Steven Seagal-In Trouble with the Mob?

Did anybody catch this story on TV ? Apparently, Steven Seagal was being forced by the Gambino crime family to give them a cut on his movie earnings; they were asking for $150k per movie but they had Steven so scared he was paying them $700k instead!!!!!!!! Man, I thought Steven was suppose to have been a bad ass . . . . . It looks like his former longtime producer, Julius Nasso, was in on the shakedown with the mob; he wasn't happy that Steven had failed to fulfill some contractual obligations, which had cause him to lose tons of money over the last few years . . .


=========


Papers Detail Mob Shakedown of Actor

By DIEGO IBARGUEN

NEW YORK (AP) - Court papers filed this week by federal prosecutors detail alleged attempts by Gambino crime family associates to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from action star Steven Seagal.

The papers were filed in connection with a bail hearing for reputed Gambino captain Anthony Ciccone, who was among 17 alleged mob figures charged in a 68-count federal racketeering indictment in June. On Tuesday, a federal judge ordered Ciccone to remain in custody.

Although the papers did not identify the actor, law enforcement sources have said it is Seagal, whose films include "Marked for Death,""Under Siege" and "Exit Wounds."

The court papers say the 50-year-old Seagal was in Canada when four alleged mobsters visited him to make demands. Wiretapped conversations show Julius Nasso, Seagal's longtime producer, participated in demanding that Seagal pay $150,000 to the mob for each movie he made, the papers said.


Ciccone told Nasso he should be tougher with the actor, saying "you really gotta get down on him ... 'cause I know this animal, I know this beast."

Investigators have said Seagal was so shaken that he paid $700,000 to the mob, though that information was not included in the new filing.

The papers allege that after Ciccone became concerned that Seagal was talking to others about the attempted extortion, he ordered an underling to "smooth this guy over - he's going around saying stupid things."

Seagal's attorney, Martin Pollner, had no comment on the case Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Nasso sued Seagal for $60 million for allegedly backing out of a contract to perform in four motion pictures. He said Seagal made his decision on the advice of a Buddhist spiritual adviser known.

Seagal and Nasso began doing business together in 1987, when Nasso handled the international marketing of Seagal's first hit film, "Above the Law," the lawsuit says. They established Seagal-Nasso Productions Inc. in 1990 to handle distribution and foreign rights sales of Seagal's films.

In 1997, Seagal and Nasso signed a deal to produce four more films. Over the next year, Nasso says, he spent nearly $2.5 million obtaining literary rights, buying scripts, taking out ads to announce the films and other expenses.

He said Seagal closed the company's California offices in October 2000 without consulting him, and claims Seagal's failure to fulfill his commitments has caused him and the company substantial financial losses

 

I've been to Julius Nasso's house in Staten Island a few times. Once to see it while it was being built and once for his kid's birthday party. The mob MADE his career. He wanted it bad enough to accept their help in making him a star. It sounds like maybe he was testing the boundaries a little by trying to become his own man with the hopes that his notoriety would protect him from repercussions, then got scared when he was reminded that it wouldn't. He knew the rules when the game started. Maybe HE'S leaking the story as a way to get them off his back...

 

Hell, you thought he got those roles based on his acting ability? Kid has Johnny fontaine written all over him.

 

Do you think he could get a horses head in his bed one morning when he wakes up, that would be cool

Once you get in bed with the mob, you had better sleep with one eye open.