Leonardo DiCaprio to Star in and Produce a Crime Thriller Called THE BLACK HAND
Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star in and produce a crime thriller called The Black Hand, which is based on a book of the same name written by Stephan Talty. The film is based on a true story and is set up at Paramount Pictures. This sounds like an awesome story that would make for a great film.
The story is set in 1903, and DiCaprio will take on the lead role of Joe Petrosino, "a NYPD cop who goes after the ruthless gang (with the calling card black hand) that migrated from Italy to America. The thugs kidnapped people and then extorted money from their families. They were loathed by law-abiding Italian families who were frightened, but nevertheless helped Petrosino behind the scenes."
This seems like it's a great role for DiCaprio to take on, and this wouldn't be the first time he's played a law enforcement officer in a movie. It's one of those kinds of roles that he fits right into and has played incredibly well in films such as Shutter Island, J. Edgar, and The Departed.
Here's a more detailed story summary from the book that the film is based on:
Beginning in the summer of 1903, an insidious crime wave filled New York City, and then the entire country, with fear. The children of Italian immigrants were kidnapped, and dozens of innocent victims were gunned down. Bombs tore apart tenement buildings. Judges, senators, Rockefellers, and society matrons were threatened with gruesome deaths. The perpetrators seemed both omnipresent and invisible. Their only calling card: the symbol of a black hand. The crimes whipped up the slavering tabloid press and heated ethnic tensions to the boiling point. Standing between the American public and the Black Hand’s lawlessness was Joseph Petrosino. Dubbed the “Italian Sherlock Holmes,” he was a famously dogged and ingenious detective, and a master of disguise. As the crimes grew ever more bizarre and the Black Hand’s activities spread far beyond New York’s borders, Petrosino and the all-Italian police squad he assembled raced to capture members of the secret criminal society before the country’s anti-immigrant tremors exploded into catastrophe. Petrosino’s quest to root out the source of the Black Hand’s power would take him all the way to Sicily—but at a terrible cost.
I love these kinds of stories, and I can't wait to see this one!
Via: Variety