Zuma Beach Entertainment, Inc. (Pink Sheets: ZMBC) ("Zuma") announced today that "MOMO," The Sam Giancana Story, is the first project of a slate of film and television projects in which ownership interest has been acquired from Westlake Productions, LLC ("Westlake").
Mark Wolper, President of The Wolper Organization, prolific producers of television mini-series and movies, is developing and producing the six-hour mini-series for Warner Bros. Entertainment, a Time Warner Company (NYSE: TWX).
The high profile television mini-series details the life of infamous Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana whose rein spanned the 1950's and 1960's. Giancana was best known for his ties to John F. Kennedy and is reputed to have played a key role in helping Kennedy take the White House in 1960.
After Giancana's wife died as a result of a rheumatic heart, he was left to raise three daughters while carrying out his role as a mob leader. Giancana, a larger-than-life character whose flamboyant lifestyle included friendships with celebrities like Frank Sinatra of the "Rat Pack," paved the way for high profile mobsters until his assassination in 1975.
Wolper optioned rights to the life story of Giancana from Nicholas Celozzi who had acquired them from
Giancana's daughter Francine, who is Celozzi's cousin. Wolper is producing the project for Warner Bros. while Dimitri Logothetis and Nick Celozzi are co-writing and co-executive producing the television mini-series. Production of the project is scheduled for summer/fall 2008.
Said Wolper, in an earlier press release; "This is a fascinating chapter in American history with an incredibly compelling family story and real-life character in Sam Giancana as the patriarch. We envision the mini-series as a true-life "Sopranos" meets "The Gangster Chronicles," shedding light on never-before-exposed parts of the story."
Wolper is the recipient of multiple Emmy Award-nominations including those for the mini-series "The Mists of Avalon," the television movie "Murder in Mississippi," the CBS mini-series "Queen," and the Showtime series "Penn & Teller's Bullshit".
Logothetis has served as an executive producer and showrunner for two shows on Warner Bros. Television -- "Code Name Eternity" and "Dark Real".
Celozzi is a prominent Actor, Director, Producer and Writer. He was the Executive Producer and starred in "Dumb Luck in Vegas" (1997) and directed "Deep Cover, a.k.a. Checkmate" (1996) and "Dark and Deadly" (1995). Along with Freddy Braidy, he recently co-produced the film "Bottoms Up" starring Paris Hilton and released from Sony Pictures Entertainment, a U.S. business of Sony Corporation of America.
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