PBD Podcast | EP 129 | The Godfather's Carlo Rizzi: Gianni Russo
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PBD Podcast Episode 129. In this episode, Patrick Bet-David is joined by Adam Sosnick and American actor and singer Gianni Russo. Best know for his role as Carlo Rizzi in the 1972 film The Godfather
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About:
Gianni Vito Russo is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Carlo Rizzi in the 1972 film The Godfather.
About Co-Host:
Adam “Sos” Sosnick has lived a true rags to riches story. He hasn’t always been an authority on money. Connect with him on his weekly SOSCAST here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw4s_zB_R7I0VW88nOW4PJkyREjT7rJic
Patrick Bet-David is the founder and CEO of Valuetainment Media. He is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller Your Next Five Moves (Simon & Schuster) and a father of 2 boys and 2 girls. He currently resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
To reach the Valuetainment team you can email: booking@valuetainment.com
0:00 - Start
3:58 - Gianni Russo's Background
7:25 - Gianni Russo's Best Elvis Story
17:02 - Gianni lost his virginity to Marilyn Monroe
28:47 - The Time Pablo Escobar almost killed Gianni Russo
45:04 - How Gianni got his role in the Godfather
53:27 - Godfather 50th anniversary
57:42 - Gianni's beef with Marlon Brando
1:10:08 - Russia/Ukraine
So, folks, we have the legendary Gianni Russo from some who would call the greatest movie of all time.
A lot of experts would call it the greatest movie of all time, Godfather 2.
He played Carl.
Godfather 1.
I'm sorry, Godfather 1.
Godfather 1.
Godfather 1, Godfather 2, but Godfather 1 with the legendary scene, the legendary scene, which maybe we'll get into that.
And what's crazy about today, Gianni, that kind of makes this thing crazy.
Today is International Woman's Day, as Adam was saying.
And we could have had anybody, but we had the International Women's Day with a, I said, former player.
You said, when did I stop?
Yeah, when did you ever start?
I'm still playing.
I'm out there.
But you're a lover, not a fighter.
In the Godfather, you were kind of an abusive husband, but in real life, you're a lover.
That was in the script, believe me.
Barzini told me to do it.
We had to get Sonny to the toll boots.
So what we're going to do today, Adam and I are going to try to do a scene from a movie.
And we're going to see if you can remember this scene from this movie.
Maybe you won't recognize it, but we're going to try to reenact.
You can't be familiar with this scene.
So we'll see how far into it we can go with our acting.
Folks, stick around.
You know, this could be our opportunity to pick up a movie or something.
But while we're doing this, a lot of stuff's going on in the world.
Gas prices right now, California, as of what?
Yesterday, $5.28 a gallon, highest ever in the state of California.
It says AAA.
Folks around the country are struggling with gas prices.
U.S. just announced Biden this morning that we can't buy gas from Russia.
That was just an, can you show that ban, by the way, so everybody can see it?
Show that article from ABC News.
Biden to announce ban on Russian oil imports.
Okay.
That's not EU.
That's not anybody else.
That's just us.
Meanwhile, Putin is not slowing down.
Meanwhile, a lot of stuff that was said about Ukraine and Russia and the relationships, people are being more educated about what really is going on.
You know, a lot of times you hear about a crisis or a war or a challenge that's taking place.
We overreact and then you kind of see there's different sides to the story and you realize, okay, well, why were you pushing for them to be part of NATO when they said don't do it?
If you're trying to produce this ally, you're going up against them.
Do you really want the relationship?
And then at the same time, Putin being the kind of guy that, you know, you know certain guys you get into a fight with and it says, if you say something, I'll knock your ass out.
Okay?
Nine out of ten times, it's what?
It's just a threat.
But there's that one guy that if you say something, he will knock you out.
Putin's part of that community.
So you have to be very careful how you're dealing with that guy.
Maybe you have a different opinion.
We'll talk about that as well.
Oh, no, I don't have a different opinion.
He's who he is.
He is who he really is.
And what's interesting is, yesterday I'm driving with Dylan, and we're coming here because this is their week up.
Dylan was here yesterday.
Tico was here today.
And Dylan says, so, daddy, did Ukraine, no, did Putin already start the nuclear war?
I said, what?
This is what Dylan's asking.
Dylan said.
I said, how do you know about this?
He says, oh, that's all everybody's talking about.
All my friends.
This kid's eight years old.
Wow.
He says, did Putin already start the nuclear war?
I'm like, not yet, buddy.
Let's just hope it doesn't happen because the domino effect will be pretty ugly.
So anyways, having said that, Johnny, for the few people that don't know your background, can you take a quick minute and tell everybody your background?
My background.
Your background.
A minute?
Yes.
Try to do it in a minute.
I mean, you're up, everybody.
You have, matter of fact, how about I do it for you?
Here's what I'm going to do.
Okay, here's what I'm going to do.
When you and I did the show together, what was it?
Three years ago.
That is three years ago.
I can't even believe it's three years ago.
That's the last time you guys saw each other?
We sat in the same room with you.
Oh, we spoke and I don't know.
How long?
I talked to him all the time.
We correspond electronically.
But in person, in person three years ago, in my living room in New York.
How good does he look?
So he looks better today than he was three years ago.
I'm not even kidding with you.
First thing I said is, I can't believe how you look.
Yeah, he looks better today than the three.
If you go look at the podcast, he looks better today than three years ago.
What's your secret, Johnny?
Here we go.
I'm doing stem cells, man.
Oh, really?
Doing stem cells.
I'm part of an experiment.
My second experiment, my first was 1949 with Jonas Salt for the salt vaccine for polio.
And then I got involved in this in a very strange way.
I was rushed to New York Presbyterian about 12 years ago for six gunshots.
Hold on, what do you mean?
You were?
I was shot six times at close range.
Anyway, a friend.
A friend of the family, shot you.
And when they went in to do it, they saw that my left side of my body was smaller than my right side, not realizing my five years with polio.
And the doctors that were operating on me realized I'm a great candidate for having this stem cell.
How old were you at the time?
71.
No, no, 69.
69 years old.
Yeah, I'll be 80 this December.
So, what year was it?
The first time you did it?
Did you hear what he just said, folks?
He's going to be in the middle of the day.
He'll be 80 this December.
80.
Hey, man.
Respect to you.
Let me get some of that.
Do you send me a picture?
By the way, show that?
David, can you show that to see what he looks like there versus what he looks like today?
Just show that picture.
You look better today than you did in that picture.
Okay.
Tanner, healthier.
Still bling-bling.
And that's as much.
No, no, he's so hard.
All this has a meaning.
Yeah.
Everything here, everything I wear is a meaning.
I just don't go to the store and say, oh, I like that.
I can buy it.
This is a pin from my grandfather, Knights of Malta, the Vatican.
I mean, all this stuff means something.
What's the most meaningful piece of jewelry you're rocking?
John Paul, who's now a saint.
He gave me the crest that's covered right now because of solidarity to Ukraine.
I covered it with a black ribbon.
But he gave me that in 1948.
You're talking about the Pope.
Pope John Paul, who's now a saint.
And my little kids, my grandkids say to me, Papa, you're the only guy we know, you really know a saint.
You knew him.
1948.
Because they all have pictures, yeah.
1948.
No, I was 48.
Oh, you were 48.
Okay, you were 40 when he gave it to you, and you met him over there?
Yeah, was he the Vatican?
No, I've got him at the Vatican.
I was there for the.
I knew three popes, two prior to him, the one that had the short run, and then they inaugurated him, and I was part of that.
I was very good friends with Bishop Masinkas during the Vatican and ran the Vatican Bank.
And we were doing a lot of business out of Vegas for about 20 years with him.
Johnny, for people who don't know, for people who don't know, you were with, you dated, obviously, a lot of big names, but Deion, you and Deion Warco were together for how long?
10 years ago?
Oh, I was a manager of 15 years.
I can't even say why I did that.
No, no, we were in a that's a very touchy situation.
But you ran one of the biggest clubs in Vegas.
Oh, my god, I clubs.
Yeah.
Well, that was my second club.
My first club was at Tiffany's, which I had Elvis Presley open at the Tropicana Hotel.
And that was actually right after I did the Godfather.
Elvis opened for you?
Yeah.
No, opened the club for me.
Stayed the whole weekend.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
By the way, did you watch his, did you watch his movie that's coming out?
Did you see the trailer?
No.
Have you seen it yet or no?
No.
Can we show a trailer?
I don't know if we can show a trailer.
Anyways, it's no, you're not allowed.
Okay, we're not going to show the trailer, but you were going to read his biological.
But I tell you, you know, going off of Elvis, so Mario comes over Sunday night, and he has watched this trailer that we can't show.
Mario can verify this.
He said he's watched it 100 times, okay?
Because Mario grew up being an Elvis guy.
So he tells me, Pat, you've got to watch Elvis Presley's last performance, Unchained Melody.
You can tell when Elvis performs, he's not doing well.
He performs Unchained Melody.
You know which song it's Unchained Melody, right, Adam?
The song from Ghost, right?
Okay.
No, no, no.
Unchained Melody.
That's a different one.
That's a different one.
No, Unchained Melody is a song from.
The song from Ghost.
Yes.
So Ghost, you always tell me it's your favorite movie of all time.
So Unchained Melody, he performs it saying this song's coming out in two weeks.
The song comes out.
He dies a couple weeks later.
Okay.
Elvis.
To have him open up at your club.
What Elvis story do you have?
Tell us on Elvis.
I have so many.
Give us your best Elvis story.
I mean, first of all, Elvis, who's working for a friend of mine called Kirk O'Corrian, who opened the International Hotel.
Jim.
Yeah.
Pat is very familiar with him.
Started off as a pilot.
The way he got into the business was, wasn't he a pilot for Bugsy or something?
He was a.
Oh, no, he had his own little war.
Yeah, I know.
Would you take a second and tell him what Kirk-Okorian means to you?
You bring for me about Bob Olivia.
And to me, it's like he's a genius and how he made his money.
And, you know, he was also another guy that always dated Beautiful Woman.
And a lot of movie stars.
The mob, he flew a lot of those guys back and forth from L.A. to Vegas while they were going through building up Vegas.
Oh, why not?
And then the airline business and all that stuff.
To really know more about it.
So tell us some stories of Elvis and then maybe Kurt.
Well, Elvis, Elvis, I met because of Kurt.
The idea when he opened the 4th of July, I forgot what year that was.
Barbara Streiser did two weeks.
They did two shows a night at that time, 8 o'clock at midnight.
This is 60s.
No, in the 70s, I think it was.
Early 70s?
Yeah, International Hotel.
Is he the Fax Guy?
Yeah, hey, Fax Guy.
What are you doing over there?
Sleeping on the job.
International Hotel Kirk O'Corrian opened on 4th of July, 1976.
International Hotel, 1976.
Just put the book.
Continue.
We're listening.
Continue.
So anyway, I got to know him because, you know, he said, how come everybody knows you?
I had Bentley's Chinese Chick Show for seeing.
He liked all that stuff.
But I knew his doctor, Elias Gunham.
Dr. Feelgood.
And anyway, so we got to be friends, and he invited me to hang out with him.
And we used to fly to San Francisco.
You ain't going to believe this.
Two or three times.
Is this Kirk O'Corrian or Elvis?
Elvis.
Straight up.
So we want to talk about Elvis, right?
Yeah, Elvis, man.
So you fly to San Francisco.
Fly to San Francisco and have peanut butter, bananas, and bacon sandwiches.
I said, why not?
We got the chef to it.
No, no, no, no, this is the best.
I'd go.
I went once.
I said, I ain't doing it.
Let's eat this cocker.
Forget about it.
I'd come at six o'clock in the morning.
I was like, forget it.
But one night we come back early and we're watching a Western.
And when he got mustered out of the service, they gave him two plated Gold Cup 45s.
And he always has them around.
We're watching a Western.
He gets into it.
His crew is on one side.
I have a couple of guys with me on my side.
