Example: I was actually the person who gave Tony Montana his first line of coke
Without thinking I handed him my wallet, phone, jewellery No way was I going to risk fucking with a legit gangster
I'm kinda new to my interest in this whole thing, and I'm sure some of this has been talked about before, but I just gotta say this. I'd read a string of pretty dark and serious crime books, and I wanted something kinda silly. Holy shit Hollywood Godfather did not disappoint.
Claiming he slept with Marilyn Monroe for a weekend when he was 16 and she was in her thirties? Sure. Being almost solely responsible for The Godfather getting made? Totally. Trafficking money out of Iran as the revolution began? Sounds good. Avoiding execution from Pablo Escobar by reenacting scenes from the Godfather? Checks out. Attending a fundraiser for The Godfather 4 starring Bill Clinton in Australia with the former president himself when 9/11 happened? Fine by me.
But when he said once punched Siegfried and Roy's tiger unconscious I fucking lost it. This guy is nuts. I hope the book gets adapted into a movie with him narrating and reenactments of all the bullshit he claims to have done. And when he says some ridiculous shit the actors playing historical figures turn to the camera like "are you fucking kidding me, there's no way that actually happened"
Nothing makes sense when it comes to Gianni, I Obviously don't believe he knocked out a tiger with one punch or how he did godfather dialogue with Pablo Escobar. But what is true? How did some kid get a pretty good role in the most famous film of all time next to Brando? How did get De Niro, Talese and Pileggi to write something on his book? He's even having tv series made about him!
But then he talks about running money for the vatican, yet his networth according to most is between 1.5 and 1.9 million, if everything that he says is BS, then theres still many people around to call him out on it...
I’ve been a fan of The Godfather and mob stories most of my life, so I started watching Gianni’s VladTV interviews this week and it blows my mind how he is blatantly telling bold faced lies, yet getting away with it all.
Everything about Gianni comes across as phony. The fake blue eyes, the pearly white chompers, the bronze tan. Especially the stories. Still, he passes off these larger than life stories and everyone eats them up.
A simple look at his older interviews show he’s been extremely inconsistent in telling his stories.
In 1991 he said he grew up on Staten Island and that he didn’t know Frank Sinatra. Now he claims it was Little Italy and Frank Sinatra taught him how to sing.
In 2006 he told Howard Stern he was molested by his sister’s friend at 12. Now he claims he lost his virginity to Marilyn Monroe at 16.
He also claimed in 2006 to have earned the respect of Frank Costello and Carlo Gambino because his great-grandfather was a mob boss in Sicily. In the VladTV interview he said his uncle was the mob boss and that he was hanged in the 40s. So which is it?
Without even looking into his ancestry it would be near impossible for a great-grandfather to live until the 1940s. How do you confuse those two relations?
One of Gianni’s most fantastical claims is that he murdered a member of the Medellin Cartel in 1988 at his Vegas club. While he did own a club, I did a search through the Las Vegas newspaper archives and found no mention of this incident whatsoever.
Even crazier is the claim he booked a flight to Bogota to personally meet with Pablo Escobar, who spared Gianni’s life because he was a fan of The Godfather.
Bullshit.
There are so many more obvious embellishments or straight up lies I can’t keep track.
How has nobody ever confronted Gianni about his claims?
Does anyone know how the hell Gianni Russo is taken seriously?
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He claims he was Basically Frank Costello's adopted son in law.. says Costello saw him on the street in Little Italy in the late 40s/early 50s, got to know him, and then started sending him to pick up gambling slips, then gradually upped his responsibility, to eventually he was flying to Vegas assumedly before Genovese's hit attempt on Frank to pick up Casino skim ...this serms ludicrous to me as he wouldve been not even 20 when doing this? Any thoughts? Do any of you guys have accurate info on Russo's ties to the Mafia..i don't doubt he had mob ties, but the way he tells it he was like an honorary consigliere.
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He claims he was the one who brokered the deal between Joe Columbo and Al Ruddy/ Bob Evans from Paramount to get The Godfather actually made? He says the Mob had the main gate at Paramount studios blown up as a message to not make the movie? ... ive literally never heard that portion of the story and ive read alot on the making of The Godfather and seen 2 documentaries on the movie and never once mentioned this fact....Russo claims that the head of Paramounts secretary at this time said "shit we rrall have a problem with the Mafia, the man we need to fix this is Gianni Russo, and thats how he got approached to broker a deal.....also claims that part of this deal was that he had to play either the part of Michael, Sonny, or Carlo...the two main parts that went to all time great actors.... Idk how or why he'd be able to sit down w a boss and arrange this or anything remotely true about his storybut... u gotta listen to this part alone its very hard to believe but so delusional its amazing
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He claims he knew John Gotti, among many other made men in all families... claims Gotti didnt like him before he was boss bc he was jealous of Russos wealth and connections in the Mob? This is laughable but again u gotta listen to it for shits and giggles
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He claims on this show that he killed 3 men( yes he actually admits to it .. u havr to hear this to believe it).. although he qualified his statement by saying they were all in self defense.. and the one in the NyT article he goes into detail in the podcast that the guy he killed was Medellin cartel member that was #2 under Pablo who attempted to kill a woman in his restaurant, he interceded, killed him after he stabbed Russo.. then Russo finds out the Cartel had a hit on him.. so he goes to see John Gotti who is boss now and asked for his help to get outta America and to Bogota to straighten this ou
Most connected mob associate of all-time? Costello, Colombo, Escobar, Gotti, jfk, etc.
Did anyone read this book? I’m almost done with it. I was a little suspicious about some of these stories but now I’m convinced he’s a bullshitter. On page 278-279 he claims he has a sit down with John Gotti Sr, Vinny the Chin, and Patty “Rose” Florio at Veniero’s in the East Village. This is all well and fine until he says it was 1995. How are you having a sit down with Gotti in 1995 when he’s doing life since 1992? Can anyone explain this?
