Documentary Film 'Momo: The Sam Giancana Story' Begins Production in Chicago on Nov. 18, 2010

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We just received the following press release.

Documentary Film “Momo: The Sam Giancana Story” Begins Production in Chicago on Nov. 18, 2010

Film chronicles the history of real life Mafia family as told by his daughters

CHICAGO (Nov. 11, 2010) - The true story of the life and death of Chicago’s biggest Mob Boss after Al Capone, Sam Giancana, will be revealed in a feature documentary that begins filming in Chicago in November.

Unlike other portrayal’s of Chicago’s last Godfather, Momo: The Sam Giancana Story, will be told by the people who knew him best, his daughters, family and friends. Hollywood Producer and Chicago-native, Nicholas Celozzi II approached Giancana’s two daughters Bonnie and Francine, who happen to be Celozzi’s cousins. The sisters have kept quite for over 30 years and feel it is time to set the record straight.

Cellozzi teamed with writer and Warner Brother’s producer Dimitri Logothetis, and they set up this material, based on Giancana’s life, as a television bio pic at Warner Brother’s and Turner.

The family will tell their unbelievable experiences while growing up with one of America’s richest, most powerful and most feared men who altered the course of history through his relationship with the Kennedy’s. ‘Momo’ is backed up with FBI transcripts, letters, audio, videotapes and photos, and is the inside story of what it’s really like to live in a Mafia family.

In addition to the documentary, Celozzi and Logothetis have pacted with former Chicago Sun-Times owner, Ted Field and his Radar Pictures, to turn Giancana’s life story into a drama television show called “The Outfit.” This twenty-plus episode show is based on what is revealed in the Momo doc. Field is also a former owner of Kaiser Broadcasting and Interscope Communications. As a producer, Field was behind The Invention of Lying, Jumanji, The Last Samurai and Runaway Bride. 


Together, Celozzi and Logothetis produced and directed one of the best boxing documentary films that sold millions of copies worldwide, Champions Forever: World Heavyweight Champs. They also teamed for two suspense/thriller films, for Lifetime Television, The Lost Angel starring Judd Nelson and Allison Eastwood, and Slaughterhouse Rock starring 80s female rocker, Toni Basil.

Celozzi’s impressive movie career includes writing, producing, directing and acting in over 20 independent feature and documentary films and television shows. He produced Bottom’s Up starring Paris Hilton, Comedy Central’s Senior Skip Day and is working with Robert DeNiro on 20% Fiction. Celozzi also heads the TV/Film Department for Chicago’s biggest acting school, Act One Studios.

Logothetis’ career also includes numerous films including the show runner/Executive Producer for the WB TV show, Code Name Eternity, the modern day Twilight Zone, Dark Realm, and Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers .

Momo will be released in theaters nationwide, entered in major international film festivals and have a Chicago premiere in the fall of 2011.

About Sam Giancana:
Giancana grew up on the West Side of Chicago, ran the Chicago mob — known as “the Outfit” — from the 1950s to the 1970s, was a family man, lost his wife to a rheumatic heart, raised three daughters in Oak Park, supported an extended family and was one of the most powerful men of the twentieth century.

Sam Giancana’s larger-than-life character, whose flamboyant lifestyle paved the way for high profile mobsters, was born in 1908 and killed in 1975. Giancana was not only known for swinging Illinois to Kennedy during the 1960 presidential election through his union ties, but he was the first mobster to claim his rights to the Fifth Amendment in front of live television cameras while being questioned by Bobby Kennedy during the McClellan committee hearings. He had a long-standing friendship with Frank Sinatra and the “Rat Pack” who played in Sam’s Chicago clubs. Giancana also had a high profile love affair with Phyllis McGuire, of the famous McGuire Sisters singing group, as well as rumored connections to Marilyn Monroe and Fidel Castro.