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Leonardo DiCaprio in JFK Assassination Film 'Legacy of Secrecy'

by Ethan Anderton
November 19, 2010
Source: Variety

We just found out about the menacing project that Leonardo DiCaprio lined up with an adaptation of The Devil in the White City. The actor is getting ready to shoot Clint Eastwood's Hoover biopic in the spring, but DiCaprio has already lined up yet another project. Variety reports the actor will star in and produce Legacy of Secrecy, an adaptation of Lamar Waldron and Thom Hartmann's non-fiction book of the same name. Apparently DiCaprio's father brought the book to his attention which includes new and recently disclassified information from the FBI and National Archives which hypothesizes a motive behind the JFK assasination.

In the film, DiCaprio would play FBI informant Jack Van Laningham who apparently witnessed the confession of Mafia godfather Carlos Marcello for the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Apparently the confession came about after a dangerous and long-secret undercover operation, wherein the FBI positioned Van Laningham to become confidant to Marcello, who ruled organized crime in Louisiana and most of Texas for decades. The 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations said mobster Santo Trafficante and Marcello "had the motive, means, and opportunity to assassinate President Kennedy." Very interesting to say the least.

The book has information from FBI and Secret Service files showing that more than a dozen of Marcello's associates and family members were questioned or arrested by authorities in assocation with the JFK assassination, but the deal for the book doesn't include documentary film and TV rights to the book since JFK isn't the only subject of interest in the film. The book also says the Mafia is responsible for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Watergate scandal. Those two theories sounds like good ideas for films themselves, so maybe we're in for a Legacy of Secrecy franchise of sorts. That sounds good to me. How about you?

Filed under Casting, Movie News, Opinions

From around the web:

Rob

awesome!
history repeats

i would the say the mafia was USED as hitmen but the people behind it were higher in the chain of command.
Sean

Sounds compelling, and when I first read the title I knew he was perfect for the role.
Marcus

It would be great to see this guy in a comedy or horror film. He's sort-of type-casting himself in these mystery thrillers, which show his range as an actor, but there's so much more that we are still waiting to see from him.
http://www.7manshop.com Michael

Everybody knows where they were that day 11-22-63 Does anybody remember what JFK said about Roosevelt? He said "everyone remembers where they were when Franklin Roosevelt died" It was a Coup de gras they cut off the head not the tail........
Wruha

The book Legacy of Secrets is disinformation. Waldron & Thom's story that JFK was planning a second invasion of Cuba is a complete fabrication. I interviewed members of Kennedy's administration who told me in no uncertain terms that Kennedy had no intention whatsoever of launching such a scheme. Quite the contrary, he was opening diplomatic back channels with Castro in exchange for containing his leftist revolution to within Cuba's shores. The idea that JFK, Martin, & RFK were killed by the Mafia, rather than by the CIA & JCOS, is juvenile thinking. The CIA USED the mob, not the other way around.