How Would Youse Like to be in a Mob Movie?

Dare to Dream films is holding a casting call next week for the new movie: "Little Chicago".

Their looking for women ages 21 through 40's. You're encouraged to bring either a headshot or a recent up-close photo.

The casting call is Monday and Wednesday from 2 to 7 p.m., at the Chameleon Lounge in Endicott, NY For more information, call (607) 743-0851.

Little Chicago Plot Summary:

Little Chicago is not in the state of Illinois. It's 75 miles from Niagara Falls, New York.

Stefano Magaddino, cousin of Joseph Bonanno, and his brother Antonio stood by the roaring waters of Niagara Falls on a freezing day in January of 1920, a day that changed the drinking habits of Americans. This was the day the Volstead Act -- Prohibition -- went into effect.

"We’re going to be rich, Antonio," Stefano said, looking over the Niagara River. "I'm glad I voted Republican."

They made a fortune moving alcohol, the golden key of bootleg whiskey, across the Canadian border. Magaddino would become the man to be reckoned with in Western New York. No one would dare cross one of the last "Dons" in America.

Like a giant conglomerate, the illegal booze racket ran wild. Speakeasies saturated the landscape, small-time hoods battled for power and Wild-West-style gang wars raged in small towns in Western New York and northern Pennsylvania.

The smell of big money reached the noses of ambitious young thugs.

Murder numbers ran out of control. It was a wide-open franchise as long as the Magaddinos received a generous return.

Out of the gunsmoke surfaced Al Ritchie, an ex-boxer and small-time thug who was given a gold badge by the district attorney and ran a successful bootleg operation.

The main character, Richie, an outside Mafia renegade, was behind many of the 14 unsolved murders in "Little Chicago." When he came to town he was a tall, handsome, 26-year-old Italian immigrant. He was a womanizer with a hypnotic charm. His jet-black hair, deep set eyes and slender build gave him a Valentino appearance. He always wore expensive suits and a $1,000 diamond pin in his lapel. He was the target of at least five attempts on his life but always walked away unscathed. To stay alive, he had to be clever, cunning and ruthless. He always wore a smile on his face, but kept a sinister hate in his heart. He trusted no one. His involvement with a 16-year-old beauty was taken as a passing fancy, but the affair carried a dark shadow with it. Rose Parente, a wide-eyed cupie-doll high school senior, was a constant companion of Ritchie’s.

Al Ritchie would go on to live his immigrant dream. He made a fortune with bootleg booze, ran a nightclub, the Sunset Inn, a few miles outside of Olean. He had cars, clothes, action and a reputation to be reckoned with. What more could one ask out of life?

He was a Robin Hood to the poor and downtrodden, but a chilling person to his enemies.

The movie is based on the true story described in a chapter of the book “Invisible Ink" by Carl A. Veno.

Tweet

Plea for Mercy Reduces Mobster's Sentence

Saying he was swayed by a family's plea for mercy, a federal judge sentenced a mob figure to 8 1/2 years in prison Tuesday for passing information to his imprisoned half-brother, a reputed Outfit boss.

U.S. District Judge James Zagel said he had planned to impose an even stiffer sentence until Michael Marcello's son, Sam, and others spoke of his dedication to his family.

"He's a decent man, he's remorseful and he's very conscious of his actions," the son said of Marcello, who pleaded guilty in June to racketeering and conspiracy to conduct affairs with organized crime. "He's always insisted I conduct myself with principle. "

Zagel said Marcello's loyalty had made him an exceptional family member but may also have led him down "the disastrous path" to his mob activities.

"Maybe one of your principles is one of your problems," the judge said. "Maybe you were too good of a brother."

Zagel said he had intended to sentence Marcello,58, to more than nine years—the maximum called for under federal sentencing guidelines.

Thanks to Azam Ahmed

Tweet

The Fifth Mafia

James Van Der Beek has started talks to star in Vito Giambalvo's new crime drama The Fifth Mafia.

The Dawson's Creek actor is expected to play an FBI Agent whose life is ruined by the son of a murdered Mafia boss, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Already confirmed for the movie are Joe Mantegna, Armand Assante and Eric Balfour, who will play the son who runs into trouble with the FBI.

