The movies that were brought to you by the Mob
The mafia’s behind the scenes role in Hollywood went beyond theft and extortion. They formed close connections with Hollywood elites who they supplied with everything they desired, which was often drugs, alcohol or prostitutes. As lucrative as that was the mob wanted more, so they also got into film production.
Initially they used their connections and influence to shape the storylines of movies. At the time gangster films were all the rave so in many ways they were subject matter experts, but they weren’t particular honest about themselves. The mob was particularly taken with Marlon Brando’s portrayal of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather as well as his performance as Carmine Sabatini in The Freshman. Numerous gangsters wanted to hang out with Marlon, who found the most careful way he could to say ‘no thanks’.
But long before they met Marlon, the Mob was keen to create their own kind of cinema. In the 1920s Al Capone sent one of his minions, “Handsome Johnny” Rosselli, to Hollywood to form relationships with key players in Hollywood and to develop “business opportunities”.
He began by catering to the high demand for alcohol with his looks getting him work as an "actor by day, and Capone keeping him busy as bootlegger by night." Rosselli, aka “Johnny Hollywood” eventually went to prison and after he got out in 1941, he returned to Hollywood to co-produce Canon City, which rather appropriately was about Twelve inmates planning a prison break.
Just like it was in so many Gangster movies, Rosselli’s life of crime eventually caught up with him and in 1976 Johnny’s dismembered body was found floating in an oil drum in the Atlantic ocean. The Hays Office would have been happy.
Bollywood also had its ties to gangsters. The original don of Mumbai, Haji Mastan, funded films starring his mistress Sona Mastan Mirza, hoping to give her career a boost. She was active in Bollywood films during the 70s and 80s but is best remembered as Mastan’s mistress.
It’s no surprise that where there wasn’t a personal connection to a project, the kind of films that caught the Mafia’s attention were either about them, or had a healthy dose of onscreen violence. While they were subject matter experts on what goes on within crime syndicates, they were never likely to allow content that would incriminate them and they were unlikely to see themselves as anyone other than the hero of the story.
The first place they left their mark on was Scarface, a film that was adapted from the 1929 novel by Armitage Trail. A story widely believed to be based on Al Capone and his activities. Capone sent a few of his ‘associates’ to Hollywood to ‘convince’ producers to avoid offensive or cheap depictions of either him or the mafia more broadly.
Screenwriter Ben Hecht met with Capone's men and they influenced, among other things, the naming of the film. Using Capone’s nickname, Hecht was told would persuade people to attend viewings. Whether or not Hecht was convinced, they stuck with the title and the film was very successful, though the two may not be related.
Louis Peraino, of the Colombo crime family, founded the Bryanston Distributing Company in 1972 which first gained notoriety distributing the porn film Deep Throat, which made $50 million off a $22,000 budget. Their next big deal was distributing The Texas Chainsaw Massacre when no one else would touch it. After meeting with Production Manager Ron Bozman and Texas Film Commissioner Warren Skaaren and offering them $225,000 each, and 35% of the profits the film got a wide release.
No one really knows how much Peraino pocketed (they were probably too afraid to ask) but once the main investors were paid back, the remaining money was split between 20 cast and crew members who received roughly $405 each. They tried to sue Peraino but his Bryanston Distributing Company folded in 1976 following a major legal battle over distributing obscenity (Deep Throat) across state lines, with Peraino fined $10,000 and thrown in jail for a year.
Francis Ford Coppola’s film was expected to do well at the box office, which would have interested the Mob. But of equal or greater interest was the story which centred on the character of Michael "Dixie" Dwyer (Richard Gere), a musician who colluded with the mob to advance his career.
The film was critically acclaimed on its release, but debuted at a disappointing fifth at the box office despite earning Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. However, the film’s problems began before the first frame was exposed.
The film was conceptualized by Robert Evans who after his arrest for suspected cocaine trafficking, struggled to raise the funds. Turning to Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khosseigi for the money didn’t do much for his reputation. This led to the involvement of Roy Radin, Lanie Jacobs, and the Doumani brothers, something that would turn out to be a deadly combination.
Radin was a vaudeville promoter looking for his big break into film but was having financial issues of his own. Evans and Radin connected through Lanie Jacobs, Evans' then-girlfriend and a one-time drug dealer. When decided to cut Jacobs out of the profit-sharing pay her a flat $50,000 fee she went ballistic. Sometime later Radin went missing en route to a meeting, with his body discovered a few weeks later. Evans was spooked and sought assistance with his security from the Doumani brothers who shared a connection with the Chicago mafia.
In court it was later revealed that contract killer William Mentzer had shot Radin multiple times in the head before using dynamite to try to hide Radin’s identity. Lanie Greenberger (nee Jacobs) was convicted of second-degree murder and kidnapping, motivated by anger about being cut out of a producer's role and the movie’s profits. While Robert Evans was a person of interest in the murder investigation but no link was ever found.
No doubt, a little digging would reveal the Mafia still has a variety of interests in filmmaking, but who’s game enough to dig? We can probably safely assume they always have… and probably always will be involved anywhere there is serious money to be made.