And they turn over the couches and they're shooting above the TV like they're fighting with the guys on the TV.
Thank God Sweet 3000s.
It's a penthouse of the International Hotel.
Because if there was people upstairs with 45s, they'd be dead in their beds.
Shot up the whole room, but he didn't realize we all carry, because in Vegas, everybody carried guns.
So not everybody.
In the 70s or 60s?
In the 60s.
Okay, got it.
No, 70s.
Okay.
It was the 70s.
You get the date?
Yes, so Kikorian hired Barbara Streisand and Elvis Presley for the opening in 76.
Told you.
70.
I got a good one.
You're an old man, man.
Forget about it.
No, but so I got friendly with him.
So I opened my club called Tiffany's inside the Tropicana Hotel because Frank Costello, nobody realizing Joe Kennedy owned that behind the scenes.
So I had nothing to do.
So I opened the club only three days a week, only six hours a day.
I opened at midnight to six in the morning.
After hours.
After hours.
And had tables in there, did everything.
I made more money in those 16 hours.
And then I don't want to be in Vegas on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.
Nobody's there.
So I go to L.A., Palm Beach, or whatever.
And he came.
He said, I'll open it because after his show, 1.30, he'd come and hang out there all morning.
And we were on the radio dispatches to everybody.
So you got to camp say, I want to go here.
They said, oh, no, you got to go to Elvis's over there.
And then Sammy came.
Everybody sat in out there.
It was jammed and put the club on the map.
Sammy Davis Jr.
I called the Tiffany's and I put the Tiffany gates, like bars, and the front with Tiffany guards, like your jewelry store.
And all the coffee tables were jewelry counters with big jewelry in it.
It was a great idea.
And you could only buy liquor, the food we gave away, because all the restaurants were closing and they had a core kitchen.
I said, what are you going to do with this food?
He said, oh, we give it to the.
I said, hold it.
Sell it back to me.
Hold it, you're going to throw away anyway.
I'll sign off on it.
And you can write the whole thing off.
So we did everything in miniature sandwiches.
So these little hot waitresses would come by with steak sandwiches and this sandwich.
It was all for leftovers from the other.
Wow.
And everything was $7 then, which was a lot of money then.
And if you wanted a Coke, it was $7.
Glass of water was $7.
Everything.
Everything.
What was the significance of $7?
I like that number.
Lucky number seven.
Yeah.
And this is 76.
Elvis was on his decline.
This was not the good-looking stud Elvis, right?
Well, he really wasn't on.
Let me tell you, Elvis in his grave is still important to look at.
No doubt.
Maybe he was, you know, sort of like a bad thing.
Shout out to one thing like you.
I know your guys are loyal.
My guys are around me.
I got kids around me all my life.
I still blame the Memphis Mafia for his death.
They had all the prescription drug.
They were giving him the drugs.
They'll go get their prescriptions and gave it to him.
I mean, this guy was so screwed up.
If you see your best friend going down, what do you do?
You stop him, sit him down, and straighten him out.
He should have lived a great life, this guy.
I mean, he died a terrible death.
I mean, you know what he died of, right?
Let's just use it clean.
He died of constipation.
Right.
What?
All the drugs in his system?
He couldn't get it out?
What was it doing?
It makes it hard to see.
His body closed down.
He had like 40 pounds in him of waste when they did the autopsy.
You know what age he died?
You know what age he died?
42 years old.
Crazy caring myself.
42.
No, no, crazy is.
I mean, that's young.
What kind of drugs was Elvis doing?
Everything.
Everything.
Pills, cocaine, heroin, what?
I don't know that.
I don't think, I don't know if it was really, I think it was all prescription.
I don't know.
I never saw him do, I've seen him do it, I'd smack him.
I don't like anybody doing drugs in front of me, especially me getting involved.
They would love to lock me up for something.
They've been trying for 70 years now.
But Vegas in the 60s, 70s, I mean, it's partying.
It's out of control.
What was the drug scene like back then?
I don't know.
I don't know.
I never got involved in it.
Just drinking?
I never got involved.
I drank, yeah, but I never did drugs, I never got involved.
I could have made a lot of money in drugs because I had an international courier's license.
I was traveling the world with millions of dollars all the time.
And they asked me, you know, you could take this out for us.
So, Johnny, let me kind of do this with you here because your stories, when you and I sat down, I said, Johnny, if 10% of the stories you're telling me is true, you lived a ridiculous life.
Let me kind of remind the audience who maybe hasn't seen or heard all the stories.
They're here for the first time.
Let me kind of share some of the stories here with them.
So here's what we got.
One of them, you claim you lost your virginity to Marilyn Monroe at 15.
15 and a half, yeah.
15 and a half.
And you spent three days with her.
Well, I went to look after her.
I want to set the stage straight.
She was staying at the Waldorf Astoria as a guest of Mr. Costello, who basically took me under his wing at 12 years old.
So I was already working for him for three and a half years.
He was going deep sea fishing.
People don't realize he loved to fish with Tony Ocado, the boss of the Alpha to Chicago.
So we have a guest at the hotel this weekend.
I knew the suites they kept.
And I went up there.
But what he didn't realize, because when I got caught on the streets at 15, a trune officer saw me in front of Lindy's.
And he said, what are you doing on the street?
I said, what are you talking about?
Because he had a brown uniform.
I said, who the hell is this guy?
I knew he wasn't a cop.
He said, I'm a trune officer.
I said, what do you do?
He said, I'm catching kids like you.
Why aren't you in school?
I said, what are you talking about?
I don't go to school.
I have like $5,000 in my pocket already because I'm running stuff for him.
He says, you got to go to school.
So he gives me a ticket.
And I was on the way to Touchaws.
It was one of my stops.
Everybody was there every day.
Late afternoon, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Gleason, because he was doing the show from the CBS right there.
And I walk in with the ticket.
And Costello says to me, How'd you get a ticket?
Walking too fast.
What's this?
And he looked at it and he says, it's a trune officer.
He says, how old are you?
I said, I'm 15.
He said, well, you've got to go to school in New York State until you're 16.
I said, I don't want to go to school.
So he put me in Wilford Academy, a hairdressing school, which was on my route.
So he's just stopped by, sign in until six months.
In December, you'll be 16, then forget about it.
So I go in there.
It's 9 o'clock in the morning.
20, 30 gorgeous little girls.
So I was on the way to meet him at 11 o'clock.
I was already dressed.
So I used to go there a day or two, I mean, an hour or two every day.
And Mark Sinclair and Kenneth came in, biggest hairdressers in New York, looking for shampoo boys.
And I was a good-looking guy when I was dressed, not like these other kids, because I was going to meet him.
And they picked me.
The fourth head of hair at Lily Dashay's on 56th and Park was Malon Monroe's.
And it was not like we go to a salon here and there's all lined up sinks.
Private rooms.
Lily Dasher was a haberdasher, two-story building.
Kenneth was the featured hairdresser.
And Mark Sinclair was a colorist.
And I didn't, I thought when they said they were partners, they owned the business.
They were partners.
And like we know them today, partners are very open.
So long story short, the fourth head of hair, I go in and it's Marilyn Monroe.
And she's already in the shampoo basin.
Look at this.
And I don't even know how long I was looking at her.
And she says, is someone here?
I said, excuse me.
Yes, I'm sorry.
And they give you a card.
Nobody's names on it.
You know, what the shampoo, the rinse, that.
They teach you to test the water and put it on the inside of her wrist.
She asks, okay, the water.
Now, nobody knows a lot of times in the winter, especially.
I used to go to New York, Paramount.
Obviously, Paramount's still in my world for now, the last 50 years.
They used to be open 24 hours a day.
I saw someone like it hot, maybe 50 times, and I was masturbating up in the balcony at 15.
She's singing, I want to make love to you in this sheer dress in the film.
Now I'm starting to massage her.
She wants a strong massage.
Yeah, that's what she is.
Great pictures.
But anyway, I'm massaging, and she starts moaning.
Like, you know, now we know the configuration of a shampoo basin.
So my three-piece sets on her shoulders.
And as I'm massaging her, I get an erection.
Now, I don't know why that.
And you're 15 at the time.
Who wouldn't?
15?
We're looking at this in a robe, and I'm trying to look in your head.
And it's freaking Marilyn Monroe.
No, she's moaning.
I'm visualizing all kinds of things.
But now, I had a towel dry her hair, and I'm drying her hair like a hair was going to wear out because I'm figuring, how am I going to walk from here to the station?
I got this teepee in my face.
How am I going to walk out there?
Everybody be looking at me, especially these, you know, these guys that had their vision on me anyway.
And then she started requesting me.
Always a big tipper, too.
I kept, and I not that I needed money because I was making good money with Costello, but I kept one check she gave me for $50.
I can't even tell you what it's worth today.
You have it till today.
Hello.
You still have a check signed by Marilyn Monroe on your pillow.
Signed by Marilyn Monroe.
And I'm writing my second book, which will be out for this Christmas, which is ironic that you said, come on, because the last time my book came out three years ago, it's still a bestseller, Hollywood Godfather, My Life and the Movie and the Mob.
And now, what nobody realized when the last weekend I spent with her, Cal Neva, when she went crazy on Bobby Kennedy and we found out all kinds of news we didn't even want to know, we knew they were going to kill her.
And she was dead five days later.
I called from Cal Neva because her and I had a cat together.
Marilyn Monroe.
In her apartment.
But I knew Marilyn, you know, she disappeared for a week.
You don't know where she went.
So I had this lady taking care of the cat.
So I called her.
I said, do me a favor.
Marilyn's coming home because Joe DiMaggio, he called Cal Neva and asked Sinatra, he said, what's going on?
She wants me to come and get his mind your own business.
Don't come here.
And he was in San Francisco.
And he didn't come.
If he came, she'd probably still be alive.
Well, she'd be 100 today, but he could have saved a life he didn't.
She'd be 100 today.
101, yeah.
101.
So, Johnny, follow-up question.
I mean, we're talking about Marilyn Monroe here.
So you're the shampoo boy.
Good-looking guy, suited up.
You got a teepee in your pants.
You're hanging out.
How does it transition to you're 15 and a half, almost 16, to actually having sex, losing a virginity to Marilyn?
No, I never talk.
There's two or three women I never had sex with.
I made love to.
One of them being Grace Kelly, her.
There's certain people you hold loyal to.
Grace Kelly, by the way.
I don't know if you thought that it was her.
Pull up a picture of Grace Kelly if you don't mind.
If you don't mind, walk us through the women.
We have love to Marilyn Monroe.
Costello.
Let's say we have a guest, please.
A guest in a hotel.
I don't know who's up there.
So he's don't go up before noon.
So I go knock on the door.
That's an amazing woman.
Yeah.
She used to stay at the Barbeson.
Well, you know where I live.
She lived on 63rd and Lexington.
The Barbeson was a hotel just for women.
Her family were in Mason business in Philadelphia.
They sent her there for finishing school.
You're talking about Grace Kelly.
Yeah.
Okay.
Her, Audrey Hepper, and all of that.
Costello used to say, go get flowers for the table.
I knew where I had to go.
He gave me money.
Go upstairs, get the money, and take a cab.
I never took the cab.
I walked.
I kept the money.
I took the care back.
But I picked these girls up.
So I got to know them for two or three years while they were in finishing school before she became a princess.
That's how crazy this is.
But how big was Marilyn at this time?
Huge.
So you go up to her house.
Some like it hot.
The biggest movie in the world.
They send you up to her hotel room to do it.
I knock on her door.
She opens it in a terry cloth robe.
She said, Johnny, what are you doing here?
I said, well, Mr. C told me to look in on you.
She knew you by now, for sure.
Well, I was a shampoo boy.
Hello.
So I was already shampooing here for three or four months.
So I come in.
She says, I just ordered breakfast.
Come in.
I had room service.
I didn't even know what room service was.
You know, I never was in the rooms.
I was outside them.
She had all these carts.
I said, I already had breakfast.
I said, I'm just supposed to check on you.
She said, oh, sit down.
I said, Mr. C, you'll get mad.
Do you need any Johnny, sit down?
So I sat down.
She said, have a glass of champagne.
I started laughing.
I said, I'm 15.
Oh, she knew how old you were.
Yeah.
Well, you could tell.
I told her I was 15.
I can't drink.
I thought I had to be 18 to drink in New York.
She gives me a glass of champagne.
So I'm getting a buzz.
She said, I'm going to take a bath.
I said, well, listen, I'll be downstairs.
Just call downstairs.
They all know the kid because that was my name in the hotel.
Just tell him whatever you want.
She said, no, no, come with me.
She takes me by the hand in the bathroom.
She turns the water on.
And she sits down.
She's brush out my hair.
You always, you know, from the salon.
I did it anyway.
So she lowers the robe, and I'm saying, I'm going to get in trouble here today.
Forget about it.
I'm brushing out of here.
I mean, today she's a zotic woman.
Thin.
Not thin.
Voluptuous.
Voluptuous.
They were built.
They call them thick these days.
And they were up and down, up and down, weight, especially her.
So now I'm brushing out of here.
She walks over to the tub, shops off the water, and she drops her robe.
She's got nothing out.
She's getting in the tub with me.
I said, you're going to get me killed.
She said, who's going to know?
So now I couldn't get my clothes off fast enough.
And I get in the other side, the barn at the back of the tub with her.
Adam, you need a break or are you good?
Yeah, guys, I'm going to take a check in here.
Adam looks like he's.
What's he doing?
You're talking about Marilyn Monroe here.
What are we talking about?
No, so now what happens is that was a Saturday afternoon.
Out of respect, that was a Saturday afternoon.
I left Monday morning.
So that whole weekend, you're just staying there.
Stayed there with her.
And you're saying you made love, not sex.
That's right.
Who was the third person?
You said, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe.
Number three was who?
I can't even mention the other one.
Oh, really?
Royalty.
Really?
The third one you can't mention.
So royalty above Grace Kelly?
Yeah.
Believe it.
I heard you had a conversation with Brando, and he says, I don't believe you.
Straight up.
He called you out.
He goes, I don't believe that you had sex with Marilyn Monroe.
And he says, tell me something that nobody would know.
Tony Curtis.
All of us.
Sinatra.
That's what's she so naive.
That's all she thought she can give you is her body.
Can I make you happy?
She didn't even think of it that way.
And if you were with her, she has a scar just where her leg joins her cleavage.
And unless you're with her, you would never see that.
So that's the, if you're really with Marilyn.
Yeah.
Where's the scar?
It's down here.
Okay.
At the crease.
Gotcha.
How big is the scar?
Not that big.
It's wonderful.
Oh, no, it's no.
So if you've been with Marilyn, you made love with Marilyn, you're going to notice the scar.
Can I read these other stories?
I don't know.
I am.
Let me read these other stories.
I know you are.
Let me just, you know, maybe this is a good sauce cast.
Maybe it's more sauce cast than you guys can.
Go ahead.
Yes.
All right.
So let me read these stories.
All right.
So you have to know each of these stories, one sounds more crazy than the other one.
But let me kind of go through it.
Number one, lost your virginity at 15 to Marilyn Monroe.
People say that's crazy.
Number two, you killed a pedophile at the hospital at 11.
Number three, mob killed JFK.
A lot of people say that.
Mob killed Marilyn Monroe.
You've said that before.
Pablo Escobar intended to kill you and your family, but he lets you live in exchange for reenacting a scene from the Godfather.
Well, not for that.
He found out why.
John Gotti lied to him.
See, John Gotti arranged for me to get down there.
What happened, one of his guys came into my club in Vegas, State Street.
Pablo's.
Pablo's guys, Lorenzo Morales, and he broke a crystal bottle and stuck it in his girlfriend's face in my club.
That's how I killed that guy.
I went in self-defense to help her.
That's written about.
That's how it works.
That's in the paper.
And he caught you, apparently.
He slipped me.
CEO stitches?
81 stitches, man.
Because I was agile enough.
He went from my neck, and I went this way.
I didn't know he had the bottle yet.
So it wasn't until two days later when I got out of the hospital.
Laura Mannished, the girl he stabbed.
Thank God he missed her eye.
But I put three right between his forehead that night in front of 150.
You didn't do time for that, though.
You didn't.
You were self-defense.
And I let everybody know.
Because I told him, you hear these sirens, they're coming for you.
I never knew if they were mobbed up, who they were.
I said, you had no idea who he was.
I had no idea.
I got you.
So later on, you find out he's linked to Pablo.
Lorenzo Morales, it was known they were watching him.
So the DEA came to see me.
He said, John, you know where that guy was?
He said, no.
He was one of the top guys in America for Pablo Escobar.
Hello.
So now I go.
And they put it on Entertainment Tonight.
I think it was the first time the show was on.
And, you know, a love triangle and this.
There was no love triangle.
They had it all wrong.
And, you know, I got serious phone calls, thought maybe I was getting involved with drugs.
I said, no, I didn't even know the guy.
You just came to her defense.
In your club.
Right.
But he was a Marielito.
And what they do, any of them, his brother was the guy who was coming after me.
They come to defend, but they'll kill your pets, your neighbors, everybody, and leave you last.
So I go see John Gotti, who never liked me really anyway, but I knew for some reason that he was dealing with all of them.
And he arranged for me to go there.
He figured this, I'll never come back.
You're going there?
I said, yeah.
I said, at the time, I had one daughter.
I have two now.
And I knew that he had a daughter.
And they're going to kill my daughter.
So I got to straighten this out.
He got the story wrong.
And he said, you're going to go there.
I said, yeah.
To where, Medellin?
Yeah.
That's where I went.
The only comfort I had was going to meet him in a church.
So I met him in a church, and I'm walking down the aisle.
I thought he was there by himself in an altar up in the front.
As I'm walking, the pews as I pass him are creaking, and guys are sitting up.
The church was loaded with his guys.
I mean, I don't even know why I would think he'd be there by himself.
And then he said, You, Johnny Russo?
I said, Yeah.
Bing, he hit me.
And that was it.
He didn't hit me, but somebody from behind.
And I woke up in the cell that he created in that prison that he killed himself.
I was three floors down with body bags around me.
The stench was ridiculous.
And then I don't know how many hours later, there's a guy clean-dressed, not in fatigues.
I'm sitting in a chair, shackled, nude, in a chair.
And in his hand, he had the making of the Godfather.
I mean, this movie is so crazy in my life.
And he said, why don't you tell me you will call him the Godfather?
That's my favorite movie.
He's clean him up and bring him up to the house.
So hours later, I'm sitting at his dining room table.
He's sitting in there one, I'm at the other end.
And he said, Why did you come here?
I said, Well, I did my homework.
You have a daughter my age, my daughter, Gio.
And someone's going to kill her.
What would you do?
And he got up and walked over and hugged me.
And he says, There's very few men like you that would come here.
He says, I'll straighten this out.
And thank God, I thought it was dead.
He said, Just do me a favor.
I said, anything you want?
You want me to cut the grass, wash a car?
I was kidding now because I don't get out of there.
He said, no, I want to do the scene in the Godfather.
I said, what scene?
He said, the closing scene when Michael comes to see you.
I said, okay.
You want me to write it?
He said, no, no, I know the whole scene.
I said, you know the whole scene?
He said, yeah.
He's come up, sit up here where he was sitting, because it was closest to the door.
He gets up, and now he had henchmen in there around him anyway.
And he walks into me, and I'm sitting where he was sitting.
He says, Carlo, you got an answer for Santini.
Today I straightened out all family business.
He did the whole scene.
And does he speak perfect English?
Well, he's not, no, but he had the lines right.
So he spoke English.
Oh, yeah.
Escobar.
Oh, yeah.
And so now you're doing a scene from the Godfather with Pablo Escobar.
Pablo Escobar.
And you're playing your scene.
You know how hard this is to believe?
I don't know.
Do you know, like, do you understand like how?
Because like I've interviewed the guys that killed Pablo.
If you would have killed Pablo, and Pablo, he was who to Pablo.
Lorenzo was who?
Lorenzo was one of his top leaders, generals.
Yeah.
For him to let you go and let you live if you did do that, Johnny.
That is, that has got to be.
It's not if.
Take if out of the vocabulary.
That's good.
Because the DEA proved it.
They knew I was there.
Because when I got, when I landed in Florida, when he let me go, they boarded the plane like in a movie.
And the hostess said, nobody get up.
Somebody has to come on.
And they came on the plane.
Where's Johnny Russell?
I raised my hand.
I still had the bandages on from my neck.
They took me off the plane.
I'm on a plane going to Washington from Florida on their plane.
Nobody's talking to me.
So now I got to go to the bathroom.
They had me handcuffed 3,500 feet here.
What are we doing with handcuffs on?
So I said, Can you take yourself?
I got to go to the bathroom.
So I go to the bathroom.
When I come out, one of the DEA agents standing near the door says to me, You were calling the Godfather, right?
I says, Yeah.
So he comes out.
They must have had a bet.
I'm pronounced to me.
So I got a little light on the plane.
Now they were not like.
They said, What were you doing with Pablo Escobar?
And they didn't know this, talking about the government don't know what the states are doing.
I said, Well, I killed his guy.
You did what?
I said, I killed his guy Saturday night in my club.
So they went on, get this information, and I did.
So now I just admitted that I killed this guy.
I'm walking out of there.
They thought I was the new guy.
What do you mean, the new guy?
Connection for drugs.
They saw me with Gotti in New York.
They watch everything.
They see me down there for two days and I'm walking out.
And then they prove that, you know, and then I was in Washington maybe a couple of hours.
They checked everything out.
Everything was proven.
They said, oh, you can go.
I said, what do you mean, go?
I'm in Washington.
Well, yeah.
I said, I'm going to Vegas.
Well, we don't provide transportation.
I had to get my own flight to go back to where I was going.
No, but I mean, they knew.
They have records of it.
I mean, there's probably...
It's a crazy story.
I mean, here's robbing $86 million in three hours from six banks.
You got the Shah of Iran out of the country before his regime fell.
Talking about Russian Vladimir Putin having special intel that Putin had exiled Stephen Seagal to Siberia.
That's right.
Recorded meeting Saddam Hussein when he was tasked with dropping money off to him in a weapons deal and he sat in his throne.
You know, the current status of the mob and said that the organizations are rebuilding and adapting to the times, especially in New York and Sicily, right?
Jaja Guevor, you guys went on a date and then she ended up setting you up with a sex with another woman.
Okay, I believe that.
You had threesomes with who?
Liza Minelli, after both took a liking to the Some Vegas showgirl.
Oh, no.
Bad Touch of Vegas.
She was the star of Bad Touch of Vegas.
She was.
The girl was.
Yeah.
And Liza was the Riviera Hotel.
I remember that vividly.
We went over to Stardust Hotel.
I was always over there.
Did you make love or was it more like love?
We didn't make love.
I got you.
It wasn't one of the things.
Town out sex.
You know, you were the first person.
Are you ready for this?
Yeah.
I still remember a lady's name, Emilita Escoval.
That's who.
Emelita Escoval.
Escoval was the dancer in Bad Touch of Vegas.
She came out of the ceiling in a bodysuit like a snake coming down.
Emilita Escoval.
And Liza and I were sitting there.
We both looked at her, and we said, we got to have her.
But she said that, and I said it to her.
And we took her up to the bridal suite.
I always had the bridal suite.
Well, Nick Nitty, just so your audience knows, Nick Nitty and I were partners.
We were couriers taking money from Vegas to the Vatican.
We used to go every other week.
We had licenses.
We weren't doing anything illegal.
And the story you talked about, about the Shah, your parents indirectly were involved with that.
And we talked about that when we were.
Hello.
We were in.
How's that?
Yeah, when we spoke about this in, what do you call it?
New York.
What do you mean, your parents?
Parents, dad, not mom.
More on the dad's side.
Papa?
Yeah.
