Gustave Reininger
Encyclopedia
Gustave Reininger is the co-creator of the NBC
TV drama, Crime Story
. It was executive produced by Michael Mann. Crime Story
was based on the Mafia in Chicago,"The Outfit," and how it got off the streets and into the boardrooms of Las Vegas casinos. The show premiered with a two hour pilot - movie, which had been exhibited theatrically, and was watched by over 30 million viewers. Crime Story
then was scheduled to follow Miami Vice
on Friday nights, and continued to attract a record number of viewers.
Reininger was a former Wall Street
international investment banker who had come to Mann's attention based on a screenplay he had written about arson investigators, and a French language thriller with Dennis Hopper that he had co-written and produced. Mann's agent somehow reached Reininger while he was traveling incognito in the Mayan Highlands of Guatemala
, with a liberation theology catholic Bishop.
Reininger researched Crime Story
by winning the confidence of Detective William Hanhardt who put him in touch with undercover officers in the Chicago
Police Department. They sent him on meetings with organized crime
figures. Reininger risked wearing a body microphone and recorder. After visiting the crime scene of a gruesome gangland
slaying of bookmaker Al Brown, Reininger backed off his Mafia
interviews.
In a June 1986 press conference, Mann said that the first season of the show would go from Chicago
in 1963 to Las Vegas
in 1980. He said, "It's a serial in the sense that we have continuing stories, and in that sense the show is one big novel
." Mann and Reininger's inspiration for the 1963-1980 arc came from their mutual admiration of the 15½ hour television film, Berlin Alexanderplatz
, by German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder'. Mann said, "The pace of our story is like the speed of light compared to that, but that's the idea - if you put it all together at the end you've got one hell of a 22-hour movie."
NBC chief Brando Tartikoff allowed the series to move to Las Vegas
for the last quarter of the 22 episodes. The last episode is legendary as Ray Luca and Pauli Taglia are on the lam, hiding from Det. Mike Torello, in a Nevada desert shack, which is located in an Atomic Bomb test area. An A-Bomb explodes, presumably obliterating Luca and Taglia, in one of the most memorable cliffhangers in television history, leaving viewers wondering whether they were dead or alive, just as the show's creator were wondering if the series itself was dead or alive with NBC
. Viewers were surprised to learn in the fall the series had returned to be permanently based in Las Vegas.
The principal characters are based on the real life head of the Chicago anti-mob unit, Det. William Hanhardt and on Chicago mobster Anthony Spilotro
.
Reininger was subpoenaed to Spilotro's trial in Federal Court
in Las Vegas
as an unwilling material witness for Spilotro, who was alleging that the only way Reininger could have written scripts and the series "Bible" was by having access to Federal wiretaps of Spilotro. Reininger in turn discovered that his New York phones were being monitored. Reininger was served Spilotro's subpoena, and given a deadly warning, in a New York hotel bar by now infamous Hollywood private detective Anthony Pellicano
, who in 2006 was imprisoned for illegal wiretapping, blackmail
and harassment
while representing notable entertainment figures.
Spilotro returned home to Chicago
and was brutally murdered along with his brother Michael, and buried in an Indiana
cornfield. The case was dismissed, and Reininger, who had sent all his Crime Story work materials to a former banking associate in Zurich, Switzerland, did not have to testify.
Subsequently, Martin Scorsese directed and produced his movie Casino
loosely basing it on elements of Crime Story, which was recognized at the Casino premiere as an inspiration. Crime Story was the prototypes for today's arc-driven television series, such as 24
and The Sopranos
that have continuing story lines over multiple episodes.
“Corso – The Last Beat” - Synopsis.
