‘Godfather’ star James Caan backs arrested alleged Mafia boss

London: Hollywood actor James Caan has come out in support of an alleged Mafia boss who was arrested in the FBI swoop on the organized crime gang.

Caan, who played hot-tempered Sonny Corleone in the 1972 ‘Godfather’ film, even offered to stand bail for alleged Mafia hitman Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo. The actor revealed the alleged killer is godson to his son Scott, star of the TV crime series ‘Hawaii 50’. The 76-year-old Colombo family crime boss was among the more than 125 suspected mob members seized in a series of coordinated raids across New York and New Jersey last week. Russo is alleged to have killed a rival in 1993 during a power struggle for control of the crime family. Caan’s close friendship with Russo was revealed as prosecutors successfully objected to bail. In a letter read to the court in Brooklyn, 70- year-old Caan called Russo "as good a friend as any person could ask for." "I’ve known Andrew since 1972 and in all that time I have known him only as an unbelievable father, grandfather, great-grandfather and as good a friend as any person could ask for,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying. "I``d be willing to put up anything of personal value that the court would accept for bail. "I would not hesitate a moment to fly in and be present if the court should so request," Caan added. ANI