 Welcome to my show. Today I'm going to have an interview with one of the most fascinating actors in movie history. This man's story can't be told in a single book. It can't be told in a single documentary. This man has touched the lives of so many famous people it will make your head spin. I'm talking about the people that are icons in American history. With me today and responsible for this interview is my dear friend Rob Baldacci. Rob, thanks for setting this up. Gary, thank you. This is going to be exciting. We're looking forward to it. This is going to be one of our best without question. The theme has been, quote, the mob in our last three shows. But this gentleman has had his foot in every possible place you can think of. Ladies and gentlemen, we have Gianni Russo. And Gianni, his first role, was in The Godfather, Godfather I. He was in Godfather II, and since then he's been in 46 other motion pictures and 60, 60 television shows and motion pictures to his credit plus books, interviews, everything. Gianni, welcome aboard. Thank you so much for joining us. No, thank you for having me, man. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Rob, you're in New England. We're in Portland, Portland, Maine. And I know when I first reached out to you, you were hoping to come up. But things didn't work out. But we're still pleased to have you and interviewing you today via Zoom. And you're only missing a lot of the dinner, Gianni. That's all you're missing. You're free love to dinner like you need one. Well, the next thing we want to work on with Gianni is to get, bring him up here with his nightclub act, which is at some point, Gianni, during this interview, I'd like you to talk a little bit about what you're doing. I will, please. Yeah, absolutely. But I think a good thing to start off with Gianni. And, you know, I've seen many interviews. I've read your book. And I think the quote from De Niro says it all. Gianni Rousseau walks the walk, talks the talk, what a life, a worthy read. For anybody that hasn't read this book, and this is a bestseller, I couldn't put it down, Gianni. It was a page turner from one minute to the next. And I know you're going to be coming up with a new book here pretty soon, which we want you to talk about when you have a moment or two. No, definitely. But growing up, you grew up in Little Italy. Tell us a little bit about your family and what happened to you as a young kid, which I think kind of sets the stage for what happened later. Well, it definitely did. And, you know, up until six and a half, I was just a normal Italian burden kid on a motor street thinking everybody over 21 was my uncle and every lady over 21 was my aunt. I thought we had the biggest family in the world, but that was the thing that, you know, had a respect used to call elderly people aunts and uncles. With that said, that all changed August 9, 1949. I got polio and I was one of the first kids to get it. And they quarantined me in Bellevue Hospital, which is the state hospital on 30th Street and First Avenue, which I walked past it yet. The building is still there that I was in the old one, but they've rebuilt blocks in Bellevue Hospital since then. But it changed my life forever. And I wouldn't change a day of that. I mean, believe me, I think going through that, not like our children or grandchildren, with all of the respect to who they are, I had to survive. And I survived watching 2300 kids pass in five years that I was there. And it turned me, it taught me the value of, you know, mobility and just thanking God for being alive. Janney, you were hospitalized for five years? Yes. Straight quarantine. No visitors. Not even your family, your mother and father? No, nobody. Which in a while, for a while there, I was getting very bitter because my birthday was approaching December 12th, which I was there four and a half months. And I asked Dolores Barone, who was Carlo Gambino's niece, thank God, she was there. And I say that away because he told her, there's a kid from the neighborhood looking after him, not realizing why he would say that to later on in my life. But she used to give me the extra jello in the pudding and give me a hug at the end of the night, which basically kept my sanity. And Janney, there was a maintenance guy that worked in the ward who she warned you about, correct? Her name, his name was Harold. As I got older, when I was young, I was a good looking guy. And as I was getting 10 or 11 years of age there, she warned me about this guy. And, you know, it's not like today where we have so many ways, means of communication giving you these pointers on these kind of people. But I didn't know anything about it. And for some strange reason, after, you know, they tried to encourage you to get out of bed. They wouldn't give you a bedpan anymore once you had some mobility. And fortunately, my right side was so strong with my left side that was paralyzed. So what I did, I crawled out of bed and slid into the floor and got to the railings all along the walls and dragged myself to the bathroom. And one day there's porters broom, these little short rooms that they use in theaters and they call them porters brooms. And I just tuck it into my right arm. I don't know why, but thank God I did. And I would go to the bathroom and not in any hurry to get back. And I couldn't stand that a urinal had to sit on a bowl. I would just sit there and I broke the bristles off the broom. And I filed the end of the broom handle to a very sharp point with the ground in the floor, never knowing why I did it. But thank God I did it because one night how God became and tried to attack me, basically. And I killed him. And you killed him. And then just briefly, I know we've got so much ground to cover, Johnny, in a short period of time, but what happened after you killed him? Well, they put me up in the psych ward on the seventh floor for 72 observation, 72 hours, which if you can withstand that, that's a test of endurance because the floor is like a funnel. And it goes from one floor to the next floor. And male or female, everybody's sitting around. Everybody's nude. And they would come and wash down the floor maybe every