Did You Know Frank Costello Inspired Vito Corleone In The Godfather Movie Don Vito shared traits with several mafia chieftains. The stealth and influence of Carlo Gambino, the most powerful mob boss of the ’60s and ’70s. The old world demeanor of Joseph Bonanno. Like Joseph Profaci, Vito depended on his olive oil distributorship as a front for his illicit activities. And like both the Profaci and Bonanno crime families, the Corleones were small, insular, and powerful in their communities. The Mafia boss most like Vito, however, was Frank Costello. After the Castellammarese War, a bloody conflict between rival Italian and Sicilian gangs, Costello was instrumental in helping Lucky Luciano consolidate the sprawling Italian gangs of New York City into a “commission” of five separate crime “families.” Costello served as the consigliere to the Luciano outfit a respected counselor to the head of the family, as well as a liaison to other families and an arbiter of disputes. When Luciano was deported, his underboss and successor, Vito Genovese took over but soon fled the country. Costello, long time “power behind the throne,” somewhat reluctantly took over as head of the family. Costello, like Corleone, derived much of his strength from his influence with powerful political and business figures. He was known as “The Prime Minister” for his diplomatic skills, including, when necessary, graft and blackmail. Both the real crime boss and the fictional one preferred to fly under the radar, favored reason over bloodshed, and maintained a stance against “made men” dealing in narcotics. Both also survived public assassination attempts. Finally, when Marlon Brando was researching the role, he listened to tapes of Costello talking to the Kefauver Committee on Organized Crime. Brando used Costello’s raspy tenor as his basis for Don Corleone’s voice.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 17:08:40 +0000
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