Ketchum resident and former Delaware attorney Charles Brandt has written two books about the Mafia. "I Heard You Paint Houses," published in 2004, will be adapted into a movie called "The Irishman" next year starring Robert De Niro.
The second book, "We Are Going To Win This Thing," based on the ordeal of FBI agent Lin DeVecchio and released last month, will be the basis of a CBS "60 Minutes" episode scheduled to air March 20.
"I Heard You Paint Houses" tells the story of World War II veteran-turned-mob-hit-man Frank Sheeran, who confessed to Brandt that he killed Jimmy Hoffa and suggested that he had information relating to the Mafia assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
De Niro told MTV News in a taped interview last week that he and director Martin Scorsese would work together to bring the story to the big screen. "The Irishman" would be De Niro's eighth collaboration with Scorsese and cover familiar ground for the two artists. "Taxi Driver" and "Mean Streets" also told New York City crime stories.
"We have a very good script that Steven Zaillian wrote, and that we're definitely doing," De Niro said of the "The Irishman" in an interview last week with MTV News. "We do have the one that we're definitely doing ... me, Joe Pesci, (Al) Pacino and Marty Scorsese directing."
On March 20, CBS's "60 Minutes" is scheduled to air a segment about 33-year FBI veteran DeVecchio, who worked for then U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani as supervisor of the Mafia Commission Case.
"We Are Going To Win This Thing," written by Brandt in the first person voice of DeVecchio, provides the background for the "60 Minutes" episode. The book tells the story of how DeVecchio was falsely accused of working for the Mafia and committing four acts of murder, until the case against him was dismissed in 2007.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com
