The Fascinating Background of John Santucci


airtommy

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We all remember the actor John Santucci playing the character Dale Menton in "Golden Triangle", as well as his roles in "Lombard" and "Jack of All Trades".  I just discovered that he has an interesting background:

Santucci was a jewel thief before he was hired by Michael Mann to appear in and be a technical advisor in the 1981 movie Thief (with Chuck Adamson, Dennis Farina, Willie Nelson and Tom Signorelli); Thief is notable for the extraordinary coincidences surrounding its cast, largely stemming from Mann's love of employing the right people for technical authenticity - Farina was a Chicago police officer before he became an actor and actually arrested Santucci while the latter was a jewel thief. Furthermore, the main heist in Thief, involving the use of a thermal lance to cut through a vault door, was based on a real-life robbery orchestrated by Santucci. Many of the other tools used in robberies throughout the film were also Santucci's own.

http://miamivice.wikia.com/wiki/John_Santucci

So the actor playing Al Lombard had in real life arrested the actor playing Lombard's henchman Charlie!

Sadly, Santucci returned to his life of crime and was arrested again:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-05-18/news/9605180009_1_vending-machines-burglary-tools-chicago-police-department

Some more background on the movie "Thief":

http://rheaven.blogspot.com/2010/07/thief.html

santucci.jpg

Edited by airtommy
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I remember this being mentioned before in here (MVNYC's This week in Miami Vice) and I had looked it up, as Farina was a cop in my neck of the woods here in Chicago. Santucci apparently went back to his crime roots after his short lived tv/film career.  This was one bad guy that not only had the look and mannerisms, but he didn't have to fake anything when acting,

 

 

 

 

Edited by Sonny-Burnett
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20 hours ago, airtommy said:

We all remember the actor John Santucci playing the character Dale Menton in "Golden Triangle", as well as his roles in "Lombard" and "Jack of All Trades".  I just discovered that he has an interesting background:

Santucci was a jewel thief before he was hired by Michael Mann to appear in and be a technical advisor in the 1981 movie Thief (with Chuck Adamson, Dennis Farina, Willie Nelson and Tom Signorelli); Thief is notable for the extraordinary coincidences surrounding its cast, largely stemming from Mann's love of employing the right people for technical authenticity - Farina was a Chicago police officer before he became an actor and actually arrested Santucci while the latter was a jewel thief. Furthermore, the main heist in Thief, involving the use of a thermal lance to cut through a vault door, was based on a real-life robbery orchestrated by Santucci. Many of the other tools used in robberies throughout the film were also Santucci's own.

http://miamivice.wikia.com/wiki/John_Santucci

So the actor playing Al Lombard had in real life arrested the actor playing Lombard's henchman Charlie!

Sadly, Santucci returned to his life of crime and was arrested again:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-05-18/news/9605180009_1_vending-machines-burglary-tools-chicago-police-department

Some more background on the movie "Thief":

http://rheaven.blogspot.com/2010/07/thief.html

santucci.jpg

What a fantastic piece - so interesting Thankyou 

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they did a hell of a job on his hair in Crime Story . Sad that Farina is gone too, i think he actually knew him when he was a cop in chicago and Santucci was a criminal. Denison of course still going strong.

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Edited by AzVice
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Santucci was absolutely great. Great as Pauli Taglia in Crime Story and great as a crooked cop in Thief. He was also a technical advisor to Michael Mann on those shows. His criminal background added to the authenticity. Infact James Caan's character in Thief was largely based on Santucci.

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  • 4 years later...

I'm so glad people appreciate his work. My favorite role he played was the corrupt Sgt. Urizzi in the aforementioned Thief. One of the greatest scenes is when he pulls over Frank (James Caan) and confronts him about their "relationship". I absolutely love the dialogue:

URIZZI: You know, a very important thing for you to remember is gonna be my name. Sergeant Urizzi.

FRANK: Urizzi? Why's that?

URIZZI: Because I'm gonna do good things for you.

FRANK: What for? Good conduct medal?

URIZZI: Ah, I'm here to make life easy for you. Smooth out the bumps and the humps. You know, your relationship with us.

FRANK: I didn't know I had one.

URIZZI: Look, we're your new partners. We're in for ten points.

FRANK: Ten points of what?

URIZZI: You know. The guy. Leo. The action. (after a beat) I don't get this. What's with you? Listen, our end goes with the territory. Don't you know you gotta come up?

FRANK: I am a car salesman. You guys want a deal on a Buick?

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image.thumb.png.ea2b9a074664fb00c3b4265341f6b3a5.png

 

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  • 1 year later...

I just bought Thief on blu ray. Never seen it but glanced at a few scenes out of curiosity. Definitely has a “Miami Vice” look. Only watched a few minutes but I’m looking forward to this one. The dialogue was outstanding. 

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