Misplaced Pages

#820179

93-691: Bugsy was given a limited release by TriStar Pictures on December 13, 1991, followed by a theatrical wide release on December 20, 1991. It received generally positive reviews from critics. It received ten nominations at the 64th Academy Awards (including for Best Picture and Best Director ) and won two: Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design . It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama . In 1941, gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel , who had partnered in crime since childhood with Meyer Lansky and Charlie Luciano , goes to Los Angeles and instantly falls in love with Virginia Hill ,

186-504: A $ 250,000 bribe to release him, then threatened Dickey when the offer was refused. Dickey was even instructed by his superiors in the military chain of command to refrain from pursuing Genovese, but refused to be dissuaded. On June 2, 1945, after arriving in New York by ship the day before, Genovese was arraigned on murder charges for the 1934 Boccia killing. He pleaded not guilty. On June 10, 1946, another prosecution witness, Jerry Esposito,

279-618: A business. Luciano, Frank Costello , and Genovese started their own bootlegging operation with financing from Rothstein. In 1930, Genovese was indicted on counterfeiting charges when police found $ 1 million of counterfeit US currency in a Bath Beach, Brooklyn , workshop. Later in 1930, Genovese allegedly murdered Gaetano Reina , the leader of a Bronx-based gang. Reina had been a Masseria ally, but Masseria decided to kill him after he began to suspect him of secretly helping Masseria's archrival, Brooklyn gang leader Salvatore Maranzano . On February 26, 1930, Genovese allegedly ambushed Reina as he

372-504: A combination of his gambling habits and being extorted by prosecutors who want his testimony. Though he is Harry's trusted friend, Bugsy has no choice but to kill him. He is arrested for the murder, but the only witness is a cab driver who dropped Harry off in front of Bugsy's house. The driver is paid to leave town. Lansky waits for Bugsy outside the jail and gives a satchel of money to his friend, though he warns Bugsy that he will no longer be able to protect him. The Flamingo's opening night

465-506: A deal for film financing with Delphi Film Associates. CBS dropped out of the Tri-Star venture in November 1985. HBO also dropped out of the venture and sold half of its shares to Columbia Pictures following a month. Despite the changes in majority ownership, Tri-Star continued ambition-laden expansion plans. Chief among these plans was an expansion of their successful relationship with Carolco;

558-518: A divorce, Virginia makes a romantic move on Bugsy. On a trip to Nevada to make a maintenance call to a rough gambling joint, Bugsy is struck with the inspiration for a luxury hotel and casino in the desert of Nevada, which happens to be in the only state where gambling is legal. He obtains $ 1 million in funding from Lansky and other New York City mobsters, on the motion of going big, doing it legit in Nevada. Virginia wants no part of it until Bugsy offers her

651-544: A film about Bugsy Siegel can be traced all the way back to the late 1970s and early 1980s. After completing Reds , Beatty had several projects that he wanted to do but his two dream projects were to produce, star, and possibly direct the life story of Howard Hughes and the life story of Bugsy. Beatty stated that of all the characters he played in films, such as Clyde Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde and John Reed in Reds , he felt that he

744-453: A firearm. By the 1920s, Genovese started working for Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria , the boss of a powerful Manhattan gang that would evolve into the family he would eventually lead. Charlie Luciano and his close associates started working for gambler Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein , who immediately saw the potential windfall from Prohibition and educated Luciano on running bootleg alcohol as

837-522: A haircut and shave. As Anastasia relaxed in the barber chair, two men with their faces covered in scarves shot and killed him. Witnesses were unable to identify any of the gunmen, and competing theories exist today as to their identities. In November 1957, immediately after the Anastasia murder, after taking control of the Luciano crime family from Costello, Genovese wanted to legitimize his new power by holding

930-592: A heavy New York City accent (which can be heard in the trailer). However, both Levinson and Toback thought that the accent was not right, so Beatty dropped the accent (which he thought was "charming") and used his normal voice. Principal photography began in January 1991, and filming wrapped in May 1991. Portions of the film were shot in the Coachella Valley , California. Bugsy had a limited release on December 13, 1991, and

1023-543: A high-stakes card game. After the game, Boccia demanded a share of $ 35,000 because he had introduced the victim to Genovese. Rather than pay Boccia anything, Genovese decided to have him murdered. On September 19, 1934, Genovese and five associates allegedly shot and killed Boccia in a coffee shop in Brooklyn. On June 18, 1936, Luciano was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison as a result of his conviction on pandering . With Luciano's imprisonment, Genovese became acting boss of

