newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALICIA CRUZ

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Members of the Gotti family have tapped Englewood, N.J. native John Travolta to play the role of the Gotti Patriarch, John Joseph "Teflon Don" Gotti Sr., in a biopic Gotti’s son is planning to film about his late father.

The mega star arrived in Howard Beach Thursday for a sit down with the late Don's widow, Victoria DiGiorgio Gotti. The Academy Award nominee kissed Mrs. Gotti's ring and asked for her blessings on the film, titled, "Gotti: In the Shadow of my Father." Oscar winner Barry Levinson is directing the flick and shooting is set for January 3 in New York City, the New York Post reported.

The film will center on the father-son relationship between Gotti Sr. and John Gotti Jr., who later ran the mafia family until a series of racketeering trials in the 1990s. The flick is being produced by Marc Fiore through Fiore Films, with director Nick Cassavetes, who teamed up with Travolta for "Face/Off" in 1997 and writer Leo Rossi, according to CBS News.

So far, the list of characters include Kelly Preston, Travolta’s wife, who is set to play the family matriarch, Victoria Gotti. Actor Ben Foster will play Junior Gotti and Al Pacino of box-office smash hit "Scarface" who will play Gambino family underboss Aniello “Neil” Dellacroce. Producers are eyeing Lindsay Lohan as Kim Gotti, the wife of Junior Gotti and Chazz Palminteri as late mob boss Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano.

After making bail following his 1985 arrest on racketeering charges, the former capo of the late Albert Anastasia, Castellano and his bodyguard were shot to death outside Sparks Steak House in Manhattan allegedly on the orders of John Gotti Sr. With Castellano gone, Gotti Sr. assumed the role as head of the Gambino crime family.

Fiore released a statement saying Foster was an ace for the role from the very start and the crew is excited about working with him. "Ben has proven himself to be one of this generation’s finest actors and there is no question in my mind that he is the perfect actor to bring John Gotti, Jr. to the big screen,” Fiore told InsideMovies.com.

A New York Post source said after a two-hour sit down at the Queens home of Victoria Gotti, Junior Gotti and Travolta stepped into a black Grand Cherokee Laredo and headed to Long Island for dinner with Junior’s sister, writer and former reality-TV star of "Growing up Gotti," Victoria Gotti. The Travolta’s daughter, Ella Bleu even has a role in the biopic as Angel Gotti, Contactmusic.com reported.

The elder Gotti was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998. The cancerous tumor was removed, but resurfaced two years later and Gotti was readmitted to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri for surgery. His condition deteriorated and on June 10, 2002, the dapper don succumbed to his illness at the age of 61. He was laid to rest near his son, Frank, at St. John Cemetery, in Queens, New York.