hollywoodland

Alex Rocco: A Mob Murder, a Boston Gang War, and Leaving Winter Hill for the Corleones

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Organized crime. A brutal assault that kicked off a gang war. Car bombs. The brazen assassination of a mob boss in broad daylight. These things all happened in Francis Ford Coppola’s groundbreaking film The Godfather – but first they happened in the real life of Alex Rocco, one-time Boston gang member turned Hollywood character actor whose star turn as Moe Greene in the classic mobster epic is one of the most improbable career shifts in movie history.

Sources

Alex Rocco dies at 79; actor played mobster Moe Greene in 'The Godfather' (LA Times)

The Boston Irish Gang Wars Terrify a City (New England Historical Society)

Police Seek Motive for Bombing of Auto (Boston Globe)

Charge 2 in Enforcer’s Killing (Boston Globe)

Alex Rocco, 79; left a Somerville gang, rebuilt life as noted character actor (Boston Globe)

Bomb Explodes in Car of Convict’s Wife (Boston Globe)

Alex Rocco/Moe Greene in the Godfather had real life mob ties (Eileen Prose)

Rocco Legacy, by Jennifer Rocco

Warren Oates: A Wild Life, by Susan Compo

Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.

Credits

Hosted by Jake Brennan.

Written by Zeth Lundy.

Copy edited by James Sullivan.

Scored and mixed by Sean Cahalin.

Additional music and score elements by Ryan Spraker.

*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak