Julius R. Nasso | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1952-10-19)October 19, 1952 (age 73) Aspromonte,Calabria, Italy |
| Occupation(s) | Film producer,pharmacologist, and businessman |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Notable work | Narc |
| Website | Official website |
Julius R. "Jules" Nasso (born October 19, 1952) is an Italian-American film producer,pharmacologist, and businessman.[1] He is a 20-yearDirectors Guild of America member.[2][3] His production ofNarc (2002), starring Jason Patric, Ray Liotta, and Busta Rhymes, which was nominated for theSundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Award[4] and won the Special Prize Policier Award at theCognac Film Festival in France.[5]
Nasso was born in the village of Terranova inCalabria.[6] At the age of two, his family moved to theBrooklyn borough of New York, where he was raised.[1][7] In 1976, Nasso graduated fromSt. John's University[1] with a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacy. He then earned an advanced Doctor of Pharmacy degree from theUniversity of Connecticut.[2]
Nasso established Universal Marine Medical Supply Company (UMMSC) in 1974 while attending college. UMMSC provides medical supplies, equipment, and services globally.[1][6][2]
In 1977, Nasso co-created the private label vitamin and health supplement manufacturing company Tishcon Corporation with his college pharmacy professor Dr. Satish Patel. In 1985, the company was sold to Cosmo Laboratories.[1]
In 1978, Nasso capitalized on the Cabbage Patch craze along with Xavier Roberts.[2] He opened the Cabbage Patch Babyland General Hospital Store in 1978.[1]
Nasso's film career started in 1980 when he joinedSergio Leone as his personal assistant. He worked for Leone during the 1980 filming ofOnce Upon a Time in America in New York.[1][8][9] In 1987, Nasso began a business partnership withSteven Seagal while Seagal was working on his first film,Above the Law, forWarner Bros. Pictures.[10] He was responsible for the international marketing of the film.[3][11]
Nasso and Seagal "became best friends", according to Seagal, and in 1990, they formedSeagal/Nasso Productions together, which handled distribution and foreign rights sales of Seagal's films.[11][12] The men were at one point next-door neighbors onStaten Island in New York.[13] Nasso served as associate producer ofMarked for Death (1990) and executive producer ofOut for Justice (1991). In 1992, Seagal/Nasso Productions signed a deal with Warner Bros. for four films —On Deadly Ground (1994),Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995),The Glimmer Man (1996) andFire Down Below (1997), all of which Nasso produced or co-produced.[11]
In 1997, Nasso and Seagal signed a deal to produce four more films.[11] Warner Bros. later terminated its exclusive relationship with Seagal, however, and Nasso and Seagal decided to instead develop and produce television and film productions. Seagal/Nasso Productions subsequently pre-sold foreign rights to four films in which Seagal was scheduled to star —Blood on the Moon,Genghis Khan,Smash and Grab andPrince of Central Park.[10]
The business partnership between Nasso and his longtime collaborator Seagal ended after their relationship became strained. According to Nasso, Seagal withdrew from the four-film deal on the advice of aBuddhist spiritual adviser.[10] Seagal claimed, however, that Nasso became "depressed and erratic and abusive" after going through a divorce in the mid-1990s, making their relationship difficult.[12] A spokesman for Seagal said that "Seagal lost millions of dollars working with Julius Nasso, it was no longer financially prudent to continue in the business, and Steven stopped working with Julius Nasso".[10] In October 2000, Seagal closed the offices of Seagal/Nasso Productions in California.[11]
Believing that Seagal owed him $3 million in compensation for backing out of the four-film deal, Nasso enlisted members of theGambino crime family to threaten Seagal in an attempt to recoup money Nasso allegedly lost. Gambino family captainAnthony "Sonny" Ciccone first visited Seagal inToronto during the filming ofExit Wounds in October 2000.[12] In January 2001,Primo Cassarino and other mobsters picked up Seagal by car to bring him to a meeting with Ciccone at aBrooklyn restaurant. At the meeting, Ciccone bluntly told Seagal that he had a choice of making four promised movies with Nasso or paying Nasso a penalty of $150,000 per movie. If Seagal refused, Ciccone would kill him.[14] Seagal, who later claimed that he brought a handgun to the meeting, was able to stall Ciccone and escape the meeting unharmed.[15] Ciccone and Cassarino again visited Seagal at his home inLos Angeles the following month.[16] In the spring of 2001, Seagal sought out another mobster,Genovese crime family captainAngelo "The Horn" Prisco, to act as a "peacemaker" in the dispute. He visited Prisco in prison atRahway, New Jersey, and paid Prisco's lawyer $10,000 as "a favor for a favor".[12][17]
