1.
Joe Mantegna
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Joseph Anthony Joe Mantegna, Jr. is an American actor, producer, writer, director, and voice actor. Mantegna began his career on the stage in 1969 with the musical Hair, expanding to film and television, Mantegna is best known for his roles in box office hits including Three Amigos, The Godfather Part III, Forget Paris and Up Close & Personal. As of the 2015–2016 TV season, he stars in the CBS television series Criminal Minds as FBI Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi. Since the 1991 episode Bart the Murderer, Mantegna has had a role on the animated series The Simpsons as mob boss Fat Tony. Mantegna has starred in the series First Monday and Joan of Arcadia and he earned Emmy Award nominations for his roles in three different miniseries, The Last Don, The Rat Pack, and The Starter Wife. He has also served as producer for various movies and television movies, including Corduroy, Hoods. Parkers fictional detective Spenser in three movies between 1999 and 2001, and has narrated several audiobook readings of the Spenser novels. An avid firearm enthusiast, he is the host of MidwayUSAs Gun Stories on the cable television Outdoor Channel and his daughter Gia Mantegna is also an actor. Mantegna was raised Catholic and attended J. Sterling Morton High School East in Cicero and he studied acting at the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul University from 1967 to 1969. While still a man in Chicago, he played bass in a band called The Apocryphals, which later played with another local group, The Missing Links. Mantegna is still close to the original members of Chicago. Mantegna made his debut in the 1969 stage production of Hair. He co-wrote Bleacher Bums, a play which was first performed at Chicagos Organic Theater Company. In the movie Xanadu, he had a role which was cut, although since his name is in the films credits. Mantegna won a Tony award for his portrayal of Richard Roma in David Mamets play Glengarry Glen Ross and he has had a long and successful association with Mamet, appearing in a number of his works. Mantegna made his film debut in Medusa Challenger. He played womanizing dentist Bruce Fleckstein in Compromising Positions and he starred in an episode of The Twilight Zone in 1985 called Shelter Skelter. His other early roles were supporting performances in The Money Pit, Weeds
2.
The Godfather Part III
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The Godfather Part III is a 1990 American crime film written by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Coppola. A sequel to The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, it completes the story of Michael Corleone, a Mafia kingpin who attempts to legitimize his criminal empire. The film also includes fictionalized accounts of two events, the 1978 death of Pope John Paul I and the Papal banking scandal of 1981–82. The film stars Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and Andy García, and features Eli Wallach, Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton, Bridget Fonda, Coppola and Puzo preferred the title, The Death of Michael Corleone, but Paramount Pictures found that unacceptable. Coppola subsequently stated that The Godfather series is two films and that Part III is the epilogue, Part III received mixed reviews compared to the critical acclaim that the first two films received. It grossed $136,766,062 and was nominated for seven Academy Awards including the Academy Award for Best Picture, in 1979, as Michael Corleone is approaching 60, he regrets his ruthless rise to power and is especially guilt-ridden for having his brother Fredo murdered. He has semi-retired from the Mafia, leaving management of the business to Joey Zasa. Michael uses his tremendous wealth and power in an attempt to rehabilitate his reputation via numerous charitable acts, Michael and Kay are divorced, their children, Anthony and Mary, live with Kay. At a ceremony in St. Patricks Old Cathedral, Michael is named a Commander of the Order of Saint Sebastian, at the reception, Anthony tells his father that he is leaving law school to become an opera singer. Kay supports his decision, but Michael asks Anthony to complete his law degree, Anthony refuses to adhere to his fathers wishes. Michael and Kay have a reunion, in which Kay reveals that she. Vincent Mancini, Sonny Corleones illegitimate son with Lucy Mancini, arrives at the reception and he is embroiled in a feud with Zasa, who has involved the Corleone family in drug trafficking and turned Little Italy into a slum. Michaels sister, Connie, arranges a meeting between Vincent and Zasa, when Zasa calls Vincent a bastard, Vincent bites Zasas ear. Vincent overpowers two hitmen sent to him and learns that Zasa was responsible. Michael, troubled by Vincents fiery temper but impressed by his family loyalty and he makes a tender offer to buy the Vaticans 25% share in the company, which will give him controlling interest. Immobiliares board quickly approve the offer, pending ratification by the Pope, Don Altobello, an elderly New York Mafia boss and Connies godfather, visits Michael, telling him that his old partners on the Commission want in on the Immobiliare deal. Michael wants the deal untainted by Mafia involvement and pays off the mob bosses from the sale of his Las Vegas holdings, Zasa receives nothing and, declaring Michael his enemy, storms out. Altobello follows Zasa, saying he will reason with him, minutes later, a helicopter hovers outside the conference room and opens fire
3.