SECTION 10

#1732875754821

1116-619: A hitman sent by Genovese. Valachi then became a government witness. Genovese died in prison on February 14, 1969. Vito Genovese was born on November 21, 1897, in Risigliano, a frazione in the comune of Tufino , in the Province of Naples , Italy . His father was Frances Felice Genovese and his mother Nunziata Aluotto. Vito had a sister, Giovanna Jennie (m. Richard Prisco), along with two brothers, Michael and Carmine, who later joined Genovese's crime family. His cousin, Michael , became boss of

1209-560: A joint venture between Columbia Pictures, CBS , and HBO , whose individual video units handled video, broadcast, and pay cable rights to its products, the company scored a number of box office hits with modestly-budgeted fare in the 1980s, as well as fortuitous distribution deals with the Producers Sales Organization , Carolco Pictures and the Taft Entertainment Group . It also expanded ambitiously throughout

1302-436: A joint venture with existing Sony Pictures executives. The new TriStar would develop, finance and produce up to four films per year, as well as television programming and acquisitions, starting on September 1. Sony's TriStar Pictures unit is currently being retained for "other product, including titles from Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions ", and is distributing product from TriStar Productions. TriStar's logo features

1395-411: A life sentence for that murder, Valachi decided to become a government witness. On August 24, 1964, Ernest Rupolo 's body was recovered from Jamaica Bay , Queens . His killers had attached two concrete blocks to his legs and tied his hands. It was widely assumed that Genovese had ordered Rupolo's murder for testifying against him in the 1944 Boccia murder trial. Genovese died of a heart attack at

1488-485: A meeting at his office, they knew Maranzano would kill them there. Instead, Luciano sent to Maranzano's office four Jewish gangsters whose faces were unknown to Maranzano's people. They had been secured with the aid of Meyer Lansky and Siegel. Luciano subsequently created The Commission to serve as the governing body for organized crime. In 1931, Genovese's first wife, Donata Ragone, died of tuberculosis and he quickly announced his intention to marry Anna Petillo, who

1581-427: A meeting where he was murdered at a restaurant called Nuova Villa Tammaro on Coney Island . While they played cards, Luciano allegedly excused himself to the bathroom, with the gunmen reportedly being Genovese, Albert Anastasia , Joe Adonis , and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel ; Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova drove the getaway car, but legend has it that he was too shaken up to drive away and had to be shoved out of

1674-430: A national Cosa Nostra meeting. Genovese selected Buffalo, New York boss and Commission member Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino to organize the meeting; he in turn chose northeastern Pennsylvania crime boss Joseph Barbara and his underboss Russell Bufalino to oversee all the arrangements for it. Cuba was one of the topics of discussion, particularly the gambling and narcotics smuggling interests of La Cosa Nostra on

1767-504: A new extension of their pre-existing deal included Tri-Star gaining theatrical distribution rights to various Carolco projects, including Rambo III and Air America ; Carolco retained all foreign, cable, television and videocassette rights. Taft/Barish Productions , a joint venture of Taft Broadcasting and Keith Barish Productions , signed a $ 200 million domestic distribution deal with Tri-Star (much like Carolco, Taft/Barish retained non-theatrical and ancillary distribution rights). Of

1860-457: A place where his family could be "out in the country", Genovese purchased a mansion in rural Middletown Township, New Jersey . The mansion's grounds were extensively landscaped into Italian gardens evoking Genovese's homeland, and included a small rock replica of Mount Vesuvius . Today, it is the site a public botanical gardens called Deep Cut Gardens . In 1937 while Genovese was in Italy due to

1953-476: A plan to get out of the media industry; Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc., and Coca-Cola sold its entertainment business to Tri-Star for $ 3.1 billion. Coca-Cola would then gradually reduce their holdings in the new company to 49%. Both studios continued to produce and distribute films under their separate names; a new Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. entity was created in April 1988. As

SECTION 20

#1732875754821

2046-502: A relatively new, untested film company into a major film studio. Components of these plans included the formation of Tri-Star Television , and joining forces with Stephen J. Cannell Productions and Witt / Thomas / Harris Productions to create a television distribution company known as TeleVentures; they also proposed forming their own home video label, Tri-Star Video, taking over from the trio of distributors (RCA/Columbia, CBS/Fox and HBO/Cannon). A full-on international distribution arm

2139-479: A result, Tri-Star's television division was consolidated into a single operating entity with Columbia / Embassy Television and Coca-Cola Television to form a new incarnation of Columbia Pictures Television . Merv Griffin Enterprises would continue to operate separately. Similarly, Tri-Star's nascent video division was absorbed into RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. In 1989, Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.

