I'm sorry but I disagree.Bert R. would have been great.You may be forgetting his role in "Sharkey's Machine".This role certainly made him familiar with the cops and robbers genre.Also his expertise in auto racing,"Smokey and the Bandit",could have been worked into the script.Imagine Bert and Fat Clemente racing around NYC in a GTO!

Ol Blue eyes as the Don would have worked, he had already earned the monicker "Chairman of the Broad" and was on a first name basis with many real life gangsters.For additional interest he also could have played the role of Johnny Fountain.

Ryan O'Neal was only considered be because he was a hot actor at the time,Patricia O'Neal would have been a better choice. Of course Robert Redford would have been all wrong since he's a woman.