 Hello and welcome to the Runlit and Baldachi Report. We sure hope you enjoyed our show with George Mitchell. I believe that that's the third program he's done for the station, two with Harold Pacius and then with his cousin Rob and me, a dear friend of mine and cousin Rob Baldachi. Well, there's another man that we've had on this show before who gets a ton of hits. In fact, prior to George coming on, they're going to go ahead and head for the most number of hits. This man, in my opinion, is like the Doseki's man that you saw in commercials many years ago, the most interesting man on the face of the earth. I actually think this person would qualify for many reasons. He's been in over 40 movies, including what many people consider, including the critics, the greatest movie of all time, Godfather I and Godfather II. But to me, one of the most special things about this man is not only his sincerity, but the fact that he had a lifelong relationship with someone that I have revered ever since I was a young boy. And that is the greatest, the most well-known movie actress of all time, that would be Melvin Roeb. Rob, tell him who we got. Gianni Russo, welcome to Portland, Maine. No, thank you. It's great to have you here in Portland. It's nice to be here, not in Skype. That's right. That's right. Well, we enjoyed that, though, but a heavier presence. We just had lunch with this man. I'll tell you folks, I could spend 10 hours with him. Go ahead. Gianni, thanks again for you and Julia to come up to Maine. I know you're here for a special occasion, but to take time out of your schedule to be with us today is greatly appreciated. So we're showcasing a couple of books that Gianni and his partner, Patrick Ficciorelli, co-wrote. I've read them both. They're fantastic. They're available on Amazon. The Hollywood Godfather, which is really a book of nonfiction talking about your life, which should be a movie. No question about it. Well, I wrote that book to basically inspire. I'm seeing it even with my grandchildren and kids on the street that I know. They're not motivated right now. I don't know whether it's the society or their phones or all these tablets that can navigate everything, but the core is there's something missing. There is, isn't there? So I just felt, you know, fortunately and unfortunately, my beginnings of having polio and being in a quarantine ward for five years without seeing no one, no friends, nobody. When my grandkids come over, they say hello to you, come in and say hi, grandpa. We got to get respect back. We have to understand what life is again. And I think this book sends a message. It does, Gianni. And just because you opened the door there in your first interview with us, you did mention something that people wouldn't even think about, polio, I lived through it, Rob lived through it. We got the vaccines. You actually got it. You had it horribly, a horrible case of it. Those things happened to you. You ended up killing a man when you were a young boy. I mean, that part of your story. So when you talk about the kids of today, Gianni, do you realize that what you experienced at that time was so traumatic that you have any clue that you could come out of it as well as you did? That's a great question. Well, I really didn't think I was because, you know, in five years that ward at Bellevue and the interesting thing is the building is still there. And a lot of times I walked down there. That must freak you out. You know, I like doing it because it humbles you to realize where you came from, what I have achieved. I've been blessed. I mean, I've done so many things that I wanted to do. And most people go through life wanting to do and never do it. And that's the other message. And that's the last sentence in the book is, yes, you can. And I believe that. Yeah. And then a second book that just came out this past year, the Six Family, is a book of fiction except for the truth. My lawyers told me, you know, you keep writing books like this, you're going to go jail. I never been in jail. I should be. But I haven't been there. They didn't get enough on me yet. But the thing is they wanted to write this book, I, you know, always collaborate with my lawyers, some of them I've known all my life, famous lawyers. And they said, Johnny, you got to do novels. And they agreed for me to write four novels. This is the one of four. And because the statute of limitations on a lot of the things I've done, there is no statute. That's correct. So now the disclaim. You're a lawyer, Johnny. I'm pretty sure that you're a lawyer too, that's right, I forgot. So the disclaimer, which I think is a novel, it says this is a novel except for the truth. So now I can say anything I want anyway. That's right. As a lawyer. As a lawyer. Very serious, come on. We know what it's about. It goes, by the way, this is a fact of fiction, although something. So yeah, so you do the same thing. In your first book, though, you've made some pretty incredible statements involving the Kennedy assassination, Marilyn Monroe's death, Escobar, I mean it goes on and on. Each one could be a movie or a book in and of itself. And you were not afraid. You were not afraid of being sued for slander, libel, whatever. How do you deal with that? Well, yeah, so have