2232-419: A script entitled The Story and envisioned Robert De Niro as Siegel and Diane Keaton as Virginia Hill. In the late 1970s, Beatty met screenwriter James Toback , with whom he became fast friends when Beatty was preparing Heaven Can Wait . Years later, when Beatty was in pre-production on Ishtar , he asked Toback to write a script on Bugsy. During the course of six years and in between two films that he

2325-623: A share, puts her in charge of accounting and begins constructing the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel Casino in Las Vegas ; however, the budget soon soars out of control to $ 6 million due to his extravagance. Bugsy tries everything to ensure it gets completed, even selling his share of the casino. Bugsy is visited in Los Angeles by former associate Harry Greenberg , who has betrayed his old associates to save himself and run out of money from

2418-481: A subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company ), who convinced Columbia, HBO , and CBS to share resources and split the ever-growing costs of making movies, leading to the creation of a new joint venture on March 2, 1982. On May 16, 1983, it was given the name Tri-Star Pictures (when the new company was formed and did not have an official name, the press used the code-name "Nova", but the name could not be obtained as it

2511-481: A television production banner in 1991 (by way of acquiring rights to shows from New World Television ) and merged with its sister television studio Columbia Pictures Television (CPT) to form Columbia TriStar Television (CTT) on February 21, 1994. Both studios continued to operate separately under the CTT umbrella until TriStar Television folded in 1999 and CPT folded in 2001. In addition to its own slate, TriStar Pictures

2604-477: A titular boss of bosses and let Genovese run everything. Luciano calmly rejected Genovese's suggestion: There is no Boss of Bosses. I turned it down in front of everybody. If I ever change my mind, I will take the title. But it won't be up to you. Right now you work for me and I ain't in the mood to retire. Don't you ever let me hear this again, or I'll lose my temper. Genovese was now a capo of his former Greenwich Village Crew . However, on October 4, 1951, Moretti

2697-626: A tough-talking Hollywood starlet. The two meet for the first time when Bugsy visits actor George Raft on the set of Manpower . He buys a house in Beverly Hills , planning to stay there while his wife and two daughters remain in Scarsdale, New York . Bugsy is in California to wrestle control of betting parlors away from weak Los Angeles crime family boss Jack Dragna . Ascending local Jewish gangster Mickey Cohen robs Dragna's operation one day. He

2790-510: A vehicle for film and television productions. TriStar Pictures is currently being used as a vehicle for distribution of products from that new entity and other items from Sony Pictures, including titles from Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions . TriStar Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The concept for Tri-Star Pictures can be traced to Victor Kaufman, a senior executive of Columbia Pictures (then

2883-531: A walk and was never seen again. His body was never recovered. In 1962, an alleged murder threat from Genovese propelled mobster Joseph Valachi into the public spotlight. In June, Genovese supposedly accused Valachi, also imprisoned in Atlanta, of being an informer and gave Valachi the kiss of death . In July, Valachi supposedly mistook another inmate for a mob hitman and killed him. A $ 100,000 bounty for Valachi's death had been placed by Genovese. After receiving

Bugsy - Misplaced Pages Continue

2976-540: Is a total failure in a rainstorm, and $ 2 million of the budget is unaccounted for. Bugsy discovers that Virginia stole the money, which he then lets her keep. He then urges Lansky to never sell his share of the casino because he will live to thank him someday. Later that night, Bugsy is shot and killed in his home. Virginia is told the news in Las Vegas and knows her own days could be numbered. The end title cards state that one week after Bugsy's death, Virginia returned all of

3069-594: Is believed Genovese provided Ciano with cocaine . Genovese donated nearly $ 4 million to Mussolini's fascist party by the end of World War II . He was also awarded the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus and made a commendatore , after he participated in helping create a new fascist party headquarters in Nola. In 1943, Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of Carlo Tresca , the publisher of an anarchist newspaper in New York and an enemy of Mussolini. Genovese allegedly facilitated

3162-404: Is confronted by Bugsy, who decides he should be in business with the guy who committed the robbery, not the guy who got robbed. Cohen is put in charge of the betting casinos; Dragna is forced to confess to a raging Bugsy that he stole $ 14,000 and is told he now answers to Cohen. After arguments about Virginia's trysts with drummer Gene Krupa and various bullfighters and Bugsy's reluctance to get

3255-572: The Criminal Investigation Division examined Genovese's background, he discovered that Genovese was a fugitive wanted for the 1934 Boccia killing. However, there was seemingly little interest from the Army or the federal government in pursuing Genovese. After months of frustration, Dickey was finally able to make preparations to ship Genovese back to New York to face trial, but came under increasing pressure. Genovese personally offered Dickey

