Louis Giovanni "Gianni" Russo (born December 12, 1943, Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor and singer.
Russo was raised in Rosebank, Staten Island. He claims that he has Mob connections and that his uncle was a soldier in the Gambino crime family. Someone ? claims that the Gambinos persuaded Francis Ford Coppola to cast Russo as Carlo Rizzi in the Godfather. Gianni states his father was a longshoreman and a musician who worked at the Brookly...
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Louis Giovanni "Gianni" Russo (born December 12, 1943, Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor and singer.
Russo was raised in Rosebank, Staten Island. He claims that he has Mob connections and that his uncle was a soldier in the Gambino crime family. Someone ? claims that the Gambinos persuaded Francis Ford Coppola to cast Russo as Carlo Rizzi in the Godfather. Gianni states his father was a longshoreman and a musician who worked at the Brooklyn waterfront who was ashamed his only son was crippled from the horrible disease and refused to acknowledge him during his early childhood. He suffered from a "gimp arm" as a result of the disease.
Russo's best known film role was as Carlo Rizzi in the 1972 movie The Godfather. After reprising the Rizzi character in a brief flashback scene at the end of The Godfather Part II, Russo went on to act in more than 35 movies including The Freshman, Super Mario Bros., Any Given Sunday, and Seabiscuit.
Russo claims that he started a fledgling career...
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