yeah jimmy, valli grew up in Newark, and when he got successful, gyp decarlo called all the shots, movie jersey boys. same thing with joey dee and the starlighters, vic damone [vito farinola] said once in an interview that he only saw 20% of all his earning.he was from Brooklyn, but he never nentioned names.

James Caan's first cousin Harriet was married to my cousin Tommy.

The marriage lasted around five years, and my cousin said that James had it arranged for them to spend their honeymoon at the playboy mansion.

He said that the few times he was around James he was nice enough but is a JewBoy who would give his testicles to be Italian.

Am I the ONLY one who thinks he WAY over acted as Sonny with all his "Bada Bing" shit and biting his hand? Its a good thing they killed him off pretty early in the movie or it might not have been as good.

There are very few non Italians that can pull off a REAL italian without making it look fake. As much as I like Mickey Rourke did he have to move his hands EVERY fucking time he spoke to Eric Roberts. Watch the movie (I've seen it at least a dozen times) Every time Mickey speaks he put his fingers together the way medigans do when they imitate us, he just way over does it.

I'll tell you one actor who can really play an italian and thats David Proval. He was fantastic on the Sopranos. Very understated, but right on the money.

Sal

Joan Rivers rubbed many a made man's shoulders..& I'm sure we all know about Tony Mirra W/Vanessa Del Rio,as well as Margot Kidder & another major star who shall remain nameless ..(u fella's probably know who i'm talking about)..

&..I almost forgot,Geena Davis babysat the child of Nino Gaggi's nephew..whats that dudes name who is now a painter/storyteller about the demeo crew??my mind drew a blank ,although i like his stories ,they might b questionable...

Dominic montiglio?

Tony Mirra dated Goldie Hawn when she was a young heroin addict.

Steve Seagal was friends with the mysterious Robert Booth Nichols (http://ppia.wikia.com/wiki/Robert_Booth_Nichols) who played a small role (and acted as a military adviser) in Seagull's 1992 action movie 'Under Siege'.

I think Robert Booth Nichols was also mixed up somehow in the suspicious 'suicide' of investigative journalist Danny Casolaro, who was delving into a crime syndicate he called 'The Octopus' when he was found dead.

That case is a big can of worms and has never gotten anywhere near being solved.

friend... just finished the book "Sinatra" by Kaplan, shecky was a tough old bird, he busted joe fishetis face up, and Sinatra, and fishetti both came to shecky and told him not to tell giancana what happened. giancana called shecky, and was pissed at Sinatra, told shecky if you want him beat up, go see "Milwaukee phil" he's in vegas, shecky let it go, but never again trusted Sinatra, shecky knew some people in Chicago and they liked him, Sinatra was always thought of as a wannbe little "punk
ass"

Exactly my friend!

"Goldie Hawn"..yes..& tony mirra claims she took it up the u know where..

hoodlum, have you ever seen the pictures of goldie when she was young? she was very thin and all nose, she had a lot of work done to her, when she first came to Hollywood, especially her nose.

As a matter of fact yes ,ur right now that i think of it.

Don't know where else to put this so I'll just put it here.

Anthony "Little Pussy" Russo was the next door neighbor of Bruce Springsteen's wife, Patti Scialfa, when she was growing up in Deal.

Russo supposedly pulled some strings to get the Scialfa family that house as he wanted Sicilians for neighbors (Scialfa's father was Sicilian but apparently had no mob connections).

James Caan is dying to be a "real" Italian.

Like I said before I thought he way over played the Italian mannerisms in the Godfather and any other movie where he plays an Italian.

I live in a heavily populated Jewish area. I'm not saying all, but many of my Jewish co workers from NY try as hard as they can to act Italian.

Here is a good example.....I mentioned in an earlier post that my Cousin was married to Harriet Caan, James Caan's first cousin I believe. My Cousin was no big deal, just an average guy. He started out as a fireman in New Rochelle, them moved to Fl and became a finish carpenter.

About as close as he ever got to the mob was when he was president of the South Florida chapter of the Italian American anti defeamtion league (Joe Colombo's thing) LOL.

He married Harriet Caan and they divorced after about five or six years. 15 years after that he passed away from cancer. My mother just happen to run into Harriet and She was still going by "Harriet Lucio".

Over 20 years later, and she LOVED having that Italian last name, even though her maiden name is a famous one....

She was actually very nice and bore a striking resemblance to James Caan

Sal

Did your cousin know Frederick Cowan?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/rochelle-sniper-kills-1977-article-1.2973348

His brother was a fireman.

He may very well have. But my Dear Cousin passed away close to 20 years ago, so their is nobody to ask.

Its a good thing this Cowan guy didn't see my cuz on the day of his rampage. My cuz could have easily been taken for a pure Arab.

He had all the features......the nose, very dark skin. and shaving used to really bother his skin so he always kept what he though looked like a "beard". To me it just looked like he hadn't shaved in a while. All he needed was the headgear.

Sal

Caan was on another level, but people often forget that De Niro has had his share of connections as well. One of his friends is a major player currently with the West Side. He often paled around with Anthony Corozzo and Blaise, and he knew Anthony "Fat Andy" Ruggiano since the days of Mean Streets. I know he was close to many of the West Side players from Greenwich Village and Little Italy because that's where he grew up. He knew Chin, Quiet Dom, all of those guys. They knew him as Bobby Irish

With Genovese soldier Ronnie Nistico

Bobby was always interested in boxers and mobsters, that had everything to do with his intensive training as a Method acting actor in the 1960s. Method acting is not just pretending, but feeling and understanding a role deep down.

Method acting is one thing, but growing up with those guys is another. When De Niro was a teenager, him and his friends would observe Vito Genovese strolling down the street. I don't care who you are, but that leaves an impression on you