Hollywood loves a good crime movie, and like many of the other film genres that are drawn from real-life history and iconography, it’s only natural that the reality of its subject matter has directly contributed to the industry itself across a variety of different forms.
Just like the oldest Westerns had old-west cowboys and lawmen consulting or even starring in them – or like war movies have featured many actors who served their countries in wartime – so too have mob pictures featured actors who either rubbed shoulders with real-life mobsters, were a part of a criminal organisation before they got into acting, or worked against them on the opposite side of the law.
While these backgrounds are by no means essential when it comes to selling an actor as a believable on screen presence in these roles, they can and often do lend a further sense of legitimacy to the proceedings – particularly when these films aim for a true-to-life or kitchen sink feel.
These pre-movie career backstories also add a fascinating level of additional context to a given film, often illuminating the level of personal investment and weight filmmakers and performers brought to the table, and demonstrating why, on so many occasions, it cemented them as icons of the genre.
One of the greatest actors of his generation, Robert De Niro announced himself as an inimitable screen presence with the first of many collaborations with filmmaker Martin Scorsese, 1973’s Mean Streets. Scorsese’s rich and violent tapestry of New York street life drew upon his own experiences growing up in Little Italy, an authenticity that was duly reflected on the screen, and aided by the casting of fellow New Yorkers who grew up in and around street crime as Scorsese did.
One such actor was Robert De Niro, who portrayed John Civello opposite Harvey Keitel’s Charlie Cappa. De Niro, who was known to Scorsese before he started acting, immortalised himself instantly with the part. Just as Scorsese had drawn upon his own childhood growing up in Manhattan when crafting Mean Streets, so too, seemingly, had De Niro.
In a discussion with Vanity Fair published in 2014, Scorsese recounted the meeting that would lead to De Niro being cast in Mean Streets, recalling how he had recognised his would-be longtime collaborator from his days hanging around the Kenmare Gang on Hester Street. By the time Scorsese and De Niro had their reunion, it had been 14 years since they passed each other by on Hester Street – by which point both had established themselves in the film industry, and were poised to ignite a partnership that would define a decade of cinema.
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