Posted on 08/13/2003 7:17:55 PM PDT by new cruelty
NEW YORK - A former business partner of Steven Seagal's admitted Wednesday that he plotted to have the mob shake down the action-film star.
Julius Nasso, a producer of early Seagal films that grossed millions of dollars, pleaded guilty in federal court to extortion conspiracy. Under a plea deal, he will serve one year in prison and pay a $75,000 fine; no sentencing date was set.
Nasso, 50, told a federal magistrate that he had an "understanding" that a reputed capo in the Gambino crime family, Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone, would confront Seagal about a debt in a way "that would be perceived to be a threat." Ciccone was convicted along with Peter Gotti, brother of late mob boss John Gotti, in a racketeering case and is awaiting sentencing.
Despite the plea, Nasso's attorney, Robert Hantman, told reporters outside court that his client "has no ties to organized crime whatsoever."
Nasso also claimed Seagal still owes him $2.5 million, and he said he would sue him to get it back.
Seagal "does not take joy in Mr. Nasso's sorrow," his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement. "He has put his dealings with Mr. Nasso behind him and hopes Mr. Nasso will do the same."
Nasso and Seagal formed a production company after meeting in Los Angeles in the late 1980s. Over the next decade, they made such movies as "Marked for Death," "Out for Justice" and "On Deadly Ground" before their falling out.
An indictment filed last year identified Nasso as a Gambino associate and alleged that he turned to the family to help him settle the score with Seagal.
The actor said while testifying earlier this year that at a meeting at a Brooklyn steakhouse in 2000, Ciccone and other Gambino enforcers demanded that Seagal keep working with Nasso and pay him $150,000 per film.
Afterward, Nasso told Seagal, "If you would have said the wrong thing, they would have killed you," according to the actor.
Surveillance tapes later captured Ciccone and other mobsters chuckling over how "petrified" Seagal looked.
"I wish we had a gun with us," one said. "That would have been funny."
Said another: "It was like out of the movies."
An indictment filed last year identified Nasso as a Gambino associate and alleged that he turned to the family to help him settle the score with Seagal.The actor said while testifying earlier this year that at a meeting at a Brooklyn steakhouse in 2000, Ciccone and other Gambino enforcers demanded that Seagal keep working with Nasso and pay him $150,000 per film.
Afterward, Nasso told Seagal, "If you would have said the wrong thing, they would have killed you," according to the actor.
Surveillance tapes later captured Ciccone and other mobsters chuckling over how "petrified" Seagal looked.
"I wish we had a gun with us," one said. "That would have been funny."
Said another: "It was like out of the movies."
He's a fat doofus, with goofball Walter Mitty dreams of a fantastic life of espionage and intrigue.
I mean, the guy was once a movie star, who dated some hot chicks. He should really just indulge his mind with that wonderful reality. I don't know why he insists on making up all that other silliness.
Sadly, I think he really believes all of it.
Well I believe all of it, Steve. In fact, I was on some covert marital-arts missions with him years ago, but we can't talk about them. It would embarrass the couples we helped.............FRegards
Now Steven will have to kill you.
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