“The Godfather” is thought to be a Hollywood classic, one among the very best grossing movies of all time. However the making of this mafia movie got off to a rocky start, as writer MATT BIRKBECK describes in “The Life We Selected: William ‘Big Billy’ D’Elia and The Last Secrets of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Family” (William Morrow). It required loads of negotiations and hard bargains — with some real-life characters who knew quite quite a bit concerning the mob. William “Big Billy” D’Elia, head of the once powerful Bufalino crime family and protege of mob boss Russell Bufalino, saw the motion behind the scenes.
It was the late winter of 1971 when the phone rang at ABS Contracting, one among the various cutting rooms Russell [Bufalino] owned in northeast Pennsylvania.
When Billy picked it up, he heard a well-known voice.
“Hello, that is Marlon Brando calling for Mr. Bufalino.”
Billy didn’t imagine it.
He put the phone to his chest and yelled out to Russell, “There’s some f–king guy on the phone pretending he’s Marlon Brando!”
Billy chuckled, figuring it was a prank call, but Russell checked out him with a death stare and barked, “Give me that f–king phone!”
“Hello, Marlon?” said Russell. “Yes, I’m tremendous. How are you?”
Brando had been forged to portray Vito Corleone within the upcoming film “The Godfather,” which was set to start principal photography in Recent York.
The revered actor had achieved great success throughout the Fifties, winning the Best Actor award on the Academy Awards in 1955 for “On the Waterfront.”
But his popularity had waned lately.
Director Francis Ford Coppola thought Brando was perfect for a movie that was the other of the stereotypical mob movie full of psychotic gangsters and blood running within the streets.
But Brando had recently come off of several forgettable roles, and Paramount Pictures executives hated him for the part.
After initially refusing Coppola’s efforts to connect him to the film, Brando sought out the role and even agreed to audition to win over the leery executives.
He was the one movie star amongst a gaggle of actors that producer Al Ruddy signed for the pivotal roles within the film, including James Caan, Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, John Cazale and Abe Vigoda.
Well-known for his meticulous preparation, Brando envisioned Vito Corleone as powerful but soft-spoken, cerebral but strong.
A family man who saw himself as a victim of happenstance who might have been a company leader as an alternative of a mob boss.
But Brando needed inspiration and insight, so when he asked others tied to the production for an introduction to someone who could help him portray a mob boss, all of them quietly pointed to Russell.
Russell had made his presence felt behind the scenes, playing a key role in ending months of conflict that delayed the production and threatened to derail the film altogether.
He was, to the surprise of many, including Billy, intrigued by the film.
It was based on the 1968 book by Mario Puzo, a bestseller that sold nearly 10 million copies. Paramount had acquired the film rights.
But as filming in Recent York neared, the production bumped into one problem after one other, mostly from a newly formed advocacy group, the Italian American Civil Rights League.
The nascent league was formed in April 1970 by Joe Colombo, the pinnacle of the Recent York family that bore his name.
One among his sons had been arrested for melting US silver coins, but Colombo claimed it was police harassment and formed the league with the stated goal of opposing discrimination against Italian Americans.
After gathering support, Colombo held the league’s first rally that summer at Recent York’s Columbus Circle, which drew hundreds, and he hosted a profit in November at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum with tickets selling for as high as $250.
However the league had ulterior motives, and with it got here violence.
The Staten Island Advance, a small but well-read newspaper that was a staple of Recent York’s least-populated borough, had been aggressively reporting on the league’s activities, which included extortion and assaults.
Many Italians from Brooklyn had moved to Staten Island following the opening of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in 1964, which connected the 2 Recent York City boroughs.
Unhappy with its coverage, the league demonstrated in front of the paper’s offices and elsewhere, tough guys with picket signs.
One among the newspaper’s delivery trucks was run off the road and burned while two drivers were beaten, one with a tire iron, and hospitalized.
The league was also unhappy with “The Godfather,” claiming that the book portrayed Italian Americans in a negative light.
In order pre-production began on the film, set in Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood, the league set its sights on the movie.
It had strong-armed merchants there into buying and displaying league decals on their storefront windows, and the Teamsters ordered its truckers and film crew members to walk away, while league members were threatening the film’s executives with phone calls telling them to “get the f–k outta town, or else.”
“It was f–king chaos,” said Billy.
“They began production in Recent York and immediately there was trouble from the Teamsters, who refused to do any work. After which there have been guys f–king with their trucks and knocking off equipment, like cameras and anything that wasn’t nailed down. We had guys down there each day. Andy Russo, who was a really big deal within the Colombo family, he was there. He was Carmine Persico’s guy before he gave up the family and it went to Joe Colombo. Andy absolutely loved Russell, and he was really near James Caan. I believe they knew one another as kids. But there was a lot happening before they even began filming.”
The film’s producers sought to talk to Colombo, and there can be several meetings.
One was on the Park Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan, where numerous league officials were holding an emergency meeting.