hour on the hour. And they were just observing you and your mannerisms and all of that. And then they let me out. And first of all, I was just thank God I got out only to find out later. The reason they let me out, they didn't want the rest of the world to know that there was a pedophile amongst all these kids. And they just want to sweep it on the rug. And fortunately, I get out of there. So, Gianni, you were never charged, never, never brought forth. So they knew it was self-defense, obviously. Oh, yeah. And you are how old when this happened? Seven. Jesus. This is the most amazing story I've ever heard. I know. I know. And then the stories get better and better as we go on. No, it gets crazy. Yeah, it does. It was so insane. Where do we go from here? Well, we go to Frank Costello and how you met Costello and the members of the Mafia and your involvement once you got out, Gianni. And you were just a young kid at the time. Yeah, I was 12 and I went to work in a bakery. I didn't go back home. I was so bitter. And when Dolores wheeled me out unbeknownst to me, she made them believe she was turning me over to my parents. But when the when the can came, she said, take him to 247 Mulberry Street. OK. And I'm saying, what's 247 Mulberry Street? I knew Mulberry Street and they dropped me off at the Ravenite. Oh, wow. And when I arrived, O'Neill and Gambino was outside with my grandpa and all that. But you think a veteran was coming home from the war. And they were all greeting me and I'm a kid. I'm still again, my whole left side of my body still dwarfed in a way and I had a very minimal use. And after a while, they're getting all the accolades and the kisses and this and that, and I'm hearing the apple didn't fall off the tree. I'm saying, what are they talking about the apple in this? And then I realized that my older uncle, my grandfather's brother, his name was Angelo Russo, and he sent most of these people to this country. And he stayed in Sicily and in 1949 they hung them when they were trying to clean up Olocos and Ostra in Sicily. Yeah. So that's why I got this respect that, you know, no 12 year old in the world would get at that age. But the fact that I took out this guy, that's where they come up with the saying the apple didn't fall off from the tree because he was a notorious killer. Wow. That's that's. And he was the one who really was responsible for Frank Costello and Lucky Luciano when they came over here, correct? Well, he sent Costello's family here. Costello was a little younger than Gambino. But what I found out later on, Carl Gambino at the age of 17 came to America as made man from the Gambino family in Sicily, which still exists. I still talk to them over there. Wow. I have a big company over there. I'm into Barbera Olive Oil, which I rebranded under Genco. I own that IP. That's so cool movie. So I just got to chime into the audience. So he just mentions the olive oil. He's also got wine. He's got Italian food. I'm sure you've got pistachio nuts, too, or something. It's amazing. Go ahead. This is my clothing line because of me. You're going to call me honey. Well, I love business. I love business. And you've done very well with your life. Gianni, coming really with nothing and it's remarkable. So with Costello, you talk a little bit about your relationship with Frank Costello and meeting some of the members of the five families and how that, you know, transitioned into meeting, you know, Joe Colombo and the whole issue with the Godfather movie, which we should talk about. How that happened? Well, I was working in a bakery on Mach Street. Megadonni's bakery is a friend of my grandfather's. And again, I believe in God, and I don't want to sound ridiculous to too many people, but I totally believe in this man who's been watching over me all this time. I took the job at the bakery and I was mixing 50 pound bags of flour by hand. I wouldn't use the mixer. And I was building up my body. It was like dynamic tension. Anybody bakes, you know what that is. So I'd make the dough. Then once it rose, we cut it into quarter pound loaves and then kneaded that with our hands. But the cold ovens and the flour in the air, I should have major arthritis right now. I have nothing wrong with me. Ever since I walked out of the hospital, I don't have a thing wrong. Meg, our friend's getting knees planted. I'll be 80 years old this December, December 12th. Oh, God bless you. Now you don't look a day over 78. That's great, it's a lighting. So explain how you ended up meeting Marilyn Monroe. Oh, my God. Well, how I met Marilyn Monroe is how I met I had to meet Costello first. I was selling ballpoint pens. Right. They just came out. So I took them uptown. I was standing out front of Sherry Netherlands with my gimp arm and selling these pens that I bought for 10 cents from Leo Rabinowitz on Delancey Street. And these ladies would give me a dollar. And this one guy used to come cross town every day around 10.30 between 10.30, 11. Never take a pen. Give me a few dollars, give me five dollars and give me words of wisdom. But the one thing I noticed every time he was ready to leave, he'd like give me a hug and made sure he touched my left shoulder, my crippled shoulder. I didn't care what he was doing. Keep giving me the money. This went off for months. And then I found out what he was doing by accident. I seen, I used to go see Gambino at Ferraris in the morning. He always went there when he came in from Brooklyn, had coffee and had legitimate meetings at Ferraris Pastry Shop on Grand Avenue. It's still there. Next door there is a religious store. I still buy all my holy pictures and all that. And they introduced me to this Lagorna that people wore around their neck, especially Cecians. But this one had a hunchback on it. So I said, Joe, what's with the hunchback? These will Cecians are suspicious about touching cripples. Well, the blood drained from my face. Cause I thought Costello liked me. So on the way to the train, I took the end train uptown. There was some old girl selling rabbit speed for locket set for 10 cents. So I bought a pick one and put it in my pocket. Now here he comes just like I knew he would. Every