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In recent weeks, Martin Scorsese's eloquent arguments against superhero movies have circulated, the details of the special effects used to digitally rejuvenate Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, the conflict between Netflix and movie theaters ... but very little of the true story that throbs behind The Irish . And to talk about it, few voices more authorized than that of Charles Brandt , author of the book just published by the Critics publishing house and on which the film that today reaches the streaming platform is based.

In its pages, the author reviews the life and work of Frank Sheeran, a mafia hitman who, among other things, confesses to being the man who killed Jimmy Hoffa.

Charles Brandt, who served as prosecutor and defense attorney in more than 50 murder cases in the state of Delaware and is an expert in interrogation techniques , summarizes by telephone his first meeting with Sheeran, after obtaining his probation at the end of the years 90: "When he got out of jail he invited me to lunch and told me 'I'm tired of reading everything they say about me in the books about Hoffa'. I immediately thought I was in front of a man who wanted to take a weight off, something that oppressed his chest. " Obtaining his confession took just five hours, but Sheeran did not want any of that to come to light, scared of the repercussions it could have. "Eight years later he contacted me again and for five years I had long conversations with him ," the basis of what would later be I heard you paint houses , the book's original title.

Brandt himself also confesses: he was worried about the possible reprisals of the mafia for the content of the book. "In the first edition - published in 2004 - I didn't talk about my role in all this, nor about my work as an interrogator, only about Frank's desire to confess, because I was afraid of being killed. It wasn't until they died or went to jail some of the characters that are mentioned in the book when I dared to add a chapter that filled the gaps. "

In fact, the author received a direct threat from Billy D'Elia, head of the Bufalino family after the death of Russell 'McGee' Bufalino, who plays the great Joe Pesci with ruthless subtlety. "The weekend before the book's launch date someone approached me in a cafeteria and said: 'Billy is not happy with Charlie.' My wife was terrified . I told her: 'Don't worry, Billy don't comes out in the book, you don't have to worry. " D'Elia ended up being arrested for conspiracy to kill two government witnesses and became an FBI informant in exchange for reducing his sentence, "so he stopped being a threat to me. The first question asked by federal agents It was: "What happened to Hoffa?" And he replied: "Read the Irish . "

Despite Brandt's trust in Sheeran's sincerity in confessing about 30 murders, including that of Hoffa, in recent months there has been some controversy over the veracity of his version of events . In fact, an article published by Slate says that it is an invention of Sheeran. Brandt dispatches the matter just as De Niro executes his victims in the film: quickly and without compassion. "It's ridiculous. It is based on what Dan Moldea says, who wrote The Hoffa Wars in 1978, a book in which he himself involved Sheeran in Hoffa's disappearance. Now, given the impact Scorsese's movie was going to have , has been trying to convince the world that Sheeran was not involved for a year. "

As for the film, in which he participated in the writing phase of the script, Brandt highlights, in addition to Scorsese's expertise, De Niro's ability to blend in with Sheeran: " The portrait is accurate to the point of being scary . Both my wife and I felt a certain restlessness when we saw the opening sequence of the movie. Seeing him like that, in the wheelchair, talking like him ... he wears even the same clothes Frank was wearing in the asylum! "

MY FRIEND THE COLD BLOOD KILLER

By reading the book or watching the movie, one cannot help feeling a certain empathy for Frank Sheeran, even if he is a ruthless hitman at the orders of the mafia. In the case of Brandt, who in addition to practicing as his lawyer became his confessor, that feeling was much more intense. " In a strange way we began to love each other, we worried about each other . My wife, who also had some friendship with Frank, told me more than once: she had to pinch herself to realize that she was in front of a murderer cold blood, he was very intelligent, he was witty, he had a great sense of humor ... those personality traits absorbed you, to the point that you completely forgot about the crimes he had committed. for thinking that, if in some of the clubs where he moved it had occurred to him to say "I think I'm telling Charlie Brandt too much," they would have killed us both in a matter of hours. There was always an element of danger in our relationship".

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