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Sragow: How important was it for you to have Charles Siragusa, the U.S. narcotics investigator who dogged Lucky Luciano, play himself in your movie? How much of a challenge is it to go between a nonprofessional in a pivotal part and actors like Gian-Maria Volonte?
Rosi: Actually, the use of a nonprofessional actor can bring a level of emotion and truth that very often excites and stimulates the professional actor. Charles Siragusa was the agent who had really chased Lucky Luciano for years. And in the movie he represented what he had been in life: the honest Sicilian against the degenerate and criminal Sicilian, who was interpreted with great talent by the great Volonte.
Sragow: Lucky Luciano is more of a character study than your other portraits of hidden political power -- Volonte plays the capo as a quietly bitter emperor in exile. Was this always your intention, or did it grow out of his performance?
Rosi: Both.
