0 registered members (),
83
guests, and 33
spiders. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
Forums21
Topics43,347
Posts1,086,181
Members10,381
|
Most Online1,254 Mar 13th, 2025
|
|
|
Mobsters turned actors
#1009687
04/14/21 12:28 PM
04/14/21 12:28 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 7,499 naples,italy
furio_from_naples
OP
|
OP

Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 7,499
naples,italy
|
Giorgio Castellani aka Giuseppe Greco,was the son of Michele Greco aka the Pope a high ranking boss of Cosa Nostra,actor in Crema, cioccolata e... paprika and productor with the father money. https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/10 ... e-sopranos Michael Squicciarini, The Sopranos Only the most studious Sopranos viewers will recognize Michael “Big Mike†Squicciarini, who briefly played low-level enforcer “Big Frank†Cippolina in the show’s second season. The 6-foot-5, 305-pound actor, who died of natural causes in 2001, was determined to hit it big on the HBO mob drama: “Just give me one year on that show—give me nine or 10 episodes—and I’ll be a household name,†Squicciarini, also known as “Scuch,†told the New York Observer. But Scuch, a former debt collector for the DeCavalcante family—the New Jersey mob crew upon which The Sopranos’ DiMeo family is loosely based—who had spent years in prison behind multiple aggravated assault charges, also had a back-up plan, one that would prove deadly. “Let me put it this way,†Squicciarini told the Observer. “If the movie business doesn’t work out, I always got something to fall back on. I got my mask and gun at home.†True to his word, Squicciarini never quite put his mobster past behind him. In 2002, the actor was posthumously implicated in a cold-blooded gangland execution that had taken place 10 years prior. According to documents filed by Manhattan District Attorney John Hillebrecht (via The Guardian), Squicciarini and others lured a rival drug dealer named Ralph Hernandez into a Brooklyn nightclub owned by DeCavalcante capo Joseph “Joe Pitts†Conigliaro. Conigliaro, who was wheelchair-bound due to a paralyzing wound sustained in a prior shootout, pulled a piece on Hernandez and shot him in the forehead. The capo was then wheeled over to the dying drug dealer, whom he shot thrice more in the head. Conigliaro’s henchmen rolled Hernandez’s body up in a carpet, dumped it in an abandoned lot nearby and returned to clean the blood-stained nightclub floor. One of these men was likely Squicciarini, though his exact role in the killing is uncertain. Scuch was linked to the crime by sources who knew his nickname, and was ultimately implicated by witnesses who, in an absurd twist of fate, recognized him in a Sopranos clips shown to them by investigators. Bada bing! Alex Rocco, The Godfather The Godfather was Alex Rocco’s big break, and as bespectacled Las Vegas big shot Moe Greene, he made his relatively small role count. Lines like “I made my bones when you were going out with cheerleaders!†made Moe a memorable character in a film full of them. Rocco’s character’s unforgettable death during the film’s climactic christening montage even spawned a gangster film trope all its own: the “Moe Greene Special.†And though the recently deceased Rocco, born Alexander F. Petricone Jr., could not have claimed the criminal underworld clout of, say, a Benjamin “Bugsy†Siegel, upon whom Moe Greene is said to have been based, he did make a few mobster bones of his own. The Cambridge, Mass., native had a history with Boston’s notorious Winter Hill Gang, the predominantly Irish-American organized crime confederation that lists such infamous gangsters as James “Whitey†Bulger (portrayed by Johnny Depp in Scott Cooper’s Black Mass) among its members. In 1961, a young Rocco was arrested in connection to the murder of Bernard “Bernie†McLaughlin, a formidable Irish gang leader from Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood. A witness told authorities that Winter Hill Gang boss James “Buddy†McLean shot McLaughlin down in broad daylight while Rocco acted as the getaway driver. Both men were arrested on suspicion of murder, but a grand jury would decline to indict them. Four