Posted on 03/03/2019 1:19:16 PM PST by DeathBeforeDishonor1
Long before the murder, the girls and a role in “The Godfather,” Gianni Russo was a 13-year-old with a bum arm. Freshly sprung from Bellevue’s polio ward, he ditched his neglectful parents to sleep on flour sacks in the back of a Little Italy bakery and sell pens in front of the Waldorf-Astoria.
It was 1956 and one of his regular customers was mob boss Frank Costello. The don would throw Russo a fiver and rub the boy’s withered shoulder for luck.
After a few months of that, Russo objected to being touched. Costello respected the kid’s gumption — and was even more impressed when he found out that Gianni’s great-uncle was Angelo Russo, a Sicilian kingpin who had been hanged by the Italian government in 1947 after having played a role in establishing New York’s five crime families.
He was 16, Russo said, when he struck up an affair with the actress, then 33. Costello had asked him to keep an eye on her for the mob, which stashed its favorite moll in New York City while settling an issue she had with producer Darryl Zanuck on the West Coast. Monroe and Russo saw one another, on and off, for four years.
He claims to know how she really died. Russo showed The Post a photo of himself and the actress in 1962, at the CalNeva Lodge, a resort on the California-Nevada border. “It was taken three days before she was found dead in Los Angeles of what coroners deemed to be a drug overdose,” Russo said. The man behind the camera: Chicago crime boss Sam Giancana.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Yuk. I knew there was some reason I don’t watch SNL anymore.
Wow this is funny, what a coincidence. I never read the Godfather book before so I picked it up and started reading it last week not realizing it was the 50th anniversary of it. I always thought it was written in the early 1970s but actually it was written in the 1960s and published 1969. What a great book. What stuck me was how close to Sinatras life he wrote the part of Johnny Fontaine. No wonder Sinatra wanted to kick his ass. That whole story of the mob threatening Harry James to let Sinatra out of his contract, same thing went on in the book with Fontaine. And then like Sinatra begging for the part of Maggio in From here to eternity, oops Fontaine goes through the same thing as well. Puzo had to do that on purpose. He even describes Fontaine as being divorced from his high school sweetheart like Sinatra and he’s dating the hottest actress in town like Sinatra.
part of Sinatra’s payback was doing concerts at regional theatres and giving the mafia some of the gate off the top
forgot what book that was in. Backstage at Vegas or one of the concerts I mentioned.
Nembutal
That's pretty old, I'd never seen it (because, like you, I don't watch SNL, nor have I in over a decade) but a related one showed up in the related vids on YouTube last night, and they were all funny.
by Donald Spoto
Kindle edition
Gianni Russo Claims Affair With Marilyn
Gianni Russo Claims Affair With Marilyn
It’s nothing personal Gianni... It’s Strictly Business.
Bty, Who had Frankie Pentangeli killed ??
Who gave the order ???
When Marlon Brando found out Gianni Russo was hired as an actor in The Godfather, Brando complained to Francis Ford Coppola and others. He had no real acting chops, and Brando objected.
Russo confronted Brando, and told him he and his mafia buddies would break Brando's legs.
Brando thought he was acting. Brando went back to Coppola, and told him his initial reaction was wrong. This guy Russo was an amazing actor.
Dude, the Corleones are disgusting criminals, not glamorized. You sound like your ponytail is too tight.
Roth:"The... Rosato Brothers."
Roth, later,: "When Moe Greene died, I wasn't angry, I knew Moe was a hothead. I didn't ask who gave the order, I let it go. Because it had *nothing to do with business*."
It was a man, baby.
Sorry - been a long time since I saw that episode - but I know Bates did it!!......
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