Cosa Nostra News

" There’s nothing new under the sun .”  -- Ecclesiastes 1:9 Agent Harris and Tony sit down at Satriale's. The late-blooming alliance (dare we say friendship ?) between FBI Special Agent Dwight Harris and New Jersey gangster Tony Soprano was one of our favorite parts of The Sopranos. In that now-extinct parallel world, Harris (Matt Servitto) was a member of the FBI's Newark Organized Crime Division Task Force who probed DiMeo crime family boss Tony Soprano. A minor character in the first five seasons, Harris played a pivotal role in the final season as, wonder of wonders, a full ally to Tony in his half-ass war with New York boss Phil Leotardo. What were they fighting over, even? Our favorite character, Paulie Gaultieri, once cautioned, "there's not a bigger c--ks--ker than Phil Leotardo," which was enough of an explanation for us.  Those wanting to rehash the details can  check out  The Chase Lounge , where folks left weighty discussions of su...

Tony Soprano, aka James Gandolfini, died on June 19, 2013, in Rome at the age of 51. Personally, our interest in a new Sopranos project went with him. That's why we've been sitting on this. Even though it's a prequel, the whole idea of a new Sopranos film is bittersweet, at best. David Chase, creator of the iconic HBO series, will co-write and produce the movie, which is set in 1960s Newark. Deadline.com reported that creator and showrunner Chase sold a script to New Line, the Warner Bros. unit. The working title is The Many Saints of Newark. Chase wrote the script with Lawrence Konner, a veteran TV/movie writer who wrote a handful of Sopranos episodes. It's been 11 years since we all thought our cable died in the final moments of the long-running series. The groundbreaking show ran for six seasons from 1999 – 2007. It won 21 Primetime Emmy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and Peabody Awards for its first two seasons. Other stars on the show includ...

"Nobody here can take a joke." "What's that? A gun? I got a gun. He got a gun. He got a gun... Everybody got guns!" "Nothing's personal? What the fck is life, if it's not personal?!" "You smug kike midget, creeping around like a fcking dentist with the ether." -- Gyp Rosetti, Boardwalk Empire's villainous savior. You talkin to me? Boardwalk Empire was getting pretty boring. Fortunately, the show creators seemingly realized this -- and adjusted course accordingly, killing off a major character at the end of season two and introducing a new one in the current season. This effectively administered a jolt of much-needed vitality into the HBO series, based (loosely, very loosely) on a true crime story about fortune, power, and greed centered on 1920s Atlantic City, but also in Chicago, New York, and tertiary locals. Somewhere in the second season, it seemed increasingly apparent that despite all the great character actors, s...

 In honor of its key role in the HBO show  Boardwalk Empire  (it provokes a gunfight, or something like that), which begins its second season Sunday night,  Canadian Club  is releasing a special promotional package: a bottle of its classic six-year-old whiskey with a metal Boardwalk Empire hip flask. WATCH: Boardwalk Empire Season 2: Lucky Luciano Source: facebook.hbo.com Watch Character Spot: Lucky Luciano from Season 2 of Boardwalk Empire and other videos online on HBO.com As  BlackBook  reports, "Any American enjoying a cocktail this weekend should raise a glass to our polite neighbors to the north. After all, Canadian producers kept our country awash in hooch during the Prohibition era, with distillers such as Canadian Club inspiring entrepreneurs to deliver the unique and illicit whiskey to drinkers in Chicago, New York and beyond. Yes, the practice gave rise to a mafia we still have today, but at least nobody who really wanted a satisfyi...

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...