Cosa Nostra News

The John Gotti biopic is on again, with a new set of Hollywood backers joining the original producer. John Travolta remains tied to the project and is ready, once again, to step into the shoes of mob boss John Gotti in the long-gestating film, which Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films, Fiore Films and Herrick Entertainment are together producing. The two Johns:  Gotti and Travolta Travolta met with buyers and glad-handed the press at a Toronto event Sept. 11 where he discussed how the Gotti project had become a family project. His wife, Kelly Preston, and daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, have signed on to play Gotti’s real-life wife and daughter in the Lionsgate project.

Kasman: Travolta not tough enough to play John Gotti Sr. He should know! Of all people, Lewis Kasman -- who is not a former mobster, as the Mail Online erroneously reports -- claims John Travolta is not tough enough to play notorious Mafia boss John Gotti in the upcoming biopic produced by Fiore Films, reports the U.K. newspaper's website. "For John Gotti Sr., you need a man's man to play that role," said Kasman, who is in the FBI's witnesses protection program -- not where you'd expect to find a real "man's man." Let's break this down a little and put the inmates back in the straight jackets to keep them from trying to run the asylum: Kasman was a two-bit phony who pretended to be a friend of the Gotti family, going so far as to call himself "John Gotti's adopted son," when for years he was tape-recording and handing over information to the Feds behind the Gotti's collective backs. He even wiretapped Gotti Senior...

Gotti killed four more, according to son Junior's film of his life. (Unless it's from one of the fake scripts sent to the media.) EDITOR'S NOTE: Fiore Films has admitted sending out phony copies of the script for its upcoming Gotti biopic, apparently to fool the media. Mr. Fiore, trust me when I say: The media won't forget this dirty trick, especially when you expect them to hang laurels from the film in their reviews. This was a dumb, arrogrant move on your part, my friend. Anyway, readers, this post may be based on a fake script for all I know, but it was reported on by several sources, including the one and only Jerry Capeci. John Junior Gotti blames his Mafia father for four additional murders -- heretofore unknown by any sources -- in the upcoming film about the Teflon Don, according to published reports, including in the U.K.'s Mail Online . "Gotti, who never took the stand in any of the four racketeering trials where he escaped a federal conv...

Angelo Ruggiero, Gotti's right- hand man, was the character that Joe Pesci reportedly had been  offered $3 million to play. Gaspipe Casso was the role that poll respondents would prefer Pesci had accepted. Instead, he is out of the film. Joe Pesci will not be playing Gaspipe Casso. Or Angelo Ruggiero. In fact, the Academy Award-winning actor of many great mob films will not be appearing in the Gotti biopic at all. That's the latest, according to an article on Forbes.com , which reports that Fiore Films in Los Angeles, the producer of the film, has said that Pesci backed out of the project "months ago and isn't entitled to [the] $3 million he is seeking." Pesci sued on Wednesday, claiming producers reneged on a deal to cast him in a starring role in the Gotti film. "Fiore Films CEO Marc Fiore says Pesci's representatives told him in writing months ago that the actor wouldn't do any work on the film until they replaced a director who l...

From the U.K.'s Daily Mail website  (photos courtesy of Splash News  unless otherwise noted) [Editor's notes inserted where I believe necessary, usually to correct, clarify and question. The writer claims Travolta "signed on" to play the role of John Gotti at this dinner -- but that is not so. From an article on Entertainment Weekly's website : "According to Marc Fiore — the CEO of Fiore Films, LLC — the Pulp Fiction star is in serious talks to play New York City mob boss John Gotti in Gotti, an upcoming film executive produced by Fiore about three generations of the crime family." But, in a parenthetical, the article adds: "(A source in Travolta’s camp says it’s one of four projects he’s considering at this time)." Overall, I don't think the Brits understand the American mob or the film industry -- or maybe it's some of their journalists that don't; they already think the big bust -- one of the largest in history  -- is going t...

UPDATE AT END:  Fiore Films, LLC  is trying to keep the publicity machine running for its yet-unnamed John Gotti project by reporting that it has signed with ICM to represent the film. What is missing is the meat and potatoes: Who is going to star in the film? Hopefully, it won't be a re-working of HBO's Gotti , which starred the great Armand Assante (probably the highest-profile mob character actor working today) and was supposedly made with help from Gotti's relatives -- as will Fiore's project. HBO's Gotti was also based on strong source material, the key to why it is pretty decent: the Jerry Capeci/Gene Mustain book , Gotti: Rise and Fall. However, Junior wasn't even a character in the Assante film, so hopefully we're in for something new -- and something more than a hagrio-pic (a word I think I just invented); in other words, a biopic that turns the character into a saint rather than portraying him realistically. With Junior involved we have to won...