Звезда «Крестного отца» Джанни Руссо утверждает, что убил сообщника Пабло Эскобара

The Godfather star Gianni Russo's life was full of just as much drama off-screen - and claimed he once killed one of Pablo Escobar's henchmen. He starred in the legendary mafia film as Carlo Rizzi, the abusive husband of Connie Corleone, Don Vito's daughter. His character played a dangerous game plotting to get the heir to the mob family he was married into, Sonny Corleone, killed. He paid the ultimate price with his life with a grisly garrotting for his deceit. In real life Russo's life was full of mob ties, indictments, and even killing one of Pablo Escobar's henchmen – which he claims left him with a contract on his head. The actor and singer, 82, claims that as an adolescent he started a fledgling career in organised crime working as an errand boy and mob associate for Frank Costello from the Luciano crime family. He later abandoned the dangerous and volatile lifestyle of organised crime, claiming he was a lover, not a fighter. But his shift away from working in the underworld didn't move him away from his connections. The circles he moved in meant that Staten Island mafioso Tommy Bilotti was best man at two of his weddings. Lifelog mobster Bilotti was underboss of the Gambino crime family in New York City for just two weeks, before he was killed alongside Gambino boss Paul Castellano by a crew that included John Gotti. Despite walking away from the life, Russo said he was indicted nearly two dozen times for organised crime associations, although he was never convicted. But in 1988 Russo ended up in the biggest trouble in his life when he killed a Medellín drug cartel soldier. The man had been harassing a woman in Russo's restaurant when the pair came to blows. The Hollywood veteran previously said: "This guy comes in and he's giving $100 bills to everybody, which is normal when a guy makes a big score." On finding out the man was a high roller they sent over a bottle of Cristal champagne amongst other lavish delicacies, he added. The actor said: "He gets into a argument with his date, he breaks the Cristal bottle and sticks it right in her face. I get in the mix of it, because I don't know who the guy is and I don't want the cops there." He said he declared himself as the owner and told the man that the sirens he could hear were coming for him. As the man looked like he was about to leave he lunged at him and slit his chin, leaving him requiring dozens of stitches. The star said: "Now I'm saying 'I gotta end this'. So I divert him by saying 'look what you done to my shirt, I waited six months for these shirts'. The guy's looking at me like I'm some kind of nut, but I had to get my hand on my guns. I got my hand on one and I put one to his head and said 'I'm gonna ask you one more time, leave or you're going out in a black bag'. "He said 'F U, man', so I put two right between his eyes. The guy doesn't go down, it was like a mosquito bite him. He's so loaded with coke it didn't register, so I put the other three shots in his heart and he went down." He said it was only afterwards he found out that the man was an underboss to Pablo Escobar and a price tag was now on his head. On hearing about a threat on his and his family's lives from the Colombian drug lord, Russo said he made the decision to go to Colombia to try and speak to Escobar. He said that on meeting Escobar he was knocked out and awoke in a room full of body bags. Mr Russo said: "And they were having their way with me, man," he said, "I was like a punching bag to them, and then he (Escobar) shows up. He had this book in his hand, The Making of The Godfather, and he says to me 'Why didn't you tell me you were Carlo? That's my favourite movie." He that he was then cleaned up and ended up having dinner with Escobar. For his part in the shooting the Russo was not charged with the killing because it was ruled a justifiable homicide by the Nevada District Attorney's Office. Since his brush with the cartel Russo's life seems to be less dangerous having recorded a CD and published his memoir, Hollywood Godfather: My Life in the Movies and the Mob. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.