UPDATED !!!!" Steven Seagal Testifies at Mob Trial "
Entertainment - AP Movies
Steven Seagal Testifies at Mob Trial
6 minutes ago
By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Action film star Steven Seagal testified Tuesday that a crew of alleged mobsters demanded that he make movies with them — or else.
As he left a 2000 meeting with the men, Seagal claimed one told him, "If you would have said the wrong thing, they would have killed you."
Wearing a Asian jacket and blue jeans, Seagal testified as a government witness at the racketeering trial of Peter Gotti, brother of the late crime boss John Gotti, and other reputed gangsters.
Authorities say Seagal — known for his martial-arts moves in films like "Under Siege" and "Exit Wounds" — was a victim of a bid by the Gambino crime family to infiltrate the film industry for profit.
Prosecutors say Seagal, 50, was extorted after a falling-out with his former business partner, Julius Nasso, an alleged Gambino associate.
The actor testified that he was menaced by defendant Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone, who allegedly demanded the actor pay the Gambinos $150,000 for each movie he made with Nasso.
"Look at me when I talk to you," Seagal quoted Ciccone as saying during one shakedown. "We're proud people. ... Work with Jules and we'll split the pie."
Defense attorneys deny any threats were made, saying Nasso was always business-like in seeking to get Seagal to repay $500,000 he loaned the actor for taxes. In his opening argument last month, defense attorney George Santangelo called Seagal "a pathological liar."
They were expected to cross-examine Seagal later in the day.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block said he would limit how many questions the defense could ask Seagal about his personal life and legal troubles.
"I'm going to keep some restraints on this so it doesn't turn into a media circus," Block said.
Prosecutors said wiretaps caught Nasso being instructed to demand the actor give the family a $150,000 cut for each film he made. In a bugged VIP room in a Brooklyn restaurant in 2001, the suspects could be overheard chuckling over how "petrified" Seagal looked at a meeting, prosecutors said.
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sincerely
suzi
Entertainment - AP Movies
Steven Seagal Testifies at Mob Trial
6 minutes ago
By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Action film star Steven Seagal testified Tuesday that a crew of alleged mobsters demanded that he make movies with them — or else.
As he left a 2000 meeting with the men, Seagal claimed one told him, "If you would have said the wrong thing, they would have killed you."
Wearing a Asian jacket and blue jeans, Seagal testified as a government witness at the racketeering trial of Peter Gotti, brother of the late crime boss John Gotti, and other reputed gangsters.
Authorities say Seagal — known for his martial-arts moves in films like "Under Siege" and "Exit Wounds" — was a victim of a bid by the Gambino crime family to infiltrate the film industry for profit.
Prosecutors say Seagal, 50, was extorted after a falling-out with his former business partner, Julius Nasso, an alleged Gambino associate.
The actor testified that he was menaced by defendant Anthony "Sonny" Ciccone, who allegedly demanded the actor pay the Gambinos $150,000 for each movie he made with Nasso.
"Look at me when I talk to you," Seagal quoted Ciccone as saying during one shakedown. "We're proud people. ... Work with Jules and we'll split the pie."
Defense attorneys deny any threats were made, saying Nasso was always business-like in seeking to get Seagal to repay $500,000 he loaned the actor for taxes. In his opening argument last month, defense attorney George Santangelo called Seagal "a pathological liar."
They were expected to cross-examine Seagal later in the day.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block said he would limit how many questions the defense could ask Seagal about his personal life and legal troubles.
"I'm going to keep some restraints on this so it doesn't turn into a media circus," Block said.
Prosecutors said wiretaps caught Nasso being instructed to demand the actor give the family a $150,000 cut for each film he made. In a bugged VIP room in a Brooklyn restaurant in 2001, the suspects could be overheard chuckling over how "petrified" Seagal looked at a meeting, prosecutors said.
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sincerely
suzi
