Pacino To Play "Neil" Dellacroce in Gotti Film

Pacino to play Neil Dellacroce.

"Gotti: Three Generations" will reunite director Barry Levinson with his "Bugsy" screenwriter, James Toback, and is set to feature such big-screen luminaries as John Travolta, Joe Pesci, and (ok, we'll include her in the list) Lindsay Lohan.

Now we learned we can add to that lineup the one and only Al Pacino, who has signed to play an important role in the mobster biopic, according to ScreenRant and other published sources.

"That’s all the more fitting, seeing how producer Marc Flore has boasted before about the Gotti flick being 'the new ‘Godfather’,” the article noted.


Pacino will play Aniello “Neil” Dellacroce, the legendary mentor of Gotti Sr., as well as Gambino family underboss and head of what pundits called "the blue-collar wing" of the Gambino family, compared with Boss Paul's white-collar wing.

"Toback is currently reworking actor Leo Rossi’s "Gotti: Three Generations" script, which chronicles the rise to power of mobster John “The Dapper Don” Gotti Sr.
(Travolta) during the mid-1980s – and his son’s hesitancy to follow in his father’s footsteps," the article said.

John Gotti and his mentor, long-time Gambino
underboss Anniello (Neil) Dellacroce.


"Travolta’s real-life wife and daughter (Kelly Preston and Ella Bleu Travolta) will play Gotti’s wife and child; Lohan, meanwhile, is set to appear as Gotti’s daughter-in-law, Kim Gotti."

Pesci, as we reported recently, will portray Gotti's long-time "deputy," whom the Dapper Don ended up hating to the extent that he would not visit his old friend when he was slowly dying of cancer.

Gotti did have a good reason: Ruggiero's big mouth sent Gambinos, including Gotti's brother, Gene, away for decades and likely was the cause of Gotti's decision to move on then-boss Castellano before Castellano could strike Gotti down -- figuratively or literally, after Dellacroce died.

(Wiretaps of Ruggiero discussing his drug business along with how much Castellano was hated by the street soldiers of the family were a key problem that led to the hit on Castellano and Bilotti; had Castellano listened to those tapes, it likely could have meant a hit on Gotti and his entire Bergin crew.) Gotti felt he needed to strike first, to survive.

Many say a street boss would have been savvier than Castellano, derided as The Pope behind his back, and never would have agreed to a  meeting, even one planned at such a public venue as Spark's Steakhouse during dinner hour of the Christmas season in one of the most crowded parts of one of the busiest cities in the world.

"That leaves the part of John Gotti Jr. as the last major role in Three Generations yet to be filled. Outside of the previous rumors about James Franco eying the part (back before he signed on for "Oz the Great and Powerful" instead -- Franco clearly made that decision before Pacino added his star power to the Fiore/Junior Gotti production, we'd bet -- there’s been no word about what young actor could be up to play Junior," ScreenRant reported. I say Vin Diesel.


Comments

  1. As always, great article from a great website.

    If anyone is interested, you can learn all about the real Dellacroce on the MAFIA WALKING TOUR (NYC): http://mafiatour.org -- we visit his former homes, hangouts, etc.

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