MOB LEGEND DIES
Godfather actor Carmine Caridi dead at 85 four decades after appearing as Pete Clemenza’s henchman
GODFATHER actor Carmine Caridi has died after falling into a coma.
Caridi, 85, played Carmine Rosato in the iconic films, had been hospitalised at the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles where he fell into a coma and later died.
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It is not yet known what caused Caridi's health problem or what triggered the coma but it is understood he never regained consciousness while he was in the hospital.
Born in New York in 1934, Caridi was a veteran of a number of hit TV shows over the years, including Starsky and Hutch, Taxi, Fame and he also played Detective Vince Gotelli in NYPD Blue.
The character of Carmine Rosato appeared in the second part of The Godfather, which was released in 1974, while Caridi also played Albert Volpe in the third instalment.
He also appeared in the cult movie Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, playing the manager Calvin Richards.
Caridi became the first person to be expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, after copyright infringement.
The Academny said on January 13, 2004 it had identified a copy of the film Something's Gotta Give, which had circulated illegally on the internet, as carrying a watermark which had come from a video sent to Caridi as his role as an Oscar voter.
Unauthorised copies of The Last Samurai, Mystic River, Big Fish and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World were also traced to Caridi, triggering and FBI investigation.
Investigators claimed that Caridi had been sending Russell Sprague his screener copies for at least three years.
Caridi denied receiving money from Sprague and told the FBI he thought Sprague was a film buff.
Both Sony and Time Warner sued Caridi and Sprague for damages with hundreds of violations cited.
Sprague died of a suspected heart attack while awaiting trial.
Caridi was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Speaking to the in 2017 he said of the incident: "Let me tell you something. Everybody does it OK?"
He added: "I was doing a guy a favour and he screwed me.
"Who the hell knew he was gonna put 'em on the internet? I had no idea. I was duped."
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Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II was released in December 1974 and starred Al Pacino and Robert de Niro, going on to gross $47.5million in North America at the box office.
It was nominated for 11 Oscars, winning six including Best Picture, Best Director and De Niro walked off with the award for Best Supporting Actor.
The film was added to the US National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1993 as it was deemed to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
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