by: Peter J. Gallagher (@pjsgallagher)
As a proud Staten Island native, I am duty-bound to report this exciting news — the house where many iconic scenes from the Godfather were filmed, which is on Staten Island, is up for sale. (Check out this link for more details.) Incidentally, anyone who was born or raised on Staten Island probably knows where this house is, along with Sammy "Bull" Gravano's old house, Paul Castellano's old house, and the house on Todt (pronounced "Toad") Hill that is surrounded by a large wall that was, when I was a kid, rumored to be owned by Mookie Wilson.
Yahoo! Homes reports that the house was almost not used in the iconic movie. Location scouts were originally looking to shoot the movie on Long Island but were not able to find any houses they liked. It was then that Gianni Russo, who played Connie's husband Carlo, suggested the house on Staten Island (he grew up nearby). Now, the house can be yours for a mere $2.8 million!
As an interesting side note, I met Gianni Russo at my local liquor store a few years ago. He makes his own wine and sparkling wine. He was doing a tasting and the wine was not bad at all. I bought a bottle and he said "you want me to sign it for you"? I had not given it much thought up to that point, but I had the vague sense that I should nonetheless say yes. The bottle now sits in my dining room. My wife says we can't open it because it is signed by a celebrity.
Pete's Take 