So, Pat, you've interviewed Johnny.
Yeah.
This is the second time you've spoken multiple times.
I've spoken so many.
The names that are being just flung around here.
Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, the freaking Pope, Pablo Escobar, Liza Minelli here.
He keeps saying if, just for clarity, for anybody who writes anything and anybody that is educated enough, a book publisher vets anything you say in a book.
or they exclude it because they don't want to get sued.
Like McMullen Books out of London wrote, published my book through St. Martin's Press.
Again, Hollywood Godfather.
All these stories are in that book.
So certain people that he even knows questioned it.
They questioned it on air.
They wanted to talk to me.
I'm not going to.
Do you understand why people think that this is absolutely insane?
I hit the ground at 12 years old with a guy called Frank Costello.
Most people are going to school until 21, 22 years of age.
I'm on the streets with this guy, flying everywhere.
I was with, you know, Senator John F. Kennedy for the first two years from 59 to 60 until he won the nomination to become president.
I mean, how come I got all that?
Because Costello wouldn't go.
I got the tickets.
I went.
I went everywhere.
But he afforded me these luxuries that most people would never have.
And who was he at the time in the mob at this point?
Frank Costello at that time was running the Genovese family while Vito was in prison.
When he came out, he wanted his family back.
Chin Gigante.
Chin Gigante was his first contract to kill him, which I still don't believe that that was in a setup.
Because Chin and Frank were in the elevator in his building and shot him in the head in an elevator.
And he missed.
And four days later, Chin and him having dinner together.
Because Frank wanted, he didn't want this no more.
That's when him and Costello and other people created the syndicate and took over everything.
People, I live in Frank Costello's apartment in New York.
During Prohibition, him and Joe Kennedy made $30 million each in the 30s.
The money they amassed during Prohibition started buying buildings.
The building line living, they own.
They own Wall Street.
That's a Scottish.
Kennedy and Costello.
Yeah.
They own the tropical.
The Irish and the Italian.
Hello.
Well, the Irish, of course, of Prohibition.
Hello.
By the way, a few things that for the level of skepticism.
And, you know, everybody's got a healthy level of skepticism about everything.
Everybody, that's their job.
That's what people are doing.
You do that.
I do that.
Everybody does that naturally.
But a few things that opens the door to opportunities, right?
Think about what businesses opens the door to meet crazy people, right?
One, if you are the concierge of the best hotel in the world, I'm sorry.
You probably have the right connections, right?
If you run the hottest club in a city for a span of five years, friends of mine that ran clubs, you have a lot of friends that ran clubs.
You know everybody who's who because they come and don't worry, got you, bottle somewhere.
And then you get to, hey, afterwards, come to our house.
That is very natural that happens in that.
In the gym business, crazy thing about gym business, you meet everybody and anybody.
Media.
The other day, I watched the documentary of the Forbes, Malcolm Forbes, right?
And very old documentary I watched.
You know who Malcolm Forbes was best friends with for decades?
His best friend was Elizabeth Taylor.
And they used to do a bunch of different things together.
He put a party together for his 70th birthday party, flew everybody out on a private jet, 700 guests.
And at his birthday party, spent $2.5 million just on private jets to come to the party.
Everybody's gift to attend his birthday party was a Rolex watch, custom Rolex watch.
He gave 700 guests a customized Rolex watch to his guests.
Now, who's over there?
Kissinger, presidents, billionaires, celebrities.
So there are certain industries that you get.
Now, obviously on the mob side, if you are, nobody knows.
I mean, it's not like people don't know for a fact.
But if you're in connected with Costello, and if you know Costello, Costello is with Ben Siegel, Myrlansky, and Lucky.
I mean, that's like the founders.
I don't know if I would say founders, but they would be, they created the five-family, what do you call it, the chair, and Lucky sat on the chair.
So you're talking about the guys that brought it.
If you're with Frank Costello, and you know the story of Frank Costello, Frank Costello was a guy that had politicians, had connections with a lot of different people.
He was the biz dev guy, he was the guy behind closed doors that knew how to move everybody, right?
That's kind of how he was.
So in those types of situations, you're going to meet him.
Now, is it going to get you to, oh, God, what Marilyn Mundro, 15 and a half, and you know, Go Grace Kelly and all that.
I don't know about that stuff, but I mean, if you did, salutations.
The one thing I will tell you, though, with Gianni, first of all, you're way too handsome naturally.
And then you're 79.
I asked him, we had one of our girls here, and I said, you know, Gianni, I bet you used to be, you know, great with the ladies.
I still am.
You know, the whole thing you were talking about during COVID, you know, how you were taking care of.
So looks helps a lot.
Here's the crazy thing about people that don't know this.
Your first movie you ever did, it's not like your fifth movie, 10th movie.
It's not like you got a resume of coming from the best, you know, school for acting or anything.
The first movie you ever did was Godfather One.
Can you tell me?
I mean, you've been in Sea Biscuit, you've done a few different things.
Have you been in after that?
Yeah, after that.
But a person doesn't just get casted for potentially the greatest movie of all time.
How did that, for people that don't know what's the story behind that?
And you know what's so funny about that?
Because even that was in question.
And there's a new TV series coming out called The Offer by Paramount.
It'll be out next month.
And they don't even mention how I got the part, which makes no sense.
Because every actor, like you said, already had a resume.
I mean, Pacino only did one movie, but it was Panic and Needle Park, and they wanted them.
And Coppola was the only one who wanted them.
But long story short, there's a new book out, and I can't believe I'm in this book.
I'm in 11 books right now.
But James Patterson, the Being a James Patterson book called The Defense Attorney.
It's out right now.
On page 70 and 71, it tells you how I got the part in The Godfather.
Tells you in that book and who gave it to me and who told Bobby Evans, Stanley Jaffe, and everybody's, oh, that didn't happen.
Again, that book was vetted.
This was Barry Schlotnick, who was a young attorney for an Italian Defamation League.
Was it a book of fiction or non-fiction?
It's a non-fiction book.
No, it's a biography.
Oh, biography.
I got you.
I got you.
It's a biography called the Blackboard.
And not written by regular guys.
No.
So you've seen, so the people that were involved, Kennedy.
No, the people who got me the part.
Exactly.
The people that would cause you the part.
See, I got lured in.
They had an ad in LA Times that Italians would be Italians, Jewish doctors would be Jewish doctors.
The book was already in its third print.
The Godfather was huge.
And my ego, I always wanted to be an actor.
I already had money.
I didn't need to be.
I don't care if I just wanted to be in it.
So I shot a test.
Michael, Sonny and Carlo, got some people, Betty McCart, who was Al Ruddy's private secretary at Paramount, founder who she knew.
I used to have a drive-on because I didn't want to just deliver this.
I do everything in a grand way.
At the time, I had a 65 Bentley with a Chinese chick chauffeur.
65 Bentley.
And I got the cover of an Aeroflex 16 millimeter box that I shot my three scenes on and special delivery for Al Ruddy, and she could only deliver it to him.
Betty McCart got the drive-on.
So she pulls up.
Everybody's looking at the drive.
Who's this Chinese chick with this car?
The car was insane.
I had a Coco Bentley, Coco Brown.
They didn't even have 65 Bentley.
Let's see that.
Well, that ain't me.
That's a nice scene.
But anyway, so this car pulls up.
What's this about?
It was my screen test.
So they wrote me a nice letter saying, I know you went to extremes.
And we are not.
Yeah, I mean, mine was gold-plated, everything, grilled.
I got pictures of it.
But the interesting thing is, so I got it in my head now, I said, wait a minute.
I told everybody I'm going to read this movie.
So now I find out that Joe Colombo is picketing the FBI building in New York because Joe Colombo Jr. got arrested.
So he's saying, because of the godfather, everybody thinks we're gangsters.
And he created an anti-defamation league.
He hired this Jewish attorney, Barry Schlotnick, brilliant guy, still alive.
He moved down here.
And I meet with him, and I knew it was about money.
I fly in.
I said, Joe, we can make a lot of money.
Because you notice I said, we.
I said, we can make a lot of money with this movie.
He said, how are we going to make any money?
I said, why don't we have Barry take a meeting at Gulf and Western Building?
That's now the Trump Plaza.
And sit with them.
What you don't like in the book, if they take it out, give them permission to shoot because they were picketing everything and they were going to cancel the movie.
And I wanted this movie.
I said, and we can make a little money.
He said, how are we going to make the money?
I said, if you let them shoot you, you're going to ask with a world premiere in every major city the night before.
And we'll sell tickets for $200, $300, have a black tie event for every Italian lead.
We give a little check to them.
We keep the rest of the money.
He says, you could do this.
I said, with your permission, I don't know if I could do it.
I said, but if I go up there, can I arrange a meeting?
You sit.
And he looks at Barry.
He says, what do you think, Barry?
This was a good idea.
So I went up.
I walked from Madison Avenue to their office up Central Park South.
Went up.
I'm waiting in the elevator.
Downstairs, I'm seeing them all coming in.
Bobby Evans, Stanley Jaffe, Al Ruddy.
And I go over to him.
I says, Listen, you got a problem in New York.
We don't have no problem in New York.
I said, I could straighten it out.
They all looked at each other.
You could straighten it out?
I said, I just left Joe Colombo.
Ruddy said, you just left who?
I said, Joe Colombo.
That's the guy who's bothering you, right?
I said, yeah, he's way down here.
Now, I don't know if he went upstairs to call the FBI because they already robbed equipment on him.
I'm sitting there.
They send this girl down Naomi Cherry, the secretary to Stanley Jaffe.
This is 52 years ago.
They sent this girl down.
I met her once.
I still know her name.
Naomi Jaffe.
Naomi Cherry.
Cherry.
Stanley Jaffe was the president.
That was his secretary.
They come.
She comes against me.
I go up there.
We're all sitting there like this.
I stand in there.
I said, I just talked to Barry Slotnick and Joe.
They'd like to sit down and get the strained out.
They said, will he come here?
I said, yeah, come here.
Will you come here tomorrow at 10 o'clock?
I said, you tell us when.
So, so now I go down.
He said, the meeting's on, 10 o'clock tomorrow.
I said, let's do something, though.
I said, I'm only suggesting, you can't tell this guy.
He was a boss.
He took over the Colombo family after they killed Pofaciis, because Pofaci's attempting to kill Carlo Gambino, enough of you to know that.
It was a big gang war going on.
So he's the youngest boss ever, Joe.
So we go up there.
I said, we got to get Butter Esther Chico to come with us, a couple of heavies, because I want to have that appearance.
The attorney, you and I.
And so we get up there, and they iron everything out.
And they gave him the script.
Barry's going to read it, mark it up over the weekend.
And so they're all shaking hands.
And I go, Joe, I don't get up.
They all got up.
I said, Joe, what about me?
He said, oh, yeah, yeah.
What about my boy?
So, right, Hollywood bullshit.
Oh, don't worry.
We're going to give a part.
I said, wait a minute.
I said, Joe, tell him to sit down.
He goes like this.
They all sat down.
This is the president of Paramount, Bobby Evans, all of them.
They all sit down.
And I said, what do you mean, a part?
I said, I arranged this.
So this is going to be news to even your audience and maybe you guys.
I said, who's playing Michael?
They said, James Cohn, Michael.
Who's playing Sonny?
Carmine Karidi, because he's a big guy in a play called The Man for La Mancha.
I said, who's playing Carlo?
They said, we didn't get to that yet.
I said, Joe, I want to play Carlo.
This is in James Patterson's book, page 1771.
They write the whole thing.
He says he's playing Carlo.
They all looked at each other.
He says, he's playing Carlo.
That's how he got the plot.
Forget the audition, the money I spent.
And it changed my life.
Crazy.
The story was just done on it.
And they said by The Guardian, this thing of ours, why does The Godfather still ring true 50 years on, right?
And this is, if you want to go to this page too, Adam.
So there are the endless mob movies, of course, but more potent than mere weight of numbers is the scale of influence extended by just one dynasty.
Like a remarried parent, the Godfather has the original offspring, two and three.
Then it has more good fellas, the Sopranos.
In the course of the first film, Corleone's tell Pacino, Pacino's Michael.
He had hoped his son would become a politician.
Instead, politics became the Godfather where the rule, we are ruled by men who do impressions of the Don and kissing the ring, crosses.
Anyways, this movie went from being a regular thing that came out to now.
I mean, presidents, this is their favorite movie.
Politicians, favorite movies.
I own every favorite movie.
Celebrities, favorite movies.
It's amazing.
Yeah.
Like you mentioned, Saddam Hussein.
He had the scene queued up right here on a big TV when I went to his nest.
It's like crazy stories, Jack.
It's crazy.
Tell me Saddam Hussein.
Saddam Hussein's watching Godfather with you.
No, I didn't watch him.
He had the scene up.
I didn't watch a movie with him.
I went to his, no, he was doing an arms deal with Adnan Khashoggi, and I broke the money over.
That's how I went there.
He didn't open his doors for me.
I was there for a reason.
Will you spend one-on-one time with him?
No, no, just in hello, goodbye.
And he was there about an hour.
Did you see what it says about here with the capitalism about the Godfather?
Did you read that part?
Which part is that?
Which part is capitalism?
Well, okay.
Invisible power thrives elsewhere because another literal subject of the Godfather is capitalism.
Coppolo said it was his biggest theme.
There, Omerta remains the watchword.
How many of us could identify the head of the companies whose products we buy?
How much corporate scholar doggery remains out of sight?
And if the first lesson of the Godfather is trust no one, the second is that each generation ends up living the life of the one before.
So it has proved 50 years after Don Carleon, the mafia is a husk.
America itself is coming undone.
But the bright right of the Godfather keeps being handed down now as then our world is strictly business.
I know.
Guardian article, March 4th.
What's the lineage of capitalism with the Godfather?
What are they basically trying to say the right thing with the Omarta?
What would you say to that?
Well, I'll tell you right now, I have a company that I'm involved with called MJ Licensing Company.
We own an exclusive license for foods, liquor, first ride refusal worldwide.
We have seven liquors approved.
I don't know how much food.
We just renewed for another 17 years in 73 countries.
And like Saudi Arabia, I'm going, I mean, I'm selling this stuff 50 years later.
And that's why I always laugh.
The last scene when Michael says to me, no, Carly, you're out of the family business.
Now I own their business.
I own Jenko Olive Oil.
You know how funny that is 50 years ago?
If you go online and put it up right now, go to Corleone, Fine Italian Foods.
See what I own.
Corleone Fine Italian Foods.
It's online.
You can buy it.
I sell gift packages all over the world.
There it is.
Hello.
Is that you?
Hello.
How much business does that do every time?
I'm actually curious.
I ain't going to say that in this country.
Oh, so that's basically where is it everywhere?
Jenko Olive oil.
See, Jenko Olive, I own the can from the movie.
That's the can that when Godfather 2, when Gennaro went over and gave the old man Jenco, he brought the can and he cut him up because that's the guy that killed his father.
I own that.
And do you see Brando?
Yeah.
I made a deal with the Brando estate.
Not me, the company.
I don't want to say me because then the IRS is coming.
But this company owns the worldwide rights.
It's insane.
It's insane.
Now, speaking of Brando, you know, because you played Carlo.
Right.
Apparently, there was allegedly a story he didn't want you to play Carlo.
Something happened on set where you spoke with them.
What happened with that?
Was not even a set.
I went up, the first rehearsal.
That's how crazy my life is.
Another thing.
In all the places they could have the rehearsal for the Godfather, all the places.
They have it on 119th Street in Harlem at Patsy's.
That Tony Salerno's joined.
I'm there all the time.
That's where they found it.
They want to have it in the back room.
All kinds of Italian foods are going to be served.
So I went up early.
I come in.
I'm all dressed in a Brayoni suit.
And I'm watching.
And who's at the bar?
Angelo Cheesecake.
I mean, guys, you can't believe.
Real guys.
Tony Parkside, Federici.
I mean, everybody's there.
They said, what are you doing here?
I said, I'm here, because I'm there normally at night when there's Zigginet games, because I used to bring midnight loans.
They needed $10,000, needed $5,000.
I go up and bring it to them.
The games last till six in the morning.
That's what I used to do.
Jump in a cab, take money, and do it.
That's what I, I wasn't no mob guy.
I was an errand boy.
So they said, what are you doing?
I said, I'm here for the movie.
What movie?
I said, the godfather.
He said, what are you going to do?
I said, I'm playing Carlo.
Get out of here.
You're not an actor.
I said, I'm playing.
And sure enough, they came out.
Mr. Russo, rehearsal is going to start.
I said, I told you.
So I go in there.
Brando, they had, before he brought him into the room, they said, no eye contact on Marlon Brando.
Nobody approached him.
And then they brought God in.
I mean, all these young despians.
Marlon Brando was like their guy.
Was he the biggest actor in the world at that point?
Marlon Brando?
But he's still recognized for his skill.
I mean, what he did.
Who was this guy at that time?
Who was it?
He was early 70s, yeah?
Who would be the biggest guy in the early 70s?
I didn't even know, but he was declining.
I mean, after the waterfront, well, I mean, anyway, long story short, he comes over to me.
So I say, he came over to me.
He says, and I'm dressed.
I mean, still ain't hating it.
Combat boots.
Diane Keaton, my gardener dressed better than her.
I mean, these movie stars, I mean, today, you see these movie stars?
I like the old guys, the way they dress every day.
People see me like in Beverly Hills.
I said, Where are you going?
I said, What do you mean?
Why are you all dressed?
I said, Come out for lunch.
They're in sweats.
They look like bums.
Anyway, Brando says to me, You're a big TV actor.
I said, No.
You got a big movie coming up.
I said, No.
He's well, you're not on Broadway.
I know everybody on Broadway.
I said, You're right again.
I said, This is a quick show.
So he says, Who'd you study with?
I said, What are you talking about?
Study what?
So he calls Copla over.
He says, Francis.
And I never broke down the script.
I got the script.
I wanted to be in the movie.
I think you look at me a movie star.
He's questioning who you are.
What's your resume?
Why are you in this movie?
Why am I in this movie?
You knew everybody else, why they were there.
You know, everybody's saying Richard Conti, John Morley, these people don't know what to do.
Gino Pearl, James Cohen, James Condon, Robert Duvall.
Jane Cotton just had Brian Piccolo's story on.
Tell him it was the biggest TV hit.
So there's Gianni Russo.
No resume.
No nothing.
Marlon Brando's questioning why you're even there.
Right.
So now I don't know protocols.
The first time I'm on even a rehearsal.
So I knew this guy's going to try to get me fired.
I couldn't let him go to the neighborhood.
Everybody in the neighborhood, I told him I'm in a movie already.
So I said to Coppola, I said, go over there a minute.
You can't dismiss the director, not even in a rehearsal.
And he left.
So the whole room went dead, silenced.
They were like, you know, outside the door.
I said, come over here a minute.
I put my arm on.
They told me not to look at him.
Now I got my arm on.
Around Brando.
Brando's, and I walked him in the back because I didn't want to embarrass him.
I walked him in the back where the games were because I didn't know there was no game.
I'm nose to nose like this microphone.
I said, let me just tell you something, Mr. Brando.
You screw this up for me.
You hear what I'm telling you?
Look at me.
You screw this up for me.
I will suck on your heart.
You will bleed out right here.
Don't do this.
He stepped back and he said, that was brilliant.
You could really act.
I was ready to watch the guy.
Are you crazy?
He was going to change, ruin your life.
And you were actually legitimate.
I was out.
I wouldn't be sitting here right now.
Think about it.
I wouldn't be having these companies.
I wouldn't have nothing.
I mean, you probably made the money.
But you got to realize, though, think about it from this standpoint.
What is the main scene you remember from American History X?
What's the main scene from American History X?
There's two scenes.
When he shoves his face into the concrete and he's like, Concrete is one of them.
Okay, what's the other one?
The monologue at the table with his family sitting there, 10 minutes.
Where Edward Norton just absolutely crushes it, right?
Okay, what is the main scene from Gladiator?
What's the main scene?
Give me the two main scenes from Gladiator.
What are the two scenes?
It's going to be, most people are going to give the one scene from Gladiator.
The scene where they're in the middle and he fights Joaquin Phoenix.
That's the revenge.
And then he grabs it.
And then the other scene is that you're going to like, I've watched this scene a few thousand times.
I can't get enough of it.
Is when he comes, he turns his back, he gets on the ground and he says, show your face, Gladiator.
He says, he turns his face.
He says, show your face.
Who are you?
And he says, I'm such and such.
You know, father of a Maximus Marius Decimus.
Husband of a murdered voice.
And I will get my vengeance in this lifetime or the next, right?
So that's a scene, right?
So you go to these movies.
There are scenes that are.
Okay, now go to Godfather.
Go to Godfather One.
What are the main scenes that you remember?
What are the main scenes that people remember from Godfather?
This is one of them.
Yeah, of course.
The one you did is one of them.
You know, it's not a so to be there and then act with the lineup of people that were there.
Maybe Marlon Brando wasn't peeking at the time, but Brando was very like, Pachino doesn't move today.
It's Pacino, right?
But you're talking about who was the lineup?
Who did you do?
Who wasn't in the lineup, right?
Khan.
You got a younger.
But even the older guys, Richard Conti, Sterling Hayden, John Morley.
They got a little bit of a child.
Ridiculous.
Just a ridiculous lineup to be around it.
What was, I've asked this before, but again, different audiences, PPD Podcast Valettainment, is movie comes out.
The day before the movie comes out, the world doesn't know who you are.
They know you're from different places, but they don't know who you are.
Well, they didn't really know me because they knew me by the kid.
In fact, most people realized I'm Johnny Russo.
Were you 27, 28 when the movie came out?
When you shot?
I was 27.
27.
Okay, 27, 28.
So you haven't yet, you've been in the circles.
Maybe you hung out with these guys and you know the relationship.
You wouldn't be doing the movie if you didn't have those contacts.
There's no way in the world you're going to be picked up for this guy's movie, Couple or the book, all this stuff.
Movie comes out.
You're on the big screen.
You're sitting there watching it.
How did life change a week later, a month later, a year later?
That day.
That quickly.
Because this is a time with no social, so there is no DM talking.
It's open Instagram, Facebook.
Everywhere.
And see, I had a different situation that I talk about now.
I didn't then because on June 28th, 1971, that day at 9 o'clock in the morning, I get a phone call from a guy called Tommy Bilati, who was shot down years later with Paul Costellano by John Gotti in front of Sparks.
He was the owner Boris of Genovase family by then.
But then he was just an errand boy.
And he said to me, are you going to the rally, the big rally that they had for the Italian Defamation League?
The year before they had 100,000 Italian Americans.
Now they had the rally going while we were still shooting.
June 28, pull that up.
June 28, 1961.
That rally, you won't believe.
So he says, you going to the rally?
I said, yeah, he said, no, you're not.
He said, what are you talking about?
I said, I'm on the dais.
He says, I don't care if Joe Colombo is sitting in your lap.
You can't go.
So I'm saying, I'm screwed.
Joe Colombo got me to part.
So I call Barry Schlotnick.
If I didn't call Barry Schlotnik and say what I'm saying to you right now, I wouldn't be here.
Look at that rally.
That's Central Park South.
That's Columbus Circle of the End.
So I tell Barry, I said, Barry, give my apologies to Joe.
I said, I can't go.
I have a stomach flow.
Thank God I thought fast enough.
I can't sit anywhere but under the toilet.
And I was staying at the Park Lane Hotel because I wanted to stay there.
Well, everybody's waiting outside of the door every day.
My apartment's two doors over.
I was sleeping over there.
I go out the back door on 58th Street, take the subway downtown.
I'm not downtown.
A couple of minutes.
And they shoot Joe Colombo.
Wow.
