It was the late winter of 1971 when the telephone rang at ABS Contracting, one of many many reducing rooms Russell [Bufalino] owned in northeast Pennsylvania.
When Billy picked it up, he heard a well-known voice.
“Hiya, that is Marlon Brando calling for Mr. Bufalino.”
Billy didn’t imagine it.
He put the telephone to his chest and yelled out to Russell, “There’s some f–king man on the telephone pretending he’s Marlon Brando!”
Billy chuckled, figuring it was a prank name, however Russell checked out him with a loss of life stare and barked, “Give me that f–king telephone!”
“Hiya, Marlon?” stated Russell. “Sure, I’m high-quality. How are you?”
Brando had been forged to painting Vito Corleone within the upcoming movie “The Godfather,” which was set to start principal images in New York.
The revered actor had achieved nice success in the course of the Fifties, successful the Finest Actor award on the Academy Awards in 1955 for “On the Waterfront.”
However his reputation had waned lately.
Director Francis Ford Coppola thought Brando was good for a movie that was the other of the stereotypical mob film crammed with psychotic gangsters and blood operating within the streets.
However Brando had not too long ago come off of a number of forgettable roles, and Paramount Photos executives hated him for the half.
After initially refusing Coppola’s efforts to connect him to the movie, Brando sought out the position and even agreed to audition to win over the leery executives.
He was the one film star amongst a bunch of actors that producer Al Ruddy signed for the pivotal roles within the movie, together with James Caan, Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, John Cazale and Abe Vigoda.
Effectively-known for his meticulous preparation, Brando envisioned Vito Corleone as highly effective however soft-spoken, cerebral however sturdy.
A household man who noticed himself as a sufferer of happenstance who might have been a company chief as an alternative of a mob boss.
However Brando wanted inspiration and perception, so when he requested others tied to the manufacturing for an introduction to somebody who might assist him painting a mob boss, all of them quietly pointed to Russell.
Russell had made his presence felt behind the scenes, taking part in a key position in ending months of battle that delayed the manufacturing and threatened to derail the movie altogether.
He was, to the shock of many, together with Billy, intrigued by the movie.
It was based mostly on the 1968 guide by Mario Puzo, a bestseller that offered almost 10 million copies. Paramount had acquired the movie rights.
However as filming in New York neared, the manufacturing bumped into one drawback after one other, largely from a newly fashioned advocacy group, the Italian American Civil Rights League.
The nascent league was fashioned in April 1970 by Joe Colombo, the pinnacle of the New York household that bore his title.
One in all his sons had been arrested for melting US silver cash, however Colombo claimed it was police harassment and fashioned the league with the acknowledged aim of opposing discrimination towards Italian Individuals.
After gathering assist, Colombo held the league’s first rally that summer time at New York’s Columbus Circle, which drew 1000’s, and he hosted a profit in November at Madison Sq. Backyard’s Felt Discussion board with tickets promoting for as excessive as $250.
However the league had ulterior motives, and with it got here violence.
The Staten Island Advance, a small however well-read newspaper that was a staple of New York’s least-populated borough, had been aggressively reporting on the league’s actions, 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 linked the 2 New York Metropolis boroughs.
Sad with its protection, the league demonstrated in entrance of the paper’s places of work and elsewhere, robust guys with picket indicators.
One of many newspaper’s supply vans was run off the street and burned whereas two drivers have been overwhelmed, one with a tire iron, and hospitalized.
The league was additionally sad with “The Godfather,” claiming that the guide portrayed Italian Individuals in a damaging mild.
In order pre-production started on the movie, set in Manhattan’s Little Italy neighborhood, the league set its sights on the film.
It had strong-armed retailers there into shopping for and displaying league decals on their storefront home windows, and the Teamsters ordered its truckers and movie crew members to stroll away, whereas league members have been threatening the movie’s executives with telephone calls telling them to “get the f–ok outta city, or else.”
“It was f–king chaos,” stated Billy.
“They began manufacturing in New York and instantly there was hassle from the Teamsters, who refused to do any work. After which there have been guys f–king with their vans and knocking off gear, like cameras and anything that wasn’t nailed down. We had guys down there daily. Andy Russo, who was a really large deal within the Colombo household, he was there. He was Carmine Persico’s man earlier than he gave up the household and it went to Joe Colombo. Andy completely liked Russell, and he was actually near James Caan. I believe they knew one another as youngsters. However there was a lot happening earlier than they even began filming.”
The movie’s producers sought to talk to Colombo, and there could be a number of conferences.
One was on the Park Sheraton Resort in Manhattan, the place numerous league officers have been holding an emergency assembly.
Russell and Billy have been there, and so they listened carefully as Al Ruddy set out the phrases negotiated with the league. “Ruddy stated he would take out the phrase ‘Mafia’ from the screenplay, give a million [dollars] to the league, cease promoting some ‘Godfather’ board sport, and have a premiere of the film in New York,” stated Billy.
