Gianni Russo Net Worth – 2023

Gianni Russo Net Worth:

$4 Million

How Much Is Gianni Russo Net Worth?

American actor, singer, writer, and producer Gianni Russo has a net worth of $4 million. Russo is renowned for his portrayal of Carlo Rizzi in “The Godfather” (1972) and “The Godfather Part II” (1974). As a youth, Gianni worked for mafia lord Frank Costello; “The Godfather” was his first film. He has appeared in over 50 films and television programs, including “Super Mario Bros.” (1993), “Striptease” (1996), “Any Given Sunday” (1999), and “Rush Hour 2” (2001), as well as “Pacific Palisades” (1997) and “Prison Break” (2001). (2005).

In 2019, Russo launched “The Hollywood Godfather Podcast,” which he writes and produces. He also scripted the 1996 film “For Which He Stands” and produced the 1995 television series “A.J.’s Time Travelers.” In 2004, Gianni released “Reflections,” and in 2019, he published “Hollywood Godfather: My Life in the Movies and the Mob.” In 2009, he introduced Gianni Russo Wines, and in 2016, he became a spokesperson for Don Corleone Organic Italian Vodka.

Gianni Russo was born Gianni Vito Russo in Manhattan, New York on December 12, 1943. He was born in Staten Island and raised in Little Italy. Russo had polio as a youngster and spent five years in a children’s hospital. He has stated that he murdered a hospital-based pedophile when he was 11 years old, claiming, “I felt no remorse since I was acting in self-defense. He had harmed several hospitalized children.” Gianni began working as an errand boy for mafia leader Frank Costello at the age of 13, and subsequently became a shampoo boy at a hair salon. Russo shampooed Marilyn Monroe’s hair frequently, and he claimed in his biography that he lost his virginity to her when he was 15 and she was 33.

Career

Gianni rose up the ranks of the mafia as he aged, but soon abandoned the lifestyle because it was too hazardous. His underworld contacts would be handy when filmmakers attempted to adapt Mario Puzo’s 1969 novel “The Godfather” for the big screen. Russo stepped in to serve as a middleman between the movie studio and the group, which was led by crime leader Joe Colombo, when the film encountered opposition from the Italian Anti-Defamation League. Gianni was cast as Carlo Rizzi with Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall in the film. “The Godfather” received the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1973 and was included into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1990 for its “cultural, historical, or artistic significance.” Russo repeated his role briefly in “The Godfather Part II” (1974).

Gianni built the restaurant/nightclub Gianni Russo’s State Street in Las Vegas around the time he began his acting career, but it closed in 1988. During the first decade of his career, he acted in the films “Lepke” (1975), “The Four Deuces” (1975), “Laserblast” (1978), and “Winter Kills” (1979) as well as the TV movies “Goodnight, My Love” (1972) and “The Bait” (1973) and had cameo appearances in 1978 on “Kojak” and “The Rockford Files.” In the 1980s, Russo guest-starred on “The Greatest American Hero” (1981), “Riptide” (1984), “Wiseguy” (1986), and “Hunter” (1988), appeared in the TV movie “The Return of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer” (1986), and co-starred in “Chances Are” alongside Cybill Shepherd, Robert Downey Jr., Ryan O’Neal, and Mary Stuart Masterson. Gianni participated in “Side Out” and “The Freshman” in 1990, “Out for Justice” and “Another You” in 1991, and “Stay Tuned” alongside John Ritter, Pam Dawber, and Eugene Levy in 1992.

Russo portrayed Anthony Scapell in the 1993 film “Super Mario Bros,” and he co-starred with Demi Moore in the 1996 film “Striptease.” In 1997, he portrayed Frank Nichols on the Aaron Spelling-produced series “Pacific Palisades,” and in 1999, he appeared alongside Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, and Dennis Quaid in Oscar Stone’s thriller “Any Given Sunday.” Gianni featured in “The Family Man” with Nicolas Cage in 2000, then “3000 Miles to Graceland,” “Harvard Man,” and “Rush Hour 2” in 2001. In 2002, he acted with Anthony Hopkins and Edward Norton in “Red Dragon,” a prequel to “The Silence of the Lambs,” and in 2003, he portrayed Alberto Gianini in the Academy Award-nominated picture “Seabiscuit.” Russo featured in the films “After the Sunset” (2004) and “Meet the Mobsters” (2005), and had a recurring role as Gavin Smallhouse in the 2005 Fox television series “Prison Break.” Gianni’s next appearance was in “Send No Flowers” (2013), and in 2018 he starred in the criminal drama “Con Man.”

Personal Life

Gianni has 11 children with 10 different women and has acknowledged to being a “terrible parent.” Frank Sinatra, a longtime friend, was the godfather of several of Russo’s children. Gianni murdered a man who was “abusing his date” at Gianni Russo’s State Street when he was 44 years old. He commented on the event, “He attacked me with a shattered champagne glass and stabbed my throat. Consequently, I shot him in the head and chest.” The victim turned out to be a member of the Colombian drug gang who worked for the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, and the police determined that the killing was legal. A few days after the murder, someone began leaving dead salamanders, chickens, and CCTV images of Russo’s daughter Carmen at his apartment. Gianni came to Colombia in an attempt to reconcile with Escobar, but was tortured by his thugs. The torment ended, however, when Pablo discovered that Gianni had been in “The Godfather,” and he promised to let Russo live provided he acted out a specific scene from the film. Gianni has stated that he has been indicted 23 times on a variety of offenses and claims he has defeated each and every one.