3348-501: The Fifth Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution 150 separate times. Luciano allegedly helped pay part of $ 100,000 to a Puerto Rican drug dealer to falsely implicate Genovese in a drug deal. On July 7, 1958, Genovese was indicted on charges of conspiring to import and sell narcotics. The government's star witness was Nelson Cantellops, a Puerto Rican drug dealer who claimed Genovese met with him. On April 4, 1959, Genovese

3441-744: The Pittsburgh crime family . As a child in Italy, Genovese completed school only to the American equivalent of the fifth grade. In 1913, when Genovese was aged 15, his family immigrated to the United States onboard the SS Taormina and took up residence in New York City 's Little Italy . Genovese was 5 ft 7 in (170 cm). Until 1934, Genovese lived in New York City. In 1935, looking for

3534-473: The boss of bosses title by ordering the murder of Albert Anastasia and the botched hit of Frank Costello . Immediately following this, he called a mafia summit to consolidate his power, but the meeting was raided by police. In 1959, Genovese's reign was cut short as he was convicted on narcotics conspiracy charges and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. While he and his underling Joe Valachi were in prison together, Valachi killed an inmate he thought to be

3627-493: The 1990s, TriStar operated autonomously from Columbia. Although its products were mostly indistinguishable from that of its sister studio, it soon scored a string of hits at the box office with such films as Sleepless in Seattle , Philadelphia , The Mirror Has Two Faces , Jerry Maguire , As Good as It Gets , Bugsy and Jumanji , and it also scored a major video hit with Danny DeVito 's Matilda . However, in 1998,

3720-545: The Apalachin meeting in protest. In response, Genovese decided to murder him. On September 25, 1959, Carfano and a female companion were found shot to death in his Cadillac automobile on a residential street in Jackson Heights, Queens . In April 1962, Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of Anthony Strollo after concluding that Strollo was part of the plot that put him in prison. On April 8, Strollo left his house to go for

3813-551: The Barbara estate. The police stopped a car driven by Bufalino, whose passengers included Genovese and three other men, at a roadblock as they left the estate; Bufalino said that he had come to visit his sick friend, Barbara. Genovese said he was just there for a barbecue and to discuss business with Barbara. The police let him go. On June 2, 1958, Genovese testified under subpoena in the U.S. Senate McClellan Hearings on organized crime. Genovese refused to answer any questions, citing

Bugsy - Misplaced Pages Continue

3906-468: The Boccia murder by mobster Ernest "The Hawk" Rupolo , a former Genovese associate. Facing a murder conviction, Rupolo had decided to become a government witness. On August 27, 1944, U.S. military police arrested Genovese in Italy during an investigation into his running of a black market ring. It was revealed that Genovese had been stealing trucks, flour, and sugar from the Army. When Agent Orange C. Dickey of

3999-494: The Boccia murder, the mansion burnt down and was never rebuilt. After the mansions' destruction, he and his family lived a quiet life in a house in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey . Genovese started his criminal career stealing merchandise from pushcart vendors and running errands for mobsters. He later collected money from people who played illegal lotteries. At 19, Genovese spent a year in prison for illegal possession of

4092-596: The Bronx, where Franse was strangled to death by Pasquale Pagano and Fiore Siano (Valachi's nephew). During the mid-1950s, Genovese decided to move against Costello. However, Genovese needed to also remove Costello's strong ally on the Commission, Albert Anastasia , the boss of the Anastasia crime family . Genovese was soon conspiring with Carlo Gambino , Anastasia's underboss, to remove Anastasia. In early 1957, Genovese decided

4185-502: The Luciano crime family. On November 25, 1936, Genovese became a naturalized United States citizen in New York City. In 1937, fearing prosecution for the Boccia murder, Genovese fled to Italy with $ 750,000 cash and settled in the city of Nola , near Naples . With Genovese's departure, Costello became acting boss. After bribing some fascist party members, Genovese became a friend of Galeazzo Ciano , Benito Mussolini 's son-in-law; it

4278-469: The New Jersey Superior Court appellate division, in 1954. In 1953, Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of mobster Steven Franse. Genovese had tasked Franse with supervising Anna while he hid in Italy. Outraged over Anna's potential love affairs and her lawsuit against him, Genovese ordered Joseph Valachi to set up Franse's murder. On June 18, 1953, Valachi lured Franse to his restaurant in

