Ex-associate rips Travolta, other Gotti movie casting choices
A once-trusted associate of mob boss John Gotti is giving a thumbs-down to having John Travolta portray the late “Dapper Don” in an upcoming biopic.
Mob rat Lewis Kasman -- whom Gotti once considered like an “adopted son” -- told The Post that picking the “Pulp Fiction” star probably has the notorious Gambino crime-family godfather spinning in his grave.
“I think if he was asked, he would not be pleased at Travolta playing him,” said Kasman, who entered the witness-protection program after cutting a deal with the feds.
Speaking by phone from his current hiding spot, Kasman said that while Travolta is a “great actor,” the part should have gone to a “tougher guy.”
“For John Gotti Sr., you need a man’s man to play that role,” Kasman said.
“John Gotti Sr. never danced a dance in his life,” he said, taking a jab at the “Saturday Night Fever” hoofer Travolta.
A better choice, he said, would have been “Godfather” veterans Robert De Niro or Al Pacino, who’s set to play a supporting role as Gambino family underboss Aniello “Neil” Dellacroce.
Kasman -- whose undercover work for the feds helped him avoid an 11-year prison term -- also said that “X-Men” star Ben Foster had been “miscast” as John “Junior” Gotti.
“He’s a thug, so you need someone who’s a thug . . . a guy who grew up in that life,” Kasman said of Junior, offering “The Fighter” star Mark Wahlberg as a better pick for the role.
He plans to time the publication of his memoir, “The Last Son,” to compete with the release of Junior’s movie, “Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father.”
Kasman maintains that the elder Gotti died “hating” Junior.
Kasman, who gave the eulogy at Gotti’s funeral, also said he’ll disclose the murderous mobster’s secret relationships with “the millionaires and billionaires of New York.”
Those movers-and-shakers allegedly include the late hotelier Leona Helmsley, with whom Kasman claims he was carrying on an affair when he arranged Junior’s lavish 1990 wedding at the former Helmsley Palace Hotel.
A publicist for Fiore Films, which is producing Junior’s movie, said, “I think we’ll stick with the decisions made by our Academy Award-winning team of filmmakers, instead of taking casting advice from someone who has never made a movie.”
Gotti’s widow, Victoria -- who last week gave her blessing to having Travolta play her late hubby -- called Kasman a “rattlesnake personified” and said he “becomes an authority only when he has a diary of lies to sell.”
Travolta was summoned to Victoria’s home in Howard Beach, Queens, on Thursday to get Mamma Gotti’s blessing for the role. He spent more than two hours at the house screening family movies.
The actor -- who was still making his bones playing “Sweathog” Vinnie Barbarino on “Welcome Back, Kotter” when John Gotti Sr. was being made as a Gambino family capo in the late ’70s -- mimicked the boss of bosses’ sprightly strut as he left the mob matron’s house with Junior.
Mob rat Lewis Kasman -- whom Gotti once considered like an “adopted son” -- told The Post that picking the “Pulp Fiction” star probably has the notorious Gambino crime-family godfather spinning in his grave.
“I think if he was asked, he would not be pleased at Travolta playing him,” said Kasman, who entered the witness-protection program after cutting a deal with the feds.
Speaking by phone from his current hiding spot, Kasman said that while Travolta is a “great actor,” the part should have gone to a “tougher guy.”
DANCING FOOL: A mob rat who once was close to John Gotti says that actor John Travolta isn’t tough enough to play the Gambino crime boss.
“John Gotti Sr. never danced a dance in his life,” he said, taking a jab at the “Saturday Night Fever” hoofer Travolta.
A better choice, he said, would have been “Godfather” veterans Robert De Niro or Al Pacino, who’s set to play a supporting role as Gambino family underboss Aniello “Neil” Dellacroce.
Kasman -- whose undercover work for the feds helped him avoid an 11-year prison term -- also said that “X-Men” star Ben Foster had been “miscast” as John “Junior” Gotti.
“He’s a thug, so you need someone who’s a thug . . . a guy who grew up in that life,” Kasman said of Junior, offering “The Fighter” star Mark Wahlberg as a better pick for the role.
He plans to time the publication of his memoir, “The Last Son,” to compete with the release of Junior’s movie, “Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father.”
Kasman maintains that the elder Gotti died “hating” Junior.
Kasman, who gave the eulogy at Gotti’s funeral, also said he’ll disclose the murderous mobster’s secret relationships with “the millionaires and billionaires of New York.”
Those movers-and-shakers allegedly include the late hotelier Leona Helmsley, with whom Kasman claims he was carrying on an affair when he arranged Junior’s lavish 1990 wedding at the former Helmsley Palace Hotel.
A publicist for Fiore Films, which is producing Junior’s movie, said, “I think we’ll stick with the decisions made by our Academy Award-winning team of filmmakers, instead of taking casting advice from someone who has never made a movie.”
Gotti’s widow, Victoria -- who last week gave her blessing to having Travolta play her late hubby -- called Kasman a “rattlesnake personified” and said he “becomes an authority only when he has a diary of lies to sell.”
Travolta was summoned to Victoria’s home in Howard Beach, Queens, on Thursday to get Mamma Gotti’s blessing for the role. He spent more than two hours at the house screening family movies.
The actor -- who was still making his bones playing “Sweathog” Vinnie Barbarino on “Welcome Back, Kotter” when John Gotti Sr. was being made as a Gambino family capo in the late ’70s -- mimicked the boss of bosses’ sprightly strut as he left the mob matron’s house with Junior.
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