Salvatore "Sonny" Grosso is a movie

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

 and television producer

Television producer

The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 and former New York City Police Department

New York City Police Department

The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...

 detective, noted for his role in the case immortalized in the book

The French Connection (book)

The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy is a non-fiction book by Robin Moore first published in 1969 about the notorious "French Connection" drug trafficking scheme. It is followed by the book The Setup...

 and movie

The French Connection (film)

This article is about the 1971 film. For the British fashion label, see French Connection .The French Connection is a 1971 American crime film directed by William Friedkin. The film was adapted and fictionalized by Ernest Tidyman from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore...

 versions of the French Connection

French Connection

The French Connection was a scheme through which heroin was smuggled from Turkey to France and then to the United States. The operation reached its peak in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when it provided the vast majority of the illicit heroin used in the United States...

. He was born in the early 1930s in Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Grosso and his partner Eddie Egan

Eddie Egan

Edward Walter "Eddie" Egan was a New York City Police Department detective whose exploits were the subject of a book and movie, both entitled The French Connection...

, and other NYPD detectives, broke up an organized crime ring in 1961 and seized 112 pounds of heroin, a record amount at the time. The investigation was the subject of a book by Robin Moore

Robin Moore

Robert Lowell "Robin" Moore, Jr. was an American writer who is most known for his books The Green Berets, The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy and, with Xaviera Hollander and Yvonne Dunleavy, The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.Moore also co-authored...

 and an Academy Award-winning motion picture.

Egan and Grosso were technical advisers to the movie and played small roles. The movie was highly fictionalized, and a character based on Grosso, called "Buddy Russo", was played by actor Roy Scheider

Roy Scheider

Roy Richard Scheider was an American actor. He was best known for his leading role as police chief Martin C...

 (who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...

 for his performance). The character went by the nickname "Cloudy", which was Grosso's nickname as a detective because he would always bring people down and it is the opposite of his name, Sonny.

Grosso subsequently became a movie and TV producer and technical advisor, involved in 36 productions including the 1970's cop show Kojak. He also played small roles in a number of movies including playing a cop in The Godfather

The Godfather

The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...

.

In October of 2007, Grosso produced a limited engagement performance of Richard Vetere

Richard Vetere

Richard Vetere is an American playwright, screenwriter, television writer, poet and an actor.Vetere's plays have been produced Off Broadway, regionally and internationally, such as The Engagement, Coupla Bimbos Sittin' Around Talkin, Gangster Apperal,Caravaiggo, Machiavelli, and One Shot, One Kill...

's Be My Love: The Mario Lanza Story. The play was directed by Charles Messina

Charles Messina

Charles Messina is an American playwright, screenwriter and director.Messina was born in Greenwich Village, of Italian-American descent...

 and co-produced by Phil Ramone

Phil Ramone

Phil Ramone is a South-African violinist, composer, recording engineer, and record producer.-Biography:As a young child in South Africa, Ramone was a musical prodigy, beginning to play the violin at age three and performing for Queen Elizabeth II at age ten...

. It premiered at The Tilles Center in Greenvale, NY.

External links

• http://www.nleomf.org/media/newsletters/NewsWinter06.pdf
• http://www.neco.org/awards/recipients/sgrosso.html