From The Mob To The Movies

The veteran character actor recounts the epic adventure of his life from the NYC mob and prison life to making movies with Hollywood legends. You might know him as the character Tony Darvo in the movie Midnight Run, but before he played tough guys in the movies, Richie Salerno was born into the real-world Brooklyn Mafia. Some of New York’s most notorious gangsters were his uncles, aunts, cousins, and family friends. For a time, it looked like he was heading for a life in the family business. During a stint in prison for theft, Richie managed to turn his life around. Using the tailoring skills he learned from his father and butchering abilities he picked up from his father-in-law, he ingratiated himself with the warden and guards, and survived his 120 month sentence without a scratch. After his release, he scored an audition for the Sidney Lumet film Serpico starring Al Pacino. That audition turned into a long career as a character actor in major Hollywood films. In From the Mob to the Movies, Richie recounts his journey from the mean streets of Brooklyn and as a child of the mob to the silver screen.

The gangster movie is one of the most popular genres in film. From the Italian, Irish, and Russian "families" in America to similarly sinister groups in Europe, Japan, and beyond, the cinema has never shied away from portraying the evil exploits of these brutal outfits. In this highly entertaining and informative book, two accomplished and apropos authors put the genre in perspective like no other author or documentarian has done before. The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies provides extensive reviews of the Top 100 gangster films of all time, including sidebars like "Reality Check," "Hit and Miss," "I Know That Guy," "Body Count," and other fun and informative features. Also included are over a dozen stand-alone chapters such as Sleeper "Hits," "Fugazi" Flops, Guilty Pleasures, Lost Treasures, Q&A Interviews with top actors and directors (including Chazz Palinteri, Michael Madsen, Joe Mantagna, and more), plus over 50 compelling photographs. Foreword by Joe Pistone, the FBI agent and mob infiltrator who wrote the bestselling book and acclaimed movie, Donnie Brasco.

Hollywood Godfather is Gianni Russo's over-the-top memoir of a real-life mobster-turned-actor who helped make The Godfather a reality, and his story of life on the edge between danger and glamour. Gianni Russo was a handsome 25-year-old mobster with no acting experience when he walked onto the set of The Godfather and entered Hollywood history. He played Carlo Rizzi, the husband of Connie Corleone, who set her brother Sonny—played by James Caan—up for a hit. Russo didn't have to act—he knew the mob inside and out: from his childhood in Little Italy, where Mafia legend Frank Costello took him under his wing, to acting as a messenger for New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello during the Kennedy assassination, to having to go on the lam after shooting and killing a member of the Colombian drug cartel in his Vegas club. Along the way, Russo befriended Frank Sinatra, who became his son's godfather, and Marlon Brando, who mentored his career as an actor after trying to get Francis Ford Coppola to fire him from The Godfather. Russo had passionate affairs with Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minelli, and scores of other celebrities. He went on to become a producer and starred in The Godfather: Parts I and II, Seabiscuit, Any Given Sunday and Rush Hour 2, among many other films. Hollywood Godfather is a no-holds-barred account of a life filled with violence, glamour, sex—and fun.

From its earliest days, the Mafia has sought to make a fast buck from the American film industry. Stories of intimidation, threats and violence mingle with those of glamour and excess. In this stunning story of infamy and ballsy enterprise, Tim Adler tells the secret history of Al Capone, Sam Giancana and John Gotti's attempts to infiltrate the studio lots. However, although they have controlled the moguls and the money, the Mob learned how to be cool from classic films like The Godfather and characters like Tony Soprano, leaving them forever intertwined in both fact and fiction.

The public knows him as the character Tony Darvo in the movie Midnight Run, but Richie Salerno was born into the world of the Brooklyn Mafia during the heyday of the New York mob and for a time it looked like he'd get caught up in a life of crime. During a stint in prison for theft, Richie turned his life around and landed in Hollywood.

A bipolar gangster, a naive young film director, and Batman--what could go wrong? Alex Ferrari is a first-time film director who just got hired to direct a $20 million feature film. The only problem is that the film is about Jimmy, an egomaniacal gangster who wants the film to be about his life in the mob. From the backwater towns of Louisiana to the Hollywood Hills, Alex is taken on a crazy misadventure through the world of the mafia and Hollywood. Huge movie stars, billion-dollar producers, studio heads, and, of course, a few gangsters populate this unbelievable journey down the rabbit hole of chasing one's dream. Would you sell your soul to the devil to make your dream come true? By the way, did I mention that this story is based on true events? No, seriously it is.

Vince Luca is just like any other high school guy. His best friend, Alex, is trying to score vicariously through him; his brother is a giant pain; and his father keeps bugging him to get motivated. There is just one thing that really sets him apart for other kids—his father happens to be the head of a powerful crime organization. Needless to say, while Vince''s family''s connections can be handy for certain things (like when teachers are afraid to give him a bad grade), they can put a serious crimp in his dating life. How is he supposed to explain to a girl what his father does for a living? But when Vince meets a girl who finally seems to be worth the trouble, her family turns out to be the biggest problem of all. Because her father is an FBI agent—the one who wants to put his father away for good.

At a time when New York City's booming waterfront industry was ruled by lawless criminals, one gangster towered above the rest and secretly controlled the docks for over thirty years. Dock Boss explores the rise of Eddie McGrath from a Depression Era thug to the preeminent racketeer on Manhattan's lucrative waterfront. McGrath's life takes readers on a journey through the tail-end of Prohibition, the sordid years of violent gang rule on the bustling waterfront, and finally the decline of the dock mobsters following a period of longshoremen rebellion in the 1950s.