Jake Rojas

Gianni Russo, a dashing mobster of 25, had no prior acting experience when he walked onto The Godfather’s scene and made Hollywood history. He portrayed Carlo Rizzi, Connie Corleone’s husband, who set up her sibling Sonny (James Caan) for a hit. Russo didn’t need to act because he was an expert on the mob, having grown up in Little Italy under the tutelage of Mafia legend Frank Costello, served as a messenger for Carlos Marcello, the mob boss of New Orleans, during the Kennedy assassination, and had to flee after killing a member of the Colombian drug cartel in his Vegas club.