4371-461: The U.S. Army, accepted a 1938 Packard Sedan as a personal gift from Genovese. Genovese was appointed to a position of interpreter/liaison officer in the U.S. Army headquarters in Naples and quickly became one of Allied Military Government for Occupied Territories ' (AMGOT) most trusted employees. Poletti and the entire AMGOT department were completely unaware of his history. Genovese established one of

4464-614: The company fell on hard times following the box office disappointment of an ambitious remake of the Japanese monster film Godzilla , and Sony quickly responded by merging the studio with Columbia to form the Columbia TriStar Motion Pictures Group. The TriStar name was subsequently used by Sony on a very limited basis until 2004, when the company decided to turn the studio into a genre label that specialized in acquisitions. In 2015, Sony formed TriStar Productions as

4557-532: The con-man on his game." The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: TriStar Pictures TriStar Pictures, Inc. (spelled as Tri-Star until 1991) is an American film studio and production company that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group , part of the multinational conglomerate Sony Group Corporation . It is a corporate sibling of fellow Sony studio, Columbia Pictures . TriStar Pictures

4650-450: The decade with the acquisition of Loews Theatres and the formation of its own television arm . Among the various hits TriStar scored on its own during the decade were About Last Night , The Muppets Take Manhattan , Real Genius , Nothing in Common , Peggy Sue Got Married , The Principal , Look Who's Talking and Steel Magnolias . On November 15, 1985, CBS dropped out of

4743-404: The driver's seat by Siegel. Luciano took over Masseria's family, with Genovese as his underboss. In September 1931, Luciano and Genovese planned the murder of Salvatore Maranzano. Luciano had received word that Maranzano was planning to kill him and Genovese, and prepared a hit team to kill Maranzano first. On September 10, 1931, when Maranzano summoned Luciano, Genovese, and Frank Costello to

SECTION 50

#1732875754821

4836-516: The expansion of the heroin trade to an international level. He fled to Italy in 1937, and for a brief period during World War II he supported Benito Mussolini 's Fascist regime for fear of being deported back to the U.S. to face murder charges. After returning to the U.S. in 1945, Genovese served as mentor to Vincent "the Chin" Gigante , the future boss of the Genovese family. In 1957, Genovese vied for

4929-470: The film to be ready for distribution by Christmas 1984. On May 15, 1984, the studio hit big through its association with Carolco Pictures , with the release of Rambo: First Blood Part II , which eventually became a smash hit for the studio the following year. The company also partnered with Producers Sales Organization to handle theatrical distribution of the PSO titles, while both Tri-Star and Columbia struck

5022-415: The film). Beatty feared that he would be stuck in the position of having to direct the film himself. He said, "I'm in just about every scene of the picture, and I didn't want to have to do all that other work." However, Beatty announced to Toback that Barry Levinson was on board to direct Bugsy . At first, Toback was disappointed, but he quickly learned that Levinson was the right person for the job. Despite

5115-442: The film. Beatty presented Toback's script to Warner Bros. and claimed that it was much better than the one that Warner Bros. was interested in producing. Warner Bros. passed on the project, and Beatty eventually got the backing of TriStar Pictures . Initially, Toback was under the impression that he would be the director. For a while, Beatty could not find a director (he did not know or chose not to know of Toback's desire to direct

5208-527: The four films to emerge from this pact, only The Running Man would become a major success. Another avenue of expansion was acquiring the storied Loews Theaters chain of cineplexes in October 1986 for $ 300 million, after a deal to purchase United Artists Theaters from Tele-Communications, Inc. did not come to fruition. At the time, Loews had 260 theaters in six states. 1987 was another ambitious year for Tri-Star; plans were in place to take Tri-Star from

5301-502: The heroin trade, Cuban gambling, and what to do about Bugsy Siegel and the floundering Flamingo Hotel project in Las Vegas . The conference took place at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba and lasted a little more than a week. On December 20, during the conference, Luciano had a private meeting with Genovese in Luciano's hotel suite. Unlike Costello, Luciano had never trusted Genovese. In the meeting, Genovese tried to convince Luciano to become

5394-416: The infamous underworld legend, chiefly through a magnetic performance from Warren Beatty in the title role." Metacritic gave the film a score of 80 based on 27 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four of four stars, saying " Bugsy moves with a lightness that belies its strength. It is a movie that vibrates with optimism and passion, with the exuberance of

5487-482: The island. The international narcotics trade was also an important topic on the agenda. The New York garment industry interests and rackets, such as loansharking to the business owners and control of garment center trucking, were other important topics on the agenda. On November 14, 1957, powerful mafiosi from the United States and Italy convened at Barbara's estate in Apalachin, New York . The meeting agenda included