Then they killed, they shoot the killer.
They killed 13 people that day.
So now they're doing the investigation of the dais.
You know, all the shots that they take.
There's one chair that has Johnny Russo and it's empty.
It's got my name on it instead of my ass on it.
So now organized crime comes looking for me.
FBI comes looking for me.
And the Colombo family want to know why I wasn't there.
And Junior Persico, who just passed in jail, one of the toughest guys in the world.
I mean, he took over that family while Joe stayed in a coma for five years over that shooting.
Then he died.
But I had to go to the world premiere under all of that.
I snuck in and snuck out.
I just wanted to be there for the pictures.
I didn't stay because as soon as I sat down, they would come and got me because they wanted to question me.
And thank God, Barry Schlotnick, I made that call because he strained out with the Columbos, but not with organized crime.
He said he had nothing to do with that.
What are you talking about?
Because they wanted to know, you know, he's called me that he had the stomach flu.
But if I didn't call Barry, they would have whacked me because they figured I knew.
You know, they killed everybody else.
The last guy they killed was an assassination they did in Umberto's clam house when they shot Joe Gallo because Joe Gallo arranged for the shootings to kill Joe Colombo.
I mean, this thing was going on for a while.
How long did that whole thing last during that time?
That turned about 18 months, man.
Okay, that's a long time for that, too.
Hello.
But by the way, are you familiar with the how familiar?
How close are you with Ray Lioda?
Ray Lioda?
No, closer.
Okay, so he's producing a, I don't know if you're following it or not, the new American Mafia docuseries called the Five Families for the History Channel.
Were you aware of this or no?
Yeah, no.
Henry Hill.
Yeah.
Pretty.
Yeah.
First of all, I'm a big Liota guy.
I love doing a great actor.
Yeah, great actor.
I don't know him that well, no.
But I mean, there's so much going on now.
That's why right now, people are approaching me, which I want to.
That hedge funds.
Because you heard of Rayo's restaurant, right, in New York?
Well, when they sold their sauce, their piece of their sauce that they have, they had two restaurants at the time.
They sold it for $411 million.
So I'm romancing hedge funds right now because, well, I got it a lot bigger.
And I got 17 more.
I want to collect coupons and move on.
I got so much stuff going on right now.
But it's major business.
A coffee has gotten over.
Are you following any of these stories with Russia, Ukraine?
You're following any of that?
How could you not?
Okay.
Unfortunately.
So what do you think about it?
I mean, you said you had a Skype call one time.
You said you would.
I had a Skype call a few years ago with Putin.
And I got to know Putin indirectly because his, the lady who runs the embassy in New York, they eat at Nello's all the time.
And her son and I, his son wanted me to baptize him, actually.
And then some.
His son.
Her son.
Her son.
Gotcha.
Her son.
And she runs that.
So that's how I got to know them.
And then all the Russian diplomats because of the United Nations meet three or four times a year in New York.
They were always in Nello's.
I live one block away from Nellow's on Madison Avenue.
So I was there every day.
It was like my lunchroom.
And we got to talking about vodka.
And I used to drink my vodka in Nello's, my wine, all that stuff that I produced.
And he's a big godfather fan.
Putin is.
So she brought a bottle to him.
When the plane went back, they gave him a bottle.
So they were talking.
He drank Beluga Black at that time.
I don't know what he drinks now.
And we made a bet.
So that's what I know about him.
The other thing I know about him is that when Stephen Seagal was in trouble with warrants for, and Jules Nasser is a very close friend of mine who produced everything with him, they had to get Seagal out of the country because he had, we didn't know, he attacked young girls in the South.
And they were looking for him.
Fathers were.
So Putin took him in like he did Snowden.
They are living in Siberia now.
They have no documentation.
Who knows now what's going on?
But after Putin was done with them doing a skarate, that was it.
But they're over there.
That's what I know about him.
That's all I know about him.
Really?
I don't know now.
As we all knew, he was supposed to be the richest man in the world, something like $611 billion.
So he deflated his own currency.
Yeah, you're talking about 40% of it, right, dropped in the last eight days.
And now he's going out there wanting to seize 60 trillion rubles from citizens if sanctions are tightened.
I mean, that's a pretty crazy story right there to say seize 60 trillion rubles if sanctions are tightened.
Who does that pressure go on the most?
Is that on, so here's the story of Finnball, February 28th.
In response to the measures have taken abroad, state Duama deputy from Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Nikola Arefi, has revealed funds placed by Russian residents will be utilized in the event of a fresh economic collapse.
If they block all the funds they are brought, then the government will have no choice but to seize all the deposits of the population.
They're about 60 trillion rubles in order to get out of the situation.
In terms of gold and foreign currency, Russia now possesses around $640 billion in reserves outside of the nation.
Apart from that, 14 trillion rubles, which is $158 billion, and another $470 billion in oligarchs' wealth are held in foreign banks.
I mean, you get to this point.
It's a level of desperation for you to go out there and say, hey, $60 trillion from everybody being taken back.
What do you think about that, Adam?
It's becoming increasingly obvious Putin is basically trying to make the USSR great again.
You know, he's basically trying to shure up the Eastern Bloc, whatever's happening in Ukraine.
He's, I mean, talking about taking.
But he created it.
It's interesting.
He's trying to shure up, but he's created this.
Self-fulfilling prophecy with Putin.
I mean, he's ex-KGB.
I mean, look, when you hear that the government and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is planning on taking money from the people, trillions of dollars.
What does this sound like?
I mean, the whole premise is the same thing Biden's trying to do.
But the whole premise of communism is that the government controls the wealth and the industry and the capital.
Right?
The whole premise of capitalism is that individuals have the power to do what they want with their money.
This is an issue of communism.
That's what they're doing.
This is very scary, is it not?
When you talk about Putin trying to take people's wealth.
Well, but that's what that philosophy is accustomed to.
So you say, if they tighten sanctions, I have to take the rubles from citizens.
So right now they're shutting down major networks.
People are walking off.
They're just shutting down.
They're like, listen, we're not doing, because you can't, 15 years of imprisonment if you tell what's really going on and you call out the government.
So the media, imagine living in Russia right now.
I don't live in Russia, so I don't know what's going on over there.
But I would say the media that's controlled, nationalized media, they're defending whatever positions he's got.
Because if you don't, you are fired, right?
You're not going to be able to be on air.
And one phone call is going to say you're out.
You got 15 years besides.
But who are the enemies, right?
Like, who is the Russian TV selling as the enemy?
Russian TV is saying, all these sanctions, look how much they're hurting you to the point that we have to take that money from you.
We're not doing it.
They're doing it.
They're the reason for it.
And you know, as crazy as it sounds, a lot of people believe that.
They're being spoon-fed that information.
How do they know anything otherwise?
Well, the same thing is going on here in America as well.
People are being spoon-fed.
Here's what I will say to you that we don't know, okay?
Here's what we don't know.
How many different stories have you and I followed where at first we emotionally like, oh, and then later on, like, oh my God.
Like, okay, give me, let's go through a list of them.
9-11, weapons of mass destruction.
You know, you go to Saddam Hussein.
You know, okay.
You go to BLM.
And then later on, you find out the lady is being funded and you buy these houses.
You go through Russia.
Oh, my God.
Oh, Russia is this.
And all what?
This Durham, Dassier, Hillary Clinton.
So one of the hardest things for us to do right now, it's very difficult because as a person that's watching this stuff, you don't really know what's going on behind closed doors.
It started off.
Don't forget, they start off a couple months ago with Biden saying, Russia's going to attack you.
And Ukrainian president saying, stop saying this.
You're scaring people.
They're not going to do it.
And it's like, well, they put 175,000 people on your border.
What do you mean they're not going to attack you?
Well, no, nothing's going to happen.
They put a hospital there.
They put a blood bank there.
They're getting ready to attack you.
They're not going to attack us.
Then they go try to get the airport.
Eventually they get the airport back.
And then now, you know, the next concern is, is this going to lead to a nuclear war or not?
Then you look at some of the countries, how they're behaving.
Russia's foreign minister.
You heard what Russia's foreign minister yesterday said?
Did you hear?
Not Russia's, China's foreign minister, what they said yesterday.
China's foreign minister yesterday said, Vladimir Putin is our most important ally.
Vladimir Putin is our most important ally.
This is most important strategic partner.
Let me say the word better.
He's our most important strategic partner.
China's foreign minister said that yesterday.
Why are they saying that?
So look at Iran, look at Venezuela, look at China, look at India, look at U.S. Each is playing a role right now, okay?
What role are they playing?
So Biden just said right now, we're going to stop all the oil coming from Russia.
But Biden's camp just had a meeting with Maduro to potentially go get oil from there.
And now they're having a conversation with Iran.
Which one of those three countries loves America?
Iran doesn't love America.
Venezuela doesn't love America.
Why are we doing dealings with the enemy?
But we can do it in-house, but we don't want to do it in-house.
Why don't we do Peter Doocy was yesterday pushing SACI and why aren't we doing it ourselves?
And she snapped and she got upset.
And it's like, we can do it ourselves.
We just opened the pipeline.
We got 100 years of reserve right now.
And you got folks that are going to the gas station saying, I can't pay 535.
I can't pay 545.
Well, you won't give it to Trump.
That's all that's about.
Well, so then India, check this out what India just did.
Here's what's interesting about India.
India avoids condemning Putin to get weapons for China fight?
What?
This is a Bloomberg story.
China fight.
What do you mean China fight?
So obviously we know India and China are not allies, but we know China and Russia are top allies, strategic partners.
Quote unquote, their relationship.
Yeah, so here's a Bloomberg story.
Yeah, quote unquote, their relationship is rocks off.
India plans to avoid condemning Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine as it needs Russian weapons in its standoff with China.
And officials in New Delhi are confident the U.S. won't apply much pressure.
Moscow has been one of India's biggest weapons suppliers since the Cold World, with more than half of India's fighter jets and almost all of its tanks coming from the country.
Russia also backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi hardline policies in the disputed regime of Kashmir, which were widely criticized.
Modi's government is also confident Washington will look the other way on this issue as India becomes a more important U.S. partner taking on China in the Asia-Pacific region, the people said.
India is part of so-called quad group with the U.S., Japan, and Australia that has sought to counter China's influence.
Okay.
But countersha.
So why would Russia help you?
Then that becomes the question.
Why would Russia help India knowing if I help you, that's going to hurt my relationship with China?
It is so complex what's going on right now that everybody that says whatever they say from the media, I think even the sacks of the world, you have to take everything that people are saying and not jump to conclusion anywhere because the real, I don't believe anybody really knows what the hell is going on.
I don't think anybody really knows what the hell is going on.
Well, it just comes down to the friend of my friend is my enemy and the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Not in this case.
Well, there's so many different.
There's so many different moving parts.
You have India, who is basically unwilling to talk smack or say anything bad about Russia because that's where they're getting their weapons.
And then China's rock-solid relationship with Russia, but India is doing everything they can to combat China's influence.
And then you have this quad, Australia, Japan, United States, India, right?
That's the strangest thing.
Australia, it's just there's so many different moving parts.
And now they're talking about if the U.S., you know, wants to, because they haven't full-on gone putting sanctions on Russia's energy section.
Like John McCain once famously said, Russia is just a gas station masquerading as a country because that's their entire GDP, gas, oil, the energy section.
Now, you know, you have people like Elon Musk basically saying America needs to start drilling, pumping for oil.
But we have it.
Well, exactly.
So there's just, it's so complicated.
And then the backdrop of all this, the scary part, like Dylan said, is, is there a nuclear war happening?
There's so many different moving parts that are the most scary thing.
I mean, as far as we know, they can control it.
If they want to lower the prices at the pump, all they have to do is just open the pipeline again.
It's here.
We have it.
Question is, why are they not doing it?
Because Biden.
Biden is totally against that.
He closed the day he won.
He closed it down.
Did you see what Elon Musk had to say about this?
What's that?
Let me read that story.
Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures.
Elon Musk says the U.S. needs to increase oil and gas outputs.
