Showing results for "Hollywood" in Organized Crime

Gianni Russo was a handsome twenty-five-year-old mobster with no acting experience when he walked onto the set of The Godfather and entered Hollywood history. He played Carlo Rizzi, the husband of Connie Corleone, who set up her brother Sonny, played by James Caan, for a hit. Russo didn't have...

Leonardo DiCaprio. Alex Rodriguez. Tobey Maguire. Affleck. Damon. Cassavetes. What do these people have in common? Not just fame and fortune; all these men are also alumni of the ultra-exclusive, high-stakes poker ring that inspired Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-nominated film, Molly's Game. But Houston Curtis, the card shark who co-founded the game with Tobey Maguire, knows that Sorkin's is the whitewashed version. In Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist, Curtis goes all-in, revealing the true story behind the game. 

Like sharks to blood in the water, the mob arrived in Hollywood greedy and ready to tear away huge chunks of cash. Opportunistic mobsters saw labor unions as the means for muscling into the movie industry and extorting millions of dollars from studio bosses. Control the unions to which projectionists, art directors, cinematographers, electricians, scene designers, stagehands, extras belong, and you control the whole industry.

“No one knew more about the mob, Hollywood and Las Vegas than Johnny Rosselli, and Lee Server got it all in Handsome Johnny.” — Nicholas Pileggi, bestselling author of Goodfellas A rich biography of the legendary figure at the center of the century’s darkest secrets: an untold story of...

Terry Moogan found himself as a young adult embroiled in a life of crime, hijacking Securicor vans as a means of rebellion. His actions eventually led to his arrest and an 18-year prison sentence, during which he engaged in daredevil escapes. Moogan’s life took a huge turn when, after working as a butler on the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton took him under their wing.

Published alongside the 2013 film The Bling Ring, directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Emma Watson, this is the explosive true story of the seven celebrity-obsessed teens who became the most audacious burglary gang in Hollywood history. It’s 19 September 2010, and 21-year-old Rachel Lee has...

In this gripping historical account, expert crime historian Joan Renner explores the shadowy world of fame and crime during Hollywood's most glamorous era. As Los Angeles transformed into the epicenter of film, it also became a haven for notorious criminals and mobsters, weaving a complex tapestry of allure and danger that is sure to intrigue.

Fully clothed, the dead man looks as if he is simply taking a nap. There is no forced entry into the apartment, but there seems to have been a violent battle at the locked bedroom door-- and get this: the phone call reporting the murder came from inside the dead man's bedroom by someone using the poor fellow's cordless phone. The last people to see this victim alive were a young couple -- teens, actually, the girl was 7, months pregnant, and a mutual friend of both the teens and the murder victim -- a low level criminal specializing in identity theft and bank fraud.

Mickey Cohen, who died in 1976, was a colorful, feared West Coast gangster-gambler who knew the biggest names in Hollywood including the Rat Pack, was a confidant of Bugsy Siegel, a friend of Las Vegas' late Liz Renay and on first names with the biggest guys in the Mafia, plus Frank Sinatra, Richard Nixon and Billy Graham. Brad Lewis' book about Cohen draws from thousands of resources - a virtual treasure trove of Mafia-related books, articles and interviews.

Author Orlando (Ori) Spado honestly recants his humble beginnings from the small town of Rome in upstate New York, to becoming known as "The Mob Boss of Hollywood." A candid account documenting his fall from a well-known Hollywood fixer mixing with A list celebrities to serving 62 months in Federal prison, and ultimately making a determined comeback.

"Gianni Russo walks the walk and talks the talk. What a life. Fascinating. A worthy read." — Robert De Niro This program is read by the author and includes a bonus conversation. The over-the-top memoir of a real-life mobster-turned-actor who helped make The Godfather a reality, and his story...

Tall, blonde, and beautiful, Helm never really made it as an actress - despite leaving her home and a new baby to pursue her career in the movies. However, Helm was touted as the "ultimate party girl", and was a known fixture at parties and bedrooms throughout the Hollywood Hills.

The public knows him as the character Tony Darvo in the movie Midnight Run, but Richie Salerno was born into the world of the Brooklyn Mafia during the heyday of the New York mob, and for a time it looked like he’d get caught up in a life of crime. After all, some of the most notorious figures in the gangster world he knew as uncles, aunts, cousins, and family friends. During a stint in prison for theft, Richie turned his life around using the tailoring skills he learned from his father and butchering abilities he picked up from his father-in-law....

The Hollywood culture of the 1940s served as a symbol of fantasy for a country at war. The American population, steeped in a dark global reality, lived vicariously through the film industry's fantasy offerings on the big screen, and eagerly embraced the advent of television in the latter part of the decade. On the stage, images of idealized feminine beauty thrived in the Ziegfeld Follies tradition, Radio City Music Hall, Las Vegas, and the fantastical world created by Earl Carroll in his Hollywood theater.