Kenji Gallo, Profiled in OC Weekly, Subject of Upcoming Fox Gangster Series?

Photograph by John Gilhooley

​You may remember Kenji Gallo, co-author with Matthew Randazzo V of the 2009 book Breakshot: A Life in the 21st Century American Mafia, from my Sept. 2009 cover story in OC Weekly, "Blown Away." That particular story dealt with a slew of mafia murders in Orange County during the 1980s, many of them involving the so-called "Mickey Mouse Mafia," a term cops used to describe SoCal's mob. The story also highlighted Gallo's rise from restaurant dishwasher to organized crime figure whose brushes with danger included the still-unsolved May 7, 1987 murder of his friend and boss Joe Avila of the famed Mexican restaurant chain-owning clan, who was also a reputed drug lord.

Gallo's story was subsequently explored in the 2010 Discovery Channel profile "Mobster Tells All." Now, as first reported in a recent Variety story, it has been sold to Fox for a television drama series.
 
According to an Oct. 18 press release, the Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Moresco of Crash fame is attached to write the show. "We have been working on this project for almost five years, and now we couldn't be happier to have our work recognized by world-class talents like [producer] Henrik Bastin and Bobby Moresco," Randazzo says. "This is the middle of a long process, and we have a little ways to go before it gets on air, but I'm happy to see the progress we've made."

Gallo is equally happy with the news. "It's great to see Breakshot get this recognition," he says.

According to the press release, Gallo "survived an apparent attempt on his life and now lives a law-abiding life under a government-provided assumed identity."