you ever been threatened to be sued because of the stuff you put in your book? I've been threatened. I've been shot, been stabbed, thrown out windows. That doesn't mean nothing to me. I'm who I am. Right. So you're going to change what I know. And McMullen and company who own St. Martin's Press, they said, we can publish the book. I said, if you don't start taking stuff out, you don't have the book. So I indemnified them. I was going to say, so legally, they said, well, you have to indemnify us if you get sued. I said that before they even asked me, because I'm not changing the line. And I wrote the book long ago. And when I say, Johnny Razzelli was the kill shot for JFK coming up that mall. Because Lee Harvey Oswald, and Lee Harvey Oswald was brought in by Marcellos. New Orleans mafia. A lot of people don't know, like Chicago family had a shooter, New York had a shooter. Everybody a shooter. Nobody trusted each other. Because they wanted this guy out. Because Joe Kennedy, who made the deal for John, see, Joe Kennedy and Costello were partners in bootlegging in the 30s and 40s. They amassed 30, 40 main each during that time. So when Joe came to Costello and said, I want my son to be president, he was already the senator in New York. New Massachusetts. Well, I'm not political. He lived in New York. When Bobby was in New York. Hey, no, no, no, no, no, go ahead. Go ahead. I'm saying so. Bobby was in New York. What happened? Well, one of them was. So anyway, they said, you know, we this is what we want. They say, what were we going to get? They said, if he gets elected, the first thing we will do is invade Cuba. Because most people don't even know when Castro took over, they threw out Batista, Batista was their man, Maya Lansky, everybody. I was, I was in Cuba when I was 16, 17 years old, picking up suitcases of money to find it out, but then he took out and threw them all out. So with that deal, it was a win-win for the mob and for the Kennedys. Sure. And then our end, not my me, that was just a messenger. We made a president. We got nominated and was president. The mistake he made was make Bobby. Yes, of course. Attorney General. And he comes in and says, the first thing I'm going to start doing. Number one. Let's go after an ice crime. I mean, we, that's why I'm saying, I said this to people when I discuss what you said, I said, folks, that, that was an amazing thing to do. You put your brother in the first thing he says is I'm not going to go after the, the so-and-so's and the, the robocallers. I'm going after. And Gianni, but what you, what you are saying literally takes the Warren report and chucks it, throws it out the window and, and this giant, oh, and that's why when I talk to people and say what you said, they say, well, Derry, what about the Warren report? I said, he basically took that and threw it out the window. It's gone. It's a whitewash. But nobody's ever threatened to like, take you before contempt of court or some, something like that for writing such allegations. Well, you know what the thing is, I, what I'm finding out, because I'm living a lot longer than most people. And I'm just predicted to live to 115. So the thing is that when you get even Trump, Trump shielded again for another 50 years, they're just waiting for everybody to die and say, Warren, what they don't even know what they're looking for. But you were in the middle of all of that, the planning, working with taking, taking money or whatever it was with from Costello to Marcello. You bumped into Lee Harvey Oswald coming out of Marcello's office. Yeah. Well, see, what was that like? Well, Marcello's you solicited a late night radio all the time. OK. And Lee Harvey Oswald got mustered out of the Marines. He was a marksman in Germany. Right. Germany threw him out of it. They knew he was nuts. Yeah. He heard him. He was living in Texas. He brought him down and he told him, you kill JFK. Fidel Castro would open arms. We'll welcome you there. That was the deal they made with him. Wow. But they didn't realize how serious this was. Geez. Because you got to stop Bobby. I was at Marcello's barbecue on a Sunday. Now, I never heard of and since then and before that, that there was a raid on a mobster's house on a Sunday afternoon. While he's having a barbecue with his grandchildren and cameras were rolling. They came into the backyard and Bobby was there. And Marcello said, you're embarrassing me in front of my kids. You're a dead man. So right away. So hold it. He brought everybody over. You're threatening. An attorney general. He said, I'm not the right in here. I'm going to kill you and he said it and they deported him. Yeah. He snuck back into the country. They organized his killings. I mean, it's it's it's American history, world history. Speaking of history, John F. Kennedy, you got to know him. You worked with him. You helped you campaign for him. Tell us a little bit about your work elections with JFK. Well, when he was a senator, Sinatra, all of them, Sinatra and Peter Lofton, which was his brother, they said they couldn't control him. So my thing was, I was traveling, going to all the families and the unions the culinary teams, the union. These were votes he could never get. And it was funny because as we were getting to the end, they