day he's coming and I'm waiting. So he comes, he gives me five hours and he gives me words of wisdom. And he goes and touch my shoulder and I move. He goes to touch my shoulder again and he move. He's, what are you doing? And I said, what's your doing? Not what I'm doing. You know who I am. I said, no, I don't know who you are. I don't even want to know who you are. And he couldn't believe my attitude at a kid 12 years old. And the guy who I thought was his friend was his bodyguard, Blackie, who I'll get to know for the rest of his life. And as you believe this kid, he's what's your name, kid? I told him by name. He said, who's Angelo Russo to you? As Angelo Russo, my great uncle. He said, when's the last time you saw him? I said, well, if you know anything about him, I never saw him. He said, why is that? I said, no, you tell me why? He said, I asked you a question, son. And I want an answer. And now this guy's getting stirred. I said, well, they hung him. He said, they hung him. And I said, they hung him in Sicily. So he tells Blackie, take that cigar box. I said, I need to take my cigar box. With this, he took a roll of money out. I've never seen it in my life. And he gives me three $100 bills. He's unbinding your pens. I had maybe $7 worth of pens, gave me $300. And he said, you know where the wall is? I said, yeah, I know where the Republic brought them is in New York, because that's where I was going. I lived in these places. He said, meet me there tomorrow under the clock in the lobby at 10. I was there at nine, make sure I didn't miss the guy. And I worked with him until 1973 when he died. Jesus, wow. And he told me, the story that, you know, my great uncle was responsible for so many people. And then he told me about Gambino. I said, I ain't no Mr. Gambino. He's, you know, Carlo Gambino. I said, yeah, he gave me a transistor radio for my birthday. He says, I don't know who you are, but this is getting crazy, so, but anyway. And then we all met down in one day. We all met at the Ravenite. And again, it got bigger because now I'm dealing with, you know, Tony Anastasia, who was the head of the International Long Showman Union. He became my, he baptized at my confirmation when I was 12. And this circle guy keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger throughout the world. Unbelievable. So Gianni, so far we've been on here about 20 minutes and we're only at age 11. I know. We've got about 70 years to go here. That's one thing about that, how much time you have. The interview's an hour, so. Yeah, yeah, we get you for an hour, buddy. But Rob was asking you about, well, first of all, you did the Godfather. You met Melon Monroe shortly a few years later. You met her before you were in the Godfather, right? You were 16. I met her because I was a personal Arab boy for Costello for the first three or four years. And he always had guests staying at the Waldorf. So there's one day he said, I'm going fishing with a carter, the head of Chicago outfit. He used to go fishing with him a lot. They still love the fish. Anyway, he said, I got a guest. Tomorrow being Saturday, go up to your check on her around 12, there's no problem. Now what I didn't tell you, I got caught by a tune officer because I was only 15 on the streets of New York and they sent me to continuation school until I was 16. And Costello arranged for me to go to Wilford Academy on top of Lindy's, which was one of my routes. This is the only way it makes sense. So I was there and then Markson Clare and Kenneth, who was Senator John F. Kennedy's personal hairdresser, needed shampoo boys and they hired me. And the fourth hairdresser shampooed was Marilyn Monroe. And I used to go to New York Theater, the Paramount Theater, 24 hours a day when Costello went home, I had nowhere to go. I'd go watch movies there. I saw some like an hot 10 times. Now you're washing their hair. Now I'm washing their hair. Now we know the configuration of a shampoo basin. So let me clean this up a little bit. I have my three piece set on her shoulder. Yeah, and as I'm going to clean this up, she's going to go ahead and I'm fantasizing, seeing this lady singing, I want to make love to you in the movie. And I'm getting aroused and I'm saying, how am I going to get her from this shampoo basin? It is these two for folks chair in the middle of the, in the middle of the salon. Yeah. Yeah, so we'll move on from there. But you end up seeing her several times thereafter, right? Before you're straight. Yes. I was the last person to see her at Calneva. The last weekend of her life, she was up in Calneva again. Now that JFK was president and Costello was commissioned by Joe Kennedy to get the mob and all the unions involved again to become president and that happened. The mob was supposed to get the other casinos back in Cuba. But as we all know in American history, Bobby didn't believe that there were Russian missiles. So the Bay of Pigs, the airstrike was called off and the mob got nothing. So now it's two years, he got the presidency, the mob got nothing. We're up in Calneva for a different reason. They want to use Marilyn as a pawn for Bobby because Bobby took over where John stopped seeing Marilyn for a year because he told Marilyn I gotta watch because I'm a Catholic and I'm married to Jackie but seeing my brother for a year, I mean, she was so naive. And unbeknownst to us, which is in my new book, she got an abortion about six weeks before this beating and aborting one of John's kids because he couldn't have any more kids when he was married to Ethel and he's the attorney general. You mean Bobby's kids? Bobby, yes. So with that said, they were trying to get Bobby in bed with him one time like they did J. Gohova in Chicago because he was a cross dresser and he always denounced that there was even a mob because of that. But she went ballistic and said, I'm going to the press. I want nothing to do with these Kennedys. I fly back to New York. I tell Frank what's going on is they're going to kill her and sure enough, they killed her. And like, you know, we're all intelligent people now. I'm surprised that St. Martin's Press and my McMillan, who's the parent company that