Nicky Santoro’s crew in Casino is a montage. That’s all Scorsese gave them. A handful of nameless guys cutting holes in roofs, grabbing furs, loading vans, background action behind Joe Pesci’s performance. The film doesn’t name them. It doesn’t tell you what happened to them. It treats them like set dressing for…
A woman walks toward a storefront on a side street in Queens. It is spring, the year 1980. She is 34 years old. She has two daughters at home. The man who sent her here, a man her children call Uncle Jimmy, told her there were stolen dresses waiting inside. A favor. A kindness in…
June 11th, 1976, Miami Beach. A 72-year-old man collapses in the parking lot of his daughter’s apartment building, clutching his chest, gasping for air in the humid Florida night. His name was Paul John Carbo, but the world knew him as Frankie Carbo. And for three decades, he’d been the most powerful…
Every film student knows the scene. Marlon Brando sitting in a darkened office. Cotton stuffed in his cheeks. Raspy voice barely above a whisper. I’m going to make him an offer he can’t refuse. Veto Corleone, the Godfather, the most iconic mobster in cinema history. Noble, honorable, a man of principle who protects his family…
September 10th, 1931, Park Avenue, New York City. Salvatore Marenzano stood at his office window, nine floors above the street, watching the morning sun glint off automobile hoods. He had just declared himself Capo de Capi, boss of all bosses, 6 months earlier. In his desk drawer lay a list of 40 men he planned…
Picture this. A man who has spent 30 years mastering blackjack. A man who has sat at more tables than most people have had hot meals. Walks into the Bellagio on a Tuesday afternoon. Looks around at the near empty casino floor. Takes one glance at the table minimum sign and walks…
March 15th, 1981. 7:45 in the evening. 2117 Porter Street, South Philadelphia. Phil Testa is climbing the three concrete steps of his own front porch, keys in his left hand, a paper bag from the diner in his right. He is the boss of the Philadelphia crime family. He has held that title for exactly…
1980, a federal courtroom in Brooklyn. Paul Vario, 58 years old, sits at the defense table in a gray suit, no flashy jewelry, no expensive watch, no silk tie. Just a heavy-set man with tired eyes and the patience of someone who has been through this before …
10 ways Queen Elizabeth II showed her love for Diana through royal jewels. She has been called cold, distant, even cruel. For decades, the narrative has been simple. Queen Elizabeth never truly accepted Diana. That she watched unmoved as her daughter-in-law drowned in loneliness, protocol, and a marriage that was breaking apart….
However, on her wedding day, Princess Catherine softly pushed back. Instead, I chose to wear my hair down in gentle flowing waves. And it’s even more iconic because she defied a 350-year tradition. The coronation of King Charles III was one of the decade’s most highly anticipated events, steeped in centuries of…
End of content
End of content