realized they needed Texas and they made a deal with Linda Ban Johnson because he hated the Kennedys. That's right. But they said, JFK will have four years, maybe eight, and you'll come in after that. So you went for it. Mm hmm. And they needed him. Right. When they started to plot the assassination, this is something that's going to rock you. Go ahead. Linda Ban Johnson jumped in. He was the backup with the Texas Rangers beyond the CIA to whack him. The CIA didn't like the Kennedys at all. Correct. So that's why this this whole thing now with Bobby Kennedy, I mean, running. And he said, my father came to me and said, the CIA killed my uncle. Now, if we do our math and Bobby, if you're listening, you were nine years old, right? I cannot picture your father coming to your bedroom, waking you up and you say, you know, it killed your uncle, the CIA. He's going on television saying this. I mean, it's it's I mean, thank God I'm old enough and I got enough money I could live anywhere because I don't know if they've been straight in this country out fast. We're in big trouble. That's that's a whole other issue in terms of where we are as a country and where the world is. But Gianni, your stories, the story, that means your factual citations of things. One of the things that I didn't want to miss before we we could talk about that topic forever. Oh, God, yeah. But one of the things that I really want to know about you, your relationship with Melvin Roe began when you were 16. You had a little fling with her, a wonderful story in itself. You wash your hands and they're saying, you know, and then now you have most of her memorabilia. You have her diaries. You were close to her, but you have apparently your intimacy with her, number one, was very strong. And the first question I want to ask and I'll let Rob ask the big one. But the first, were you ever felt to be in a protective feelings about her when she was being, let's face it, abused, quote, unquote. Did you ever feel the necessity to warn somebody? Gay, listen, you better stop taking evades of my friend. Did you ever feel that or did you ever do that? Well, that's what basically I got involved because of Costello. I didn't know her and I met her accidentally because I got caught on the streets in New York by a true office. I was making all kinds of money already. This guy stops me. He says, why aren't you in school? I laughed at him. I had like five thousand in my pocket wearing Brione suits already. He's asking me why I'm not in school. Yeah. And he writes me a ticket and I was on my way to Turchaws, which was the place to hang out. Sure. During the day, Jackie Gleeson, in fact, I met Raul in the first time there with her husband, Jonah Magier, at the time. It's crazy. I'm crazy. Kelly was there. And Turchaw was the watering hole for everything. And if you if you think about the history of New York and television, the Jackie Gleeson show all that stuff with the gun in New York. That's right. Right. Yeah. So that's where everybody hung out during the day. And I was constantly bringing money to Turchaws. He was the host of New York and everywhere else. But those times, like you said, when I finally met her because I had to go to continuation school and I don't want to go to school because cellists would just go to Wilford Academy. It's on top of Dempsey's, which is one of my routes. Right. Sign in and get out. Dempsey's bar. Yeah. Yeah. The sign went upstairs. And sure enough, the girl knew I was coming. You should just sign in when you're 16. Don't come back no more than we had done. So I'm there signing in. I'm like 15 years old. There's 30 girls there. We are going to find 30 girls at nine o'clock in the morning in New York. So I used to go to every morning, stay an hour or two. Yeah. And then go meet Costello. Luckily, I did that with Mark Sinclair and Kenneth. And Kenneth was already Jackie's hairdresser. Jackie Kennedy. Jackie Kennedy, the senator's wife. Right. And they were working at Lilly Deshaix. They needed shampoo boys and they hired me. The fourth had a hair was my alma mater. I get it. That's a water. Yeah. The water kills you, you know. So it begins his career as a shampoo boy. Under God. You put an accent to a shampoo. So now the fourth had a hair. Is Malamune Ralph. Yeah. And this is not, you know, shampoo basin. It's a room. I go in. I don't know what's about my throat. Must have been that Ali, IA of lunch. OK. And I'm seeing Malamune Ralph laying there. Enough, you know, we know the configuration. She's facing the ceiling. I don't even know how long I was looking at her. Yeah. He says, there's somebody here. I said, excuse me, yeah. I still can't believe I'm looking at Malamune Ralph. Yeah. And for your audience, I just saw some like it hot. Right. 