5580-532: The joint venture, selling its stake to Columbia Pictures. HBO sold its shares to the same studio in 1986 in order to form HBO Pictures . On December 21, 1987, Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. was renamed Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. following The Coca-Cola Company 's merger of Tri-Star and Columbia to become "Columbia/Tri-Star", of which it owned 80% of its stock. In January 1988, CPE's stocks somewhat fell, and Coca-Cola decreased its shares in CPE to 49%. On April 13, 1988,

5673-543: The jury, but I believe that if there were even a shred of corroborating evidence, you would have been condemned to the (electric) chair . With his release from custody in 1946, Genovese was able to rejoin the Luciano family in New York; however, neither Costello nor his underboss Willie Moretti was willing to return power to him. In 1946, Lansky called a meeting of the heads of the major crime families in Havana that December . The three topics which would come under discussion were

SECTION 60

#1732875754821

5766-655: The largest black market operations in southern Italy, together with the Cosa nostra's boss Calogero Vizzini . Vizzini sent truck caravans loaded with all the basic food commodities necessary for the Italian diet rolling northward to hungry Naples, where their cargoes were distributed by Genovese's organization. All of the trucks were issued passes and export papers by the AMGOT administration in Naples and Sicily, and some corrupt American army officers even made contributions of gasoline and trucks to

5859-484: The legitimacy of Genovese's conviction. For instance, longtime NYPD detective Ralph Salerno argued that "anyone who understands the protocol and insulation procedures" of the Mafia would find it "almost unbelievable" that a crime boss would be directly involved in a drug operation. In September 1959, Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of mobster Anthony Carfano . Angered at the murder attempt on Costello, Carfano had skipped

5952-601: The length of the script (which would have run three and a half to four hours), Beatty, Levinson, and Toback condensed it to a two-and-a-half to three-hour script. The trio worked very closely together during the production of the film. During casting, Beatty wanted Annette Bening to play the role of Virginia Hill. Before Bugsy , Bening was a candidate to play Tess Trueheart in Beatty's Dick Tracy . After seeing her audition, Beatty phoned Levinson and told him, "She's terrific. I love her. I'm going to marry her". Levinson thought Beatty

6045-520: The merger. TriStar was relaunched on May 13, 2004, as a marketing and acquisitions unit that had a "particular emphasis on genre films". Screen Gems' executive vice president Valerie Van Galder was tapped to run the revived studio after being dormant. However, the release of its 2013 film Elysium represented the label's first big-budget release since The Mask of Zorro in 1998. The same year, former 20th Century Fox co-chairman Tom Rothman joined Sony Pictures and created TriStar Productions as

6138-657: The missing money to Lansky and later committed suicide in Austria, and by 1991, the $ 6 million invested in Bugsy's Las Vegas dream had generated revenues of $ 100 billion. Other cast members in smaller roles include Robert Glaudini as Dominic Manzella, Jack Dragna's hatchet man ; Eric Christmas as Ronald the butler, Robert Beltran as Alejandro, Don Carrara as Vito Genovese , Bryan Smith as Chick Hill, Virginia's brother; Traci Lind as Natalie St. Clair, and Debrah Farentino and Bugsy's one-night stand. Beatty's desire to make and star in

6231-725: The murder as a favor to the Italian government. On January 11, 1943, a gunman shot and killed Tresca outside his newspaper office in Manhattan. The shooter was later alleged to be Carmine Galante , a member of the Bonanno crime family . No one was ever charged in the Tresca murder. When the Allies invaded Italy in September 1943, Genovese switched sides and quickly offered his services to the U.S. Army. Former New York governor Charles Poletti , then attached to

6324-463: The name of the company reverted to Tri-Star Pictures, Inc. On November 8, 1989, the Sony Corporation of Japan acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment for $ 3.4 billion. On August 7, 1991, under Sony Pictures Entertainment, the hyphen was officially removed from the name of the studio. TriStar became the first new american major film studio since RKO Pictures , which was founded in 1928. During

6417-508: The operation. According to Luke Monzelli, a lieutenant in the Carabinieri assigned to follow Genovese during his time in Italy: "Truckloads of food supplies were shipped from Vizzini to Genovese — all accompanied by the proper documents which had been certified by men in authority, Mafia members in the service of Vizzini and Genovese." In the summer of 1944 in New York, Genovese was implicated in

6510-416: The resolution of open questions on illegal gambling and narcotics dealing, particularly in the New York City area. State trooper Edgar D. Croswell had become aware that Barbara's son was reserving rooms in local hotels along with the delivery of a large quantity of meat from a local butcher to the Barbara home. That made Croswell suspicious, and he therefore decided to keep an eye on Barbara's house. When

