I thought about posting this in the Triology section, but it has more to do with the actor than the movie. I read a New York Times article from 2005 that interviewed Russo, and I was suprised to learn that he was once a gofer for slain mob boss Joe Colombo. The article also mentioned that Colombo was aganist Paramount making "The Godfather," and Russo acted as an mediator to help get the picture made. To express their appreciation, Paramount gave him the Carlo role. Another thing I was suprised to learn is that he killed a customer in his Las Vegas club in 1988. Apparently, the customer was rude to another customer and when Russo tried to step in, the man stabbed him, and so Russo shot him in defense. He was later cleared of all charges.

I thought the parallels between his real-life and Carlo were interesting. In a sense, Carlo was a gofer for the Corleones because he was never given any of their important operations to run. And like Russo, the Corleones also had interests in Las Vegas.

That's one reason why the word Mafia is not uttered in the GF.

Carlo wasn't a gofer for the Corleones. He was reluctantly given a living by the Corleones, but specifically excluded from any meaningful role in the Corleone family "Never discuss the family business with him." His includion in a couple of important family meetings was apparently an effort by the Corleones to conduit deceptive information to Barzini et al through him.

Back in 1983 I went to Las Vegas. While staying there my wife and I were dying for good Italian food. Well we got into a cab and lo and behold the driver was from Brooklyn. So I asked him if he knew of any good Italian Resturants. He told me to leave it up to him and that he would take us to one. Well we were driving and he turned off the strip. At that point I was getting a bit nervous. He pulled up to this place that looked like a Factory. It had a Long Canopy leading up to a steel door and a red carpet on the ground. The driver gave me his card and told me that when my wife and I were done with dinner that we should have the Matir'D call him so that he could come back and pick us up. He told us to walk up to the door and knock. So we got out, walked up to the door and knocked. The door opened and we entered this really beautifull place. We were seated and as I was looking around I noticed that there were Godfather Pictures all over the place. The waiters, etc. are were dressed like gangsters, wearing spats, etc. So when the waiter came to our table, I said to him " Gee, the owner must really be a huge GF fan." and he replied " Don't you know who's place this is." and I told him that I did't. So he told me to wait a minute and he walked away. Several minutes later a well dressed gentleman approached our table with a rose in his hand. He gave it to my wife and then I realized who it was: it was Carlo Rizzi, Gianni Russo! He spoke with us and I told him what a huge fan of GF that I was, and that I was from New York, etc. He bought my wife and I drinks. Turned out the name of the place was "Gianni Russo's State Street"

When I went back to Vegas in 1999. I inquired as to if the restaurant was still there. Unfortunately it wasn't.

Below is an Article that I posted to these boards a few years back about Russo, his ties with the mob, and his legal woes :


MOB, GOFER, AND NOW A CROONER
International Herald Tribune
By Andrew Jacobs
The New York Times
Wednesday, April 13, 2005

NEW YORK Start spreading the news. Gianni Russo, best known for his role as Carlo Rizzi in "The Godfather," is back in old New York with his pinstriped Brioni suits, startling white teeth and perma-tan.
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The reluctant killer, who in real life was once a delivery boy for the mob boss Frank Costello, has a publicist and a new dream: to be a big-name crooner, the kind who makes women swoon.

"At 62, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve," he said one recent night after belting out a string of Sinatra tunes at Nino's, an Italian restaurant on New York's Upper East Side where he is treated like Sicilian royalty. "I'm like a cockroach. You can't kill me."
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In recent months he has appeared on the reality show "Growing Up Gotti" and has had a tell-all chat with Howard Stern. He stars in a series of cooking DVDs. His coming autobiography is called "Godfathers, Popes and Presidents," a reference to some of his dearest acquaintances. As he explains it, "I've known three popes, five presidents and every Mafia boss."
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His stories sometimes defy credulity. Past lovers, he says, included Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minnelli and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
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"Gianni tells a lot of tales, but they're all true," said the lawyer Barry Slotnick, who met him in the early 1970s when Russo was mediating a dispute between the producers of "The Godfather" and the mob boss Joe Colombo, who had threatened to shut down the film, which he thought would slander Italian-Americans.

Russo, who had never acted before, was given the part of Carlo as a reward for his peacemaking role. Since then he has appeared in 40 films, doing small parts that show off his Little Italy-rooted bravado.

Over the years he has owned a Las Vegas casino, dated Dionne Warwick formore than a decade and beat 23 federal indictments, he said. But Russo is best known for his role in "The Godfather," playing the backstabbing,wife-beating thug who marries Don Corleone's daughter, is beaten badly by
Corleone's son Sonny (played by James Caan) and ends up with piano wire fora necklace.

Russo's singing act leans heavily on his "Godfather" past, with cheeky references to Marlon Brando.