Mario Puzo
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Mario Gianluigi Puzo was an American author, screenwriter and journalist of Italian descent. He is known for his novels about the Mafia, most notably The Godfather. He received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the first film in 1972, Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for the 1978 Superman film. His last novel, The Family, was released posthumously in 2001, Puzo was born in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of New York City, into a poor family from Pietradefusi, Province of Avellino, Campania, Italy. Many of his books draw heavily on this heritage, after graduating from the City College of New York, he joined the United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Due to his eyesight, the military did not let him undertake combat duties. In 1950, his first short story, The Last Christmas, was published in American Vanguard, after the war, he wrote his first book, The Dark Arena, which was published in 1955. At periods in the 1950s and early 1960s, Puzo worked as a writer/editor for publisher Martin Goodmans Magazine Management Company. Puzo, along other writers like Bruce Jay Friedman, worked for the company line of mens magazines, pulp titles like Male, True Action. Under the pseudonym Mario Cleri, Puzo wrote World War II adventure features for True Action. Puzos most famous work, The Godfather, was encouraged by a suggestion of the publisher of his The Fortunate Pilgrim who thought that if there was more mafia that it would have more successful. A story outline was prepared and presented to the publisher, who rejected it, after several publishers were approached, Putnam editors met with him without having read the outline. He told them a few stories and the project was approved, with the advance, he got on with the project. He had heard anecdotes about Mafia organizations during his time in pulp journalism and he was looking to write something that would appeal to the masses. He found his audience with the novel, a bestseller for months on the New York Times Best Seller List. The book was developed into the film The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The movie received 3 awards of the 11 Academy Award category nominations, Coppola and Puzo then collaborated on sequels to the original film, The Godfather Part II and The Godfather Part III. Puzo wrote the first draft of the script for the 1974 disaster film Earthquake, Puzo also wrote the original screenplay for Richard Donners Superman which, at the time, also included the plot for Superman II, as they were originally written as one film
4.
Francis Ford Coppola
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Francis Ford Coppola, also credited as Francis Coppola, is a semi-retired American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered to have been a figure of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking. After directing The Rain People, he co-wrote the 1970 film Patton and he followed with The Godfather Part II in 1974, which became the first sequel to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Conversation, which he directed, produced and wrote, was released same year. He next directed 1979s Apocalypse Now, while notorious for its lengthy and strenuous production, the film was widely acclaimed for its vivid and stark depiction of the Vietnam War, winning the Palme dOr at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. Coppola is one of only eight filmmakers to win two Palme dOr awards, while a number of Coppolas ventures in the 1980s and 1990s were critically lauded, he has never quite achieved the same commercial success with films as in the 1970s. His most well-known films released since the start of the 1980s are the dramas The Outsiders and Rumble Fish, the crime-drama The Cotton Club, and his movies The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and Apocalypse Now are often ranked among the greatest films of all time. Coppola was born in Detroit, Michigan, to father Carmine Coppola, a flautist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Coppola is the second of three children, his older brother was August Coppola, his younger sister is actress Talia Shire. Born into a family of Italian immigrant ancestry, his grandparents came to the United States from Bernalda. His maternal grandfather, popular Italian composer Francesco Pennino, immigrated from Naples, Coppola received his middle name in honor of Henry Ford, not only because he was born in the Henry Ford Hospital but also because of his musician-fathers association with the automobile manufacturer. Contracting polio as a boy, Coppola was bedridden for periods of his childhood. Reading A Streetcar Named Desire at age 15 was instrumental in developing his interest in theater, eager to be involved in film-craft, he created 8mm features edited from home movies with such titles as The Rich Millionaire and The Lost Wallet. As a child, Coppola was a student, but he was so interested in technology. Trained initially for a career in music, he became proficient on the tuba, overall, Coppola attended 23 other schools before he eventually graduated from the Great Neck North High School. He entered Hofstra College in 1955 with a major in theater arts, there he was awarded a scholarship in playwriting. This furthered his interest in directing theater despite the disapproval of his father, Coppola was profoundly impressed after seeing Sergei Eisensteins October, Ten Days That Shook the World, especially with the movies quality of editing. It was at this time Coppola decided he would go into cinema rather than theater, Coppola also gives credit to the work of Elia Kazan and for its influence on him as a director. Amongst Coppolas classmates at Hofstra were James Caan, Lainie Kazan and he later cast Lainie Kazan in One from the Heart and Caan in The Rain People and The Godfather
5.