6603-419: The state police found many luxury cars parked at Barbara's home they began taking down license plate numbers. Having found that many of these cars were registered to known criminals, state police reinforcements came to the scene and began to set up a roadblock. When the mobsters discovered the police presence, they started fleeing the gathering by car and by foot. Many Mafiosi escaped through the woods surrounding

6696-418: The time to move on Costello had come. Genovese ordered Vincent Gigante to murder Costello, and on May 2, 1957, Gigante shot and wounded Costello outside his apartment building. Although the wound was superficial, it persuaded Costello to relinquish power to Genovese and retire. A doorman identified Gigante as the gunman, however, in 1958, Costello testified that he was unable to recognize his assailant; Gigante

6789-571: The void left by Carolco, whose deal with TriStar Pictures was on the verge of expiring amid financial troubles. Around summer 1998, SPE merged Columbia and TriStar to form the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, but just like Columbia Pictures Entertainment, both divisions continued producing and distributing films under their own names. Some of the movies slated to be released by TriStar Pictures, including Stepmom would go to its flagship label Columbia Pictures following

6882-640: The wife of a mob figure. Two years earlier, she had moved out of the family home in New Jersey. She asked the judge for $ 350 per week. Vito filed a counter-suit for divorce on the grounds of desertion. According to Anna Genovese, Vito Genovese ruled the Italian lottery in New York and New Jersey, bringing in over $ 1 million per year, owned four Greenwich Village night clubs, a dog track in Virginia, and other legitimate businesses. Both claims were ultimately dismissed in

6975-559: The winged horse Pegasus (either stationary or flying across the screen). The idea came from executive Victor Kaufman and his family's interest in riding horses. The original logo was created with the assistance of Sydney Pollack , who was an adviser at Tri-Star. The horse in the original filmed logo was the same one used in Pollack's film The Electric Horseman . Vito Genovese Vito Genovese ( Italian: [ˈviːto dʒenoˈveːze, -eːse] ; November 21, 1897 – February 14, 1969)

7068-458: Was The Muppets Take Manhattan . On May 11, 1984, the studio's first produced film was released, The Natural starring Robert Redford . Tri-Star's first release, however, was the film, Where the Boys Are '84 ; a 1984 remake of the 1960 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) picture, Where the Boys Are that was co-distributed on behalf of ITC Entertainment after Universal rejected it; the film

7161-420: Was a commercial flop. Many of Tri-Star's productions were released on VHS by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video , HBO/Cannon Video , or CBS/Fox Video . In addition, HBO owned exclusive cable distribution rights to the films, with broadcast television licenses going to CBS. On May 8, 1984, Tri-Star Pictures secured North American distribution rights for the film Supergirl from Warner Bros. , which enabled

7254-572: Was acquired by Japanese conglomerate Sony Corporation , which merged Columbia and Tri-Star, but continued to use the separate labels. On July 11, 1990, Tri-Star Pictures dissolved and sold its venture in TeleVentures to Stephen J. Cannell Productions and TeleVentures became Cannell Distribution Co. Most of the series and the Tri-Star film packages that were distributed by TeleVentures were transferred to Columbia Pictures Television Distribution. Sony Pictures Entertainment later revived TriStar Television as

7347-618: Was acquitted on charges of attempted murder. Genovese now became boss of what is known as the Genovese crime family and promoted his longtime lieutenant, Anthony Strollo , to underboss. In late 1957, Genovese and Gambino allegedly ordered Anastasia's murder. Genovese had heard rumors that Costello was conspiring with Anastasia to regain power. On October 25, 1957, Anastasia arrived at the Park Central Hotel barber shop in Midtown, Manhattan, for

7440-416: Was already married to Gerard Vernotico. On March 16, 1932, Vernotico was found strangled to death on a Manhattan rooftop, and on March 28, 1932, Genovese married his widow, Anna, who was Genovese's cousin via her mother, Concetta y Cassini Genovese. In 1934, Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of mobster Ferdinand Boccia . Genovese and Boccia had conspired to cheat a wealthy gambler out of $ 150,000 in

7533-448: Was also in the planning stages. Another distribution deal was signed by Tri-Star and Hemdale Film Corporation in September 1987, but only one film, High Tide , would result from that deal. However, Tri-Star's ambitions were curtailed by yet more change in ownership. The Coca-Cola Company boosted its stake in Tri-Star to 29.3% that September. That December, following several high-profile flops (including Ishtar ), Coca-Cola began

