Gianni Vito Russo

In 1972 Paramount Pictures was located in the Gulf & Western Building at Columbus Circle in NYC, which btw, is where the Mob Boss Columbo was shot.

But anyway, my brother and I had a friend of a friend who was a big shot at Paramount and we were allowed to have a Private Viewing of THE GODFATHER at Paramount's private Screening Room in the Gulf & Western Building. As an added feature when the Movie was over our friend said Sylvia Miles is here would you guys like to meet her? She had recently made MIDNIGHT COWBOY with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight so I knew who she was and we were introduced.

Anyway, here's Gianni Russo, I admire what he's done with his life.

 

Life and career

Russo was born in Manhattan and raised in Little Italy and Staten Island. After reprising the Rizzi character in a brief flashback scene at the end of The Godfather Part II, Russo went on to act in more than 46 movies, including Goodnight, My Love (1972), Lepke (1975, as Albert Anastasia), Laserblast (1978), Chances Are (1989), The Freshman (1990), Side Out (1990), Another You (1991), Super Mario Bros. (1993), Any Given Sunday (1999) and Seabiscuit (2003).

Russo claims that he started a fledgling career in organized crime working as an errand boy and mob associate for Frank Costello^[1] as an adolescent but later abandoned the dangerous and volatile lifestyle of organized crime.

Over the years since the beginning of his career, Russo owned a Las Vegas restaurant called Gianni Russo's State Street at 2570 State Street on the Las Vegas Strip (closed in 1988), and defeated 23 federal criminal indictments on a variety of charges stemming from alleged organized crime associations.^[1]

In 1988, Russo killed a man inside the Las Vegas nightclub. When he tried to intervene to stop a man from harassing a female patron, the man stabbed him with a broken champagne bottle. Russo, a legal carry owner, pulled his gun and shot him in the head. The man was a 30 year old Cuban national. Russo was not charged with the killing because it was ruled a justifiable homicide by the Nevada District Attorney's Office.^[2]

Russo is also a singer. In 2004, he released a CD called Reflections that pays homage to Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.

Russo owns a wine brand, Gianni Russo Wines, which debuted in 2009.^[3]

In 2019, he published his memoir, Hollywood Godfather: My Life in the Movies and the Mob.

 

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	The Godfather	Carlo Rizzi
1974	The Godfather Part II
1975	Rudeness	Salvatore Mannino
1975	Lepke	Albert Anastasia
1975	The Four Deuces	Chip Morono - the 'Deuce of Clubs'
1978	Laserblast	Tony Craig
1979	Winter Kills	Co-Pilot
1989	Chances Are	Anthony Bonino
1990	Side Out	Dick Sydney
1990	The Freshman	Maitre D' Gourmet Club
1991	Out for Justice	Sammy
1991	Another You	Carlos
1992	Stay Tuned	Guido
1993	Super Mario Bros.	Scapelli
1996	Striptease	Willy Rojo
1998	Circles	Howard Thomas as Jeremy's father
1999	Any Given Sunday	Christina's Advisor
2000	The Family Man	Nick
2000	Rope Art	Sen. Bob Krause
2001	3000 Miles to Graceland	Money Cart Guard
2001	Harvard Man	Andrew Bandolini
2001	Rush Hour 2	Red Dragon Pit Boss
2002	Red Dragon	Newsie
2003	Seabiscuit	Alberto Gianini
2004	After the Sunset	Clippers Fan
2005	Meet the Mobsters	Paul
2013	Send No Flowers	Johnny Pisano