Cosa Nostra News

Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas by Glenn Kenny, which we finally got around to perusing, includes many fascinating tidbits about the acclaimed 1990 Martin Scorsese film as well as the real-life Luchese wiseguys and associates on whom the film was based. We also learned the answer to something we have long wondered about: Why did Scorsese change the names of the characters?  “You got money for that fcking commercial of yours. You don't got my money? You don't got my fckin' money?”  According to Made Men, Robert De Niro’s approach to the role of Jimmy Burke —renamed Conway—the Irish-American gangster with ties to the Luchese crime family through his association with Luchese capo Paul Vario , renamed Cicero for the film—included the kind of painstaking, multifaceted preparatory work for which the New Yorker has long been known.  De Niro’s copy of the Goodfellas script—which is part of the De Niro archives at the Ransom Center at the University of Texas —includes handwritt...

Mobster movies have produced household names such as Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino. The great brains behind the blockbuster titles were gentlemen like Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, and Francis Ford Coppola.  Goodfellas Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, and Robert DeNiro. When you are done playing your favorite casino games on JackpotCity online casino , please get a top-rated mobster movie to help you relax; you won't regret it. And yes, it can be Casino with Robert De Niro , though it isn’t ranked in our top 4 list… In this review, you'll discover four highest-ranked mobster movies you must watch. 4. The Departed (2006) The Departed was adapted from the Hong Kong movie Internal Affairs. Directed by Scorsese, the film paints a compelling picture of South Boston crime. Jack Nicholson stars in the movie in what is dubbed his all-time great performance. You can think of this film as the exact opposite of The Friends of Eddie Coyle. While the former is loud, explosive, and influ...

Michael Imperioli appeared on ABC's "Popcorn with Peter Travers" to promote his new book. Tony's crew: The Sopranos cast. On the show to hype  The Perfume Burned His Eyes , Imperioli discussed his "unofficial Mafia induction ceremony," during his first major acting job, playing Spider in Martin Scorsese's  Goodfellas . "It's a very funny story when I get killed in that movie," he said. "In the second scene I had a glass in my hand because I'm a waiter. And I did my own stunt of falling backwards, falling into the bar and hitting the ground. And the glass was real. They didn't have a breakaway for some reason. So two of my fingers got cut really badly." Imperioli sought medical treatment for his injury right away, appearing in the hospital still made up from the scene, bullet-ridden and bloody. "I went to the hospital but I had bullet holes in my chest and blood everywhere. So at the hospital in...

Nick Christophers wrote the following based on his interview with Maria Stewart, niece of Theresa Ferrara, Tommy DeSimone's alleged girlfriend .  Theresa Ferrara was found brutally murdered Stewart authored   Looking for Closure, the Theresa Ferrara Story. There have been quite a few mob-related books and television shows told from a women’s point of view. Antoinette Giancana and Rosalie Bonanno , both of whom were related by blood or marriage to American Cosa Nostra royalty: one was a mob boss's daughter and the other was a wife of one. A nonfictional work by Linda Milito , author of Mafia Wife whose late husband, Gambino mobster Louie Milito , had been Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano 's compadre when the two were seeking admittance to the Gambinos. Depending on who you believe, Louie Milito may have gotten Sammy in with the Gambinos, rather than the other way around. Mlito made fatal mistakes, having the unfortunate luck to be imprisoned duri...

"He made it look easy in all respects. He was genuine," Martin Scorsese wrote in a tribute to his friend Frank Vincent. "Frank Vincent was someone I could count on. He was a natural who was at ease in front of the camera — on a set or on a stage." Vincent died Wednesday of complications from heart surgery. He was 80.  Scorsese directed him in three films, all classics:  Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), and Casino (1995). Vincent's screen debut, The Death Collector , is also a must-see for fans. (Mikie Scars highly recommends it too.) Vincent's career probably reached its pinnacle with his turn as Phil Leotardo, boss of a New York crime family on The Sopranos.

Kirkus  describes  it as "a  straightforward update to the notorious 1978 Lufthansa Airlines heist. Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Anthony DeStefano understands the difficulty of opening new aspects of a crime immortalized in journalism, memoirs, and the film Goodfellas. James Burke, aka Jimmy the Gent. “Of all the Mafia heists, rip-offs, scores, and plunders, none has been more iconic a part of American popular culture than the brazen [Lufthansa] robbery.” Vincent Asaro, who now faces 20 years in prison on charges related to arson, was charged with (and acquitted of) co-masterminding the infamous $6 million Lufthansa heist with James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke; Asaro also was charged with (and acquitted of) murdering Paul Katz, a suspected mob snitch strangled to death with a dog leash.

This article was first published in the Den of Geek NYCC Special Edition Magazine; you can find the online version here .  It's written by Tony Sokol, the admitted "Gangster Geek" at Den of Geek, for which he writes. Tony is a quite talented writer, in fact (in addition to being a  playwright and musician). Aside from writing for Den of Geek, he also writes for The Chiseler , KpopStarz.com , and  hypnocloud.com . Previously, he wrote for Altvariety, Coed.com , Daily Offbeat, Dark Media Press, Wicked Mystic and other magazines.  He has had over 20 plays produced in NYC, including Vampyr Theatre and the rock opera “AssassiNation: We Killed JFK.” He appeared on the Joan Rivers (TV) Show, Strange Universe and Britain’s “The Girlie Show.” Goodfellas is a classic movie in the gangster genre. It tells the story of a crew of working criminals from the working class section of East New York, Brooklyn. These wise guys pulled off the biggest haul of the Twentieth Cent...

It's one of gangland's most high-profile, enigmatic hits -- and the identity of the killer has been debated for decades. Joe Pesci immortalized a vicious killer in Goodfellas. Thomas "Tommy Two-Guns" DeSimone killed a made member of  the Mafia  -- and for that, among other things, he was killed in what's been described as a classic setup. The truth is, we know very little about this murder, including who pulled the trigger. (Or fired up the chainsaw, depending on who you believe). DeSimone disappeared, meaning there's zero evidence as to how he was killed; in fact, it can't be said with absolute certainty that he was killed. Still, he was killed . Guys like him don't just disappear into thin air.  They'd never leave New York because everything they want -- a certain lifestyle, basically -- is in New York and cannot be duplicated anywhere else.  At the same time, there's no shortage of answers as to who and the why. Answers sell books an...