7626-709: Was an Italian-born American mobster of the American Mafia . A childhood friend and criminal associate of the legendary Lucky Luciano , Genovese took part in the Castellammarese War and helped Luciano shape the new American Mafia's rise as a major force in organized crime in the United States. He would later lead Luciano's crime family, which would in 1957 be renamed by the FBI as the Genovese Crime Family after its then boss Vito. Along with Luciano, Genovese helped

7719-591: Was assassinated by order of the Mafia Commission ; the mob bosses were unhappy with his testimony during the Kefauver Hearings , and were worried, with the syphilis now affecting his brain, he might start talking to the press. Costello appointed Genovese as the new underboss. In December 1952, Anna Genovese sued her husband for financial support, and later divorce in 1953, as well as testifying to Vito's involvement in criminal rackets, an unheard-of action by

7812-461: Was being used as the title for the PBS science series ). Tri-Star embarked on a 12 to 18 feature film slate per year, with a combined budget of $ 70 to $ 80 million and signed producer Walter Colbenz as vice president of the Tri-Star feature film studio, and signed initial development deals with director John Schlesinger and producers Jeffrey Walker and Michael Walker. Tri-Star's first project to roll out

7905-540: Was convicted in New York of conspiracy to violate federal narcotics laws. On April 17, 1959, Genovese was sentenced to 15 years in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta , where he tried to run his crime family from prison. In his book, Five Families, longtime New York Times organized-crime reporter Selwyn Raab wrote that a number of detectives, lawyers and organized crime experts have questioned

7998-405: Was established on March 2, 1982, founded by Victor Kaufman as Nova Pictures , and has ever since released some of the most iconic Hollywood movies, such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day , Basic Instinct , Rambo: First Blood Part II and Hollywood’s first ever Godzilla . On May 16, 1983, its name was changed to Tri-Star in order to avoid confusion with the PBS series Nova . Originally

8091-457: Was found shot to death beside a road in Norwood, New Jersey . Earlier, another witness, Peter LaTempa , was found dead in a cell where he had been held in protective custody. Without anyone to corroborate Rupolo's testimony, the government's case collapsed, and the charges against Genovese were dismissed on June 10, 1946. In making his decision, Judge Samuel Leibowitz commented: I cannot speak for

8184-458: Was involved in, Toback wrote a 400-page document of Bugsy's life. However, under some strange circumstances, Toback lost the entire document. Under pressure from Warner Bros. , who Beatty learned also had a Bugsy Siegel script ready to be produced, Beatty pursued Toback to write a script based on his lost document. Toback handed his new script to Beatty. Beatty approved it and went to several studios in hopes of obtaining financing and distribution for

8277-426: Was just excited at her audition and did not think that Beatty actually meant what he had said. Both Beatty and Bening stated that their relationship started after completing the film. Later that summer, Bening became pregnant with her and Beatty's first child, which resulted in a tabloid/media frenzy at the time. The child was born January 8, 1992, and the couple married on March 12. Originally, Beatty played Bugsy with

8370-519: Was leaving his mistress's house in the Bronx and shot him in the back of the head with a shotgun. Masseria then took direct control of the Reina gang. In early 1930, the Castellammarese War broke out between Masseria and Maranzano. In a secret deal with Maranzano, Luciano agreed to engineer the death of his boss, Masseria, in return for receiving Masseria's rackets and becoming Maranzano's second-in-command. On April 15, 1931, Luciano had lured Masseria to

8463-526: Was released nationwide on December 20, 1991. Director Barry Levinson would later complain about how Tri-Star Studios promoted and distributed the film, deeming that they did not invest on it as much as their other release of that month, Hook . A director's cut was released on DVD, containing an additional 13 minutes not seen in the theatrical version. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 84% based on 64 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Stylishly scattered, Bugsy offers cinematic homage to

8556-433: Was the right actor to play both Bugsy and Hughes. Beatty was fascinated by Siegel, who he thought was a strange emblem of America (an American gangster who was the son of Jewish immigrants who became fascinated with Hollywood and who also envisioned a desert city in which legal gambling is allowed ). Several filmmakers attempted to make a film based on Bugsy's life, most famously French director Jean-Luc Godard , who wrote

8649-414: Was the theatrical distributor for many films produced by Carolco Pictures (the rights to only one of its films, Cliffhanger , has been retained by TriStar). TriStar Pictures also theatrically distributed some FilmDistrict films. In 1992, TriStar Pictures, along with Japan Satellite Broadcasting signed an agreement with The IndieProd Company to distribute movies produced by IndieProd in order to fill

#820179