peace, Champ,” De Niro [CQ] told ABC News.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2017/09/20/raging-bull-boxing-legend-jake-lamotta-dead-at-95/ 

The Vicious Real-Life Gangsters Behind Martin Scorsese's Chilling Mega-Budget Movie 'The Irishman'

Danya Bazaraa at the British newspaper the Mirror offers a short piece and some interesting old photos of the late Frank Sheeran (seen in the above photo), a Philadelphia mob murderer and the subject of Martin Scorsese's upcoming film, The Irishman.  

The much anticipated film is based on I Heard You Paint Houses, by Sheeran and Charles Brandt, and.will star Robert De Niro as Sheeran and Joe Pesci, Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel will also appear in the film.

You can read the piece and check out the old photos via the below link:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/meet-vicious-real-life-gangsters-9985023

You can also read my Crime Beat column on Frank Sheeran via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/05/i-heard-you-paint-houses-man-who.html

And you can read my piece on the South Philly connection to the story via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2016/05/scorsese-assembles-hollywood-dream-team.html

Happy Birthday To Robert De Niro, One of America's Greatest Actors

As History.com notes, today is the birthday of Robert De Niro, one of the greatest actors in modern movie history.

You can read about Robert De Niro's life and work via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/robert-de-niro-born?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2016-0817-08172016&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=80488914&kx_EmailCampaignID=6665&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2016-0817-08172016&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa

Note: Robert De Niro is one of my favorite actors. I particularly like his film collaboration with director Martin Scorsese. Together they made what I consider the greatest crime film ever made, Goodfellas. They also made other classic crime films together, such as Mean Streets, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and Casino. Robert De Niro also starred in and directed Chazz Palminteri's brilliant film, A Bronx Tale. 

South Philly Connection To Scorsese's Upcoming Organized Crime Film, 'The Irishman," Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci & Harvey Keitel

Martin Scorsese directed three of my favorite crime films.

Goodfellas is the best crime film ever made, in my view, and Casino and Mean Streets are not too far behind. Even Raging Bull, the greatest boxing film ever made, has a strong organized crime element to it.

So I'm glad that The Irishman may finally be in the works. And Scorsese will present a stellar cast that features Robert De Niro and other veteran actors from his great crime films.

The film will be based on I Heard You Paint Houses, a true crime book about mobster Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, who claims to have murdered Jimmy Hoffa.

The story has a South Philly connection, as Sheeran, a Philadelphia native, was given his first murder contract in South Philly by Cosa Nostra boss Angelo Bruno.

He was also urged by a Philadelphia Monsignor to confess his sins so he could be buried in a Catholic grave yard, which led to his second confession to a writer.

Bruce Golding at the New York Post offers a piece on the upcoming film.

Martin Scorsese is putting the old gang back together — and swearing in a new member — for a mob movie green-lighted through big-bucks deals struck at the Cannes Film Festival, according to reports Sunday.

“The Irishman,” which has been stuck in development hell for years, is set to star Scorsese stable-mates Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, who both played key roles in the director’s classic gangster flicks, “GoodFellas” and “Casino.”

Reports said it would also reunite Scorsese with Harvey Keitel, who last worked with Scorsese on 1988’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” and co-starred in the director’s 1976 legendary “Taxi Driver.”

The instant Oscar-bait film would also mark the first collaboration between Scor­sese and legendary “Godfather” star Al Pacino.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://pagesix.com/2016/05/16/scorsese-assembles-hollywood-dream-team-for-new-flick/

You can also read my Crime Beat column on I Heard You Paint Houses via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/05/i-heard-you-paint-houses-man-who.html

Note: The above photo shows Martin Scorsese and his actors from Goodfellas.

"Heat' At 20: Michael Mann On Making A Crime Drama Classic

Jennifer Woods at Rolling Stone offers a piece on film director Michael Mann's crime film Heat.

Michael Mann has been a driving creative force behind plenty of groundbreaking cops-and-robbers tales over the past 40 years, from TV’s "MTV cops" show Miami Vice to this year's bleeding-edge cybercrime thriller Blackhat. And while the 72-year-old writer/producer/director has done his share of tense true-story recreations and tough-guy classics, it's a certain steely crime drama starring two Seventies-cinema icons for which he might be best known.