10 times already. Yeah. And she's sitting there. Now she's laying there in this basin. And I'm saying, wait a minute. And for a little more history, I saw it 10 times at the New York Paramount Theater. Was open 24 hours a day then. That's right. The Paramount. So I'd get popcorn and go sit in the balcony. I used to sleep there because it was open 24 hours. Yes. And then every time I went to get popcorn, every night they would give me more napkins. I'm so much disheveled. They realized I was masturbating. Watching Malamune Ralph in this movie. At my age, why wouldn't I be doing that? Sure. Now she's there. Oh, my God. Now, we know the configuration of a shampoo basin. Yeah. How do I clean this up? I got my three piece set on her shoulder. Or what? I don't know. Go ahead. You ask the question. Give us the answer, Jimmy. I didn't open the door that wide. Well, I shampooed the hands. So I could come and wipe my hands. I'm shampooing her hair and she's moaning. Oh, my God. And now it's only making things worse. Yeah. Now I got a towel dry her hair and walk her to the station. And I get this cool music out. I'm like, oh, I got to walk her into the station. Then she started requesting me and the rest is history. Yeah. Yeah. That is a mystery. But then things got serious between you. You became friends. You owned a dog together and Rob's going to do the other one. But when she was not being treated properly, did you ever feel the necessity or did you ever say to any of those people, excuse me, I don't like the way you're treating my my dear friend. No, Costello did it. Oh, so you didn't have to do it. Someone else did. Costello had the power to do it. I couldn't do anything. The Xanax at Fox had her contract. OK. So he hid her out in the Waldorf. OK. For a year. Yeah. During that time is how we got close. I got you. And I used to walk her down to a Strasburg school on 15 Strasburg. That's where she went. That's where she learned to be a good actress. Yeah. And she she wanted to be a thespian. Yeah. She wanted to be known as an actress. Yes. Not a sex symbol. Right. And we got close. But what I realized of knowing this great star, she had the lowest esteem. Yes. I mean, and people don't know this about her. Similar to us, how we hit it off. I used to look out my my window at the hospital and I see the Empire State Building. I say someday I'm going to be uptown as I was downtown. She was putting in an orphanage in Warner Brothers Studio and looked outside and saw the water tower. Yes. And she started reading magazines. So all these things, that's we just needed hugs. It wasn't nothing about sex. Right. It turned into that later on. Yes. I didn't take advantage of her in one. I mean, when you come to my house, you'll see photographs that I have of her. And then when I used to leave her, she used to kiss a pillowcase and sign it. Oh, my God. I kept them all. I always had this merchandising mind to mind. Gianni, I have to say to you, my dear friend. No, you can't have a pillowcase. No, I was in Vegas and they had a pair of underwear that was exact same kind as in the skirt scene. And they very authenticated. It wasn't the pair, but from the same set. They wanted four thousand dollars for it. I thought about it. I went back a couple of weeks later when I was hanging out with Frankie Avalon and I said, I want to buy it. They said, you're too late. So I'm putting a bid on. I just want to say to you that have you seen the movie that's now on Netflix about her? Oh, yeah. I mean, doesn't that movie move you to make realize what a wonderful person she was? Not only that, but it confirmed exactly what I've been saying in my book. Exactly. You used to lay to the movie you're talking about that came out this summer. Yes. Netflix. Yes. Right. Bobby Kennedy said he was even in California. That's right. There's no way an attorney general can go into a state where the police department doesn't know. They were pulled over on Sunset Boulevard. I got a copy of the police report. Peter Loford was driving and who's in the backseat? Bobby, Bobby Kennedy. They put Bobby Kennedy in her house for four hours before the ambulance took her out. This is all documenting up by me. Right. Oh, it's a story. It's a story. But for those of us who love it. It's a true story. Yeah. For those of us who loved it and you loved a person. Oh, my God, no. I mean, I'm very disturbed because she was a wonderful person. Rob, I'm sorry. I'm monopolizing. Go ahead. That's OK, Dary. Continuing on with Marilyn. In your new novel, nonfiction book, whatever you want to call it, six family, you you you relate a story about Marilyn in great detail and then make the point that Marilyn had a daughter and that in all likelihood, it was your daughter. Can you elaborate on that for the people that are watching this? Well, that is that's a story that I I think is just now starting to come out. Yeah. And well, I knew it had to come out and I didn't want to be a part of it at all. I know. She's I mean, Costello, even unbeknownst to me, had a lot to do with her because he respected her mother and she knew she was being abused. And one thing you can there's not one thing I don't believe you could read negative about Costello as a man, as a person, as a friend. And that's what attracted me to him. And that's why I am who I am because of him. And he fell in love with her as a as a father figure, nothing else. Yeah. And he hit her out. He arranged because he knew I didn't know she had a child. He arranged for it to have the child and she had the child at Strasburg's house. They used her gaining weight because they found a cause in a contract that Fox she had to stay a certain weight and she can get out of a contract and she's thrown out. So the pregnancy did all of that. And everybody thought she was getting fat to get out of the contract. But she was pregnant. Wow. What that? No, I mean, this you can't this you can't. You there's no way you could create this story. No, you can't. But you said that either either you, you, you're the papa of Joe DiMaggio. Well, we were the only ones over being intimate with her at the time because she had no physical contact with anybody else. She was actually planning to go back with Joe DiMaggio. She was. Yeah. They were. I mean, Joe DiMaggio made a big mistake. We were at Calneve. I was with Malamono the last four days of her life. Calneve, that's in Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe and why we were there. Sam Jinkana, Sinatra. A lot of other people that were there for different reason. They set up her room to trap Bobby one more time because when Kennedy became president, he convinced her. That's how naive she was that he couldn't be with her because now he's a Catholic president. Give me two years and I'm going to divorce Jackie and I'll be back with you. But my brother, Bobby's going to take care of you. Well, he took care of he impregnated her. Nobody knew this. We found out all together. It was a twilight time at Calneve. And Sinatra said, you got to do us a favor. I didn't even know the conversation. I was just in your eyes and ears. Yeah, right. And he asked her to sleep with Bobby one more time. They have his room rigged and they want to blackmail him like they did J.G. Hoover in Chicago. I don't know how many people know that story. You mean when J.G. Hoover was a cross-dresser. Yes, right. Dressing up in the outfits, yeah. They created a party for him. Yeah. And then they had the pictures on him. That's why he he denounced, oh, there's no mafia. And they were going to do the same thing for Bobby now. Sure. This righteous little kid and after already had like five kids on his. He had her get an abortion. Well, she started screaming. I want nothing to do with these Kennedys anymore. I'm going to the press. Soon as she said she was going to the press. We all knew they're going to kill her. Yeah. She called the more I mean, Joe DiMaggio up in San Francisco to come and get me. He called Sinatra. So what's going on up there? She's upset. He's mind your own business. Now, I always wondered what if he came and got her and got her out of there. Right. Has changed. This was the last Saturday and Sunday of July. She was killed August 5th, 1962. Incredible. Done. Yeah. Now, the daughter, you're not going to reveal her name. Do you do still have a connection with the daughter? I have a connection, but not directly. I don't want to. OK. Until she's ready. I have kids I never seen yet. I mean, I'm seriously, I have a lot of kids. How many kids do you have? I have 13. What? I have 13 kids and 10 grandchildren, fortunately. You have 13 kids. And I had 12 and nine sons and three daughters. Now, this year, she proved she's the other daughters. Now I got 13. I have four daughters and nine sons. Well, Gianna, I'm sorry to disclose this to you, but when we left the table, you notice I went back in the restaurant and took your glass for DNA. Gianna, one of the things I wanted to do, and I don't know how it's done, but folks, the one of the most fascinating things about this man, you've heard about the six degrees of separation of Kevin Baker. No, no, it's like two degrees of this man. I'm just going to name a few names. OK. And someone will come off the top of my head. And I just want to the question would be, do you know this person? Have you conversed with them? And I don't need the stories, which we don't have time, but I just got a few names I want to run out of. People that you have met, talked to, know, whatever. Kissinger, no one. Kissinger? Henry Kissinger. I met Henry Kissinger. You won't believe where I met him. I met him at the premiere of The Godfather. They were good friends with Bobby Kenney and all that. OK. That's the first time that I think of his name. He sang the theme from The Godfather. And we heard the lyrics. Yes. But they were all at that party. So that's why I met Henry. And then I stayed in touch with him because of the Friars Club and the political parties in New York. OK. Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood and Maggie Eastwood. After Ruhide, he got a contract with a friend of mine, Sergio Leone. Yes. To do a fistful of Donald Moore. And I babysat his house. How about Donald Trump? Donald Trump. Oh, Donald Trump. I love Donald. Donald Trump was a totally different situation before he was Donald Trump that we knew. He was at a show. I was an opening act for Don Rickles. And Sinatra said, he was my voice teacher. He said, you got to go on stage and get some practice in front of an audience. So he arranged for me to be opening act for Don Rickles. So I'm at Atlantic City. And I did my 30 minutes. I come off. And the security guard comes and said, Ivana Trump and Donald want to come and see you. I see a Mickey Mouse wants to see you, too. Get out of my dressing room. Because I figure, why would they not sit and watch the star? And they were there. And they came in. I'll tell you, I got a great memory. 