There are, by the organization’s current count, some 160,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild, many of whom are booking gigs on the regular. To be fair, very few of these performers are genuine 1970s cinema icons, not to mention the brand-name embodiment of a whole genre. Robert De Niro …
Read More »'The Sopranos' Turns 25: How David Chase's Series Changed the TV Rules
In the most important scene of the first season of The Sopranos — arguably the most important scene of television of the last 25 years, if not much longer — Mob boss Tony Soprano stalks and murders Febby Petrulio, a former wiseguy who testified against friends of Tony’s and then …
Read More »Gambino Crime Family Targeted in Massive Indictment on Mob-Related Charges
Ten alleged members of the Gambino crime family were arrested in New York on an array of mob-related charges as part of an international round-up that also involved arrests in Italy. On Wednesday, Nov. 8, prosecutors unveiled a 16-count indictment against the 10 U.S. defendants, accusing them of “racketeering conspiracy, …
Read More »How the FBI Nailed the Donald Trump of Mobsters
Everyone likes to tell war stories, including cops and definitely gangsters. Such tales provide the fuel for Get Gotti, Netflix’s new three-part docuseries that tries to breathe fresh life into a story that ended well before there was even such a thing as Netflix. Fast and slick, well-sourced and cogently …
Read More »'The Equalizer 3' Reminds You Why Denzel Washington Is a National Treasure
Nobody can threaten someone quietly better than Denzel Washington. Oh, our man can pump up the volume when he needs to, in terms of letting people know he’s bringing the pain — our ears are still ringing from his “King Kong ain’t got shit on me!” taunt from Training Day. …
Read More »Toni Collette: 'Mafia Mamma' Is 'a Highlight of My Career'
Watching Mafia Mamma, a slapstick farce about a middle-aged American woman who abruptly inherits an Italian mob empire, you can imagine its star, Toni Collette, in an episode of The Sopranos. She’s got Carmela‘s icy-blonde look and, by the end of the movie, commands a room like Tony. But here, …
Read More »Ex-Mobsters Can't Escape Their Criminal History — So They Promote It on YouTube
Sammy Gravano is reflecting on the old days. “I grab him in a bear hug, the [van] door comes flying open, guys come running out,” he says, sitting back in a leather armchair, his voice gravelly. But Gravano isn’t reminiscing about some rough-and-tumble prank from his youth; he’s recounting the …
Read More »The Last Confessions of Italy's Most Infamous Mafia Murderess
“The mafia is a world based on deception and lies. I continued to live in the lie because I was forced into a double identity anda life in a secret location. Today even the smallest lie weighs on me.” —Piera Aiell Pupetta Maresca — murderess, mafiosa, diva, film-star wannabe — …
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