Insider story.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, hate to say it, but we need to increase oil and gas output immediately.
Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures, says Elon Musk in a tweet on Friday.
Obviously, this would negatively affect Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions cannot simply react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil and gas exports.
Many countries, including the U.S., have imposed tough sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.
While sanctions targeted banks, oligarchs, and other financial institutions, countries refrained from sanctioning Russia's pivotal energy sector, essentially using that as a bargaining chip, saying, look, we're coming after you.
We're coming after your oligarchs.
We're coming after your institutions.
Keep fucking around.
We're going to go after your energy section.
And now, basically, what did Biden announce today, that the U.S. has suspended buying Russian oil.
So remains to be seen.
I mean, they're trying to use the energy as leverage to go after Putin as like, look, we haven't gone after energy yet, but don't make us do that as like a final straw.
But why put it in?
I mean, how about all the innocent people that are being killed in Ukraine?
Do you think Putin actually cares about that?
Not Putin.
How about Biden and the rest of the world?
That's what I'm saying.
Why are the world is looking at that?
So why are you waiting for a bargaining chip and they're killing thousands of people a day?
That's to me.
I mean, I understand it.
And we're America, and most people turn to America for help.
By the way, Nim Blinken makes this comment.
I don't know if you saw that where he says NATO countries have green light to send fighter jets to Ukraine.
That's fighting words from Poland.
That to me is Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Sunday that NATO members have the CD story.
That's not the United States.
Yeah, but not them.
They're saying you guys can.
We're not have to go ahead to send fighter jets to Ukraine as the U.S. and allies continue their efforts to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia invasion.
That gets a green light.
Blinken said when asked whether the Polish government member of NATO could send fighter planes to Ukraine.
In fact, we're talking with the Polish friends right now about what we might be able to do to backfill their needs if, in fact, they choose to prove these fighter jets to Ukraine.
Oksana Markrova, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., said she hopes Ukraine will receive fighter jets from Poland as soon as possible.
So, you know, you look at the criticism, right?
Okay.
So who's who's the first?
Who's the first president that nuked Japan?
Who's the only president ever that nuked a country?
Is that Truman?
Truman nuked Japan, right?
Hiroshima.
And, you know, if you follow the story the other day, myself, Tico and Dylan, were watching a story of somebody that was getting nuked and his grandma came and pulled him down from the top.
Said, go to the basement.
They went in the basement and he's talking about what he felt, what it was like, the radiation, what happened to some friends, what happened to people.
Things escalated pretty quickly right after what they did to Pearl Harbor, you know, reaction.
Hey, we got to come out and be strong.
So is Truman more aggressive than Putin?
I don't know.
You know, is Truman's now?
Ukraine hasn't yet started attacking.
You know, they're just kind of like, look, we just don't want to fight you, man.
Just leave us alone.
Let us be who we are, right?
But behind closed doors, years ago, Russia was saying, why are you pushing for NATO to get Ukraine to be in it?
Why are you doing that?
We don't want that.
They're not an ally to us.
Why are you making that happen?
So this conversation about the way they've negotiated with him has also been very interesting.
And then now, look, here's the crazy thing.
You think there and you say, okay, in thousands of years, millions of years of us being around, whatever, there's thousands of years of different empires being around, only one person's ever nuked a nation.
And his name was Truman, Democratic president.
I think it was a Democrat when he nuked Japan.
So what's the likelihood of that happening?
Okay.
Say Putin does it.
If you're going to get to that point of doing that, what would get Putin to do that?
Would Putin nuke Ukraine?
Okay, so let's go a different point.
It would be a fallout to them.
But let me ask you this question, though.
Here's the other question for you.
Okay, this is the question that I think we have to answer because you have to sit there and say, you know how they say innocent until proven guilty.
Okay.
Can Putin do anything right now to change his reputation worldwide?
I doubt it.
Can he do anything right now to change his reputation?
I mean, yeah.
Stop.
He's invading Ukraine, of course.
So right now he's a pariah on the world.
Let me ask you a question.
Let's just say he does.
Let's just say he does.
He says, okay, fine, let's negotiate.
Let's get this thing.
I'm going to stop, right?
Let's just say he does.
Is his reputation tainted forever?
I don't think so.
You don't think so?
No.
Is his reputation tainted forever?
Right now, his reputation is the lowest it's probably ever been, right?
What do you think?
Is his reputation tainted forever from other nations, other countries?
Do you think it's already that there's nothing he can do to make up for the bad reputation he's got?
I don't think he can salvage it at all.
You're talking about nuking.
Like, he's developing tactical nukes.
He's developing small nuclear weapons.
So people are calling him crazy.
No, I don't think it could be salvaged at all.
Do you think he's sitting there right now by himself?
I don't see him being as a what do you think guy.
I see him being a here's what I want to do.
He's a true believer.
Here's what we're going to be doing.
He's been, you know, if you've seen his documentary, the guy's a true believer.
Okay.
So do you think he's sitting there saying, thinking legacy?
Or do you think he's sitting there saying, no, you guys don't understand Russia is the greatest country in the world and all of you guys have to know who we are and you guys have been disrespecting us for a long time.
Everybody's playing games with us.
My only allies are Iran.
I got China on this side and a few other countries that I'm going to have as my allies.
Everybody else, screw you guys.
I could care less about what you guys care about.
Do you think he's a legacy guy?
Do you think he cares what people think about him?
That's a very important quality, by the way.
He cares about the legacy of Russia.
Perfect.
So you don't think he cares what people think about him.
Like, do you think he cares if he walks in the streets and his own people say you're a traitor?
You're a terrible leader.
Do you think that bothers him?
No.
It depends who.
Meaning, I think, you know how they're like, they're specifically sanctioning these very, very wealthy Russian oligarchs.
So like, let's say you're Putin and I'm your guy.
I'm one of your best friends.
I'm one of your closest constituents.
And I'm like, Vlad, they're taking all my money away.
They're sanctioning me.
I can't do business.
You're close with me.
I feel like he cares what these people have to say.
The people.
The people that are close with him, the people in the energy section.
You think he cares?
He's talking about, I'm going to take $60 trillion.
A part of that is oligarchies.
Well, that's conversation, right?
Meaning, I think there is some level of care.
It's very important to say, very important for him to care about something.
I think he has some cares for certain people.
Overall, what the world cares about him, clearly he doesn't care.
Well, let's take the fact that Vladimir thought he would be in and done with Ukraine in less than a week, and he's not, right?
He went in way over.
Underestimated.
He underestimated Ukraine.
How pissed off is he going to be with his top-tier people?
And do you think he really cares what they have to think after this past nine days?
You know, certain people that, look, you've been around a lot of the mob, folks.
There's one thing they don't like is what?
Public humiliation.
You don't humiliate me.
You got up before I got up.
When we're going and leaving dinner, you don't get up before I get up.
I dictate when we're leaving certain things, right?
Hey, what are you doing?
What are you doing?
Grab a seat.
We're not done yet.
This conversation, like, think about that, right?
Do you think Putin feels publicly humiliated right now?
I think so by Ukraine.
Like you're saying, they're defending themselves.
I don't think he ever thought this would be going on yet.
I don't think he cares that Ukraine is publicly humiliating him.
I think he cares what other people got involved and they could have stayed out of it.
That's what he's thinking.
Not whether it's the right thing to do or not.
It's a different conversation.
It's what he's thinking.
Right now, the world has to sit there and try to figure out what this man is thinking and make your next moves very carefully, okay?
Because if he goes to the point of no return, listen, it's going to be an ugly situation.
And okay, so let's play that.
Let's play him not nuking and just saying, you know what?
Let's talk about it.
Let's play that real quick.
Okay.
So go there.
In a week or two weeks, they decide to make it work.
Is he done?
Island, what's the other guy that's Zelensky?
Not Zelensky.
No, no, no.
He's replacing the guy.
The guy that was going up against him.
Say, is a new person?
Yeah.
Is a new person going to come and win the election?
Okay.
He set it up in a way that he's going to be in power for a long time.
But is like what happened with Hitler eventually?
At what point did Hitler start losing when his own people turn against him?
Has his people started turning against him?
I think they will if this continues.
Okay, so you think they will if this continues?
The rubble has been cut in half.
The economy is in shambles.
They're going after the energy section.
People are not immune to this.
They have to be questioning, what is my guy doing?
I mean, look at the poll results.
And he's the sexiest man in Russia, though.
He's got 90% approval ratings.
You know that's not true.
But the other thing I think we're leaving out of the equation, we just came out of a two to three year epidemic and pandemic that crushed people again.
We didn't just have that in the United States.
That was worldwide.
So people have been economically hurt for now over almost 36 months.
Yeah, so they asked the question and they said, you know, the whole, hey, we're going to put sanctions on you.
Is that going to bother you?
They're laughing at it.
What are you talking about?
Okay.
Yeah.
Do you know what it is to have a communist nation for the longest time?
People are not rich.
People are poor.
This country is used to being poor.
But there's a group, though.
I think there's a group of that I know.
I actually know some of these gentlemen.
I met him in New York that are billionaires because of Putin.
I think those are the guys that are going to say, what are we doing here?
Now you're destroying me personally.
I'm your friend.
Well, the whole thing with Putin is that he shows his power by basically attacking or invading certain countries.
This is how he, you know, how they say the best way to drum up support or approval ratings is a war, right?
This has been true in American history.
So if you look at since 2000, right, it started with the, what's the Muslim territory in Russia?
Chechnya.
He went in and cured Chechnya of the Muslim terrorists, right?
So approval ratings went up.
Started slipping again.
What did he start?
He invaded Crimea in 2014 when Obama was president.
Boom.
So that happened.
Approval rating went up.
Now, approval ratings have been down.
COVID, economy, GDP, they're no longer top 10, whatever it is.
All right, boom, Ukraine.
This time around, the world is watching.
This time around, I think it has backfired.
Putin.
I think it backfired on him.
I think he's a pariah on the world stage right now, and he's never had that label.
He's always been labeled a tough guy, an autocrat, you know.
But right now, he's now officially a bad actor.
Yeah, but okay, so fine.
No one's disagreeing with you there.
Does the strategy of strong arm in that guy work?
Does the strategy of strong arm in him work today?
Well, what are you going to do?
Just say nothing?
Hey, good job.
Like, what are our alternatives other than sanctioning it?
I think the only thing that hurts him is his finances.
Yeah, no, it's okay.
With sanctions with China, what did it do?
There's still a lot of the sanctions are still on China.
How many of those sanctions have been removed?
How many sanctions have been removed?
China's still got the sanctions.
Yeah, Biden's kept them in place.
Okay, so what's happened to China's economy?
You see them struggling?
Well, apparently they're the only.
They've been that way all their lives.
That's what they solve.
That's what I'm saying to you.
And what I'm trying to say is, is Russia more like U.S. or is Russia more like China?
China.
Okay, so they're used to this.
So all I'm saying is, like, you know, when Azerbaijan and Armenia was going through their mess?
Do you remember that whole thing?
Very young.
Year ago, exactly.
We're talking about it.
Putin pulled both of them together to figure out a way to stop this.
Turkey had Azerbaijan's back.
Armenia had a little bit of support from Putin.
And then eventually they're like, look, we're a small country.
We cannot handle going against Azerbaijan.
Somebody got to try to figure these two guys.
Because let's say you don't bring those two guys in the same room together.
Say you don't.
Who's affected by it?
A lot of people.
Listen, a person's irresponsible decisions in your community who doesn't check the stove and that thing explodes and it catches on fire and your community's got a bunch of trees, you're affected by it.
It's not like it's just that house.
No, no, no.
Those trees are burning your house.
Now that's your cost, $200,000 that you got to fix.
Now you got to move out.
Go stay at a hotel.
Now those fumes are coming into your house.
So somebody has to figure out a way to get these guys in the same room.
And I know it's like, oh, Patrick, if it was so easy, somebody else would do it.
All I'm saying is, if you don't, the alternative sucks is all I'm saying.
