Casting for the new King of Con docuseries is underway and filming will begin this summer, so North New Jerseyites will be seeing those fold-up director chairs and movie lights soon.
For all you wanna-be actors, filmmakers need locals to be on camera “to give an authentic NJ ambience,” says one KOC producer, “and fill the diners, streets, and stores with real-life faces of the residents who live here.”
Producers will recreate scenes from the memoir, The King of Con, based on the life of our infamous citizen, Thomas Giacomaro. Some shooting spots will be Tom’s real-life haunts from decades ago that still exist. Others will be recreations, like “Bada Bing!” in The Sopranos pretending to be NJ mobster Vincent Palermo’s real-life club, “Wiggles”.
Here some from Tom’s early years. Any readers of a certain age remember these?
THE RENDEVOUS and JAY’S LUNCHONETTE in North Haledon:
In the Sixties, Tommy used to buy Superman comics at “The Rendezvous” and then wolf down hamburgers two doors down at “Jay’s Luncheonette” using the money he stole from his father’s wallet.
…on Saturday mornings with my dad’s twenties burning a
hole in my pocket, we hadn’t a care in the world. Back then Bazooka
chewing gum cost a penny a piece, and I was a kid with a hundred
bucks to blow. I was a fucking millionaire.
–from The King of Con
MANCHESTER REGIONAL HIGH and LARKEY’S in Paterson:
Tom was the “high school capo” at Manchester High, where he put together his first “crew.” One of the places they stole from was an expensive menswear shop, Larkey’s, where Tom was working part-time.
I instructed them to fill plastic garbage bags with Botany 500 suits and leave them by
the dumpster for me to pick up later, promising them half the money
we made selling the $500 suits for $200 to an outlet store.
This went on for six weeks, and in that time we stole forty-five
to sixty suits, about sixty pairs of slacks, and shoes, making about
$50,000…
–from The King of Con
The TICK TOCK DINER in Clifton:
It’s still there! This is where Tommy met with Genovese mob guy, Tony Pro, in the early Seventies for his first job at the trucking company, Maislin Transport.
The following week Uncle Anthony took me to the Tick Tock
Diner in Clifton to get approved by Maislin “friend” Anthony
Provenzano—aka “Tony Pro.” Tony was VP of Local 560 and, I
didn’t know it at the time, a caporegime in the Genovese crime family.
He’d just gotten out of jail after doing time for embezzlement
and extortion…
–from The King of Con
The BLUE GOOSE at NEWARK AIRPORT in Newark:
In 1972, Tommy picked up Teamster’s Union Leader Jimmy Hoffa at the airport after he flew in on “Blue Goose” airlines. Hoffa foresaw Tom’s bright future.
At Newark Airport, I hopped out of the car and opened the door
for him. Before he left, he shook my hand again.
“Tommy, how long you been in trucking?”
“Just a few months, Mr. Hoffa. I graduated high school last year.”
“Ah, a real working man, I see. Well let me tell you something.
They love you at Maislin, kid. You’re smart and fast; I can see that
and so can Alex Maislin. We talked about you. You’re going to have
a big career in the trucking business, lemme tell you. Welcome to the
brotherhood. You’re gonna go far.”
–from The King of Con
Stay tuned to the blog for Part Two of the King of Con shooting locations and details how to get on camera. To become part of the production team, click here: