Robert De Niro A Goomba To The Gambinos?
- DeNiro With "Fat Andy" Ruggiano, And Other Gambino Associate
These particular movies all had one thing in common. The Mafia.
Although in Bronx Tale, he was against the mafia and played a hard working bus driving Dad.
Billy Crystal and DeNiro in Analyze This
Did you ever wonder why De Niro is SO good at playing Mafioso? Well perhaps this is why.
When De Niro took the role of Paul Vitti in the 1999 film Analyze This, (co-star Billy Crystal played Dr. Ben Soble) nobody knew just how far De Niro went to make his part as authentic as possible until recently, when a never before seen photo surfaced of De Niro and late Gambino family soldier Anthony Fat Andy Ruggiano. (God I love these names)
De Niro was introduced to the Gambino family through Anthony Corrozzo who is a member of the Screen Actor's Guild AND also played a part in the movie, although I could not find him listed in the credits.
*fact* There was REAL footage of MANY actual mafia members in this movie.
DeNiro's rep, Stan Rosenfeld says De Niro doesn't remember Ruggiano, due to the fact that the movie was filmed over 10 years ago. I can just hear De Niro saying in that famous De Niro voice : "Yeah... maybe I don't remember it so much...you have a problem with that? Get outta here!"
Rosenfeld was quoted as saying:
"Bob seldom, if ever, discusses his research techniques."
Smart man that Bobby De Niro.
This wasn't the first time De Niro researched his movie roles. When DeNiro did Goodfellas, he also wanted to meet with James (Jimmy the Gent) Burke. But Burke was in jail and refused to meet him a source said. DeNiro isn't alone with all this researching. Many actors like to rub elbows with tough guys or wise guys in this case.
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