Hollywood Godfather: My Life in the Movies and the Mob Hardcover – March 12, 2019

I just started this book two nights ago and already halfway through.Can’t put it down. Very interesting and the authors do a great job ofkeeping the story flowing. I highly recommend. I don’t want it to end. 🥹

Amazing stories of Hollywood and the mob! Just when I thought it couldn't get any crazier, it did! This man has led a helluva life!

And not in a fun way!!Thanks to Mr. Russo, I didn't get to bed till 5 AM! Couldn't put the book down!Where do I begin? I remember thinking how menacing he was in The Godfather and wondered, at the time, if maybe he wasn't like his character in real life. From his book, I have to surmise he wasn't a woman beater. That said, how much of this book is fact, and how much is fiction?He was wrong about Joey Gallo's death. Jerry Orbach was not with him at Umberto's Clam House when he was killed. Orbach and his first wife had been with him earlier at Copacabana to celebrate his 43rd Birthday with his new bride and her young daughter. He died on April 7th, not the 1st.NYC had a mob rub-out this week on Staten Island that sent shockwaves through the community there. When I heard about it on the radio, my first thought was, "Does Gianni Russo have an alibi?" Just kidding.For someone who has lived his life pretty much under the radar, he has had his fingers in a lot of pies. His childhood, dealing with Polio, his less than fabulous family, living in a bakery, sleeping on flour bags, running errands for Mob Boss Frank Costello! His numerous mobster friendships, how he got his role in the Godfather...wow! I was exhausted by the time I finished the book. Slept till Noon today! What a read!Mystery solved: Years back, there was an episode on Growing Up Gotti (Season 2 Episode 6) where Victoria Gotti receives a large floral gift from a mystery man. Her male secretary learns who he is and arranges for them to meet (she is in the dark) at an upscale Little Italy restaurant. The entertainment for the evening is a singer named Gianni Russo. He serenades her. She looks very uncomfortable. Gianni is dapper and handsome but Victoria isn't having it. Her secretary confesses that Russo is her secret admirer. Ms. Gotti is NOT amused! Gianni joins their table and Victoria squirms in her chair and can't leave the restaurant fast enough. Gianni looks shocked, her secretary is embarrassed and Victoria hisses at him, "Don't ever do this to me again!" I didn't understand her rudeness until I read the book. She KNEW who he was. She knew he was a low-level mob guy and knew he was her father's enemy. Obviously, the secretary (not Italian) had no idea. Mystery finally solved. This story isn't in the book.He has known everyone from one of the popes to Judy and Liza and says he saw Oswald at a restaurant in New Orleans shortly before the assassination. He was visiting the head of the Mafia in Louisiana at the time. Hmm. There isn't a name too insignificant to drop and he name-drops on every page!Over the years since Godfather, I have read little bits of gossip about his relationships. I read about the kids he had. He only mentions the legal ones. He explains why he has been so guarded in life and not wanting to be married. It stems from his hospitalization for five years in a polio hospital away from his parents. Evidently, in the 5 years he was hospitalized, they never visited him once. Surely that was because, at that time, no one knew if you could catch the disease by coming in contact with someone who had it.There are a few things he writes about that I simply do not believe happened. But it's his book, not mine. He can write what he wants. Some things don't ring true. His meeting with Colombian drug king, Pablo Escobar is one. His love/hate relationship with John Gotti. One page Gotti is trying to get him whacked, the next he's trying to help him out.After reading the book, my question is: How did he stay out of prison and under the radar all these years? I am two years older than he is and remember all of the world events he does. Only my recollection is different from his.This is a confusing book. It's all over the place. His stories about Marilyn Monroe don't mesh with what I remember during that time period. He says he was there for important mob/Marilyn events. Who am I to question him?The final chapter is very disturbing. He has married and has two kids. The events during that timeline (9-11) don't make sense. Out of the blue, his wife divorces him and forbids him from ever seeing his children again. What really happened to propel her from loving wife to shrew in such a short time? Would love to hear HER side of the story! I'm not going to hold my breath.He takes credit for a myriad of events. Read the book and you'll hear about them. So many things don't add up.At the present time, he has become a roving ambassador of philanthropy, championing various groups. A motivational speaker? I recently watched one on the Internet and he seemed incredibly nervous and embarrassed standing in front of a large audience of diners. Who is the former mobster who is a minister now? Michael Franzese? The days of my grandmother's Mafia is long gone. She knew some of the wiseguys Russo writes about. She was heavily involved during Prohibition. Irish, not Italian. Maybe I should write a book!In the meantime, you have this one. Fascinating read. How much of it is true?

