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...

In a New York Times editorial, the stepson of Chuckie O'Brien — the foster son of Jimmy Hoffa — calls The Irishman "by far the greatest depiction of the false charge against my stepfather." ... "My 86-year-old stepfather ... for more than half his life, 44 years ... has watched himself portrayed in news articles, books and motion pictures — most recently, in Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” — as someone he is not. The effect on his life has been devastating." If you haven't watched The Irishman , watch it... What’s that? Did Frank Sheeran really kill Jimmy Hoffa (and Joe Gallo, etc.)? How about we put that aside for a sec -- this interest in solving murders. Let's take our Sherlock Holmes hats-- the deerstalkers -- off. If you want to learn about the Hoffa murder, we'll send you a list of books. Here's a secret: Martin Scorsese doesn't give a rat's ass who killed James Riddle Hoffa. And Crazy Joey Gallo (and JFK, m...

"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.

Netflix has expanded beyond its original business model as a rental service of prerecorded entertainment. In addition to offering DVDs and streaming services for rent, it also has crossed over to the production side of the entertainment industry, producing and distributing its own television shows, documentaries and feature films, in addition to acquiring such programs from production companies. The Irishman: director, left, and  some of the best actors working in films today. Late last month, IndieWire broke the news that Netflix had nabbed the rights to Martin Scorsese ’s long-gestating gangster epic, The Irishman , the acclaimed director's ninth outing with Robert DeNiro. Also starring: Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, and Bobby Cannavale (who turned out a stellar performance as Boardwalk Empire's desperately needed villian, Gyp Rosetti .)

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...

Kenji in Sweden.... Social media is a fantastic way to cultivate sources. I've made quite a few by simply contacting them with a private message. (I'm always privately -- and silently -- thrilled when some of them, especially journalists, say, " yeah, I've heard of you .") Anyway, I met Kenji Gallo via Facebook (I'd read his book Breakshot , which I highly recommend.) We've spoken many times and I occasionally link to his blog posts .  He knows his stuff; I know that for a fact. And he has firsthand experience. Kenji was a mobster, an associate of the ultra-violent Colombo crime family . He's half-Asian. That mixing of ethnicities, an Asian guy in the Italian Mafia, is the kind of setup that makes for a good film.

Seth Ferranti's blog, Gorilla Convict , features an interview with Daniel Simone, author of The Lufthansa Heist: Behind the Six-Million-Dollar Cash Haul That Shook the World . The interview is comprehensive and intriguing. Ferranti himself is intriguing... He earned a master’s degree, got married, launched a writing career and founded a publishing house, all from behind bars. He's accomplished more inside than I ever will outside! But seriously, Seth did over 20 years on a bullshit rap.

Frank Sheeran once claimed that, when he got the order to assassinate his mentor, Jimmy Hoffa, he knew he had no choice but to do what he was told....  It was kill on command or die for disobedience. Frank The Irishman' Sheeran (right) with union boss Hoffa. The disappearance of Teamsters union leader Hoffa 36 years ago remains one of America's most enduring mysteries. To this day, no one knows where his body ended up or what was done to it. And if not for Sheeran's Catholic guilt at the end of his life and a tenacious former prosecutor turned crime writer, the story of how Hoffa died would never have been known either. So posits I Heard You Paint Houses , a true-crime memoir about Sheeran, aka The Irishman. Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro are set to bring Sheeran's extraordinary life to the big screen. The Irishman initially was also to cover Sheeran's alleged role in the assassination of American President John F. Kennedy. For Sheeran's daughter Dolore...