Gangster
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A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime, gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster. Gangs provide a level of organization and resources that support much larger, gangsters have been active for many years in countries around the world. Some gangsters, such as Al Capone have become infamous, gangsters are the subject of many novels and films, particularly from the period between 1920 and 1990. Some contemporary criminals refer to themselves as gangsta in reference to non-rhotic Black American pronunciation, in todays usage, the term gang is generally used for a criminal organization, and the term gangster invariably describes a criminal. Much has been written on the subject of gangs, although there is no consensus about what constitutes a gang or what situations lead to gang formation and evolution. For example, the view that illegal drug distribution in the United States is largely controlled by gangs has been questioned. A gang may be a small group of people who cooperate in criminal acts, as with the Jesse James gang. But a gang may be a group with a formal organization that survives the death of its leader. The Chicago Outfit created by Al Capone outlasted its founders imprisonment and death, the term organized crime is associated with gangs and gangsters, but is not synonymous. A small street gang that engages in sporadic low-level crime would not be seen as organized, an organization that coordinates gangs in different countries involved in the international trade in drugs or prostitutes may not be considered a gang. The Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra is a syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is an association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure. The origins lie in the upheaval of Sicilys transition out of feudalism in 1812, under feudalism, the nobility owned most of the land and enforced law and order through their private armies. After 1812, the feudal barons steadily sold off or rented their lands to private citizens, primogeniture was abolished, land could no longer be seized to settle debts, and one fifth of the land was to become private property of the peasants. Organized crime has existed in Russia since the days of Imperial Russia in the form of banditry and thievery, in the Soviet period Vory v Zakone emerged, a class of criminals that had to abide by certain rules in the prison system. One such rule was that cooperation with the authorities of any kind was forbidden, in 1988 the Soviet Union legalized private enterprise but did not provide regulations to ensure the security of market economy. Crude markets emerged, the most notorious being the Rizhsky market where prostitution rings were run next to the Rizhsky Railway Station in Moscow, as the Soviet Union headed for collapse many former government workers turned to crime, while others moved overseas
6.
American Mafia
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The American Mafia, also referred to as the Italian Mafia or the Italian-American Mafia, is a highly organized Italian-American criminal society. The organization is referred to by members as Cosa Nostra or La Cosa Nostra. The Mafia in the United States emerged in impoverished Italian immigrant neighborhoods in New Yorks East Harlem, Lower East Side and it has its roots in the Sicilian Mafia but is a separate organization in the United States. Today, the American Mafia cooperates in various activities with Italian organized crime groups, such as the Sicilian Mafia, Camorra in Naples. The most important unit of the American Mafia is that of a family, despite the name of family to describe the various units, they are not familial groupings. The Mafia is currently most active in the Northeastern U. S. especially in New York City, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and New England while also being active in Chicago and Florida. At the Mafias peak, there were at least 26 cities around the United States with Cosa Nostra families, with many more offshoots and associates in other cities. There are five main New York City Mafia families, known as the Five Families, the Gambino, Lucchese, Genovese, Bonanno, at its peak, the Mafia dominated organized crime in the U. S. Each crime family has its own territory and operates independently, while nationwide coordination is overseen by the Commission, the term Mafia was originally used in Italy by the media and law enforcement to describe criminal groups in Sicily. The origins of the term are debatable though most agree the term is derived from the word Maafir a term rooted in Arabic, like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia did not use the term Mafia to describe itself. Neither group has a name and instead used the term cosa nostra when referring to themselves. Mafia properly refers to either the Sicilian or Italian-American Mafia, kennedys political team, referred to as the Irish Mafia. The press also coined the name National Crime Syndicate to refer to the network of U. S. organized crime, which includes the Jewish Mafia elements. The first published account of what became the Mafia in the United States dates to the spring of 1869, emigration from southern Italy to the Americas was primarily to Brazil and Argentina, and New Orleans had a heavy volume of port traffic to and from both locales. The Black Hand was a given to an extortion method used in Italian neighborhoods at the turn of the 20th century. It has been mistaken for the Mafia itself, which it is not. The Black Hand was a society, but there were many small Black Hand gangs. Black Hand extortion was often viewed as the activity of a single organization because Black Hand criminals in Italian communities throughout the United States used the methods of extortion
7.
