REEL STORY: The killer behind Scorsese's 'The Irishman' - Toronto Sun

Jimmy Hoffa had been stood up.

The man who at one time could bring the U.S. to its knees through his control of the Teamsters Union was now in exile desperately plotting his return.

During his halcyon days from the late 1940s to the late ’60s, Hoffa was the most powerful labour leader in the U.S. No one would have had the guts to stand up the tough-talking union man then.

Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa could bring the U.S. to its knees if he wanted to. GETTY IMAGES

Hoffa had penciled in a 2 p.m. sitdown on July 30, 1975, at the Muchus Red Fox restaurant in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield.

His lunch companions? Mobsters Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacalone and Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano.

Hoffa called his wife to tell her the duo didn’t show up. Then he disappeared forever.

***

The cast of characters who hovered in Hoffa’s orbit was dazzling. One of his top lieutenants who moonlighted as a mob hitman was Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran.

Now, legendary director Martin Scorsese is bringing Sheeran’s story to life with The Irishman starring Robert DeNiro (Sheeran), Al Pacino (Hoffa) and Joe Pecci as influential mobster Russell Buffalino.

The $159-million blockbuster is based on author Charles Brandt’s book, I Heard You Paint Houses which is Sheeran’s Sacrament of Pennance for a murderous life.

The Irishman takes care of business in a scene from the new blockbuster based on a true story. NETFLIX

***

Sheeran grew up poor in the suburbs of Philadelphia in an Irish Catholic family and joined the U.S. Army months before Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Like a modern-day hipster traipsing through Europe — except with a Tommy Gun — the 6-foot-4 soldier fought everywhere.

The invasion of Sicily, Italy, landings in southern France, the Battle of the Bulge and finally the bloody push through Nazi Germany.

By the end of the war, he had seen 411 days of continuous combat. The average for other GIs was a quarter of that.

Union official and mob hitman Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran. GETTY IMAGES

After the war, the hardened GI returned to civilian life in Philadelphia where he got married, had a family and worked as a trucker.

But cash was tight, and soon Sheeran began “doing favours” for Philly loan sharks who were connected to Angelo “The Gentle Don” Bruno.

In 1955, his life would change forever when he met Mafia boss Russell “McGee” Bufalino who lorded over northeastern Pennsylvania. While the Keystone state family was small, Bufalino was immensely respected and controlled significant power.

Mobster Russell Bufalino was a mentor to Sheeran. GETTY IMAGES

Sheeran went to work for the diminutive mobster. Driving him around, errands — and taking rival mobsters off the board.

“I didn’t know anything about ‘made men’ back then. Nobody can whack you without approval,” Sheeran said in I Heard You Paint Houses.

” It only applies to Italians. Later on, I got so close to Russell that I was higher up than a made man. ”

Sheeran added: “[Russell told me] Nobody can ever touch you because you are with me.’ I can still feel him gripping my cheek with that strong grip of his and telling me, ‘You should have been an Italian.’”

***

Sheeran met Hoffa in 1957 through his mob mentor. They became close friends.

Hoffa’s brains and The Irishman’s muscles kept them on top of the Teamsters. Sheeran would lean on wayward union members and if that didn’t work, they’d be murdered.

Jimmy Hoffa was one of the most powerful men in the U.S. GETTY IMAGES

But the Teamster’s chieftain had made a mortal enemy in U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy who hounded him day and night.

Hoffa would go to jail in 1967 for five years on racketeering charges.

The two were close, but once Hoffa went to prison a decade later on racketeering charges, Sheeran’s loyalties remained with gangster Bufalino.

And, incidentally, Hoffa’s replacement, was the exquisitely corrupt union boss Frank Fitzsimmons. Hoffa was dodgy but he typically put his membership first. Fitzsimmons was just greedy.

***

U.S. President Richard Nixon pardoned Hoffa in 1972 and the labour leader was anxious to return to the top of the Teamsters.

The mobsters who pulled the strings didn’t see it that way.

By 1975, Sheeran later revealed to his biographer that his underworld handlers told The Irishman Jimmy Hoffa had to go. The hitman later said he parked two bullets in the back of his former friend’s head at an abandoned house in Detroit.

As his life ebbed out, the cancer-riddled Sheeran told Brandt he “felt nothing” when he killed the union leader.

Sheeran claimed he was behind the 1972 hit on Crazy Joe Gallo at Umberto’s Clam House. GETTY IMAGES

***

Sheeran told Brandt he murdered 25 people, including carrying out the hit on rogue gangster Crazy Joe Gallo at Umberto’s Clam House in lower Manhattan on April 7, 1972.

Sheeran’s other sensational confessions include that President John F. Kennedy was killed by the mob as a favour to Hoffa and an indirect shot at Bobby Kennedy.

Sheeran’s police mugshot.

***

Over five years of interviews, Brandt and Sheeran became tight.

“Frank and I became very close, there was mutual affection and respect,” Brandt told the Irish Examiner.

“As my wife put it, he was so charming, when she left his company, she would have to remind herself he was a murderer.”

Sheeran died of cancer at 83 in 2003.

from Entertainment - Latest - Google News https://ift.tt/2BJA8St
via IFTTT
October 28, 2019 at 01:37AM