Why have your morning coffee at a chain?  When you can have a 
"taste of the mob" at Caffe Palermo.  Housed in a building 
formerly owned by Al Capone, the Chicago mob boss himself.  You 
will find posters of "Blackstone", the Vito Brancato PBS film 
about the original plan to assassinate JFK in Chicago.  A plan 
originated by Sam Giancana, retribution for the Kennedy 
administration's stance on organized crime.   Chicago natives 
Vito Brancato and producing partner J. Kenneth Ezra have a big 
stake in this little mob coffee shop.  Why?  Because it's 
authentic.  In these modern times of computers, internet, and 
plastic surgery what a breath of fresh air to walk into a Coffee 
Shop where former owner Al Capone kept a business.  With a cute 
Italian momma's homemade cannoli's and fresh espresso it's tucked 
away in the notoriously mob influenced cities of Cicero and 
Berwyn, Illinois.  If you're lucky, you'll have your order 
prepared by the filmmaker himself, when he's not filming.

But it goes further than that; these producers seek authenticity 
in their film ventures as well.  "Blackstone" was a short film 
produced to basically put the "street rumor" into reality.  Once 
some media outlets heard about it, they insisted showing it "as 
is" on PBS.  J. Kenneth Ezra producer says his pride wasn't 
broken when asked to release it.  "Ok, we make this short film, 
it's based on a lot of research and some uncorroborated first 
hand accounts close to the action.  But we insisted that this is 
just a short.  Plus Brancato is a perfectionist and would rather 
have the full length feature film to show" Nonetheless, PBS loved 
the realism and obvious truth in the characters, even if we will 
never know if Giancana really put the hit into action.  However, 
information to confirm such findings is surfacing.  In her 
upcoming book, JFK and Sam: The Connection between the Giancana 
and Kennedy Assassinations, Antoinette Giancana claims her 
father, the late Chicago mafia boss, ordered President John F. 
Kennedy's assassination.  Can you get closer than that to the 
story?  Then how did Vito Brancato and J. Kenneth Ezra get this 
information.  Ezra uses his hands to explain, "Being in Chicago, 
you are around a lot of people that know a lot of people that 
heard from a lot a people some things."    Other than those 
"people" recently released information may corroborate the story.

Brancato calls Blackstone "historical fiction" - real characters 
and events woven with fictional ones to give his story an eerie 
sense of possibility.  For even more "realism" Brancato intercut 
archive footage of Kennedy at the Blackstone Hotel in the fall of 
'62 during the film's climactic scene.  "I can remember growing 
up on the north side of Chicago, my grandfather and his old 
Italian buddies in their black pants and white dress shirts, 
sitting in front of the corner store trading stories from the old 
country," recalls Brancato.

Why the coffee? Well, Ken has combined coffee and movies also. 
Ken is so committed to authentic films he played the part of 
groom and volunteered to work the craft-service table on the set 
of "After Freedom", winner of the Pasadena Film Festival audience 
award.  Director Vahe Babian's beautiful real story about 
Armenians adjusting to life in Los Angeles.  "If it's true, real 
and authentic, I want to part of it.  Even if I have to literally 
serve coffee to everyone on the set.  Being part of Brancato's 
film continues my journey of authenticity"

Blackstone will be Brancato's third feature. It is a "fictional" 
tale of a botched assassination attempt on JFK in Chicago prior 
to that fateful day in Texas. Brancato hopes to parlay the 
potential success of Blackstone into King of the Bandits, which 
he labels "a legitimate epic, a cross between "The Godfather" and 
"Braveheart". Bandit is the incredible true story of Sicilian 
freedom fighter Salvatore Giuliano who rose to national 
prominence and influenced Italian and American politics following 
World War II.

J. Kenneth Ezra has worked his way up to producing a package of 
10 movies.  In the remake of the independent "The Right thing" 
(see trailer at www.razorfilms.com), his partnership with 
director and writer Brancato gives us an authentic modern 
viewpoint in the Chicago mob scene.  Blackstone gives us a 
historical viewpoint into the Chicago mob influence.  And King 
of the Bandits an old country authenticity. 


Good luck guys,

How do you say it authentically fellas?  Ciao! 

J.Kenneth Ezra & Vito Brancato can be reached at 
mailto:info@razorfilms.com

Get a taste of the mob at Caffe Palmermo 6510 W. Ogden Avenue,  
Berwyn, IL 60402.  Call your local PBS station to find out 
about "Blackstone" at http://www.pbs.org  Or visit 
http://www.razorfilms.com