published my book, which the cover was just shown to your audience, they vetted this. I put this in my book. I said that Robert Kennedy killed Miles Monroe. Do you know the series now this past June where he denied he was even in California. They have Bobby Kennedy in her apartment for four hours that night from testimony from the CIA, the ambulance driver and all. That's why this next book has been stronger than the one I just wrote. Wow. But no, this is getting crazier. Gianni, I've got to tell you, I've heard you say that before. And we had John A. Light on our show. I asked him the question, Point Blank was Kennedy killed by the mob. I asked him Point Blank, certain questions. And I just watched a documentary on Melbourne where the guy says he seemed to confirm that it was a suicide, it was his position. And that the other people knew about it. But your contention is that it was set up. So who would have done the act? Who would have done the act to her? I won't give you his name. He's an anesthesiologist. He was used by the Vatican to get rid of a pope that was in for 30 days. And how he killed Marilyn, he, we all have an organ in our groin area. He got a syringe and threw her pubic hair so he wouldn't see the punch of marks. Just pumped oxygen in her. She died of an amulism. They staged that whole thing. She was in an ambulance. If you saw, you said you just saw that documentary. Yes. They had her in an ambulance going to a hospital. She died in that ambulance. They brought the body back and staged this. And there's another book out right now called Collateral Damage by Mark Shaw. And he attests to it. And I'm gonna try, and if it's my last act on life, I'm gonna get her death certificate reversed because she did not commit suicide. She didn't. Gianni, what you've just said to us, and I'm just amazed by the statement that you just made. You had a relationship with this woman that began when you were a young boy. Right, 15 and a half. And it matured to a point where you are willing to stake your reputation to get her death certificate changed because you want the world to know that this woman did not commit suicide, had no reason to commit suicide. She wasn't so... She was the happiest time of her life. She was studying with Strasburg. She just got a major legitimate part. She didn't want to be a sex symbol. That's why she left Xanaq and she was about to go back to Joe DiMaggio. So her life turned around. She stayed in New York for a year. I saw her almost every day when she had time to. And I was a companion. We were friends. We weren't lovers, but we both had the same thing in common. At 12, she was in an orphanage and she used to look at the water tower of Warner Brothers and said that someday I'm gonna be a movie star. I'm sorry. No, I didn't want to interrupt you, except to say that I brought this magazine with me and I was gonna say to you in a joking way that I think your greatest accomplishment in life was getting to know this woman because I'm one of those people that absolutely adore Mel Monroe and all of her talent and all that she went through. And I just want to say to you, congratulations because you have fulfilled the dream of every single man on the face of this earth. And I gotta tell you, I bought Joe DiMaggio's autograph for one reason only. I told people, I said the hand that signed this autograph touched Mel Monroe. So Gianni, I can't wait to meet you and shake your hand. No, but you have to come down here. I will. And see the shrine I had for her and the pictures of her and I together. Yes. And every night when we were together, because I stayed at the wall of the lot, she would kiss a pillowcase and sign it. Oh, wow. You know how much those pillowcases are worth today? Oh my God, priceless. Gianni, you and I had talked about this a few weeks ago about Marilyn and you were, you commented, clearly you really cared for her. You loved her, I think. Oh my God, yeah. She was like, it was such a strange situation. Basically, and I mean, it's funny because I've done so many motion pictures with co-stars of her. Yeah. Like Tony Curtis, Frank Sinatra, Balambrenda, they all had their way with her. Right. For her, she had such a low esteem. I know it. That's all she thought she could give you is their body. So when she saw you looking at her, she would offer it to you. Wow. Kind of sad, yeah. She invited me into her bathtub for the first time. She was just being nice. Yeah. I mean, when you start reading these books and I have the privilege because when I left Calneve that day, and that's all documented. She was there and so was Robbie Kennedy. I mean, not things are starting to come out, but when I left and I told Costello, that he said they're gonna kill her, I called her neighbor because Mal and I had a dog together. She loved animals, but I knew she was all over the place. And I used to pay the lady, but I was making good money then already. I mean, forget about, Costello made me a very rich man early on in my life. For my 18th birthday, he gave me three hat check rooms. I was making $4 and something dollars a night from each one, all cash. So I mean, so I used to take care of this lady and I used to get everything that's personal out of that, her apartment. Wow. I met her about a month later and gave her money. She said, can I keep the dog? I said, of course. She gave me a shopping bag. In that shopping bag are three mobilized, you know, the notebooks kids go to school with, those mobilized black and white, maybe like 11 by 12. About 400 pages each. I have three of those handwritten by Mal Monroe, her diary. Wow. Gianni, you're in possession of not only those pieces of memorabilia. You're telling me that you've got basically her diary, handwritten diary. There's a diary of Anne Frank and now we're talking about the diary of Mal Monroe and you've got that, you've got possession of that. I already, but they're mine, she came to me. And so Gianni, I wanna ask you a question but I could talk about her all day and we gotta move on because so many things you've done. But she was a very smart person, wasn't she? Oh my God, brilliant. Self-learned, I mean, she read everything there was. I