![]() ![]() He keeps it in a safety deposit box along with photographs of Lansky wearing it for proof of past ownership. Rapoport has his grandfather’s Vacheron Constantin watch, given to him as a graduation present. “We ended up with more fans and press than. One was publicized to keep law enforcement and fans away from the unannounced private service for family and close friends. A year later, Lansky was acquitted of the tax evasion charges. Rapoport said his grandfather left on his own. Rapoport recently finished cataloging the contents that include photographs of his grandfather, dinner plates monogrammed “ML” and a declaration from the state of Kentucky that named Lansky an honorary colonel in 1965. In her later years, his mother moved in with him.Īt his house, his mother had 15 boxes of belongings related to Lansky. Rapoport, whose E-Cool of Florida company sells and leases industrial cooling units and fans, came to Tampa as a University of South Florida student more than four decades ago. “It’s my family legacy and he was my grandfather.” Her job, Rapoport said, now falls to him. She wrote the book “Daughter of the King,” published in 2014. Rapoport’s mother, Sandra Lansky Lombardo, had charged herself with talking about what she called the positive aspects of her father’s life. “I didn’t run around screaming that I was his grandson.” Harvey Keitel played him in “Lansky,” Patrick Dempsey in “Mobsters” and Ben Kingsley in “Bugsy.” You might have seen Lansky portrayed in one of the numerous mob movies that have used him as a character over the years. Read more about the 50 greatest fictional deaths of all time. But I rank the killing of Batts first mostly because it pays off a quote that has become (even more than the deathless “How am I funny?” scene) the most immortal mobster meme of the past quarter-century: Batts’ line, to Joe Pesci’s Tommy just before he is beat into a pulp, “Now go home and get yer fuckin’ shinebox!” Beloved most especially by former Daily Show host Jon Stewart, this line is now pop-culture shorthand for snarky, comically aggressive male-on-male disrespect, and Batts’ torturous trunk-based demise is (dis)proportionate recompense. Even after they slaughter him for good, we endure both a grisly burial scene and an exhumation of Batts’ rotting corpse later in the film. Also protracted-Batts doesn’t die right away, surviving a ride in Henry Hill’s trunk and a meal at Tommy DeVito’s mother’s house. The killing of made man Batts (Frank Vincent) in the hours just after his homecoming-from-prison party is explosive and twisted (I’ve never heard Donovan’s 1969 hit “ Atlantis” the same way since). Sure, it’s the cinematography, the dialogue, and the acting-but really, it’s the deaths. I’ve seen most of the films on typical “Best Gangster Movies” lists-but there’s a reason two Francis Ford Coppola movies and one Martin Scorsese movie wind up topping virtually all of them. So, again, my list is not exhaustive-but it is correct. It even leaves out my editor’s favorite, the death of Bernie Bernbaum (John Turturro) in the Coens’ Miller’s Crossing, a short, sharp murder that does pay off Turturro’s memorable “Look into your heart!” begging earlier in the movie but remains a bit too pat for my taste. I’m egregiously ignoring the fine mobster oeuvres of Golden Age directors William Wellman, Howard Hawks, William Wyler, and John Huston, as well as the more modern work of Brian De Palma, Sergio Leone, Quentin Tarantino, and Michael Mann. These five scenes come from just three movies, all released during my lifetime. I do not pretend the following list is exhaustive or definitive.
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