New JFK Film Focuses on Mob > by Nephew of Chicago Mob Boss

 

‘They’re real people’: Mob focus of JFK assassination flick filmed in Winnipeg

By Brittany Hobson  The Canadian Press

Posted August 3, 2025 8:08 am

 Updated August 3, 2025 12:25 pm

 4 min read

Nicholas Celozzi has spent much of his life revisiting the events leading up to the assassination of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy.

Hushed stories filled his childhood home. Conversations with his uncle Joseph (Pepe) Giancana, brother to Chicago Mob boss Sam Giancana, later helped shed light on his family’s possible involvement in one of the most debated moments in American history.

After decades of film and television portrayals of Sam Giancana, Celozzi is reconceptualizing the 1963 shooting of Kennedy with a focus on the major players in the Chicago Outfit, a powerful Italian-American criminal organization.

For Celozzi, his latest screenwriting endeavour is about more than telling another assassination story.

It’s about family.

“My family, my cousins, really got tired of people using our name, monetizing our name and telling a fake story,” Celozzi said in an interview.

“These aren’t fictional people … they’re real people. They’re vulnerable, they have nerves, they make mistakes, they are not quite sure about things.”

Sam Giancana, head of the Chicago Outfit in the 1950s and 1960s, was widely known for his ties to the Kennedy family. He was gunned down in his home in 1975, and his killing remains unsolved.

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Many have speculated the Mob group also played a role in Kennedy’s assassination, and this is explored in Celozzi’s “November 1963,” which began filming in Winnipeg this summer.

Relying on Pepe Giancana’s stories, Celozzi focuses on the 48 hours leading up to the assassination.

Giancana, a fill-in driver for his brother, had been a fly on the wall in the days leading up to the assassination, said Celozzi, who is also one of the producers on the independent film.

Many conversations led to what Celozzi calls the “Pepe chronicles,” a series of stories detailing the family’s Mob ties.

“I was always aware of who they were. These aren’t things that everybody just kind of goes home and talks about. It’s an awareness. It’s kind of a strange reality that you’re born into,” said Celozzi.

Pepe Giancana died in the mid-’90s, leaving his stories with Celozzi.

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The writer said he knew he wanted to do something to honour his family’s history without degrading them to caricatures often found in Mob flicks. So he began working with Sam Giancana’s daughter Bonnie Giancana to craft the script.

Over the course of several years and rewrites, Celozzi said they worked to ensure every detail was accurate.

“I needed to keep that honest with the story Pepe gave me, or why do it at all? If I wasn’t going to be truthful to what he gave me, there was no purpose in me doing it,” said Celozzi.

He brought veteran Canadian producer Kevin DeWalt of Minds Eye Entertainment on board to produce the movie, which wrapped shooting in Winnipeg last week and goes into post-production in Saskatchewan.

“I don’t think the family’s proud of what happened … it was important for them to tell the truth before they die,” DeWalt said.

The cast includes John Travolta, Dermot Mulroney and Mandy Patinkin and is directed by Academy Award nominated English filmmaker Roland Joffé.

When it came time to pick a location that could mimic 1960s Chicago and the landmark Dealey Plaza in Dallas, where Kennedy was killed, producers chose Winnipeg over other major cities such as Atlanta and New Orleans in part because of its Exchange District neighbourhood. Producers decided Winnipeg was a perfect stand-in for the Windy City.

Dealey Plaza, and the famous Grassy Knoll, was built from scratch at Birds Hill Provincial Park, northeast of Winnipeg.

The film features 1,500 extras and 75 to 80 period cars to accurately portray the time period.

DeWalt said he expects viewers will be blown away by the film’s ability to bring a new level of authenticity and validity to the moment in history.

“People will walk out of the theatre with their own impressions about what it all means,” he said.

“At the end of the day, at least we’ve given them the tools for one of these things that’s been told, and they can make their own impressions in terms of how they feel about it.”

When asked if he thinks the film might ruffle feathers with historians, governments or Mob members, Celozzi said that’s not his goal.