“Ruddy stored saying the film wasn’t about corrupt Italians however a corrupt society. Russell liked that. He was already pulling the strings within the background. He was the rabbi, and Colombo was consulting with him, so when Russell stated it was okay, Colombo stated okay. With out Russell, that film would by no means have been made.”
Reducing a cope with the New York Mafia shocked Paramount Photos executives, who fired Ruddy for not simply making the deal however collaborating in a press convention with Colombo.
However the settlement calmed the league and paved the best way for the manufacturing to renew after Russell handed phrase to the Teamsters to get again to work and for road guys to cease raiding the set. And on the urging of Coppola, Ruddy was shortly rehired.
However the true gangsters didn’t go away.
Many remained lingering within the eating places and low outlets close to the downtown set, and several other even secured plum performing roles.
“Proper 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 digital camera lens he took from the set,” stated Billy. “He’s this actually large road man from Brooklyn or Staten Island who was down there as a bodyguard for Andy Russo. Lenny is available in and says, ‘Look what I obtained.’ It should be price fifty thousand {dollars}.
He pulls it out from his coat and he’s exhibiting it to us and Russell sees it and yells, ‘What the f–ok are you doing! Convey it again! Convey it again proper now, you f–king fool, and don’t ever let me see or hear about you taking anything from there!’ Montana was a giant man and I by no means noticed him transfer so quick.”
After Montana did what he was instructed and returned the digital camera lens, he went again to being Andy Russo’s bodyguard, however not for lengthy.
The a part of Vito Corleone’s bodyguard, Luca Brasi, had but to be forged, and Coppola seen the hulking Montana, who was a wrestler.
“They wanted somebody to step in and play Luca Brasi and there was large Lenny Montana,” stated Billy. “Lenny was a road man, a hustler. Andy Russo was shut buddies with James Caan and was there on the set daily, with Lenny beside him. So that they put Lenny within the film. He doesn’t have to actually converse a lot however when he does he f–ks it up in a scene with Brando in his workplace. But it surely appears so actual they maintain it within the movie anyway. Afterward he ran round telling everybody he was a film star.”
The crooner Al Martino tried every part he might to play the position of Johnny Fontane, the lascivious crooner and Frank Sinatra knock-off.
However Coppola stated no.
Martino was born Jasper Cini in Philadelphia in 1927.
He had a number of High 40 hits in the course of the Fifties however was compelled to depart the nation over an affair he had with the spouse of Anthony “Tony Geese” Corallo, a high-ranking member of the Lucchese Household in New York.
It took eight years to get him again to the US.
“Tony Geese threatened to kill Martino,” stated Billy. “So he fled to England and stayed there. After sufficient time had handed it was Russell who introduced him again.”
When he returned, Russell helped Martino safe a brand new document contract. He launched “I Love You As a result of” in 1963, which was a top-five hit, and he grew to become a preferred attraction on the membership circuit.
However he desperately wished the Johnny Fontane position.
“Al is near Russell, had been for years, and after being turned down a number of instances he lastly went to Russell,” stated Billy. “Al actually wished that half however Coppola stated no. They wished another person, Vic Damone. So Russell says, ‘Okay, you’re not making it. The film is useless.’ Proper after that Damone drops out and Al will get the position. However we had so many guys within the film. We additionally had James Caan with us. He lived with us, ate and drank each evening with us at Johnny D’s. Russell even had him at his residence with Al Martino. Russell cooked for them, and he liked it.”
However Russell didn’t love Marlon Brando.
After he put out phrase that he wished to fulfill an actual don, Cappy and Angelo escorted Russell to the movie set on Mott Avenue in Little Italy and to Brando’s trailer.
Russell walked inside for what could be the primary of a number of conferences.
“Russell spent lots of time with Brando,” stated Billy.
“Russell confirmed him the ropes, how you can converse, sure mannerisms, his quiet approach, which Brando used within the movie. Each time Brando had a query, he’d name Russell. I didn’t imagine it the primary time I heard his voice on the telephone. I assumed it was a joke. But it surely was him. Russell obtained the sensation that Brando thought he was above him, and also you by no means do this to Russell. So ultimately he thought he was a punk.”
However Brando truly knew his place with Russell.
Following a protracted day capturing the massive wedding ceremony scene that opens the image, Brando, who had been ingesting all day, determined to drop his pants and moon the tons of of individuals within the crowd, then he immediately realized that most of the extras standing there have been males linked to the Bufalino Household.
Terrified, he shortly pulled up his trousers and despatched phrase that he meant no disrespect to Mr. Bufalino.
With peace on the set, filming of “The Godfather” proceeded with out incident and Russell went about his different enterprise.
Excerpted from “The Life We Selected: William ‘Large Billy’ D’Elia and The Final Secrets and techniques of America’s Most Highly effective Mafia Household” by Matt Birkbeck, revealed by William Morrow. Copyright © 2023 by Matt Birkbeck. Reprinted courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers.
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