Russell and Billy were there, and so they listened closely as Al Ruddy set out the terms negotiated with the league. “Ruddy said he would take out the word ‘Mafia’ from the screenplay, give a million [dollars] to the league, stop selling some ‘Godfather’ board game, and have a premiere of the movie in Recent York,” said Billy.
“Ruddy kept saying the movie wasn’t about corrupt Italians but a corrupt society. Russell loved that. He was already pulling the strings within the background. He was the rabbi, and Colombo was consulting with him, so when Russell said it was okay, Colombo said okay. Without Russell, that movie would never have been made.”
Cutting a take care of the Recent York Mafia shocked Paramount Pictures executives, who fired Ruddy for not only making the deal but participating in a press conference with Colombo.
However the agreement calmed the league and paved the way in which for the production to resume after Russell passed word to the Teamsters to get back to work and for street guys to stop raiding the set. And on the urging of Coppola, Ruddy was quickly rehired.
But the actual gangsters didn’t go away.
Many remained lingering within the restaurants and occasional shops near the downtown set, and a number of other even secured plum acting roles.
“Right after we brokered this peace between the producers and the league, we’re at La Cantina in Little Italy and Lenny Montana is available in with this f–king camera lens he took from the set,” said Billy. “He’s this really big street guy from Brooklyn or Staten Island who was down there as a bodyguard for Andy Russo. Lenny is available in and says, ‘Look what I got.’ It have to be price fifty thousand dollars.
He pulls it out from his coat and he’s showing it to us and Russell sees it and yells, ‘What the f–k are you doing! Bring it back! Bring it back at once, you f–king idiot, and don’t ever let me see or hear about you taking anything from there!’ Montana was a giant man and I never saw him move so fast.”
After Montana did what he was told and returned the camera lens, he went back to being Andy Russo’s bodyguard, but not for long.
The a part of Vito Corleone’s bodyguard, Luca Brasi, had yet to be forged, and Coppola noticed the hulking Montana, who was a wrestler.
“They needed someone to step in and play Luca Brasi and there was big Lenny Montana,” said Billy. “Lenny was a street guy, a hustler. Andy Russo was close friends with James Caan and was there on the set each day, with Lenny beside him. In order that they put Lenny within the movie. He doesn’t have to actually speak much but when he does he f–ks it up in a scene with Brando in his office. But it surely looks so real they keep it within the film anyway. Afterward he ran around telling everyone he was a movie star.”
The crooner Al Martino tried all the things he could to play the role of Johnny Fontane, the lascivious crooner and Frank Sinatra knock-off.
But Coppola said no.
Martino was born Jasper Cini in Philadelphia in 1927.
He had several Top 40 hits throughout the Fifties but was forced to depart the country over an affair he had with the wife of Anthony “Tony Geese” Corallo, a high-ranking member of the Lucchese Family in Recent York.
It took eight years to get him back to the US.
“Tony Geese threatened to kill Martino,” said Billy. “So he fled to England and stayed there. After enough time had passed it was Russell who brought him back.”
When he returned, Russell helped Martino secure a latest record contract. He released “I Love You Because” in 1963, which was a top-five hit, and he became a preferred attraction on the club circuit.
But he desperately wanted the Johnny Fontane role.
“Al is near Russell, had been for years, and after being turned down a number of times he finally went to Russell,” said Billy. “Al really wanted that part but Coppola said no. They wanted another person, Vic Damone. So Russell says, ‘Okay, you’re not making it. The movie is dead.’ Right after that Damone drops out and Al gets the role. But we had so many guys within the movie. We also had James Caan with us. He lived with us, ate and drank every night with us at Johnny D’s. Russell even had him at his home with Al Martino. Russell cooked for them, and he loved it.”
But Russell didn’t love Marlon Brando.
After he put out word that he wanted to fulfill an actual don, Cappy and Angelo escorted Russell to the film set on Mott Street in Little Italy and to Brando’s trailer.
Russell walked inside for what can be the primary of several meetings.
“Russell spent numerous time with Brando,” said Billy.
“Russell showed him the ropes, speak, certain mannerisms, his quiet way, which Brando utilized in the film. Every time Brando had a matter, he’d call Russell. I didn’t imagine it the primary time I heard his voice on the phone. I assumed it was a joke. But it surely was him. Russell got the sensation that Brando thought he was above him, and also you never do this to Russell. So in the long run he thought he was a punk.”
But Brando actually knew his place with Russell.
Following a protracted day shooting the large wedding scene that opens the image, Brando, who had been drinking all day, decided to drop his pants and moon the lots of of individuals in the group, then he suddenly realized that most of the extras standing there have been men connected to the Bufalino Family.
Terrified, he quickly pulled up his trousers and sent word that he meant no disrespect to Mr. Bufalino.
With peace on the set, filming of “The Godfather” proceeded without incident and Russell went about his other business.
Excerpted from “The Life We Selected: William ‘Big Billy’ D’Elia and The Last Secrets of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Family” by Matt Birkbeck, published by William Morrow. Copyright © 2023 by Matt Birkbeck. Reprinted courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers.