years later, McLean was murdered, a casualty of the Winter Hill Gang’s ongoing war with McLaughlin’s gang. Meanwhile, while Rocco was serving jail time for his part in a brawl in a Somerville diner, his wife borrowed new Winter Hill Gang leader Howard T. Winter’s car, somehow escaping injury when a bomb planted in the vehicle exploded. Rocco and his wife divorced, and he left Boston—and his life of crime—behind. “I had to get out of the Boston area, so I flipped a coin and said, ‘Heads Miami, tails California,’†Rocco told the Boston Globe. “I was in my mid-20s and came out here with no training. Acting wasn’t even in my mind.†Tony Sirico,Goodfellas, The Sopranos Tony Sirico first tasted the big time with small roles in a pair of gangster classics before rocketing to fame as The Sopranos fan favorite Paul “Paulie Walnuts†Gualtieri. Stop me if you’ve heard this one: it’s difficult to tell the factual man from the fictional one, as Sirico’s rap sheet is nearly as extensive as his IMDb page. But judging by a 1990 LA Times profile, Sirico, born and raised in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, was very much a product of his environment. “Where I grew up, every guy was trying to prove himself. You either had to have a tattoo or a bullet hole. I had both,†a grinning Sirico told the Times. Before becoming an actor, he was arrested 28 times, first for stealing nickels from a newsstand at the tender age of seven. Sirico went on to become a notorious stick-up artist, getting pinched time and time again, and serving two prison terms on weapons and armed robbery charges. But all of those run-ins with the law were essentially just auditions, to hear him tell it: “I got 28 arrests and only two convictions, so you gotta admit I have a pretty good acting record,†Sirico boasts. It was during his second stretch inside, while watching a group of ex-con performers, that he decided to give acting a shot: “I watched ’em and I thought, ‘I can do that.’†It was Sirico’s extensive finger-on-trigger experience that ultimately made him a success as a silver screen gangster. During his armed robbery days, Sirico was a fast-rising associate of the Colombo family, serving under notorious boss Carmine “Junior†Persico, per Cosa Nostra News. (Incidentally, Sirico’s wiseguy nickname was also Junior.) The Sopranos even makes reference to Sirico’s pinstriped past—in “The Blue Comet,†the series’ penultimate episode, Paulie Walnuts recalls, “I lived through the seventies by the skin of my nuts when the Colombos were goin’ at it.†And it’s rumored that Sirico agreed to play Paulie only with the assurance that his character would never become an informant. “Listen, Junior was a genuine tough guy,†says James Caan, a long-standing acquaintance of Sirico’s who ran in some of the same organized-crime circles. “But in a funny way, now that he’s straight, he can behave like a wiseguy. He’s been able to romanticize his past, throw in a few bangles and sparkles and use it as an actor. What you see is really him—he just adds a little pepper, a little cayenne, to spice it up.†Fellow Colombo associate Caan’s words ring true: Paulie Walnuts is nothing if not a fiery, unforgettable, authentic character. “I feel good about what I’ve accomplished,†Sirico says. “I came from another world—and now I’m an actor.â€
|
|
|
Re: Mobsters turned actors
[Re: furio_from_naples]
#1009693
04/14/21 01:12 PM
04/14/21 01:12 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 597 Paris
Malavita
Underboss
|
Underboss
Joined: Mar 2020
Posts: 597
Paris
|
- Frédéric Graziani
Corsican Actor Frederic Graziani was very close to the Corsican Mob.
He played a Corsican Mobster in the French TV show Mafiosa (centered on the Corsican mafia) and then played a corrupt prison guard who helps the Corsican inmates in one of the best French movie ever "A Prophet".
In 2011, He took part, alongside high ranking members of the Corsican Mafia, in the take over of a Paris gambling club. It happened just like in the movie, Graziani and a dozen Corsican gangsters went to the Club and told the owner and the staff that they were now running things. Incidentally, his character in Mafiosa did exactly the same thing.
