Goodfellas Actor: Simpsons Owes Me $250M

Frank Sivero sues Fox over Springfield Mafia character
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 22, 2014 4:54 AM CDT
Goodfellas Actor : Simpsons Owes Me $250M
Sivero also appeared in "The Godfather: Part II."   (RareDestruction)

The actor best known for playing mobster Frankie Carbone in Goodfellas says The Simpsons modeled a minor character on him—but Fox can settle accounts for a mere $250 million. A lawsuit from Frank Sivero alleges that Simpsons writers were living next door to him in 1989, when he was working on the Carbone character, and they ripped off his "appearance and mannerisms" for the character Louie, who first appeared as one of Fat Tony's henchmen in the Springfield Mafia in a 1991 episode, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Sivero—who claims producer James L. Brooks promised him a future connected to The Simpsons and even a movie—wants $100 million for "improper interference," $50 million for the loss of his likeness, $50 million for "improper appropriation" of his "confidential idea," and another $50 million in exemplary damages, reports Deadline—which notes that the Louie character does look a lot like Sivero's character. But as Sivero admits in his lawsuit, voice actor Dan Castellaneta, who's also the voice of Homer Simpson and many other characters, has said he modeled the cartoon mobster's voice on fellow Goodfellas actor Joe Pesci. (More Goodfellas stories.)

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