Francesco Castiglia (Frank Costello) was born on January 26 1891 and he died on February 18 1973. He was an Italian American gangster and crime boss. At the age of 13 Frank Costello became a member of the local gang and committed small crimes, went to jail for assault and robberies. He was sentenced for 10 months in jail for carrying a concealed weapon and after his release he decided not to get involved in street rackets and he used his brain to earn money as a criminal.
Alphonse Gabriel “AL” Capone was born on January 17 1899 and he died on January 25 1947. He was an American gangster who gained fame as a co-founder and as a boss of the Chicago outfit. He was in the business for 7 years and he stopped his gangster career when he was 33 years old. At first he started as a bouncer in organized crimes such as brothels and later on in his mid 20’s he became the head for supplying illegal alcohols. Capone was prosecuted for tax evasion in 1931; he was convicted and sentenced to a record breaking 11 years in federal prison. Capone died of cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke.
Carlo Gambino was born on 24 August 1902 and he died on 15 October 1976. He was an Italian born American gangster who was well known for being the boss of the Gambino crime family. Gambino began carrying out murder orders for new mob bosses in his teenage years. In 1921 at the age of 19, he became the “made man” of a mafia group. Made man is a term used in the American mafia group for a person who is fully initiated member of the mafia. In 1937 he was convicted of tax evasion but has his sentenced suspended. In his last years Gambino still ruled his family and the other New York families. He lived to the age of 74 and died due to a heart attack.
Two members of a gang write a threatening letter to a butcher, demanding that he give them money, or else they will harm his family and his shop. The butcher is afraid and upset, but he is unable to meet their demands. The gang then kidnaps his daughter, leading to a series of tense and dangerous confrontations. According to the titles, the story was based on actual events that had recently taken place in New York. Country: USA Language: English Runtime: 11 min Silent Film Director: Wallace McCutcheon
The great depression was the longest lasting economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. In the United States the depression began after the stock market crashed in 1929, as it wiped out thousands of investors and sent Wall Street into an economic panic. This lead to companies losing money and value, which resulted in many workers being laid off due to insufficient funds. Over 13 million Americans were left unemployed, and the banks had failed. For some these economic crashes lead to finding more creative or even illegal ways of keeping afloat. This inspired many of the gangster films that have been made over the past decades, as the lack of money and will to maintain success is a very realistic and genuine idea that is easy to translate to the screen.
The ambitious criminal Rico moves from the country to the big city in the east and joins Sam Vettori's gang with his friend Joe Massara. Soon he becomes the leader of the gangsters and known as Little Caesar, and gets closer to the great mobster Pete Montana. In a robbery of a night-club, he kills the Crime Commissioner Alvin McClure and his pal Joe witnesses the murder. When Rico orders Joe to leave his mistress Olga Strassoff, she takes a serious decision. Despite the film's huge success, the book's author, W.R. Burnett, was furious that no actual Italians were cast in the film. Country: USA Language: English Runtime: 79 min Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Johnny Lovo rises to the head of the bootlegging crime syndicate on the south side of Chicago following the murder of former head, Big Louis Costillo. Johnny contracted Big Louis' bodyguard, Tony Camonte, to make the hit on his boss. Tony becomes Johnny's second in command. Johnny is not averse to killing anyone who gets in his and Johnny's way. As Tony is thinking bigger than Johnny and is not afraid of anyone or anything, Tony increasingly makes decisions on his own instead of following Johnny's orders, especially in not treading on the north side run by an Irish gang led by a man named O'Hara, of whom Johnny is afraid. Tony's murder spree increases, he taking out anyone who stands in his and Johnny's way of absolute control on the south side, and in Tony's view absolute control of the entire city. Tony's actions place an unspoken strain between Tony and Johnny to the point of the two knowing that they can't exist in their idealized world with the other. Tony's ultimate downfall may... Colour: Black and White Country: USA Language: English Also Known As: Scarface, the Shame of the Nation Directors: Howard Hawks, Richard Rosson