- Michel Ferraci
Another Corsican actor with strong ties to the Corsican Mob. For some time, he was the actual manager of one the biggest Paris gambling Club (There are about 6 or 7 legal Gambling clubs in paris ans they have always been controlled by the Corsican Mafia).
Last edited by Malavita; 04/14/21 01:13 PM.
|
|
|
Re: Mobsters turned actors
[Re: Sidney]
#1009716
04/14/21 05:13 PM
04/14/21 05:13 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 293 California
Mikey_Sunset
Capo
|
Capo
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 293
California
|
Wasn’t Luca Brasi from The Godfather movie also a made guy? I read that somewhere he was with the columbos and put in that movie by Joe columbo There have been a few others as well from other families like the Bonanno family , can’t remember the guys name was recently in a low budget film , guy from long island . Gotta ask my buddy he was an extra too You are correct. Lenny Montana was with the Colombo Family. https://rare.us/entertainment-and-culture/lenny-montana/
|
|
|
Re: Mobsters turned actors
[Re: Malavita]
#1009760
04/15/21 02:58 PM
04/15/21 02:58 PM
|
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,231
TheKillingJoke
Underboss
|
Underboss
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 2,231
|
- Frédéric Graziani
Corsican Actor Frederic Graziani was very close to the Corsican Mob.
He played a Corsican Mobster in the French TV show Mafiosa (centered on the Corsican mafia) and then played a corrupt prison guard who helps the Corsican inmates in one of the best French movie ever "A Prophet".
In 2011, He took part, alongside high ranking members of the Corsican Mafia, in the take over of a Paris gambling club. It happened just like in the movie, Graziani and a dozen Corsican gangsters went to the Club and told the owner and the staff that they were now running things. Incidentally, his character in Mafiosa did exactly the same thing.
- Michel Ferraci
Another Corsican actor with strong ties to the Corsican Mob. For some time, he was the actual manager of one the biggest Paris gambling Club (There are about 6 or 7 legal Gambling clubs in paris ans they have always been controlled by the Corsican Mafia).
Yeah, these guys were figureheads. Corsican organized crime has always been savvy at infiltrating the legitimate world. After their heroin trafficking days were over, they started making a ton of money by "influencing" legal gambling establishments. How they exactly do this, I don't really know, but their acumen in that racket is still next to none.
|
|
|
Re: Mobsters turned actors
[Re: Kese]
#1009768
04/15/21 04:01 PM
04/15/21 04:01 PM
|
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 39
matteodenaro
Wiseguy
|
Wiseguy
Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 39
|
Michael Spilotro Made a few TV appearances in the late 70s & 80s before his demise Yep. Forgot about that one.
|
|
|
Re: Mobsters turned actors
[Re: Malavita]
#1009774
04/15/21 04:33 PM
04/15/21 04:33 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 29,784
Hollander
|

Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 29,784
|
- Frédéric Graziani
Corsican Actor Frederic Graziani was very close to the Corsican Mob.
He played a Corsican Mobster in the French TV show Mafiosa (centered on the Corsican mafia) and then played a corrupt prison guard who helps the Corsican inmates in one of the best French movie ever "A Prophet".
In 2011, He took part, alongside high ranking members of the Corsican Mafia, in the take over of a Paris gambling club. It happened just like in the movie, Graziani and a dozen Corsican gangsters went to the Club and told the owner and the staff that they were now running things. Incidentally, his character in Mafiosa did exactly the same thing.
- Michel Ferraci
Another Corsican actor with strong ties to the Corsican Mob. For some time, he was the actual manager of one the biggest Paris gambling Club (There are about 6 or 7 legal Gambling clubs in paris ans they have always been controlled by the Corsican Mafia).
French actor Alain Delon was very close to the milieu. He has been doing gangster films almost all of his life.
Last edited by Hollander; 04/15/21 04:36 PM.
"The king is dead, long live the king!"
|
|
|
|