Goodfellas Actor $250 Million: "The Simpsons" is well-known for having original characters that also happen to be involved in humorous situations. Or so we all thought. Frank Sivero, an actor best known for "Goodfellas," has sued on Oct. 21 to Fox for a character in the show.
Frank Sivero is now 62 years old and in 1990, he acted in "Goodfellas," the movie directed by Martin Scorsese about the mob and all its hierarchies. Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Ray Liotta were in it. But also, another character was Frankie Carbone, who was played by Sivero.
The "Goodfellas" actor has now made a law suit where he alleges that "The Simpsons" has created a character, Louie, that is based on him and on Frankie Carbone. This character has appeared in 15 episodes and works with Tony in the show.
The way in which he justifies this happening is that the first episode where Louie appeared was back in 1990. And in the law suit, that The Hollywood Reporter has posted, he states clearly that in 1989 he was living in an apartment complex in Sherman Oaks, California.
He also states another fact.
"The writers of 'The Simpsons' also lived in this same complex during the same period of time as Sivero; Sivero in unit 210, and the writers in 209. During this time, both writers knew who Sivero was, and they saw each other almost every day."
"They knew he was developing the character he was to play in the movie 'Goodfellas,' a movie Sivero did in 1989. In fact, they were aware the entire character of 'Frankie Carbone' was created and developed by Sivero, who based this character in his own personality."
So, apparently, the writers knew all about the "Goodfellas" actor and used it for their benefit. The Law Suit, though, asks for a pretty big compensation for that "fact."
The law suit claims that "The Simpsons" has made a quantity of $12 billion dollars since it first aired in 1989 and so, Sivero asks for a share of that, as The Telegraph has noted.
The $250 million dollars are divided in the following way: $50 million in damage loss of his likeness, $100 million due to improper interference, $50 million in actual loss over the appropriation of his "idea" and $50 million more in exemplary damages of that "confidential idea."