Great seller, item was imperfect condition will definitely buy from this person again

To those who say it's not possible, there are those of us who knew a neighbor who had to move suddenly or ended up with a new car or furniture "from a friend" or "for a favor". And it was rare for someone to have a car in Manhattan, which is where we lived. The parking fees were astronomical in the lots, plus who needed the hassle when there were subways, buses, and taxis every minute? Neighborhoods cleared out and got quiet now and then, in different areas of the five borougs like Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, or Staten Island. Things were going on and you could tell it was something you better not stare at or make it your business. Street murders happened and made the papers. Sometimes they happened while you were at work, so you didn't know until the papers came out. Manhattan had lots of people and millions of things going on. A neighbor disappeared or moved away suddenly. You met so many people and so many things happened to you in the day that you lived a lifetime every ten years. You learned to be tough, quiet, and mind your own business to be safe, while you heard and saw without listening or looking. But you knew how to be tough when the need arose.I heard stories like this in Russo's book when very young to early adulthood. Crazy? Yes. Real? You bet.The only things that I was skeptical about was Marylin and the restaurant in Louisiana, but I met and saw all kinds of stars including Marilyn walking with Arthur Miller, movie and Broadway "stars", Dick Cavett, world models, famed sport stars in hockey, football, just on the same sidewalk or across the street coming toward me. Common happening. But the made men were pretty obvious in plain sight and you looked straight ahead away from them. By the way, this book is very entertaining, humorous and educational as well as scary at times: hard to put down, I was wanting more when I had finished the book.

This biography of Gianni Russo was so well written 👏 and with much humor 🤣....he has lived a fascinating life thus far. I absolutely recommend this book for all the enjoyed The Godfather and any mob type films as that was his life starting at a early age. He is acquainted with mob bosses and celebrities most accountable Frank Sinatra. I am awaiting the CD 💿 from Gianni Russo as he is an accomplished singer according to the reviews....can't wait to get it to enjoy!!

Let's make a gangster movie. Start with an action scene. Let's start with a suave, sophisticated, generous Italian American nightclub owner, who is 'mobbed up' (associates with organised crime criminals-in this case Italian American mafia) getting into an argument with a crazed Colombian. The Colombian slashes his girlfriend with a champagne bottle & the nightclub owner ends up shooting him. Only this Colombian is an emissary to none other than Pablo Escobar, head of the notorious Cali cartel. And everyone knows, Escobar is not to be messed with.Cue the next scene, nightclub owner is sent a 'message' that he is a marked man and his family is in serious danger so he needs to get this sorted and quickly. So what can he do? Because of his Mob ties, he arranges a sit down with the 'Teflon Don' himself, John Gotti, to see if there's a way the matter can be resolved with the Colombians.Gotti arranges a meeting with Escobar and the nightclub owner in Colombia and our main character has to go down there to meet him. But wait, whilst he's flying down let's do a flashback to the 'good old days' of New York's Little Italy, when the Mob was at it's peak and the nightclub owner was young.Unloved by his parents & afflicted with polio, this kid shows he has the guts & determination to rise above his circumstances and get to the top. And so we hear Russo's life story of Mafia, movies, celebrity and money.From his time in the polio ward as a kid (with an attractive, young and amply proportioned nurse to care for him, of course) to working for Frank Costello (head of the Gambino crime family), meeting Marilyn Monroe, his different businesses in Las Vegas, Sinatra, the rat pack, his part in the JFK assassination to working with Brando on The Godfather, his association with Gotti and Chicago Outfit boss, Tony Accardo, up to his run in with Escobar. This story has it all and more. Everything you'd expect from a solid gangster movie. It's a great story and it'd make a great movie. Is it true? Who knows? I just read it & went along for the ride.

I paid ₹726/- for this book. There is sticker on the back cover with a marked price of ₹599/-. Pls explain this difference

what aread if half of this is true Gianni is a living legend!!

For all that lived through the assassination of JFK, this book is very enlightening. Also an expose’ into the world of the mafia and film stars of the era.