Philadelphia Mob Boss's Memoir Slated for Big Screen
Natale is working with New York Daily News reporter Larry McShane (a 35-year newspaperman who also wrote Chin, a Vincent Gigante biography) and Dan Pearson, who produced I Married a Mobster.
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The Last Don Standing (the book is slated to debut on March 31; no date for the film's release has been provided)
The book "is being developed as a feature film and a starring vehicle for Frank Grillo" (who starred in the two Purge
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Frank Grillo all cleaned up. Check him out in The Purge: Anarchy |
Natale, who rose through the mob's ranks as the son of a numbers runner, joined the upper echelon of one of the city's most powerful and storied bosses, Angelo "The Gentle Don" Bruno. (We recently interviewed two law enforcement officials who worked Philadelphia organized crime -- and have been writing that story seemingly forever. shout out to A WISER GUY
Natale was convicted of drug smuggling in the late 1970s and was off the street for the next 16 years.
Upon his release, he and Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino took control of the Philadelphia Mafia. Natale was boss from 1995 through to 1999, when he was arrested on a parole violation. (Merlino then cut Natale loose and took control of the family).
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Merlino is out on bail for healthcare fraud and other charges. |
Many believe (Ralph isn't one of them) that Merlino used him mainly for cover. To avoid the heat of law enforcement, Merlino chose to be underboss, allowing Natale to hold the official boss title. If there is any truth to that, Natale must have felt some satisfaction when he took the stand in 2001 and testified against Merlino in a racketeering trial.
Joey went away, and Ralph cut a deal, under which he was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2005 but was released into witness protection in 2011.
"Natale gave unfettered access to McShane and Dan Pearson (whose personal story is worth a movie unto itself)," Deadline noted.
Grillo has appeared in Captain America: Civil War,
He also has a star turn in Netflix’s Wheelman.
As Variety described it:
Grillo plays a getaway driver thrust into a high stakes race for survival after a bank robbery goes terribly wrong. With a car full of money and his family on the line, the clock is ticking to figure out who double-crossed him, and the only person he can trust is his 14-year-old daughter.
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