Frank Testaverde Scioscia (October 27, 1935 – December 26, 2018) was an American actor. He was perhaps best known for playing the

mobster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level ...

Anthony Stabile in the 1990 film '' Goodfellas''.

Life and career

Adonis was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. His first film role was in 1971 in '' The French Connection'', where he played the uncredited role of a

bidder Bidding is an offer (often competitive) to set a price tag by an individual or business for a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service ''or'' a demand that something be done. Bidding is used to determine the cost or Value (ec ...

at a car auction in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. During the 1970s Adonis appeared in films such as '' Shaft's Big Score!'', '' Cops and Robbers'', ''

Lucky Luciano Charles "Lucky" Luciano ( ; ; born Salvatore Lucania ; November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962) was an Italian gangster who operated mainly in the United States. He started his criminal career in the Five Points Gang and was instrumental in the ...

'', '' Crazy Joe'', '' The Gambler'' and '' The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight''. In 1978, he co-starred in the film '' Eyes of Laura Mars'', in which he played the role of Detective Sal Volpe. In 1980 Adonis co-starred in the film ''

Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Theresa Saldana, Frank Vincent and Nicholas Colasanto (in his final film role). The film ...

'', where he played the role of Patsy. He appeared in further films including '' Goodfellas'', '' Spike of Bensonhurst'', '' Wolfen'', ''

King of New York ''King of New York'' is a 1990 neo-noir crime film directed by Abel Ferrara and written by Nicholas St. John. It stars Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Victor Argo and Wesley Snipes, with supporting roles played by Gianc ...

'', '' Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'', ''

Find Me Guilty ''Find Me Guilty'' is a 2006 American courtroom comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Sidney Lumet. The film is based on the true story of the longest Mafia trial in American history. Much of the courtroom testimony was taken from the ori ...

'', '' The Trouble with Cali'', ''

True Romance ''True Romance'' is a 1993 American romantic crime film directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. It features an ensemble cast led by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, with Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt ...

'', ''

Casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

'', '' Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai'', ''

The Juror ''The Juror'' is a 1996 American legal thriller film based on the 1995 novel by George Dawes Green. It was directed by Brian Gibson (director), Brian Gibson and stars Demi Moore as a single mother picked for jury duty for a American mafia, mafia t ...

'' and ''

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

''. In 2002, Adonis played the lead role of a bereaved

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

gangster in the film '' High Times' Potluck''. He directed the film ''One Deadly Road'', and wrote for the 2007 film ''The Woods Have Eyes''. His television credits include ''

The Equalizer ''The Equalizer'' is an American vigilante action thriller multimedia franchise initially co-created by Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim. It originated with a CBS television series from 1985 to 1989 starring Edward Woodward. The concept ...

'' (4 episodes), ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' and ''

New York Undercover ''New York Undercover'' is an American police drama that aired on the Fox television network from September 8, 1994, to February 11, 1999. The series starred Malik Yoba as Detective J.C. Williams and Michael DeLorenzo as Detective Eddie Torre ...

''. His last credit was in the 2017 film ''Proximity to Power''.

Death

Adonis died in December 2018, after a long battle from complications of

kidney disease Kidney disease, or renal disease, technically referred to as nephropathy, is damage to or disease of a kidney. Nephritis is an Inflammation, inflammatory kidney disease and has several types according to the location of the inflammation. Infla ...

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, at the age of 83.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* *
Rotten Tomatoes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adonis, Frank 1935 births 2018 deaths Male actors from Brooklyn American male film actors American male television actors 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Deaths from kidney failure in the United States American people of Italian descent