In March 2002, Nasso filed a lawsuit inRichmond County Supreme Court, suing Seagal for $60 million. According to the suit, Nasso and his company had suffered substantial financial losses as a result of Seagal breaching a contract to star in four agreed upon motion pictures.[11] Seagal denied that he had ever entered into a contract with Nasso.[13] On June 4, 2002, Nasso and his brother, Vincent Nasso, were among seventeen members and associates of the Gambino crime family named in a 68-count federal indictment.[18] Nasso was arrested by theFBI at his Staten Island home and charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit extortion.[13][18] The charges against the Nasso brothers stemmed from a wider investigation into Gambino family bossPeter Gotti and other senior mobsters.[19] An attorney for Seagal, Martin Pollner, denied claims by Nasso's legal team that Seagal had initiated the FBI investigation.[20]
On March 17, 2003, Ciccone, Cassarino and others were convicted of extortion and various other counts under theRICO Act.[21] Seagal testified for the prosecution about the mobsters' extortion attempt.[22] During the trial, Nasso was described by federal prosecutors as a Gambino associate.[17] Nasso pleaded guilty on August 13, 2003 to the charge of extortion conspiracy. In court, he insisted that his civil suit against Seagal would proceed. When later asked if he regretted any of his actions, Nasso replied: "Not at all".[19] On February 17, 2004, he was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, fined $75,000 and ordered to take mental health counselling on release from jail.[23][24][25] During the sentencing hearing, the judge questioned the government's decision to label Nasso aMafia associate, instead describing his conduct as "aberrant" behavior from an otherwise law-abiding man.[13] After serving ten months of his sentence, Nasso was released from theFederal Correctional Institution, Elkton, Ohio, on June 28, 2005.[26]
After a six-year legal battle, Nasso reached an out-of-court settlement with Seagal on January 6, 2008, with Seagal reportedly paying $500,000 in exchange for Nasso agreeing to drop the $60 million lawsuit for alleged breach of contract.[27] Nasso commented: "I’m glad it’s behind us. I wish him the best".[13]
He founded Julius R. Nasso Productions[date missing] and made movies includingPrince of Central Park (2000) andOne-Eyed King (2001).[2][9][28]
Nasso co-founded Manhattan Pictures Intl., a Gotham-based motion picture distribution and production company, in his home city of New York, where he produced and released the filmsEnigma (2001) andIn Praise of Love (2001).[6][2][29]
Since 2006, Nasso has been Harry Belafonte's producer and contributed to a variety of works, includingSing Your Song (2011).[6] He has been involved with Harry Bellefonte's final documentary,Following Harry along with Frankie Nasso, Susanne Rostock as producers. While in Manhattan, Nasso co-founded and served as CO-CEO of Belafonte Arts and Media.[30][31][32]
Nasso's most recent protégé,Tony Schiena, who he met in London in 1998, costarred in Nasso's directorial debutDarc (2018).[6]
For his contributions to culture in our borough, which include the creation of The Staten Island Film Festival, Nasso received Harbor Lights "Culture Award." He was also rewarded the term Board President for over five years of service to Harbor Lights. He also received 2012 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary.[2]
Nasso has a daughter with his current wife and two sons from a previous marriage.[6] He lives in theStaten Island borough of New York.[6]
On March 14, 2017, Nasso made headlines when two ponies belonging to him escaped from their barn during a snowstorm on Staten Island. The ponies, Blondie and Jewels, were quickly captured and returned to Nasso with the help of an off-duty police officer.[33] Nasso has also been the former four-year chairman of The Harbour Lights Theater Group.[34]
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