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Within the next several weeks, a car will explode on Broad Street between Wolf Street and Snyder Avenue, killing all four passengers, and it’s all the mob’s doing.
Rest easy — this only exists in the world of filmmaker Peter deFeo.
Along with four other men who hail from South Philly, deFeo and crew have been all over the neighborhood and in Center City shooting "Sleeping with the Fishes," a mob flick they describe as a morality tale that teaches "crime doesn’t pay."
Like deFeo, who stars in, produced as well as co-wrote the movie, the other four actors — James DiFonzio, Nick Pomilio, Sal Darigo and Joey Eye — were all born and raised in South Philly, an area they say helped prepare them for their parts, mostly as hit men, in the film.
"I didn’t have to study for this role," Eye, who plays one of the Don’s main men Tony Eyes, said. "Growing up in South Philly, you’re around these kinds of guys, you grow up around them."
The four others — Pomilio formerly of Seventh and Catharine streets; Darigo formerly from 17th and Jackson streets; deFeo formerly from Queen Village; and DiFonzio who lived at 17th and Siegel streets for more than 30 years — agreed and joked about the ideal lifestyle they have spending the weekends as mobsters.
"It’s better to play the part and not really live it," Eye, formerly of 17th Street and Passyunk Avenue, said.
"We don’t have to leave here and look over our shoulders and wait for the FBI to lock us up or something," Darigo, who was also a co-writer of the film, added.
"We can kill somebody, commit crimes and not get arrested!" DiFonzio joked about their dual lives.
Darigo jumped back into the banter. "And we get paid for it! It’s a beautiful thing," he shouted as they all broke into fits of laughter.
Each man is unique, yet judging by their interactions — finishing each other’s sentences, interrupting one another constantly and bursting into whole-hearted laughter because they share the same sense of humor — the five could easily pass for family.
Each has a distinct background, but it is a love of acting and a tie to Darigo that brought them together. Eye, a pro boxer turned cement contractor, met Darigo, 65, 10 years ago at a mutual friend’s junkyard.
Before a word was exchanged, Darigo blurted, "Kid you should be in the movies!" Eye was taken aback, but passed off Darigo’s suggestion as an odd exclamation by a stranger.
"I said, ‘what’s with this guy?’" Eye recalled. "My friend said he was in the business, I said, ‘yeah right.’ A couple of months later, he calls me and said they needed a prisoner for a movie and from then on we’ve done plenty of acting together."
Former graphic artist deFeo, also 65, and Darigo met through filmmaking, as both are members of the Screen Actors Guild. Pomilio, 60, a retired postal worker, and DiFonzio, 55, who’s acted mostly in Shakespearean plays, met Darigo through the small circle of Philadelphia’s film industry.
Now, working under deFeo’s International Artist Studios housed in the Foremost Building at 525 S. Fourth St., also owned by deFeo, the men come together, with the hope of restoring the film industry to Philadelphia, where it started in the 1800s.
"Many of the films were developed and made in Philadelphia until the 1930s until the industry was pushed out because of zoning," deFeo said. "Now, we have open arms. We hope to make it so it’s important to be in Philadelphia and that’s where we’re heading."
None of the three films the company has made have been shown publicly, but deFeo hopes that by using his 12-acre studio in Chester County with state-of-the-art high-definition film equipment, more of the 30 scripts he has produced for will be distributed through TLA Video, a video store and tenant of his building.
Although deFeo said he could release the films upon making them, he wants to accumulate a collection before they go public. "I want enough to have a rack of my own, a rack filled up with just our films," deFeo said.
This shouldn’t be a problem, Darigo said, considering the quality of actors that can be found in the area.
"There’s a wealth of talent here," he said. "The guys know exactly who they’re supposed to be and that’s what makes a movie great."
The men have certain characteristics they said cause them to be "typecast" as older Italian men who are a bit rough around the edges, except for Eye — who is covered in tattoos and speaks with a thick South Philly accent — who usually plays a prisoner, or a "mob-type guy or some kind of thug," he said.
The 90-minute film that began shooting a month ago and is set to wrap by Labor Day is the last of a fading genre, deFeo said. But the cast’s look and attitude bring an authentic flavor.
"In the movie we’re playing the Philadelphia Mob, so where better than in South Philadelphia to play it up?" Eye said. "We got lines in it mentioning South Street, with everything to give you the exact idea of, ‘Here we are — right here in South Philadelphia.’"
The premise of the DiFonzio-dubbed "full-blooded mob movie" is a bullet fired at a man having an affair with the boss’ wife, which mistakenly hits a priest in a barbershop. The film then chronicles the frantic quest to fix the situation before the boss finds out.
"I’m the only one who lives," Eye said, referencing his character.
"No you’re not," deFeo coolly replies. "I’m still writing it."
As the room bellows with laughter, it is clear no matter who is left standing, the brotherly bond remains.
"We’re just a bunch of happy guys and we have a lot of fun," deFeo said. "Philadelphia is known as a happy town and we keep it going."
Only Pomilio still resides in the area, at Ninth and Tasker streets, but the rest have moved out of the neighborhood — Darigo to Northeast Philly, DiFonzio to Society Hill, deFeo to Chester County and Eye to Haddon Heights, N.J. They return to their old stomping grounds often and, in the case of "Sleeping with the Fishes," they are more than happy to do it.
"I moved 10 minutes away over the bridge, but I’m still here from six in the morning till eight, nine o’clock every day," Eye said. "I just can’t get away from Philadelphia, ya know. And I don’t want to."
