Who is Robert De Niro Playing in The Alto Knights? His Dual Role, Explained

If there is one genre that seems to lack quality in recent years, it is the gangster genre. From time to time, an unexpected gem will come along and give fans another gripping drama based in an organized crime setting. However, for the most part, the genre has been much less active since the days of The Sopranos’ success on television and Martin Scorsese’s The Departed won multiple Academy Awards. While the genre has evolved over the course of cinema history, it was a staple of the movie theater experience for decades, until more recently. A big part of the genre’s success was due to some of cinema’s greatest auteurs telling stories about the mob. Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma invigorated the genre in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. In the 21st century, it feels like only those powerhouse filmmakers can deliver the next classic gangster movie.

Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is a good example of this and reunited the director with Robert De Niro for another historical epic about the mafia. Robert De Niro is no stranger to the gangster genre and has collaborated with multiple genre filmmakers in his career to bring audiences some of the best crime epics in cinema history. After the success of The Irishman, fans weren’t sure De Niro would be making another gangster epic any time soon. However, Warner Brothers has teamed up the legendary star with other big names to bring another important historical story to life on screen. The Alto Knights could be the next big gangster movie audiences weren’t expecting, and it includes Robert De Niro’s most intriguing new challenge as an actor: playing dual roles.

What Is The Alto Knights About?

It Is Based on a True Story

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Fans should remember the name Nicholas Pileggi when thinking about some of the most iconic gangster movies in history. As a novelist and historian, Pileggi documents some of the Italian Mafia’s most compelling true stories and structures them into entertaining works of literature. These works have been adapted into some of the best mafia movies of the ’90s. Martin Scorsese’s two most famous mob flicks, Goodfellas and Casino, are based on true stories and adapted from Nicholas Pileggi books. Pileggi has returned to the gangster genre as the screenwriter of the upcoming gangster epic The Alto Knights. As one of the world’s leading authorities on the history of the American Mafia, Pileggi is a good choice to scribe these kinds of stories, and with The Alto Knights he is tackling the story of two infamous Mafia bosses from New York. The Mafia’s power and influence has always been most prominent within New York’s five families and The Alto Knights explores another crucial moment in the history of New York’s Genovese Crime Family. What people don’t realize is that the Genovese Crime Family is probably the most powerful family in the American Mafia’s history, but it’s usually the Gambino Family that is mainly portrayed.

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The Genovese Family was formerly known as the Luciano Crime Family and was run by a gangster who effectively gave birth to the modern-day Mafia as it is known today. Charles “Lucky” Luciano restructured organized crime into “La Cosa Nostra” after prohibition and created “The Commission” (a ruling panel of bosses all across the country). The Alto Knights follows the story of two gangsters who were as close to Lucky Luciano as anyone. The movie tells the story of a friendship-turned-rivalry between Frank “The Prime Minister” Costello and Vito Genovese. These two powerhouse New York mobsters effectively ran the Luciano Family as its boss at different times in the Mob’s history. However, they both wanted power during a time when both men were respected and feared equally. This would lead to them becoming rivals who vied for control of the family in the ’50s and ’60s. Vito Genovese was Lucky Luciano’s original “underboss” and Frank Costello was Luciano’s first “consigliere.” After Luciano was convicted of multiple crimes and deported back to Italy, Costello ran the family for twenty years while both Luciano and Genovese were overseas. When Genovese came back to New York in 1957, an internal feud would begin between Costello and Genovese over control of the family.

Who Is Robert de Niro Playing in the Film?

De Niro Is Playing Two Roles for the First Time In His Career

With epic organized crime events being portrayed, like the Kefauver Hearings, the Apalachin Meetings and the Genovese Feud, it would make sense for Warner Brothers to pit Robert De Niro against another powerhouse talent for the ultimate mafia movie dynamic. However, instead of two big names playing Costello and Genovese, Robert De Niro will be playing dual roles for the first time in his career. De Niro will boldly challenge himself by playing both Vito Genovese and Frank Costello as the two gangsters feud with one another during one of the biggest New York mafia events in history. With both Genovese and Costello having a long history of mob status and peacefully running the Luciano family together in various ways throughout the years, it makes sense to allow De Niro a chance to play off himself and give both roles attention in different ways. Once the two friends become rivals, that is when De Niro can play to his acting strengths best and attempt to bounce off himself when the drama of The Alto Knights really kicks in. Robert De Niro is one of the greatest actors of all time but will now be doing something he has never done before on screen. A little hair and make-up to distinguish the characters is just the first step toward getting the best character dynamic out of a single actor.

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It helps that De Niro is surrounded by other talented performers, such as Cosmo Jarvis (who is most famously known for his role in Shogun), Debra Messing, Kathrine Narducci, Michael Rispoli and Matt Servitto. Jarvis will play Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, who would go on to become another infamous Genovese Crime Family boss, while Messing, Narducci and Servitto will have key roles such as Bobbie Costello, Anna Genovese and George Wolf. The Alto Knights will be one of the more big-budgeted theatrically released gangster epics in years and boasts strong writing from Nicholas Pileggi as well as a score from David Fleming and cinematography by Dante Spinotti. It has a lot of potential for a De Niro-led gangster drama about a moment in time that audiences aren’t as familiar with. The Alto Knights is one of those once-in-a-while gangster movies that unexpectedly solidifies itself as one of the contemporary classics of the genre. It was originally going to be titled “Wise Guys” but was changed due to it being the same title as Nicholas Pileggi’s book, which was adapted into the movie Goodfellas. The Alto Knights is named after a prominent social club in Manhattan that was used as Vito Genovese’s hangout. Perhaps the greatest attribute of The Alto Knights besides De Niro, is the film’s director.

Who Is the Director of the Film?

He Has Worked With Robert De Niro Four Other Times

Aside from the movie starring Robert De Niro, The Alto Knights has a chance to be a great gangster movie because of the film’s director. Helmed by Barry Levinson, The Alto Knights has one of Hollywood’s top-tier directorial visions leading the way and bringing an epic gangster story to life on screen. Levinson has directed classic films such as Good Morning Vietnam, Rain Man and Avalon and has worked with Robert De Niro four other times on the films Sleepers, Wag the Dog, What Just Happened and The Wizard of Lies. Levinson began to establish himself as a genre filmmaker when he made one other gangster movie in his career with the 1991 underrated gem Bugsy. The Alto Knights has been in the works with Barry Levinson attached to direct for over a decade, and there is a chance it will be one of his better films in years.

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It remains to be seen whether The Alto Knights will follow the true story of Genovese and Costello faithfully. Early footage suggests some changes to what actually happened, including the two gangsters running their own families and an all-out war breaking out (both of which are not true). However, with Nicholas Pileggi behind the story, it is safe to assume the context in which everything takes place will be about valuing the true story of these New York mob legends. Audiences will be surprised at the twists and turns of this Mafia rivalry and who ultimately comes out on top. However, the really exciting part of the film for gangster movie fans will be seeing Robert De Niro attempt to play two powerful mob bosses at the same time. The Alto Knights might not be the most anticipated movie of the year, but it could end up being the most surprising.

The Alto Knights

R

Crime

Drama

Release Date April 21, 2025

Runtime 120 Minutes

Director Barry Levinson

Writers Nicholas Pileggi

Producers Irwin Winkler, Jason Sosnoff, Charles Winkler, David Winkler, Mike Drake, Barry Levinson

Cast

Robert De Niro

Vito Genovese / Frank Costello

Debra Messing

Bobbie Costello

Kathrine Narducci

Anna Genovese

Cosmo Jarvis

Vincent Gigante

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