Okay.
And from my experiences of, you know, dealing with whatever kind of conflicts you're dealing with, nothing, get two people in the room who hate each other.
Okay.
And we're not leaving until we figure this thing out.
What do we want to do?
Well, they say you don't make friends with your friends.
You make friends with your enemies, right?
I mean, like that.
You make peace with your enemies.
Somebody's got to bring those two together.
It is that important because if this lingers, it affects the world.
Look, okay.
Do you think Joe Biden cares about the American people?
Yes.
Okay.
Do you think he cares about the American people?
Do you think he likes the fact that low-income and middle-income families right now can't afford to pay gas and they're paying a price for it?
I think that is definitely a concern.
Okay, do you think he cares about that?
Why didn't he open the pipeline?
Do you think he cares about that both politically as his career?
Do you think he also cares that as a human being?
Yeah, I do.
I say yes.
So let's lean towards that.
Say he does, right?
Okay, fine.
As bad as it is right now, you know, the American people, oh, gas prices.
When I did a video a year ago, gas prices are going to go to $10.
You've lost your mind.
You're a fear monger.
Okay, no problem.
You don't think gas prices can go to 10 or 20 bucks?
You have lost your mind if you don't think it's going to go there.
Okay.
So this is going to affect, that's what I'm saying.
Like there's a role U.S. and other countries can play to say, hey, listen, this ain't going to help everybody.
We got to kind of get in front of this.
Because the scenario we just processed together, and then we'll wrap up in eight minutes, the scenario we just processed together was if he does nothing, okay?
Doesn't nuke.
We played that scenario.
Now, let's play the Truman scenario.
What's the Truman scenario?
You don't think Putin's sitting there saying, wait a minute, you guys are talking about I nuked a Democratic president from U.S. who apparently Democrats don't like to go to war?
Why is it that every time a Democrat is a president, there's a war going on, you know what?
You nuked first.
You're not this?
No, don't make me look bad.
How come you think you're so good?
You started a nuclear bomb as well yourself, killed a bunch of innocent people.
You make me look bad?
The world looks at you.
That's what he's thinking.
Not whether it's true or not.
It's irrelevant.
That's what he's thinking.
Let's play the game.
And this is not a game.
Let's say this scenario takes place.
Say he does use one of his nuclear bombs.
Go there.
Say it happened.
You have to think about this.
Say he does.
What happens?
Where does he use it?
Kiev.
Okay?
Why would he nuke Kiev?
This is not a why question.
If he's saying you get in my way, just so you know, I have this thing called the nuclear weapons, he's not saying that to say, hey, if you get in my way, I have this thing because it's a cool toy I got.
No, I'm going to wipe your ass out.
Yeah, but that toy can really affect Poland also.
I mean, you have two men.
When we bombed Hiroshima, it was ridiculous.
We had no effect.
There was no residual to the United States when Truman dropped the bomb over there.
Stopped the war.
But over there, Europe is so interwild, you're affecting different countries.
Neighboring.
Hello.
Okay, okay, cool.
So that's a good question.
I mean, the answer is NATO.
I mean, it's okay.
That's like the beautiful part of the United States is who are our neighbors?
Canada, Mexico?
Yeah.
Like we got oceans on each side.
We're going to be okay.
Right.
That's why he did it.
But who were who Putin needs to be?
I mean, Putin's major concern is NATO.
And he doesn't want NATO expanding.
And he doesn't want all these countries that are considering joining NATO, Ukraine, Finland, some of these other countries in that region.
These guys are all nuke ready for Russia.
Let's go back to one thing that you said is important to me.
The United States has nukes in all those countries.
I get that.
I'm about to give you a step.
But the bottom line is to me, everything we're talking about has nothing to do with the American people.
The American people right now are something to the gas tank.
And Biden could open the pipeline.
But the question is.
The question is.
Why isn't he doing it?
Oh, no, no, but that's not the question.
You're right.
That solves the American problem.
That's what I'm talking about.
I'm more worried about America first.
Yeah, no.
Sorry.
No, no.
Everybody is.
That's the number one thought.
We're all thinking America first.
All I'm saying is, if there is a problem in somebody else that it affects where it affects, because a nuclear bomb in Ukraine, what happens next?
Who reacts?
How ugly can it get?
You have to play those cards if he ends up going there.
What happens?
But if he does that, I mean, the only language that this guy speaks is war and toughness.
You're not going to peacefully negotiate with this guy.
The only thing, like how Trump said when Kim Jong-un, oh, you think you're tough?
I got a lot of, what's the famous line?
Oh, you think my bombs are.
My mom's actually worked.
Okay.
Putin understands, listen, if I do this, there's ramifications.
And that's the only language he speaks.
And then as far as what the American people are concerned with, what's a bigger issue for the lineage and the legacy of America?
Higher gas prices for six months or tyranny taking over Europe?
In my opinion, that is way more important than paying a dollar more in gas.
That's the bigger issue.
Whether gas is a little more expensive for the next six months.
But it don't have to be.
That's the problem I have with it all.
We all know I'm a lot older than you guys.
I've seen so many things go on through my life.
We have a solution for the people who just came out of a pandemic.
They can't afford $5, $6 a gas.
They got to go to work.
I'm seeing it reacting, and we can handle it.
Why aren't we handling that for our own people now?
Let the rest of the world, what Putin's going to do, we don't control.
We can't control it.
And we're not really going to be a result of it if he nukes that whole area.
I mean, we're going to lose certain supplies or whatever, but there's nothing that we cannot produce ourselves.
We're self-sustaining.
So why don't we just go back to our own business for right now and take care of the little guy who's the population of the United States that needs to go to work, needs to buy gas at maybe $250, $3.
Where is it going to go?
You're saying, Patrick, it can go to $10, but what does that help?
How does that help us?
Oh, that's going to be catastrophic if that hits here.
And they can't like, I don't understand why they're not doing it because if gas prices right now being the highest, like every time you read one of these things, how do you think about gas prices?
How do you think gas prices are high?
This is not left, right, middle.
It doesn't help no matter who the president is when the gas prices are high.
This is going to destroy midterms.
I think I would not be surprised if they fix this in the next 30, 60, 90 days.
I totally agree.
Did you see what Bernie tweeted out?
But here's what the strategy is.
And people are not going to fall for this.
Here's what Bernie tweeted today, okay?
Bernie tweeted today, oil company revenue since last year, Exxon up 57%.
Chevron up 84%.
Shell is up 49%.
BP is up 45%.
We cannot allow big oil companies to continue to take advantage of the war in Ukraine and inflation to make huge profits by jacking up gas prices.
We need a wind-fall profit tax.
Every time you come out with certain policies, you're handling of Afghanistan, then gas prices go up.
Oh, it's the capitalist fault.
No.
Gas prices were down.
Yeah, he's not mentioning the fact that gas prices got to be a lot more damaged.
Why are you talking about two years?
So these guys made a ton of money in 19 without it being gas priced were two bucks.
That's what you're talking about.
They got so humbled in shit.
So all I'm saying is they point.
It's like, I got to blame this guy.
I got to blame that guy.
I got to blame this guy.
Pete Putich is like, oh, listen, you're having a hard time.
Don't worry about it.
Just go buy an electric car.
It's going to be okay.
Go buy an electric car.
Like everyone can $6,000.
Like everyone could just go do that.
What the hell are you talking about?
So I agree with that.
All I'm saying is that, you know, I think the approach, look, we know Putin's not afraid of Biden.
We know she is not afraid of Biden.
We know that for a fact.
We know the Taliban is not afraid of Biden.
No.
They took $80 billion of stuff.
We know nobody fears the current president.
They don't.
They just don't fear the current president.
They're going and doing whatever they're doing and taking whatever they want, right?
That's just what they're doing.
China's looking at Russia as a case study.
That's all they're doing.
China's looking at us and okay, so they did this or they did this or they did.
Same for Taiwan?
Of course.
There's a case study.
But is it that they're looking at the president and they don't fear him?
At the end of the day, they need to fear the United States military.
No, here's the general.
First of all, that's not how it works, though.
That's not how it works.
First of all, you have to realize, like, you know, you felt Bush would come out and be strong or Reagan would come out and be strong.
You felt JFK would come out and be strong.
You felt Trump would come out and be strong and, you know, say his thoughts about some of these guys.
I don't think they're that worried.
I think they're looking at an opportunity right now.
They're just trying to take advantage.
They all have deals with him already.
All I hope is, all I hope is that, you know, the one good thing with him is the benefit is the fact that he's chill.
I hope that chill is used in a proper way to kind of, you know, because at least a Trump may publicly humiliate to produce a reaction.
I hope something like that doesn't happen here because I don't think public humiliation, I think you got to take a different approach with guys.
Oh, Pitt, Putin.
No, I think Biden is not somebody that's going to rub your ego.
He's not going to be like, you're in a room right now with a bunch of different egos.
Biden's ego is not going to outweigh your ego.
You understand what I'm saying?
He's not emotional.
No, no, I don't think he has, you know, look, Bernie Sanders was supposed to win the primaries.
Everybody was ahead of him.
He was fifth place.
Last minute, Butichic, everybody drops out.
Warren, Amy, everybody drops out to make this guy.
This guy was not the one that had the biggest ego to be a president.
He was selected by the Democratic Party to say he's the best one that can go win it because he was a former VP.
This is not a president guy.
This is a number two, three, four, five guy.
Not a number one guy.
So all I'm saying is there could be a benefit in him not having a big ego.
That's all I'm saying.
There could be a benefit in him not having a big ego because he may not offend Putin to do something.
I don't know.
I may be wrong.
I'm just speculating.
The terminology that they often use, and they say that this is actually a great quality for presidents, is measured.
And that's what a lot of people would say about Trump, that his flaws is that he was not measured.
It was all reactionary.
It was all emotional.
But with Trump, here's the difference with Trump.
Here's the difference with Trump.
With Trump, you don't even try because you don't want to know.
I don't know if that makes sense or not.
You don't even try Taliban, Afghanistan, because you do not want to know.
Ghassam Soleimani, yeah.
That guy was supposed to be the next leader.
And what did Iran do?
Nothing.
Yeah.
Nothing.
No, no, no.
During his regime, they did.
Nothing, right?
So the benefit of having a guy like that is people won't even test you.
But the benefit that if they do, he's going to say some stuff that's going to upset the enemy.
But you're just not going to test.
We're going to say, let me be waiting for the next present.
Anyways, we are up, gang.
Gianni, thank you so much for coming up.
Are you kidding?
I really enjoy every time we're talking your stories.
Thank you for the privilege.
Just so you know, I have a feeling tonight, I know what Adam's going to fantasize about tonight when he goes to sleep.
I mean, Marilyn Monroe, what are we talking about?
You're going to be thinking about a 15 and a half year old.
The stories you have, like Pat says, if 10% of them are true, you've lived the most ridiculous life.
And something tells me they're all true.
A guy like you and the mob, affiliated with the mob, hospitality, nightlife, and Hollywood.
And I had no effect.
I think it was the people I associated myself with.
They gave me the privileges.
Listen, I wouldn't have done 10% of this.
Well, they say that your network is your net worth, and clearly you get the right network.
Well, here's what we got.
Johnny, thank you for coming out, folks.
Tomorrow, it's going to be a very extensive podcast because tomorrow we are bringing the former KGB member Jack Barski to talk about what's going on with Ukraine and Russia.
I highly suggest you not miss tomorrow's.
He and I have been going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
He's going to be live right here with us the next day.
I believe Liz Wheeler is going to be here.
And I can't tell you who's going to be here on Friday.
I can't even tell you what time the podcast is going to be on Friday.
And you'll know why once it happens because a request has been made.
But you kind of don't want to miss Friday's podcast.
Is that fair to say?
That's very true to say that.
You kind of don't want to miss Friday's podcast.
The world's going to know who it is when we do it on Friday.
Having said that, take care, everybody.
We'll see you guys tomorrow, same time, 9 o'clock with Jack Barski.
