..and the winner is...
The meanest of them all, without doubt, was Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro in Casino. The character was partly based on real life, crazy gangster, Tony Spilotro that Bruce had the "pleasure" to meet. I never heard of Spilotro, so I Googled the name and was amazed at the parallels between his real life and the "fictional" movie Casino. Maybe most of you knew that, but to me it was an eye opener. Runners up in the category of MEANEST VILLAINS would be any number of characters played by JOE PESCI, who seems to have made a career out of playing those roles. In order of meaness: As Nicky Santoro in Casino As Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas As David Ferrie in JFK As Joey in Raging Bull Zeev From: MoPo List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bruce Hershenson Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 9:59 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MOPO] MEANEST VILLAINS I was "lucky" enough to play in the Dunes Hotel every day for the year or so Spilotro hung out there every day. He tried to hide how scary (and crazy) he was, but he couldn't quite do it. He started backing some of the best poker players in the highest games, and he "romanced" me and offered to finance me as well. I asked a friend who was playing for him, and he said "What do you need this for, Bruce?" and I very politely turned Tony down. He got his. He was driven out to the desert with one of his brothers, and he was later found buried there, and the autopsy showed he had been buried alive, and that a part of his anatomy had been removed and put in his mouth before he died. Not a way anyone would choose to go! Bruce On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 8:38 PM, Richard Halegua Comic Art <[email protected]> wrote: At 05:53 PM 4/26/2010, Bruce Hershenson wrote: I think most of the people named were more crazy than mean. When I think of MEAN, I think of: Hume Cronyn as Capt. Munsey in Brute Force Bruce is correct on Hume Cronyn being one of the very meanest of all villains another one no one has mentioned yet is Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro in Casino which was based on of the all time real life meanest villains. Spilotro was possibly the greatest sadist in Vegas history here is some data from IMDB trivia: The "head in a vise" scene is taken from an anecdote in the book "Casino" unrelated to the main story, describing mob enforcer Tony <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112641/name/nm1617259/> Spilotro's interrogation of a low-level gangster named Billy McCarthy, who had committed the unauthorized murder on the Scalvo Brothers, a pair of high-ranking mobsters within Spilotro's crime organization. Trying to get McCarthy to give up the identity of the man who helped him kill the Scalvos, Spilotro first beat McCarthy, then stabbed him in the testicles with an icepick, before finally shoving his head in a vise and crunching it to five inches wide; McCarthy didn't give up the name of his partner, Jimmy Miraglia, until Spilotro tightened the vise in such a way that one of Billy's eyes popped out. Amazingly, McCarthy survived the head-crushing long enough for Spilotro to kill him by dousing him in lighter fluid and setting him ablaze. Spilotro would remark later in life, "Billy McCarthy was the toughest guy I ever met." (Jimmy Miraglia was subsequently shot dead and put in the trunk of his own car along with Billy's corpse). Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