mean, this girl was very intelligent. That, and that's what the Xanax were trying to make her look like some dumb blonde. Right. I know it, I know it. And that's why she left them and nobody knows when she gained the weight because there was a weight in her contract. That's when she was pregnant. She's got a 63-year-old living daughter right now. I'm in contact with her. Wow, that's news. And we don't know whether it's Joe DiMaggio's or my kid and I really don't wanna know. Okay. Excuse me. You mean that there's a 50% chance in your mind that this person is your daughter? I could be. I mean, we're the only two people at that time having relationships with her. Yeah, you and Joe DiMaggio. Johnny, in the interest of time, I'd like to move on to the Godfather. Go ahead, go ahead. Because I think, you know, probably the number one movie of all time. Yes. No question. No question in a moment. There's a TV series called The Offer. I'd like you to comment on that. But specifically, if you could talk about how you ended up getting a part on the Godfather, because I think, and some of the interactions you had with Marlon Brando, James Kahn, Pacino, it's absolutely fascinating. It would be a book by itself. So, what did you talk about? Another book. I read My Ego. Now you understand I'm 26 years of age. I wear, we have a million dollars. Yep. My boat was three million when I was 21. I have a 148 foot riva. But with this said, I always wanted to be not, people would say, you're a good guy, you should become an actor. I didn't want to go through the trials and tribulations. But they wrote in the LA Times, the book was where we needed this third print, that they were going to use unknowns. I said, this is my shot. So I had somebody read me the book because I can't read them in a literate. And they said, and as they're reading, I said I could play Michael, Sonny, or Carlo. So I shot a screen test. I had the money, I put it together. And Betty McCart, who was already secretary at that time and assistant, I was dating her girlfriend in Beverly Hills, Pokey Newman. So she made the arrangement for me to have a drive on to Paramount Lot, to deliver my reel myself to him. I said, what does he like? She said he likes Oriental girls and great cars. I just bought a 65 Bentley Silver Cloud tricked out. I got a Chinese chick to drive me on the lot in the car to get his attention. All of this is in the offer, but totally different. Let's move on. He sends me a letter saying, I'm sorry we misled you. We're really not going to use unknowns. So now I read that Joe Colombo in New York is picking in the FBI building and boycotting the film. So I know Joe and I know how these guys think about money. So I fly up, I go see him on 86th Street and we hug and kiss and all that. Cause you know, I met him through all these guys all through the Kennedy elections. All I met every mob guy there was throughout the United States. I said, Joe, I said, I got an idea. We could make a lot of money with Scott father. You notice I said, we is okay. How are we going to do this? And he just hired a guy called Barry Schlotnick, a young attorney to represent the anti-defamation league, the Italian anti-defamation league. I said, why don't I arrange a meeting at Paramount, which is at the Gulf of Western building now, which is Trump Plaza on Columbus circuit. He said, you could do that. I said, I need your permission. I just got this idea. So he looks at Barry, so what do you think Barry? He's letting him go talk to him. Let's see what happens. So I go up there and then they all come Stanley Jaffe, Bobby Evans, Al Ruddy, even Greta Fredrickson, one of the producers. And I get up and go, I'm in the lobby. I said, guys, you got a problem in New York. Oh, we got no problem. I said, excuse me, okay. I just left Joe Colombo. They looked at each other. They said, what'd you do? I said, I just left Joe Colombo. He wants to meet you. You just met Joe Colombo. He wants to meet us. I said, yeah. He said, well, you come here. I said, come anywhere you want. Could you bring him here tomorrow morning? I said, what time you want him? They said, 10 o'clock. I said, I'll be here. I go back down the street because I'm not a scenario where the headquarters were. I said, the meeting's on. I said, can I make a suggestion? They said, yeah. I said, well, who's going to be in? Be Barry, you and myself. Let's take some heavyweights because I knew the guys in this crew, Butterrest, the Chico, and what, Lenny Montana. He was a collector for them. Lenny was an ex wrestler. That's how Lenny got the part of Luca Obrazzi in the movie. Oh, wow. So now we go up there. We're sitting around and they're ready to do it all. And they're getting up, they're shaking hands. Barry Schlank's going to read the book. Joe wants out. If they take it out, he'll get the cooperation in the neighborhood. You'll get the cooperation in the unions and they're shaking hands. I said, Joe, whoa, whoa, what about me? So he looks around. They're all standing ready to leave. Joe told us to sit down. He didn't even say nothing. He raised his hand like he was caught and moved his hand down. They all sat down. I said, let me tell you something. I arranged this. I won a part in the movie. So right, he said, I'm going to give you a part. I said, let me say this to you, okay? Who's playing Michael? They all looked at each other. And what I'm about to tell you, most people don't know. They said, Jimmy Conrad. He was playing Michael. I said, who's playing Sonny? They said, Carmine Curie. He's in a play in the manful of Montia because they wanted this big guy. They thought Sonny should be a big guy. I said, who's playing Carl? They said, we didn't get to that part yet. I said, Joe, I want to play Carlo. So he looks at them. He says, he's playing Carlo. Now that's in another book. Wow. So James Patterson's book. And he's no slouch writer. We all know James Patterson. Your audience who go to page 70 and 71 and is right on those two pages that Joe Colombo says, Johnny Russo plays Carlo. And if I like everything else, you can make the movie. Amazing. No, but this is crazy. Now that's saying on a 10 hour episode, Ruddy gave me the