Released 20 years ago today, Heat originated from the story of an obsessive detective's quest to take down a disciplined career criminal in the early 1980s, based on a real-life encounter that Mann's friend, Chicago detective Charlie Adamson, had with an ex-Alcatraz inmate he was trailing (and eventually killed). The filmmaker started writing a script about these two men on the opposite sides of the law in the early 1980s, but claims that something was not working with the structure, and eventually put it aside. "When something's not ready, it's like not ready," he says.

... By the way, this elite major crime unit that Charlie was in — one of the sergeants in that crew was Dennis Farina. I recruited him to be in Thief (1981), and because of that he decided he wanted a career as an actor because, as he said, he'd be known as "Dennis, the Dream to Work With." That's why people would hire him, he thought. Which was probably true … .

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/heat-at-20-michael-mann-on-making-a-crime-drama-classic-20151215

On This Day In History: 1990 - Classic Crime Film 'Goodfellas' Opens

As History.com notes, on this day in 1990, Martin Scorsese's classic crime film Goodfellas opened in theaters.

On this day in 1990, the Martin Scorsese-directed Mafia film Goodfellas, starring Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Lorraine Bracco and Joe Pesci, opens in theaters around the United States. The movie, which was based on the best-selling 1986 book Wiseguy, by the New York crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi, tells the true story of the mobster-turned-FBI informant Henry Hill (Liotta), from the 1950s to the 1980s. Goodfellas earned six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Pesci won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as the psychotic mobster Tommy DeVito.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/goodfellas-opens?et_cid=80959384&et_rid=1227406676&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.history.com%2fthis-day-in-history%2fgoodfellas-opens 

We Took Care Of That Thing For Ya: As 'Goodfellas' Turns 25, Here Are 25 Things You Never Knew About Martin Scorsese's Mobster Flick

In celebration of the finest and most realistic crime film ever made, Rachel Maresca and Philip Caulfield at the New York Daily News made a list of 25 things you may not know about Godfellas.

We took care of that thing for ya.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of "Goodfellas" this year, the Daily News has compiled a list of 25 things every movie nut should know about the classic gangster flick, which is being honored on the closing night of The Tribeca Film Festival Saturday.

To celebrate, the cast of the Martin Scorsese movie will reunite and participate in a sit-down conversation hosted by Jon Stewart.

The violent, profane and often funny film, based on Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family," featured several cameos by the story's real-life characters, and is revered by movie fans for its colorful dialogue and memorable lines.

Now go home and get your shinebox . . .

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/25-didn-goodfellas-article-1.2194719

You can also read an earlier post on the making of Goodfellas via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/04/25th-anniversary-of-martin-scorseses.html

25th Anniversary of Martin Scorsese's 'Goodfellas': 21 Facts You May Not Know About The Classic Crime Film

I believe that Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas is the greatest crime film ever made. Based on a true story, it is the most realistic film made about organized crime. 

Cory Mahoney at hollywood.com offers 21 facts you may not know about the classic crime film.

How well do you know the iconic gangster movie?

1. Real-life gangster Henry Hill, whose story inspired the book Wiseguy that inspired the film, had said that Joe Pesci's performance was a 90-99% accurate portrayal of Tommy DeSimone.

The difference? The real DeSimone was a massively built, strapping man. Joe Pesci? Not so much.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.hollywood.com/news/movies/60015767/goodfellas-movie-facts-you-didn-t-know

You can also read my Crime Beat column, Goodfellas Don't Sue Goodfellas, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/09/goodfellas-dont-sue-goodfellas-look.html

And you can read my Crime Beat column on Martin Scorsese's world of crime via the below link: 

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/11/happy-birthday-to-martin-scorsese.html

Funny, How? I Amuse You, Like A Clown? Happy 71st Birthday To Actor Joe Pesci

As Biography.com notes, today is the birthday of one my favorite actors, Joe Pesci. He appeared in several of Martin Scorsese's classic crime films, including Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Casino. He also appeared in comedy films such as Easy Money and My Cousin Vinny.

Joe Pesci was born February 9, 1943 in Newark, New Jersey. After Robert De Niro saw Pesci's performance in The Death Collector, he brought the film to the attention of director Martin Scorsese, who cast Joe Pesci in his 1980 masterpiece Raging Bull. This was the beginning of a long line of supporting roles for Pesci, who soon became one of the busiest character actors in the business.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.biography.com/people/joe-pesci-9542518

You can also read an earlier post on Joe Pesci via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/09/funny-how-i-amuse-you-like-clown.html