''Wannabes'' (2000 film) is a

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

film starring

William DeMeo William DeMeo is an American actor. He is known for his acting roles in ''Analyze That'', '' First Kill'' and ''The Sopranos''. He also played the role of Sammy Gravano in the 2018 film '' Gotti''. Career His first acting role was in the 1993 f ...

, Conor Dubin, Joe Viterelli and Joseph Donofrio.

Plot

At the beginning of the film, Vinny Minieri (Joseph Donofrio) and his two men are beating a man. It finishes with Vinny burning the man's face with a

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

. Two brothers, Angelo Argono (

) and Paulie Argono (Conor Dubin) are leading a poor and boring life on the streets of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, along with their childhood friends Pete (Daniel Margotta) and Dominic "Dom" (John Palumbo). Brooklyn is owned by

mob boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...

Santo Minieri ( Joe Viterelli), an old but ruthless crime boss. The Argono brothers are working in a local

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

belonging to Mr. Letto (Robert Constanzo) as waiters. Although they can't stand their boss, they are forced to work there. All changes when Angelo decides to quit his job. He, Paulie, Pete and Dom borrow cash from a

loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

called Hector and start a bookie business, although their Uncle Tommy (Raymond Serra) doesn't like the idea. The business goes well and more and more money goes into Angelo's crew's pockets from losing customers. Because of the success, they are able to sit in a luxury

strip club A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, and can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style ...

(owned by Minieri) and drink expensive drinks. Problems appear when Angelo fights Minieri's men and they are thrown out by Vinny and his guys. The crew then starts collecting more and more money, and hotheaded Angelo comes to the idea of

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and ...

. They set up a

protection racket A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...

in a

candy store A confectionery store (more commonly referred to as a sweet shop in the United Kingdom, a candy shop or candy store in North America, or a lolly shop in Australia and New Zealand) sells confectionery and the intended market is usually children. M ...

, but when they come to collect the cash, they are confronted by Vinny who takes them to his father's home. Santo tells Angelo to give him one good reason not to tell his

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, ...

Eddie (John Hoyt) to take him out and beat him to death. Angelo explains that they're just trying to earn money and it would be good if they could work with Santo. Santo takes the offer. After saving Vinny's life and doing some errands and jobs for Santo, Angelo is now right-hand-man of the crime boss. Vinny doesn't like this and prepares to kill Angelo's gang and his father to be the neighborhood boss. Santo soon has a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

and dies, and Vinny understands that it's now a perfect chance to kill the wannabes and become the crime boss. He ambushes Angelo, Pete and Dom (Paulie wasn't there, he was on a date) with his men and kills them in a

drive-by shooting A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator(s) firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before ...

. When Paulie returns, he sees what happened and has a flashback of his childhood, while crying. Suddenly he stops crying and goes to Vinny's house. There he finally kills Vinny and his two bodyguards, saying "And you're the fucking wannabes". The film then ends.

Characters

* "Angelo Argono" -

* "Paulie Argono" - Conor Dubin * "Santo Minieri" - Joe Viterelli * "Vinny Minieri" - Joseph D'Onofrio * "Pete" - Daniel Margotta * "Dom" - John Palumbo * "Uncle Tommy" -

Raymond Serra Raymond Serra (born Aurelio Lacagnina; August 13, 1936 – June 20, 2003) was an American character actor known for his many supporting roles in film and television over a 30-year career. He and his wife, Gayle, had four children. Select film ...

* "Eddie" - John Glenn Hoyt * "Carmine" -

Vinny Vella Vincent Frank Vella (January 11, 1947 – February 20, 2019) was an American actor, talk show host and comedian. He acted in more than forty films often in the role of a gangster. He was best known for the role of Artie Piscano in Martin Scorses ...

* "Pino" - Joseph Carl Dibitetto * "Mr.Letto" - Robert Constanzo

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0309059, Wannabes 2000 films 2000 crime drama films Films about the American Mafia American crime drama films 2000s American films