part. Ruddy had nothing to do with it if he had a part. But Gianni, what blows my mind is that your character, along with every bit part of that movie from, you know, to Luca Bracci. Your character is one of the most iconic characters in movie history. Because you're at the wedding, you're a handsome guy, everybody thinks you're going to be wonderful, and then you're beating the heck out of Taya Shire. And by the way, ladies and gentlemen, I've got to take this time to show the scene that's one of the most memorable scenes in movie history. It's where Jimmy Khan takes you on. And we're going to insert that right here, Dino, if you don't mind. Okay. I'm just going to give the doc that'll come and take a look at you. No, please don't do anything. Please don't do it. What's wrong with you? What am I going to do? I'm going to make that baby an orphan before he's born. Huh? Hmm? He's got slops. Still better than you act. He's pretty heavy. Don't stop taking actual out, right? Last of the month. You lost enough money last week that I'm going to get you. Come here, come here, come here, come here. Watching that, I need to ask you, and Rob and I want to ask you, did, did Khan hurt you? It looked like he hurt you. Yeah, that's a great question. Did Khan hurt me? And I've been saying he hurt me for 50 years with that garbage pail cover that was steel, not plastic like we have today. I'm going to be kidding. He cheated my elbow. Yeah. Then when I crawl out from under the gate, he kicks me and we choreographed. As soon as he touched me, I would roll over. Well, that day he dropped kicks me and breaks two ribs. Oh my God. Now in the offer, there's a scene. They're redoing it with an actor. And the A.D. and Francis Ford Coppola said we got to stop this. He's getting hurt. Al Ruddy on camera, the character playing Al Ruddy who was the producer. So let it go. Well, let's teach this punk a lesson. And these people are crazy saying this on film. I'm alive. Yeah, that's crazy. But Gianni, after that, after you had that injury, had you shot other scenes? For example, another, one of the most iconic, I keep using that word because it is, it's memorable, is when you're sitting there and Michael says he's gonna send you off to Vegas to run the hotel, whatever. Right. So did you, but you knew that as you sat there, you're gonna be killed within minutes, right? I mean. Oh yeah. So I just wanna commend you because now that I know you, I remember watching that scene saying you did such a great job acting like you really think you're gonna go to Vegas. That's what was so great. Well, Brando, I have to say something. That's why I'm the only person in the world to say what I'm about to say. Marlon Brando was my only acting teacher and Frank Sinatra was my only singing teacher. Right. Oh my God. And by the way, ladies and gentlemen, I have actually talked to this man six years ago. My niece sent me a CD of his Frank Sinatra thing and by luck, I saw a phone number on there and called it and this gentleman answered the phone and talked to me for 15 minutes with such respect, with the same respect we're getting today. And I just can't believe that now we're friends, Gianni, but go ahead, Rob. Gianni, James Kahn, to explain what happened with you and Kahn, which I think is also an interesting story and a little side note to the Godfather and also the relationship that you did have with Marlon Brando. Well, Marlon, you know, when we had the rehearsal of Patsy's on 119th Street, I used to be up there all the time with Pat Tony Salerno that was his club. I used to bring midnight loans. I knew everybody up there. So when I got there, Danny Pagano, senior, junior, Tony Federici, all the mob guys went in and they said to me, what are you doing here at three o'clock? I said, I'm here for the rehearsal. They said to Godfather, yeah, I said, I got a big partner that's get out of here and they didn't even act there. I saw him in it. So I go into the rehearsal. I'm running, I'm nowhere getting close to time. So we get into the rehearsal, everybody's there. Coppola says, nobody have eye contact. Nobody approach Brando, nobody look at him. And that was it. I didn't care. So we waited, we rehearsed for about 45 minutes. They took a break and Brando walks over to me. So I said, I ain't doing nothing wrong. You're a big TV actor. I said, no, you got a big movie coming up. I said, no, you're not on Broadway. I know everybody on Broadway. I said, you're right again. He said, who'd you study with? I said, what are you talking about? Study what? And he calls Coppola over. He says, Francis. And I never broke down the script, but by ego, I just wanted to be in the movie world where I can. He says, this guy marries my daughter. Underwinds my family. Gets my oldest son, son, he killed. Brings Michael in. This guy's got to be a great actor. And I'm saying to myself, this guy's trying to get me fired. Everybody already thinks I'm not in the movie to begin with. I won't be able to go back to the neighborhood. So I don't know protocol. I said, Francis, go over there a minute. And Francis left. I dismissed the director. Well, the whole room, you can hear a pin drop now. Say, who is this guy? I'm already dressed in brahili suits. I got him mentally outside. They don't know me from Adam, but I got this part. So not only did I look at Brando, I put my arm around him and I walk him to the back because I don't want to embarrass him. I get nose to nose with Brando. I said, let me tell you something, Mr. Brando, at all the respect, I know who you are. Listen to me carefully. If you get me fired, I will suck on your heart and you will bleed out right here. You understand me? And he looked at me, he stepped back. He said, that was brilliant. He thought I was acting, I meant it. That is the best story. I know it. But he continued to counsel you and mentor you and work with you. From that day on, he is for a ride home with me because I thought he liked the car or me. He liked the chick. He liked the Korean little girl. I gave her to him, two years later. He lived with her. That's crazy. Then you worked in the freshman. Also, you did the freshman. That was my biggest film. I got