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino was born on April 25, 1940 he is an American actor of stage and screen he is also a director, filmmaker and screenwriter. He was the only child of Italian immigrants from Sicily who separated when he was a toddler. After they split, Pacino’s father moved to California and Pacino was raised by his mother and grandparents in the Bronx. Though somewhat shy as a child, in his early teens Pacino developed an interest in acting and was later accepted at the High School of Performing Arts. However, he proved to be a poor student, failing most of his classes before he eventually dropped out at age 17. Often considered by audiences and commentators to be one of the greatest actors and directors of all time, Pacino's career spans more than fifty years, during which time he has received numerous accolades and honours both competitive and honorary awards. He is a former student of the Herbert Berghof Studio and the Actors Studio in New York here he was taught by Charles Laughton and Lee Strasberg, Pacino made his feature film debut with a minor role in Me, Natalie he was then noticed for his lead role as a heroin addict in The Panic in Needle Park his international recognition came through his breakthrough role as Michael Corleone in The Godfather (This is one of the biggest films of the gangster genre).Pacino's performance as Corleone is now regarded as one of the greatest screen performances in film history. After winning his numerous awards including the prestigious Oscar awards he went on to direct a film adaptation of Chinese Coffee, he also wrote the the screenplay for the film. The film adaptation was released in New York as part of the Tribeca Film Festival. Shot almost exclusively as a one-on-one conversation between the two main characters, it chronicles friendship, love, loss, and humour of daily life. After years of withholding it, Pacino allowed it to be released on June 19, 2007 as a part of a three-movie boxed set called Pacino: An Actor's Vision.
Martin Charles Scorsese born November 17, 1942 is an American director, producer, screenwriter He was raised in the neighbourhood of Little Italy, which later provided the inspiration for several of his films his career spans more than 45 years. He is part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking, and is widely regarded as one of the most significant and influential filmmakers in cinema history. Scorsese's body of work addresses such themes as Sicilian-American identity, Roman concepts of guilt and redemption, machismo, modern crime, and gang conflict. Many of his films are also notable for their depiction of violence and liberal use of profanity. He has directed landmark films such as the crime film Mean Streets, the vigilante-drama Taxi Driver and the crime films Goodfellas, Goodfellas went on to triumph. It won widespread critical acclaim, success at the box office and earned six Oscar nominations. The authenticity of the characters and storytelling stand out in the film. It has a semi-documentary style. Scorsese wasn’t just deploying showy techniques that were divorced from the storytelling they added to it. This is still respected and known as one of the biggest gangster films 25 years since the film was developed.
When the aging head of a famous crime family decides to transfer his position to one of his subalterns, a series of unfortunate events start happening to the family, and a war begins between all the well-known families leading to insolence, deportation, murder and revenge, and ends with the favourable successor being finally chosen. Country: USA Language: English | Italian | Latin Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Tony Montana manages to leave Cuba during the Mariel exodus of 1980. He finds himself in a Florida refugee camp but his friend Manny has a way out for them: undertake a contract killing and arrangements will be made to get a green card. He's soon working for drug dealer Frank Lopez and shows his mettle when a deal with Columbian drug dealers goes bad. He also brings a new level of violence to Miami. Tony is protective of his younger sister but his mother knows what he does for a living and disowns him. Tony is impatient and wants it all however, including Frank's empire and his mistress Elvira Hancock. Once at the top however, Tony's outrageous actions make him a target and everything comes crumbling down OR: In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel while succumbing to greed. Colour: Colour (Technicolor) Country: MODERN SCARFACE! USA Language: English | Spanish Director: Brian De Palma
Henry Hill is a small time gangster, who takes part in a robbery with Jimmy Conway and Tommy De Vito, two other gangsters who have set their sights a bit higher. His two partners kill off everyone else involved in the robbery, and slowly start to climb up through the hierarchy of the Mob. Henry, however, is badly affected by his partners' success, but will he stoop low enough to bring about the downfall of Jimmy and Tommy? Country: USA Language: English | Italian Director: Martin Scorsese
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