1984, Ivana Trump and Donald gave me a contract. And the entertainment director was Tom Cantone at the time. And he said, our guy's going to call you. Here's his card. We want you to open up Trump Marina as a headliner. And I stayed friends with Donald even till now. Yeah, interesting. Putin, Putin. Oh, Putin. Putin, Putin, Putin. That's OK. Calm down, boy. No. Well, Putin I made up. I am for Putin, his manager, and runs the embassy in Russia, the Russian embassy in New York. His lady runs it. I'm the godfather to her son. And I met him at Nello's. I'm a nice little kid. I didn't know where she was. We got to become friendly. And she runs the Russian embassy. And we were starting to talk about vodka. And Putin drinks beluga black. And my vodka was being sold all over New York at the time, godfather vodka. In fact, it was just picked by the Robber Port as the most important vodka in the world. Your vodka is the best in the world. Best in the world. Look it up. Watch Night, Robber Port, totally owned vodka. Nice. So we made a bet. He drank it on Skype. Who did? Putin. You make a bet with Putin. You made a bet. Who's vodka is best? Yeah. And they had vodka there. We had his vodka with me. And we all had glasses. They marked the glass and nobody knew who they were. And what I thought was, because I know how powerful this guy was, and I just admired the guy. I know a lot of people don't like him, especially in how it's going on. But this is long before that. He drank this shot, and he knew it was his, and he smashed the glass right on the table. It was mine. And they went over and had a G on the bottom of it. A G on. Oh, godfather. One more Elvis. Yeah, Elvis. Oh, Elvis. Elvis opened the club for me. You're hitting everybody I know. I opened the club in Vegas. When I came back, I was hiding out to leave, strained out the whole Kennedy thing. I left the country for 24 months. Because you had to leave. Yeah. And I went to Vegas, which is going to be strange, Joe Kennedy and Frank Costello own the Tropicana Hotel in Vegas. And I was down and getting bored. He said, open a club. I said, OK, I'll open a club. And I knew Kirk O'Corey and just hide Elvis to open the International Hotel. Sure. And nobody didn't realize. I met Elvis in 1961 when they were doing the NBC special. Sure. Frank Sinatra welcoming Elvis back. That's right. He's peeking, and he's going to start to peek. Go ahead. And I was there. They invited me, because that's right after we got John F. Kennedy nominated. That's right. Presidency. Right, sure. High hopes. Yeah. So that was the campaign song. Yeah, right. That's right. Sinatra. So I go see Elvis. And he said, oh, wow, the kid's here. The kid. And nobody knew who the kid was. It was me. But I said, I'm opening a club. I'll have my car pick you up every night. So I'll be there. I opened the Tropicana called Tiffany's. I opened it midnight to six in the morning, only six hours. This is the only night club that in Vegas is open 18 hours a day, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. You couldn't get in. Because as soon as he started coming, I had the telephone operators on all the cabs, all the limousines saying, you're not going to believe who's at Tiffany's tonight, Elvis president. He came every night. No kidding. What was he like, though, Jen, personally? Because you spent a lot of time with him. I spent a lot of time with him. I actually went on one of those flights on his plane to San Francisco for peanut butter and bacon banana sandwich. So I went once. I said, if I'm going to die of a car accident, it's going to be pasta. Get down. Amen. We had a live shootout. And sweet 3,000. Tell the audience about that. That's a killer story. Because he's like in Western movies. And when he got mustered out, they gave him two 45-goal plated 45s. He carried them. And we're watching a movie. The next thing, his crew is turning over couches. My crews were in the top floor of the Hilton Hotel, which is now, I don't know where it's called. And we're shooting above, but we shot the whole place up. Thank God there was nobody upstairs. Oh, my God. No, Elvis was not. I've seen those pistols. They've shown him with those pistols, right there. Oh, yeah, he's, I mean. Pope John Paul. No, yeah, I can't believe I was going to. No, no, sorry. Go ahead, Pope. Pope John Paul. Any of them. Any Pope. No, Pope John Paul is my favorite. He's saint. I've known three. Now he's a saint. My little kids, my grandchildren. Do you know a saint? You don't know. I'm walking out of here, and I'm getting a polygraph on you. No, there's pictures of him with the Pope. You see this? Yes. He gave me this in 1984. Pope John Paul. What? So what's your connection with the Vatican? And how did you, well, if you read that book, they say, I know nothing about this, that me and Nick Nitty. From Chicago. From Chicago, in 15 years, took $600 million to the Vatican. Every time they question me, I say, well, where is it? Where is it? Where is it? I don't know where it is. Part of it's around Young Yuck, right there. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's just from the back. No, I'm not making fun of it. I am so impressed. I almost asked you at lunch what that was. And I do want to say this before you leave. You told me before we began the show you were, without question, the best dressed person we've ever had on this show. And I said to the ladies and gentlemen, I said, I want to wear whatever you're wearing. You have your own line of clothing. I'm going on. I'm going to try to be the next Gianni Russo of Paul and walk around like that. The line is La Cosa Mia. Yeah, La Cosa Mia. La Cosa Mia by Gianni. Yeah. Go online. LA, COSA. Like La Cosa in Austria? I try to keep everything in that vein. Yeah, so we know that. It's La Cosa Mia. Yeah. And while we're talking about commercials, I always think about the Godfather, obviously it's the movie I made. But the last line in the movie, when Michael talking to me before he killed me, he said, Carlo, your punishment is you're out of the family business. You're going to Vegas. Well, guess what? I own the family business in 73 countries. So if you want to buy some good pasta sauce, go to Corleone Find Italian. It's up tonight now. Amen. Absolutely. Gianni, imagine the irony. And I know that your life is total irony that you have that line in the movie, which I have said to many people long before we become friends, that I said, watch his reaction that he really does believe he's got to pass. And the look on his face of relief is he can't wait to get the F out of there. As Michael says, OK, they're taking you to the airport. And the look on your face is, whoa, I just dodged a bullet and then they kill you. But the irony is that you are now, pretty much, you are the Godfather, doctor of our business. The father of Godfather. All that stuff. And do you ever talk to Al Pacino? Does anybody ever say to you, how did you end up with it? By the way, I saw Jimmy Khan last night on the Alfred Hitchcock, I thought of you. Jimmy Khan kicking the crap. You wasted your time. Anyway, he's not a big fan of Godfather. I know, that's a good point. But anyway, yeah. About Pacino? Yeah, yeah. So have you ever talked to him about it? Your friends with him? Well, Pacino De Niro, they're the only two right now because, well, I did another movie with Pacino, one of my biggest movies, Any Given Sunday. Yes, of course. Great 38 movie stars. Yes. And he starred in that. But Pacino and I, I mean, he's just a normal guy. Yes. In fact, during that movie, he got beveled to D'Angelo Pregnant with the twins, who are 26 years old now. You heard it here first, folks. No, and I said to him, I said, you got some papers with her? So I said, oh, no, no, no. I said, oh, Al, I got mothers, unworthy mother. Don't ever take anybody for granted. Get some paper. And right now, he wish he did. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. Because he created a lifestyle. Sure. And he has to keep doing it. Wow. He's getting old. We all are. The Godfather. I think everybody rates it as the greatest movie ever made. Yeah. And you're continuing, what, 52 years later, Gianni? It's incredibly popular now as it was back then. And there's a new generation. My son, Teddy, and his friends, just love it. We went to a law partners' fourth July party, Rob and I. It's sitting on the table as a presentation. The CDs that are sitting there on Ken's coffee table. What I wanted to ask you was the show that came out called The Offer. And I know, and I'd like you to talk about that, because it really characterized you in a way that wasn't accurate at all. Talk about that. Well, no, I was going to. And how you got the part. I was going to, even the whole thing to me was a myth. And I fortunately listened for a while. And then I said, I got to do something about this. Because I have a legacy of how I got this, 52 years. Why would I let somebody destroy this now? So I got a very powerful law firm. And we settled. So if you watch from now on, where they really bastardized me was hour eight. At the end of the series, which how I got this on, nobody's going to know how I did this. At the end of the series, of each hour that I'm in, it says Gianni Russo, the character of Carlo, has been fictitiously portrayed to embellish the film. That's all I wanted is a disclaimer. I don't want my grandchildren on a legacy. Because what they said about me is totally not true in that. But, you know, and then I got a nice check, too. Good for you. Good for you. Gianni, with all your businesses, the vodka, the clothing line, the pasta, your podcasts, surely, in terms of being one of the movie stars from that movie, we got Da Nero, we got Pacino, there's still whatever. Brando. And yet you, you branched off using the name and became literally a brand unto yourself. So while that movie's in their past, you're still, quote, living it, aren't you? Well, you know, the thing with that, it's not me, the brand. I recognize that's the brand. Well, yeah, but you're the person behind the brand right now. Yeah, but I went to Paramount and Biacom and the brando was state and licensed it. Of course, because I... You can't get that. As an attorney, listen, Gianni, if someone said to me, I would say, as an attorney, there's no way he can start going around and naming vikers and stuff if he hadn't done the legal things. And I wouldn't do it because if I made it that great, then they'd want more money for it. Of course I would, yeah. So I sat down. It was an interesting contract, though, because I wasn't in the food business. So I went to CBS in them and they said, well, what do you know