him $15 million. It was the biggest paycheck I ever got. You got $15 million to play Call of Gambino. I mean, Don Corleone again. I've got to tell you, that movie was a 10 on a 10 story. Oh, yeah, it was great. It just blows my mind that you accomplish this friendship with my own Brando with a threat. To Lidey died. To Lidey died. In fact, he called me at two o'clock in the morning. I just had an altercation in my club in Vegas, October 28, 1989. I heard about that. Go ahead. Oh, yeah. I killed Pablo Escobar. One of his main guys will run to Morales after he attacked the customer. It was all self-defense. And I was, you know, six days in an inquest. I was like three. So he calls me up at two o'clock in the morning. His son, Brandon, just shot his brother-in-law in the house and killed him. After Brando gave him his gun, because he used to beat up Cheyenne, the sister all the time, and she was pregnant. So the son came in and said, Daddy, he's doing it again. He's take my gun and go kill him. That's why Brando got involved in that. Yes. And the kid went in and killed him. So he calls me up. He's Johnny. I said, what's the matter? He says, I got a big problem. I said, what is it? He's my son just shot my son-in-law. I said, you call a cop shed? He said, no, I said, don't call nobody. I'm gonna have somebody call your house. Don't call nobody. Who's there? He's my daughter and I'm perfect. I said, get her out of the house. I call Robert Shapiro. Because Steve Nguyen got Robert Shapiro to defend me if I was gonna be charged. But I knew I was gonna be charged with self-defense, the guy I killed. So I called Bobby up. I got his home number, all his numbers, you know. And I wake him up. He's, why are you calling here so late? I said, calm down. He's such a pompous ass, I'll begin with. Yes, yeah. I said, I got a guy that needs your help right now. And he said, tell him to call my office. I said, it's Marlon Brando. He said, what? I said, Marlon Brando needs you to call him right now. He said, give me his number. This is unbelievable. Five hours later, I see Robert Shapiro, Marlon Brando outside of LA Correctional Center where they're booking the son. They're on the street outside. He got him five years, he did three. And then the kid killed himself anyway. Terrible, terrible, real tragedy. Frank Sinatra, the relationship you had, he taught you how to sing. The singing baptized my son, Luciano. That's right. He's your son's godfather. Talk about your relationship specifically with respect to the godfather. Because always we've heard stories where Sinatra did not want that scene without Al Martino, who really portrayed Sinatra. I didn't want to know reference of him because everybody knew it was supposed to be Sinatra. But Gianni, didn't he give you a hard time? Didn't he give you a hard time for being in the movie and didn't that affect your relationship? Well, he called me off guard. He called me. Dorothy called me. He said, the old man wants to talk to you. I got on the phone. These were friends, right? It's of course. I said, they asked you to do me a favor. What would you do? I said, whatever you want, Frank. He said, I don't want you to do the movie. It's a war movie. He's the godfather. That's okay. You don't want me to do it, I won't do it. And he hung up on me. Now I'm saying to myself, am I nuts? I'm gonna give this up. So I waited a day. I called him back. I said, Dorothy, give me the old man. I used his dialogue. I said, Frank, you're my friend, right? He said, yeah. I said, they asked you to do me a favor. What would you do? It's anything you want. He said, I asked you not to do here to eternity. Would you have done it? And he hung up on me. Oh boy. But you've still continued to have a relationship with Frank? No, he's bipolar. I've helped him. I flew with him everywhere. I went to see Ava Gardner with him one night. I mean, it was crazy. And then when Ava moved to London, he said, come with me, because we were on our way to Red Cross ball for Grace Kelly, because him and I stood very close to Grace until she died. Well, we were at the Red Cross ball all the time. And then we know, but he wanted to teach me how to sing. He thought I could be a good singer, and I did. And he made me make a promise, and I kept that promise. I sing that one song that he dedicated to Ava Gardner then I dedicate in my shell. And hopefully you guys will see it. I hope so. Yeah. To her. And the people, I get a standing ovation from it. He really told me how to sing it. Gianni, I just want to chime in and let you know that one of my dear friends who just passed away is Bobby Rydell. Oh, wow, sure. Yes, I've been with him quite a few times. And I was at his funeral, where I also met Frank Sinatra's bodyguard in his many years. But I just want to say that- Bodyguard, what bodyguard? Let me use his bodyguard now. What's his name? His first name is Merrill. And he's a former Atlantic City police officer. And he was at the funeral. Oh, he was. I know that guy well. Yes, I bet you did. But in any event- Sinatra was at the Sands and he booked me at the Claridge next door. His last performance. Well, the reason why I wanted to bring in Bobby Rydell is because he sings Sinatra. And he did summer wind and I taped him doing it. And I've heard your version of Sinatra's songs. And I just want to say that there are only certain people that can sing Sinatra and do a half decent job. Rydell is one of them, of course. And you are, in my opinion, having heard your album, the other. So I just want to congratulate you on that. Oh, that's a big compliment. Yeah, it is. Well, it's meant with sincerity. Go ahead, Mark. Yeah, Gianni, the JFK assassination, Jimmy Hoff. I mean, we could go on and on because you've been a pivotal element of all of these stories that we've grown up with. I mean, we've heard more names than a front page magazine covers. Yeah. And bring me back again whenever you want. Well, Gianni, I think we've got to do that. We've got about 10 or 15 more minutes. We do? I believe we do. Gianni, can you talk a little bit about, you know, the question is, did the mob kill JFK? And I think, of course not. No. No way. Did the mob kill JFK? Oh, the mob? Oh, shit. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. The mob killed JFK. And I'll tell you who had the kill shot. He was in the sewer coming up the knoll. It was Gianni Roselli. Gianni Roselli was being trained by the CIA to kill Fidel Castro. Him and Santo Traficante were doing that for a year. And it's two years later and nothing was happening with Fidel Castro and they wanted the casinos back. And they warned Joe, Joe got a stroke that they were gonna start taking out his kids. And nobody trusted each other. There was three shooters that day. Lee Harvey Oswald was hired by Marcellos in New Orleans. He heard him on a radio station sent from out of Texas and he made this guy like the biggest hero in the world. He said, you kill him. You're not this. Then they had Jack Ruby. Jack Ruby was running all the slots for Costello in Texas. They said, we'll put you in the cell. You kill him. They had a whole train reaction. But Roselli, when you see the JFK tapes which we've all seen under times, there was no way that Lee Harvey Oswald shot him because the back JFK's head was blown out from the front on the angle that was from the storm sewer. That was Gianni Roselli in that. That's why Gianni Roselli was killed. Gianni Roselli was found in a 50 gallon drum. They were bringing him in. That's right, that's right. And you actually were carrying money from Frank Costello to Carlos Muchello in New Orleans. Everybody chipped in. And you actually might've bumped into Lee Harvey Oswald. Is that correct? Not might've, I did. I was waiting to go to the bathroom. He said, somebody's in there. I don't know if you have no more scousers. It's a little restaurant that he owns. But there was one bathroom. I've been there a hundred times. And I waited and this guy bunks in to me. I paid no attention to him. Then I went to see him and I was about to sit down. There's some pasta bungalows. He said, no, no, you gotta get back to New York. And he whispers in my ear the message. Just as Corky Savella did, Tony Ocado did, all the major guys who were in on this, they got the okay and I carried the message to him. And then he gave me a vanilla envelope. This was on a Tuesday. I left that Friday. I was going under the horizontal bridge. And they said that they shot the president. I thought they were gonna kill Bobby, to be honest with you. I liked JFK. I hung out with him for months while they were campaigning. I saw him every weekend at the Sands, the Cobra Room in Vegas. No, I mean, I had to go to my room. I was sick because I really liked the guy. How do you recover from something like that, having been involved in possibly the assassination? I mean, it's just... Well, they had a lot of arousal. I left the country at 22 months. That's right. They sent you over to Europe. That's correct. I understand. I was there 22 months. Wow. Wow. Some of the stuff that I'm getting into even in my other books now with Saddam Hussein and I don't know if you know Anand Khashoggi and Shabshoggi and them. Yeah, I mean, you could go on and on. We only have a few minutes left, correct, Derry? Right. Gianni, I just want to close by asking. I read that you're appearing somewhere in September. There's an event that's surrounding you coming up this September. Am I correct? Oh, yeah. They're honoring me down in San Diego. Yes. And then that's on the 29th. If anybody's down, they come. And then when I did, Paula Casino invited me back. I'm doing my show there, which is on the borderline of Riverside in California. That's on that Saturday. And then friends of mine in Beverly Hills with Herb Alpert at the vibrato on that Sunday doing the show. So I figured I'd better keep singing while I'm out there. Sorry, I'm actually down in Resorts on October 8th for Columbus Day weekend. Right. Resorts to Atlantic City. You go to New York City and perform there too, also? I perform everywhere, yep. Yeah. All over the place. And about how many shows a year do you think you do with Gianni, where you're singing? I do about, I would say 25. I'll probably do more this year because this show is based on my book. I turned my book into a musical. And the clips that I have, I mean, you can't believe, I found a picture of me being the poster boy for the March of Dimes for Eddie Cantor and President Roosevelt. Wow. Gianni, can you just briefly, I know we only got a couple of minutes left, just talk a little bit about your projects that you're involved in, what you got looking forward to now, you got a new book coming out, new TV show. The sixth family. Okay. I have Hollywood Godfather podcast. Yep. It's at 73 countries. My clothing line, La Cosa Mia by Gianni. My food line, Corde Leon, find a tag, find it online. It's sold in 73 countries. My vodka is about to expand to seven more spirits under down Corde Leon. And on and on, my coffee line is coming out, my pastries are coming out. I got Clemenza's. Take the gun, keep the cologne. Take the gun out. Take the gun out, take the gun out. Leave the gun, take the cologne. He's coming out. I just try to capitalize on it. Good for you. Absolutely. Absolutely. And we hope to have you in Maine with your act. Please. We will. Let's do it. We will, Gianni. We will. Yeah, if Rob Baldacci. I'll make it happen. Says it's going to happen. It's going to happen. Gianni, I'm just going to close by saying this. We're not done. First of all, Rob and his quest. And secondly, we're going to have you back because I'm going to read the book and I'm going to have a million more questions. You are such a distinguished gentleman. When they talk about that, Dosecki's commercial. Who's the world's most interesting man? Well, no wonder the guy looks like you. I'm curious. That's very caring. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Well, we appreciate you coming on the show. My newspaper ad will say the most fascinating interview that Rob and I have ever done. Thanks, Gianni. I appreciate that. Make sure you send that to me, too. Oh, we will. You'll get the link. Absolutely. I'm sure you'll watch it ad nauseam. Thank you, Gianni Rousseau. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll see you on the next Gary Lund Show.