The script is based on a story by Philip Olsen. Shooting is expected to begin at the end of the month.

Tweet

The Shark Pays His Respects to Mitch Mars

2 weeks ago yesterday, I attended Mitch Mars' wake. It was a tragic event for the legal community. Mitch was a great guy. One time we played golf at an outing and I was the only one in the foursome who was not in law enforcement. We made jokes all day about the various sponsors of the golf holes. I proposed that "The Outfit" sponsor the hole-in-one and we all laughed. I was given beer coolers with federal law enforcement logos and I a passed them out to the boys for their boats on Lake Geneva. We had fun using those coolers on hot days and busting about Mitch and his band of untouchables.

Mitch was a great adversary who never went after the lawyers, only their clients. I have been under surveillance for years meeting with guys at restaurant's etc.... Mitch never cared because he knew it was part of the business and he knew that my clients would never tell me anything that could hurt them because that is how they are. Mitch loved rock music including Chicago favorites - Smashing Pumpkins. We talked about music and concerts all the time. I was sad to see Mitch go because he had been in the office when I started practicing law in 1984. I met him during the Pedote, Bambulas and Switek trial. It was 1985 and it was my first federal criminal trial. It was a planned robbery of over 1 million in gold that was thwarted because a informant was recruited to drive the getaway van. The robbery was going to be at the Maller's building in Chicago also known as the jewelers building. Anyway, Mitch came to see the trial and I did meet him. (Ed Pedote pleaded guilty to federal robbery, weapons and drug charges and sentenced to 5 years probation. Mike Swiatek and Daniel Bambulas were sent to prison on that case.)

Over the years we came to know each other. Like me he was a Chicago boy born into the concrete jungle, not a suburban boy. Mitch and I loved hot dogs and hot dog stands. We talked about Chicago hot dogs all the time. Mitch loved the small hot dog stands with the soggy buns and rolled tamales.

I have to say he will be missed, but not by my clients. This is a funny business because the lawyers can be friendly, but in the court room they can be ruthless to each other. The clients may not understand the relationship lawyers have with one another and that is understandable. We, as lawyers, do not take it personal, but some clients do. The prosecutor's job is to lock up criminals and my job is to keep them out. Mitch locked up a lot of guys over the years. Some hate him, while others despise him, yet some say he was fair. Good bye Mitch, we will all miss you!

- Joe "The Shark" Lopez

Tweet

Judge Approves of Prosecutors Romancing US Marshal

Arresting and romancing don't mix.

That was one of the conclusions of a federal judge Friday as he rejected a request from a deputy U.S. Marshal who wanted his statements to investigators kept out of his upcoming trial for allegedly leaking secrets to the Chicago mob.

Deputy U.S. Marshal John Ambrose, once a rising star but now suspended without pay, said he was coerced into making statements that he leaked information concerning a witness he was guarding - Nicholas Calabrese, a mob hit man turned federal witness.

Prosecutors argued they were interested in getting Ambrose to cooperate - in "romancing" him, as U.S. District Judge John Grady characterized it.

Prosecutors said authorities didn't wind up arresting Ambrose, 39, of Tinley Park, during a meeting in September 2006 with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and FBI agent Robert Grant, the head of the bureau's Chicago office.

Fitzgerald and Grant wanted to pitch Ambrose to cooperate.

They thought he leaked the information on Calabrese but didn't know how imprisoned mob boss James Marcello learned of it. They wanted Ambrose to fill in the blanks.

Fitzgerald testified at Friday's court hearing he told Ambrose at the start of the 2006 meeting he wasn't under arrest.

Grant backed up Fitzgerald's testimony.

Ambrose, though, told the judge Fitzgerald never mentioned he wasn't under arrest - a key omission.

Ambrose argued whatever he told Fitzgerald and Grant in the meeting shouldn't be allowed as evidence at trial because he was coerced. But the judge didn't buy it.

"If you're going to romance him, arresting him is inconsistent with romancing - or pitching him - as they put it in testimony," Grady said.

Ambrose's attorney, Francis Lipuma, said Ambrose was disappointed by the judge's ruling, but Ambrose still plans on going to trial.

The U.S. attorney's office had no comment on the judge's ruling.

Thanks to Steve Warmbir

Tweet