To spend a few days with Russo is to step into a vanished world of omnipotent gangsters, shady politicians and spangled showgirls. Although he was on a first-name basis with men like John Gotti, Russo says he was never a made man. Even when he worked as a gofer for Costello, Russo says, he remained detached from his employer's criminal enterprises. "I could have
gotten involved and hit the jackpot, but it's a terrible life," he said. "I mean, all the guys I grew up with are dead or in jail."

He has had his share of run-ins with the law, but he has never been convicted of any crime, and was not charged in a 1988 killing that took place at his Las Vegas club and casino, GIanni Russo's State Street.

According to Russo, the victim, who turned out to be a member of the Medellmn drug cartel, was harassing a female patron; when Russo tried to intervene, the man plunged a broken wine bottle into his stomach. As the man tried to lunge again, Russo pulled out a handgun and fired twice.

The Clark County prosecutor ruled the killing a justifiable homicide, but the family of the victim dispatched a hit man, Russo said, and he decided that it would be best to disappear in Miami and Sicily for a few years. He lost the casino but still kept interests in a dizzying array of businesses, from deli meats to diamond exporting.

With most of the Mafia largely moribund, Russo has decided to go public with the details of his life, partly in the hope that his colorful past will fuel interest in his various endeavors.

On a recent stroll in Manhattan, Russo stopped at St. Patrick's Cathedral to pray at the shrine of St. Anthony, the patron saint of miracles. No matter where he is, he says, he visits a church to fulfill the promise he made as a child, when he was partly paralyzed by polio. "I made a novena that if I ever walked again, I'd light five candles for St. Anthony every
day," he said.

Russo was 7 when he got polio and spent five years in a state hospital. He said his father, a longshoreman and musician, was ashamed that his only son was a cripple and refused to acknowledge him on the street. To earn his keep, Russo sold ballpoint pens on Fifth Avenue.

It was on a Fifth Avenue street corner that he met Costello, who would stop almost daily to give him a $5 bill. When he learned that Russo was Italian, Costello offered him a job picking up bets from barbershops that doubled as numbers parlors. By the time he was 16, Russo was hanging out at the Copacabana and traveling across the United States picking up and delivering
envelopes.

Despite his long association with the underworld, Russo resents being called a mobster. After singing a few tunes at Nino's and drinking in the adulation of fellow diners, Russo gestured to a table where his cousin, Vinnie Russo, sat with Charles Gargano, the chairman of the Empire State Development Corp., and other Italian-American businessmen.

The men waved from afar, but none of them approached his table, which both amused and annoyed him. The men, he explained, were afraid to be seen with him. "After all these years, they still think I'm mobbed up," he said

Interesting story, DC. I'm glad you and your wife got to see Vegas. I'm still trying to get there (hence my screen name).

I also read a summary of an interview Russo did on the Howard Stern show, and he said that Brando didn't want him there at first. But when he went up to Brando and threatened him, Brando mistakely thought he was acting and told Russo that he was brilliant. He said Brando became an acting coach to him.

Carlo wasn't a gofer for the Corleones. He was reluctantly given a living by the Corleones, but specifically excluded from any meaningful role in the Corleone family "Never discuss the family business with him." His includion in a couple of important family meetings was apparently an effort by the Corleones to conduit deceptive information to Barzini et al through him.

I agree. When I said Carlo was a gofer in a sense,I meant that like a gofer, he was given an unimportant job. The Corleones sent him up with a small, mundane bookmaking operation that "gave him a living" but didn't give him the position and power that he hoped he would obtain after he married Connie.

As for Gianni Russo and his role in the Mafia, the movies and the making of the Godfather in real life, I take everything that he claims about himself with a grain of salt.

As for Gianni Russo and his role in the Mafia, the movies and the making of the Godfather in real life, I take everything that he claims about himself with a grain of salt.

Well, if this article appeared in the New York Post, I would agree since that publication is trash, but I thought the New York Times was supposed to be a reputable source.

...a ton of salt. Harlan Lebo, in "The Godfather Legacy," says nothing about Russo and Columbo. Lebo calls him "A native of Las Vegas...a true unknown with no acting experience but plenty of chutzpah."


Did the Times say Russo was a gofer for Columbo? Or did the Times say that Russo said he was a gofer for Columbo?

...a ton of salt. Harlan Lebo, in "The Godfather Legacy," says nothing about Russo and Columbo. Lebo calls him "A native of Las Vegas...a true unknown with no acting experience but plenty of chutzpah."


The deal with Columbo was worked out by Al Ruddy, GF's producer. Looks like the Times fell for Russo's B.S., too.

RUDDY : Gianni Russo; give him something important in the film?

FFC :Give him a part, but never discuss the plot with him. What else?

"Now, if there's nothing else, I'd like to go to my premiere."

did anybody see the episode of the gotti reality show where russo was sending flowers to victoria as a secret admirer and wanted to have dinner with her. her finnochio friend goes to his restaurant and finds out who it is and convinces victoria to go to the restaurant and " accidently "runs into russo. if her brothers would have found out, the beating he got from sonny would have seemed like nothing.