about food? I said, well, I believe in the brand. I have a cashier's check. I was with my lawyer. I said, I have a cashier's check here. For what I project will be the royalty for the first two years. I said, I'll give you that check right now. Non-refundable. So if I fail, you made two million. I got you. That was my bet. Gianni, when I, in my law book, and every time I lecture and talk to people about practicing law, one of the most favorite sayings I've ever used in mediation or discussing with an insurance, just make an offer I can't refuse. Oh, I've used it so much. Because we all know what that is. And you said to them, I'm gonna make you an offer. You can't refuse. It was just two million. And that saying is in a law firm, you know they're saying it's all over the wall and that must be one of them. Make an offer I can't refuse. Because it does make a lot of sense. It does. Well, that's sad. I mean, you know, if you believe in what you do, that's a part of my life. Yes. When I say something, I believe it and I'll back it. So, yeah, you put your money quote where your mouth is. And that's what you do. I'm gonna make you an offer you can't refuse. It was used in a threatening manner, but we all know that it makes a lot of sense. Someone want to buy your house, make me an offer I can't refuse. Yeah. And I've done that. We're in a lot of, most of my life. And that was long before, you know, it's the cliche now that's recognized throughout the world. But it makes sense. It's always, it's a good business sense. Yeah. If you want to sell something myself. Well, it's a negotiation thing when you're haggling and by the way, people don't realize that when you go to other countries, they want you to negotiate. But not like America or the CVS, that's the price. And so you obviously will make me an offer I can't refuse. Just leave the, leave the gun and take the cannoli. That's it. Leave the gun and take the cannoli. You've just seen part one of a two part series that we've done with Gianni Russo. I want to close this part one by discussing his credibility because I know that some things were said during his interview that some people might have doubts about, but I'm going to tell you something. If those people were to be sitting with Gianni across the table from him, they wouldn't say what some people have said to us. We say, oh, come on, oh, come on. We had the same sort of discussions with people when we had F. Lee Bailey on. So what I'm about to discuss with you now is the credibility of Gianni Russo. I can tell you that Rob and I, after we did the interview, attended his concert, his presentation. Excuse me, up in Wyndham. And I've got to tell you that much of the things that he said on the air, he said in front of at least 200 people. And he has told those same things in front of audiences many times. Rob and I did fact check much of the things that he said. For example, the murder that took place in Las Vegas when a henchman of Pablo Escobar took a bottle, a broken bottle, to a woman. And Gianni Russo shot him. That's a true story. That was in a Las Vegas newspaper. The quotations that he has from various people, these were things that actually happened to him. His meeting with the pope. These are things that have been documented. And then when he discusses things such as assassinations and so on and so forth, these are things that he believes from people that he's talked to and people that he knows. We don't verify whether or not these assassinations took place the way he said, but it's what he believes. So in my humble opinion, the interview with Gianni Russo was an interview with a man who was extremely credible. And I say this, when you're a big person, when you know people and you've know celebrities, whatever, you really don't have to embellish things. If I tell people I know Bobby Riedel, I don't say that we've known each other all our lives. I tell them exactly how long I've known him. And that's how I feel about Gianni Russo. The man is so connected that he really doesn't have to embellish any of his stories. And in my opinion, he is one of the most credible people that we've ever had on the air, and that includes George Mitchell. Rob, what do you think about it? Dairy, I couldn't agree more. I mean, I've read a lot about Gianni. I've read his books. The fact that he's been in 50 or 60 movies, TV shows, it's a fact. It's a fact that he worked with Frank Costello. It's a fact that he knew Marilyn Monroe. And it's a fascinating life. And we certainly wanted to showcase that for our audience here in Maine, and now that it's available on social media throughout the world. Gianni's 80 years old. He's been there and done it. He knows everybody. His record speaks for itself. People can agree with his views on the JFK assassination or Marilyn Monroe's death or not. But that's what he experienced. That's what he knew. And he's not backing away from it. And if you notice, no one's really filed a suit against him for slander or anything else. That's correct. The record speaks for itself. And the fact that he will say pretty much the same things in front of 250 or more witnesses, that speaks for itself. So ladies and gentlemen, we hope you enjoyed the interview with Gianni Rousseau and we hope you'll watch part two.