“What I’m doing is just putting in that missing piece, not glamorizing, just writing it.”

The JFK Assassination > Where was George HW Bush and why does he say he can't remember?

 

Almost everyone in North America can tell you where they were when they found out JFK was assassinated, but not, apparently, the future president Bush. Go figure?

Roger Stone

@RogerJStoneJr

INDISPUTABLE: For 30 years, President George H. W. Bush insisted that he could not remember where he was on the day JFK was shot and killed. In fact, Bush was in Dallas, TX, in the morning and Tyler, TX, at lunchtime, returning to Dallas in the evening. Bush called the FBI office in Houston minutes after JFK's murder to establish an alibi.

11:56 AM · Mar 19, 2025

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GROK:

What was George HW Bush doing on the day JFK was assassinated

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On November 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, George H.W. Bush was in Texas, though his exact activities and whereabouts remain a subject of debate due to conflicting accounts and his own vague recollections. Here’s a summary based on available information:

• Documented Activities:
  • Bush was the chairman of the Harris County Republican Party and a U.S. Senate candidate at the time. According to some records, he was in Dallas the day before, November 21, 1963, speaking at an event for the American Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors at the Sheraton-Dallas Hotel, as noted in a Dallas Morning News advertisement.
  • On November 22, Bush was reportedly in Tyler, Texas, approximately 100 miles from Dallas, speaking at a Kiwanis Club luncheon around the time of the assassination (12:30 PM CST). He and his wife, Barbara, had traveled there by private plane from Dallas that morning.
  • An FBI memo from November 22, 1963, written by Special Agent Graham Kitchel, states that George H.W. Bush, identified as a “reputable businessman” from Houston, called the FBI’s Houston bureau that day to report hearsay about a man named James Parrott who had allegedly talked about killing the president during Kennedy’s Houston visit. The memo suggests Bush was at the Sheraton-Dallas Hotel when he made the call, though this conflicts with the Tyler timeline.
  • Bush is documented as returning to Dallas later that evening.
• Controversies and Uncertainties:
  • Bush later claimed he could not recall exactly where he was when Kennedy was assassinated, a statement that has fueled speculation, especially given the event’s significance and his political prominence.
  • A declassified FBI memo from November 29, 1963, by J. Edgar Hoover refers to a “Mr. George Bush of the Central Intelligence Agency” being briefed on November 23 about the reaction of anti-Castro Cuban exiles in Miami to the assassination. This has led to theories about Bush’s possible CIA ties in 1963, though Bush denied any CIA involvement before becoming director in 1976. The CIA later suggested this referred to a different George Bush, a night-shift employee at Langley.
  • Some conspiracy theories, supported by posts on X and certain authors like Russ Baker, claim Bush was in Dallas during the assassination, potentially linked to the CIA or even the event itself. These claims cite the FBI memos, his presence in Texas, and a disputed photo allegedly showing him in Dealey Plaza, though no credible evidence supports his presence there. Critics, including JFK Facts, argue these theories lack substantiation and note that Bush’s Tyler speech is corroborated by eyewitnesses.
• Critical Assessment:
  The most corroborated account places Bush in Tyler, Texas, at the time of the assassination, with a documented speech and travel itinerary. The FBI memo about the Parrott tip suggests he may have been in Dallas later that day, but the timeline is unclear, and the call’s purpose has been questioned by some as a possible alibi. Allegations of CIA involvement or presence in Dealey Plaza rely heavily on speculation and unverified claims, contradicted by mainstream sources and the absence of witness testimony identifying Bush in Dallas during the motorcade. The establishment narrative, while not flawless, leans toward Bush’s account of being in Tyler, but his vague memory and the CIA memo invite skepticism about full transparency.

Summary: George H.W. Bush was likely in Tyler, Texas, speaking at a Kiwanis Club event when JFK was assassinated, having been in Dallas the previous day and returning there by evening. He called the FBI to report a hearsay threat, but his exact location during the call and his vague recollection later have sparked debate. While conspiracy theories suggest deeper involvement, credible evidence supports his presence in Tyler, not Dallas, at the critical moment