The “Beats” are back. Ever “cool”, ever “hip”, this poignant, humorous film will introduce today’s youth market to the inner circle of the American Icons known as “the Beat Generation” – Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs and Gregory Corso. It dove-tails with the new wave of interest in this 50th anniversary of “On the Road” and Francis Coppola’s upcoming film version... “The Last Beat” looks at the extraordinary life of Gregory Corso
, the most colorful of “the Beats”… Outstanding documentary work combine with pacing and entertainment value that come from the film-maker’s background: Co-creator of NBC
’s and Michael Mann’s “Crime Story” and "Miami Vice" contributor… By following Corso, the film shows how “the Beats” changed American society, paving the way for youth culture, the sexual revolution
and even hip-hop… The film follows Gregory Corso on a trip to the monuments of France
, Italy
, and Greece
retracing the early days of "The Beats."... Remarkably, the film-maker found Corso’s Italian mother who abandoned him as a baby; reunited them; and caught these poignant moments on film… Corso also amazes by visiting prison inmates at Clinton State Prison, where at age 17 he was encouraged by Italian mafia
prisoners to educate himself. (He ended up at Harvard later.)… After the European odyssey, a revitalized Corso returns to Greenwich Village
to work again... Then, in ultimate irony, Corso faces his own mortality with humor and pluck, comforted by Ethan Hawke, Patti Smith and his newfound mother, Michellina.
. He graduated from University of Chicago
, studying Economics and English literature. His prose was published in college literary magazines.
Reininger was an International Investment Banker with Chemical – Chase Bank, (now JP Morgan Chase.) He was on a management team supervising offshore banks, in a partnership venture with the Earl of Suffolk
, John Scott-Ellis, the 9th Baron Howard de Walden. Reininger supervised banks based in Guernsey
, Channel Islands
; Beirut, Lebanon; Nassau, Bahamas
; and Monrovia, Liberia.
At night, Reininger re-wrote scripts at, for producer Howard Zucker. Among them, Francis Coppola’s 5th Coin, a script on Macau’s Formula One race,.
While working in Paris
on a bank assignment Reininger co-produced a French Language thriller starring Dennis Hopper
, Last In – First Out. The film also starred Bruno Cremer
(Freidkin’s
Sorcerer)
, Henri Serre (Jules et Jim) and Joseph Cotton
(Citizen Kane
.)
Reininger then migrated to working at Warner Brothers with partner Luis Sanjurjo. In addition to co-creating Crime Story
, Reininger was a contributor to Michael Mann's Miami Vice and Robbery Homicide Division
. Reininger has worked with directors Sydney Pollack, Penny Marshall, Paul Verhoeven and other notable filmmakers.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
TV drama, Crime Story
Crime Story (TV series)
Crime Story is an NBC TV drama created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. The executive producer was Michael Mann, who had left Miami Vice to oversee Crime Story and direct the film Manhunter. The show premiered with a two hour pilot — a movie which had been exhibited theatrically —...
. It was executive produced by Michael Mann. Crime Story
Crime Story (TV series)
Crime Story is an NBC TV drama created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. The executive producer was Michael Mann, who had left Miami Vice to oversee Crime Story and direct the film Manhunter. The show premiered with a two hour pilot — a movie which had been exhibited theatrically —...
was based on the Mafia in Chicago,"The Outfit," and how it got off the streets and into the boardrooms of Las Vegas casinos. The show premiered with a two hour pilot - movie, which had been exhibited theatrically, and was watched by over 30 million viewers. Crime Story
Crime Story (TV series)
Crime Story is an NBC TV drama created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. The executive producer was Michael Mann, who had left Miami Vice to oversee Crime Story and direct the film Manhunter. The show premiered with a two hour pilot — a movie which had been exhibited theatrically —...
then was scheduled to follow Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
on Friday nights, and continued to attract a record number of viewers.
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
international investment banker who had come to Mann's attention based on a screenplay he had written about arson investigators, and a French language thriller with Dennis Hopper that he had co-written and produced. Mann's agent somehow reached Reininger while he was traveling incognito in the Mayan Highlands of Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
, with a liberation theology catholic Bishop.
Reininger researched Crime Story
Crime Story (TV series)
Crime Story is an NBC TV drama created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. The executive producer was Michael Mann, who had left Miami Vice to oversee Crime Story and direct the film Manhunter. The show premiered with a two hour pilot — a movie which had been exhibited theatrically —...
by winning the confidence of Detective William Hanhardt who put him in touch with undercover officers in the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
Police Department. They sent him on meetings with organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
figures. Reininger risked wearing a body microphone and recorder. After visiting the crime scene of a gruesome gangland
Gangland
Gangland is a computer game created by Mediamobsters . It was released on 14 February 2004. It has the premise of mixing real-time strategy , role-playing game and simulation .-Story:...
slaying of bookmaker Al Brown, Reininger backed off his Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
interviews.
In a June 1986 press conference, Mann said that the first season of the show would go from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1963 to Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
in 1980. He said, "It's a serial in the sense that we have continuing stories, and in that sense the show is one big novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
." Mann and Reininger's inspiration for the 1963-1980 arc came from their mutual admiration of the 15½ hour television film, Berlin Alexanderplatz
Berlin Alexanderplatz (television)
Berlin Alexanderplatz, originally broadcast in 1980, is a 14-part television film adapted and directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder from the Alfred Döblin novel of the same name, and stars Günter Lamprecht, Hanna Schygulla, Barbara Sukowa, Elisabeth Trissenaar and Gottfried John...
, by German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder'. Mann said, "The pace of our story is like the speed of light compared to that, but that's the idea - if you put it all together at the end you've got one hell of a 22-hour movie."
NBC chief Brando Tartikoff allowed the series to move to Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
for the last quarter of the 22 episodes. The last episode is legendary as Ray Luca and Pauli Taglia are on the lam, hiding from Det. Mike Torello, in a Nevada desert shack, which is located in an Atomic Bomb test area. An A-Bomb explodes, presumably obliterating Luca and Taglia, in one of the most memorable cliffhangers in television history, leaving viewers wondering whether they were dead or alive, just as the show's creator were wondering if the series itself was dead or alive with NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Viewers were surprised to learn in the fall the series had returned to be permanently based in Las Vegas.
The principal characters are based on the real life head of the Chicago anti-mob unit, Det. William Hanhardt and on Chicago mobster Anthony Spilotro
Anthony Spilotro
Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro was an Italian-American mobster and enforcer for the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 1980s. His job was to protect and oversee the Outfit's illegal casino profits...
.
Reininger was subpoenaed to Spilotro's trial in Federal Court
United States federal courts
The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...
as an unwilling material witness for Spilotro, who was alleging that the only way Reininger could have written scripts and the series "Bible" was by having access to Federal wiretaps of Spilotro. Reininger in turn discovered that his New York phones were being monitored. Reininger was served Spilotro's subpoena, and given a deadly warning, in a New York hotel bar by now infamous Hollywood private detective Anthony Pellicano
Anthony Pellicano
Anthony Pellicano is a former high-profile Los Angeles private investigator who recently served a sentence of three and a half years in federal prison for illegal possession of explosives, firearms and homemade grenades, and who was arrested on February 4, 2006, on unlawful wiretapping and...
, who in 2006 was imprisoned for illegal wiretapping, blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
and harassment
Harassment
Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive. In the legal sense, it is intentional behaviour which is found threatening or disturbing...
while representing notable entertainment figures.
Spilotro returned home to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and was brutally murdered along with his brother Michael, and buried in an Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
cornfield. The case was dismissed, and Reininger, who had sent all his Crime Story work materials to a former banking associate in Zurich, Switzerland, did not have to testify.
Subsequently, Martin Scorsese directed and produced his movie Casino
Casino (film)
Casino is a 1995 crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese...
loosely basing it on elements of Crime Story, which was recognized at the Casino premiere as an inspiration. Crime Story was the prototypes for today's arc-driven television series, such as 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
and The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
that have continuing story lines over multiple episodes.
Recent work
Reininger is the director producer of this feature documentary Corso - the Last Beat, which is in post production in the fall of 2007.“Corso – The Last Beat” - Synopsis.
The “Beats” are back. Ever “cool”, ever “hip”, this poignant, humorous film will introduce today’s youth market to the inner circle of the American Icons known as “the Beat Generation” – Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs and Gregory Corso. It dove-tails with the new wave of interest in this 50th anniversary of “On the Road” and Francis Coppola’s upcoming film version... “The Last Beat” looks at the extraordinary life of Gregory Corso
Gregory Corso
Gregory Nunzio Corso was an American poet, youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers...
, the most colorful of “the Beats”… Outstanding documentary work combine with pacing and entertainment value that come from the film-maker’s background: Co-creator of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
’s and Michael Mann’s “Crime Story” and "Miami Vice" contributor… By following Corso, the film shows how “the Beats” changed American society, paving the way for youth culture, the sexual revolution
Sexual revolution
The sexual revolution was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the 1960s into the 1980s...
and even hip-hop… The film follows Gregory Corso on a trip to the monuments of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
retracing the early days of "The Beats."... Remarkably, the film-maker found Corso’s Italian mother who abandoned him as a baby; reunited them; and caught these poignant moments on film… Corso also amazes by visiting prison inmates at Clinton State Prison, where at age 17 he was encouraged by Italian mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
prisoners to educate himself. (He ended up at Harvard later.)… After the European odyssey, a revitalized Corso returns to Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
to work again... Then, in ultimate irony, Corso faces his own mortality with humor and pluck, comforted by Ethan Hawke, Patti Smith and his newfound mother, Michellina.
Background
Reininger graduated from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, OhioCincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. He graduated from University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, studying Economics and English literature. His prose was published in college literary magazines.
Reininger was an International Investment Banker with Chemical – Chase Bank, (now JP Morgan Chase.) He was on a management team supervising offshore banks, in a partnership venture with the Earl of Suffolk
Earl of Suffolk
Earl of Suffolk is a title that has been created four times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, in tandem with the creation of the title of Earl of Norfolk, came before 1069 in favour of Ralph the Staller; but the title was forfeited by his heir, Ralph de Guader, in 1074...
, John Scott-Ellis, the 9th Baron Howard de Walden. Reininger supervised banks based in Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
, Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
; Beirut, Lebanon; Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
; and Monrovia, Liberia.
At night, Reininger re-wrote scripts at, for producer Howard Zucker. Among them, Francis Coppola’s 5th Coin, a script on Macau’s Formula One race,.
While working in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on a bank assignment Reininger co-produced a French Language thriller starring Dennis Hopper
Dennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
, Last In – First Out. The film also starred Bruno Cremer
Bruno Cremer
Bruno Jean Marie Crémer was a French actor born in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, who spent a part of his career on stage, but who also found success in the cinema and on television.- Biography :...
(Freidkin’s
William Friedkin
William Friedkin is an American film director, producer and screenwriter best known for directing The French Connection in 1971 and The Exorcist in 1973; for the former, he won the Academy Award for Best Director...
Sorcerer)
Sorcerer (film)
Sorcerer is a 1977 thriller adventure film, produced and directed by William Friedkin, starring Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal and Amidou. It is the second remake of the 1953 French film Le Salaire de la Peur ....
, Henri Serre (Jules et Jim) and Joseph Cotton
Joseph Cotton
Joseph Cotton aka Jah Walton is a reggae deejay active since the mid-1970s.-Biography:...
(Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
.)
Reininger then migrated to working at Warner Brothers with partner Luis Sanjurjo. In addition to co-creating Crime Story
Crime Story (TV series)
Crime Story is an NBC TV drama created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. The executive producer was Michael Mann, who had left Miami Vice to oversee Crime Story and direct the film Manhunter. The show premiered with a two hour pilot — a movie which had been exhibited theatrically —...
, Reininger was a contributor to Michael Mann's Miami Vice and Robbery Homicide Division
Robbery Homicide Division
Robbery Homicide Division was an American police procedural television series on CBS, created by Barry Schindel with executive producer Michael Mann.-Premise:...
. Reininger has worked with directors Sydney Pollack, Penny Marshall, Paul Verhoeven and other notable filmmakers.