Joseph Colombo
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Joseph Anthony Joe Colombo, Sr. was the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of the Five Families of the Cosa Nostra in New York. Joseph Colombo, Sr. was born into an Italian American family and his father, Anthony Colombo, was an early member of the Profaci crime family, forerunner of the Colombo family. In 1938, he was strangled in a car with his mistress. Joe Colombo attended New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn for two years, then dropped out to join the U. S. Coast Guard, in 1945, he was diagnosed with neurosis and discharged from the service. His legitimate jobs included ten years as a longshoreman and six years as a salesman for a meat company and his final job was that of a real estate salesman. Colombo owned a modest home in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn and an estate in Blooming Grove. His five children include sons Christopher Colombo, Joseph Colombo Jr. Colombo followed his father into the Profaci family. He became one of the familys top enforcers, and soon became a capo, in 1961, Joe Gallo and his crew kidnapped Colombo and other members of the Profaci leadership. Gallo was demanding a more equitable split of income from Profaci, after several weeks of negotiation, Profaci and the Gallo brothers reached a deal. Colombo and the hostages were released. Later in 1961, Profaci reneged on the deal and the First Colombo War started, on June 6,1962, Profaci died and Joseph Magliocco succeeded him as boss. Magliocco was soon drawn into a plot with Bonanno crime family boss Joseph Bonanno to murder Lucchese crime family boss Tommy Lucchese and Gambino crime family boss, Carlo Gambino. Magliocco wanted to retaliate against the two bosses for their support of the Gallos, and supported Bonannos bid to take over Mafia Commission, Magliocco gave the contract to Colombo, who promptly revealed the plot to Lucchese and Gambino. The Commission forced Magliocco to retire and named Colombo as the new boss, at the age of 41, Colombo was one of the youngest crime bosses in the country. He was also the first American-born boss of a New York crime family, unlike his fellow bosses, he wasnt shy about confronting law enforcement. For instance, when he was called in for questioning about the murder of one of his soldiers, Colombo appeared without a lawyer and dressed down the detective who called him in, I am an American citizen, first class, he snapped. I dont have a badge that makes me a good guy like you. On May 9,1966, Colombo was sentenced to 30 days in jail for refusing to answer questions from a jury about his financial affairs
8.
John Gotti
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John Joseph Gotti Jr. was an Italian-American gangster who became boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. Gotti and his brothers grew up in poverty and turned to a life of crime at an early age, the FBI indicted members of Gottis crew for selling narcotics, and Gotti took advantage of growing dissent over the leadership of the crime family. Gotti was one of the most powerful and dangerous crime bosses in America, during his era he became widely known for his outspoken personality and flamboyant style, which gained him favor with much of the general public. His peers avoided attracting attention, especially from the media, but Gotti became known as The Dapper Don for his expensive clothes, law enforcement authorities continued gathering evidence against Gotti that helped lead to his downfall. Gottis underboss Salvatore Sammy the Bull Gravano is credited with the FBIs success in finally convicting Gotti, in 1992, Gotti was convicted of five murders, conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, extortion, tax evasion, and loansharking. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and was transferred to United States Penitentiary, Gotti died of throat cancer on June 10,2002, at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. According to former Lucchese crime family boss Anthony Gaspipe Casso, What John Gotti did was the beginning of the end of Cosa Nostra, John Gotti was born in the Bronx, New York on October 27,1940. While his parents were born in the US, his ancestors came from San Giuseppe Vesuviano, in the province of Naples. He was the fifth of the thirteen children of John Joseph Gotti, Sr. the fifth, Vincent, was initiated in 2002. His father worked irregularly as a day laborer and indulged in gambling, as an adult, John Gotti came to resent his father for being unable to provide for his family. In school, Gotti had a history of truancy and bullying other students, Gotti was involved in street gangs associated with New York City mafiosi from the age of 12. When he was 14, he was attempting to steal a cement mixer from a site when it fell, crushing his toes. Gotti met his future wife Victoria DiGiorgio, a Russian-Jew in 1958, the couple were married on March 6,1962. They had four children, daughter and three sons, Gotti attempted to work legitimately in 1962 as a presser in a coat factory and as an assistant truck driver. However, he could not stay crime-free and, by 1966, had been jailed twice, as early as his teens, Gotti was running errands for Cositakins Carmine Fatico, a capo in the Anastasia crime family which became the Gambino family following the murder of boss Albert Anastasia. Gotti carried out truck hijackings at Idlewild Airport together with his brother Gene, during this time, Gotti befriended fellow mob hijacker and future Bonanno family boss Joseph Massino, and he was given the nicknames Black John and Crazy Horse. It was around this time that Gotti met his mentor and Gambino underboss Aniello Neil Dellacroce, Dellacroce regaled Gotti with tales of past Mafia glories under Albert Anastasia, leading Gotti to adopt Anastasia as his role model. In February 1968, United Airlines employees identified Gotti as the man who had signed for stolen merchandise, the FBI arrested him for the United hijacking soon after
9.
Caporegime
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Caporegime is an Italian word, which is used to signify the head of a family in Sicily, but has now come to mean a ranking member, similar to captain or senior sergeant in a military unit. In general, the indicates the head of a branch of an organized crime syndicate who commands a crew of soldiers. The Mafia, particularly the American Mafia, is divided into distinct. Individual crew members report to the capo, the crew collects protection and other money for the capo, who at regular intervals gives a share of the collected money to the underboss and/or the boss. Estimates of average income of a capo varies and is difficult to quantify, income is dependent on the success and size of a capos crew and the state of the economy at the time. Mafia crews are usually independent from other, with members typically operating strictly within their own crew. Asking Mafia members how many crews and how individuals are in a family is prohibited because of the Mafias oath of secrecy. Sometimes a crew might specialize in areas like gambling, while other crews might be more involved in legitimate interests like construction. A crew might also operate in certain geographical areas, the number of caporegimes/crews depends on the size of a family. The Gambino crime family has had more than 20 capos whereas the St. Louis crime family has had fewer, in the Mafia, when a boss makes a decision, he passes instructions down through the chain of command. Whenever he issues orders, in most cases he gives them to the capo, in some cases, he gives orders to the consigliere, who in turn passes them to the capo. In either case, it is the capo who passes them to the soldiers in his crew, for years, this made it extremely difficult to indict a boss for illegal acts, since the soldiers almost never receive orders directly from him. A caporegime acts as a buffer between the soldiers and the boss, effectively, a caporegime operates his own small family within the framework of a larger family. Each capo is in charge of a mini-gang or a crew of soldiers and these men may or may not be based in close proximity. For example, Bonanno crime family capo Joey Gambino had crew members spread throughout New Yorks five boroughs, capos have varying degrees of power. Some are relatives or close friends of the boss, which gives them more influence, a capo with an active crew that generates a lot of profits is always respected. For example, when he was a capo, John Gotti was widely respected and tolerated due to the profits his crew generated for the Gambino crime family, despite their various blunders and mistakes, they successfully avoided getting killed by their superiors and were tolerated due to this fact. On the other hand, capo Joe Sferra of the DeCavalcante crime family was demoted to soldier, in 1984, a more severe loss of power occurred to Salvatore Salvie Testa, a once rising Philadelphia crime family capo
