'Godfather' star James Caan, Furio from 'The Sopranos' go to bat for Colombo crime boss
A letter of support from "Godfather" actor James Caan - and a cameo appearance by Furio from "The Sopranos" - couldn't persuade a judge Tuesday to release a Colombo crime boss on bail.Lawyers for Andrew (Mush) Russo proposed a bail package valued at more than $4 million and confinement to the gangster's Long Island home.
Caan, whose son Scott is the gangster's godson, has gone to bat for Russo before, even getting slapped with a subpoena from the FBI more than 20 years ago.
"I've known Andrew since 1972 and in all that time I have known him only as an unbelievable father, grandfather, great-grandfather and as good a friend as any person could ask for," wrote Caan, who played the role of Sonny Corleone in "The Godfather."
At one point, Russo, 76, waved his pinkie at actor Federico Castelluccio, who played Furio, the mobster who had a crush on Tony Soprano's wife. Castelluccio was sitting in the spectator section.
FBI agent Scott Curtis testified that Russo became the crime family's street boss last March after he completed supervised release for his last conviction.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes also played a secret tape recording in which Russo is introduced to fellow gangsters as the family's "representante" or "boss," to the sound of applause.
A Colombo mob big, trying to rebuild his already-decimated organization before the feds pummeled his network last week, made straying members an offer they couldn't refuse: Come back -- or else, authorities charged yesterday.
Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo, the coldblooded acting street boss of the Colombos, had been "reaching out" to wayward members since March "to get them to pledge their commitment to come back into the family," Assistant US Attorney Liz Geddes said at a bail hearing for the alleged killer in Brooklyn federal court.
'There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to see this man where he belongs and where he is needed the most — with his family.' - James Caan, in a letter to the judge on behalf of his longtime pal, Colombo boss Andrew Russo
Russo allegedly made it clear he wouldn't take no for an answer. Anyone who didn't heed the call to come back into the family fold "would be placed on his list of enemies," which would then be circulated among the four other New York crime families, Geddes said.
Russo's 1999 racketeering trial had its own theatrics - some called it a soap opera - that featured star witness testimony from Russo's mistress, a sexy lawyer who said he called her "the best thing since sliced bread."
She testified in that trial how they hung out at Elaine's, and the jury watched a home video of the couple dancing the cha-cha.
Calling Russo "a danger to the community," Magistrate Cheryl Pollak denied him bail Tuesday.
A group of hearing-impaired people also showed up to support Russo. One woman said Russo used to defend a group of deaf children in the neighborhood who were picked on.
Before Russo was taken away, a family member carried his great-granddaughter, wearing a pink dress, into the courtroom so he could wave goodbye.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/the_mob/2011/01/26/2011-01-26_stars_input_is_no_help_to_capo.html
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