Cosa Nostra News

From  Showbiz411 : “Gotti” producer Marc Fiore has apparently decided to take a new secondary role in the film’s financing. He’s turning over his lead position to film/record producer Ted Field, heir to the Marshall Field department stores and the man who gave us the original Interscope Records. Field was running Radar Pictures. Field is said to be worth about $1 billion, which means he’s been able to take losses on such flops as “All About Steve,” “Twelve,” “The Invention of Lying” and other films that fell short of awards buzz like the dreadful but profitable “Bad Teacher.” Field is a nice guy, though, and could possibly raise the money to resurrect “Gotti” from its current state of rigid morbidity. As I reported exclusively here, Fiore – an ex-con – has not had much luck getting “Gotti” together. And Fiore has other problems. He’s still being sued by actor Joe Pesci over a promised role. But even worse: he ran afoul of the man he named exec producer, one Salvatore Carpanz...

Capone was probably the most famous mobster the world ever will see. We are more familiar with New York's Five Families, but we've been working on broadening our scope a bit. Here, we take a look at Mafia goings-on in the Windy City. Historically, only one family runs Chicago. Al Capone , perhaps the most famous mobster of all time, ran the city in the 1920s to early 1930s, during very tumultuous times; he in fact was the cause of tumult. (Scareface was originally from New York) and supposedly the Capone name still carries weight in the Chicago mob. The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate, dates back to around 1910. It is, of course, part of the American Mafia but distinct from the Five Families of New York City, and families in other regions of the U.S. But New York and Chicago together were the chief powers on the Commission. The Outfit is more strict, more loyal to tradition, than the New York families. When "Mob Wives" producers cam...

No one would argue that New York City is simply not the same city it was back during the 1970s to 1980s, and the results are good, crime wise, although there is something a bit boring and antiseptic about the city today. In a  Salon.com  book review there is a theory put forth explaining how this change happened -- and the book will surprise you. The New York of the film "Death Wish" is today a city out of Disneyland, if you ask me. "In the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s, New York was viewed as one of the world’s most dangerous metropolises — a cesspool of violence and danger depicted in gritty films like 'The Warriors' and 'Escape From New York.' Friends who lived here during that time talk of being terrified to use the subway, of being mugged outside their apartments, and an overwhelming tide of junkies. Thirty-one one of every 100,000 New Yorkers were murdered each year, and 3,668 were victims of larceny," the story says. "Today, in an asto...

From  Ted Field Joins 'Gotti' Film as Producer (Exclusive) | The Wrap Movies : There won’t be any cement shoes for a certain troubled mob project. After running into financial difficulties, “ Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father ” has picked up a key addition: Ted Field . The billionaire media entrepreneur has joined the Fiore Films picture as a producer, TheWrap has learned. Field -- who has produced more than 50 films, including “The Last Samurai,” “Runaway Bride” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus” -- will play an “active role” in the production, according to an individual with knowledge of the talks. Field runs Radar Pictures . Director Barry Levinson made the introduction between Marc Fiore and Ted Field. It was Levinson who urged Fiore to sit down with Field, according to the individual. The cast of the film, which includes such heavy hitters as John Travolta, Ben Foster and Al Pacino, was notified this week of Field's involvement. The project had been dogged by repo...