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Now for a little comic relief. Over the weekend while trapped in my home from the snow here in Arkansas I read a wonderful book by Dean Martin's late son Ricci. It was great and showed a side of Dean most don't even know about. From from being the party guy he was the exact opposite. He would rather be home with his family and left alone than anything else, he was basically a recluse when he wasn't working. Anyway his son made mention of the TV show I don't remember called "Half Nelson", starring Joe Pesci. It didn't last...

The most valuable lessons of 'Home Alone' require a little living first. The film offers much more than just Kevin McCallister vs. The Wet Bandits.Finally, after putting in our time, we were released to the basement. Through what little childhood patience we possessed, me, my sister, and my cousins had satisfied The Rule in force at every family gathering at Grandma and Grandpa Lawson’s house: Before you can leave the table after dinner, you first have to sit quietly for at least 15 minutes or talk about “boring” things with the adults. That was The Rule — for all we...

Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, and Joe Pesci reunite in new set photos captured during the shooting of The Irishman. Based on a book by Charles Brandt, The Irishman traces the life of real-life reputed mob hitman Frank Sheeran (De Niro), who among other things claimed to have been involved in the 1975 disappearance of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, a mystery that to this day remains unsolved (despite outrageous claims like his body being buried under the old Giants Stadium). Al Pacino is set to make his Scorsese debut playing Hoffa. The Irishman marks Martin Scorsese’s return to gangster film...

It was time for Tommy ­DeSimone to die.The mobster — famously portrayed by Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas" — killed two made men, tried to rape the wife of his gangster pal Henry Hill and stupidly lifted his ski mask during 1978’s historic $6 million Lufthansa heist.So John Gotti took care of it — personally.The handsome capo used a silencer-equipped Colt .38 to shoot DeSimone three times in the skull in January 1979 in the basement of an Italian restaurant on Arthur Avenue in The Bronx, says an upcoming book, “The Lufthansa Heist,” written by Hill and journalist Daniel Simone.It’s the...

Helen Mirren Poses Topless For Magazine Dame Helen Mirren has posed topless in the bath for her most risqué photoshoot to date. Anita Singh 21 Jun 2010 The actress described herself as "the good girl who wants to be a bad girl" Photo: MAX CISOTTI The 64-year-old actress, who won an Oscar for The Queen, took part in the Juergen Teller shoot to publicise her latest role as a brothel madam in Love Ranch. "I'm still the good girl who wants to be a bad girl," she said in the accompanying interview for New York magazine. Why shouldn't women try...

CHICAGO - Do you believe "The Clown" or an admitted hit man? Jurors will have to decide when they begin deliberations Tuesday in Chicago's biggest mob trial in years. They got the case Thursday night after prosecutors made a last pitch to sway them to believe the testimony of their star witness, admitted hit man Nicholas Calabrese. Defense lawyers have pegged Calabrese as "a walking piece of deception" whose testimony shouldn't be believed, even suggesting that if Calabrese says it's raining, someone ought to go outside to check. But prosecutors say it's the five men on trial who can't be...

CHICAGO - It didn't take Chicago mobster Tony "The Ant" Spilotro long to realize his time was up. "Time to say a prayer," government witness Nicholas Calabrese quoted Spilotro as saying moments before his fellow mobsters beat and strangled him in a suburban Bensenville basement on a June afternoon 21 years ago. An eyewitness account of the mob hit that helped inspire the movie "Casino" emerged Wednesday as Calabrese returned to the stand at the trial of his brother Frank and four other alleged members of the Chicago Outfit. Spilotro was the model for the Joe Pesci character in the...

STROUDSBURG, Pa. (AP) - "Goodfellas" actor Paul Sorvino pulled a gun on his daughter's ex-boyfriend after the man pounded on her hotel door and made threats, the daughter testified Tuesday. "He got in my father's face and said, 'Go ahead, Paul, shoot, I ain't done nothing wrong,'" Amanda Sorvino, 36, told a Monroe County judge. The judge granted her request for a protection-from-abuse order against Daniel Snee, 21. Amanda Sorvino testified Snee threatened to kill her at a hotel Jan. 3 in Stowe, Vt.; she said she locked herself in the bathroom and called both police and her father. Her...

BOCA RATON, Fla. - Oscar-winning actor Joe Pesci will not be charged for allegedly punching a fan who photographed him in a shopping center parking lot, officials said Wednesday. The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office will not file charges against the "Goodfellas" star because there was no likelihood of conviction, said to Assistant State Attorney Jill Estey Richstone. "The investigating officer was unable to determine who the primary aggressor was and there are no independent witnesses to the incident," Richstone wrote in response to a Boca Raton police warrant request. Broward Community College student Juan Carlos Montenegro, 24, told...

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