{"id":548964,"date":"2026-03-27T18:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T18:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/548964\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T18:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T18:54:08","slug":"pete-davidson-to-star-as-notorious-mafia-killer-tommy-karate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/548964\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete Davidson To Star As Notorious Mafia Killer ‘Tommy Karate’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: After working on the project for more than three years, Pete Davidson<\/a> is taking on a \u201cdream job\u201d to play notorious mafia killer Tommy Pitera, who was known as Tommy Karate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tProduction is due to begin in June on crime-thriller Tommy Karate, which is inspired by a true story and based on the non-fiction true crime book The Butcher: Anatomy Of A Mafia Psychopath by Philip Carlo. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe film will chart the pursuit and capture of one of America\u2019s most ruthless mobsters and serial killers by notorious DEA Agent Jim Hunt (who also helped take down El Chapo) played by Paul Walter Hauser<\/a> (Black Bird). <\/p>\n

\n\tCamila Mendes (Masters of the Universe) and Simon Rex (Red Rocket) also star with Justin Chon (Pachinco) directing. North.Five.Six, Two & Two Pictures and Grammercy Park Media are behind the buzzy package. The screenplay was penned by Davidson, Chon, and Joseph Gay.<\/p>\n

\n\tPitera was an American mobster in the Bonanno crime family of New York City. Initially a \u2018soldier\u2019 and then a \u2018captain\u2019 of his own crew, Pitera was suspected by law enforcement of as many as 60 murders. He was known for his use of karate and other martial arts when fighting, a skill he learned at a young age and which earned him the nicknames Tommy Karate, and The Karate Guy. He is currently serving a life sentence at USP Big Sandy in Inez, Kentucky, after going down in 1992 for murder and operating a massive drug operation. <\/p>\n

\n\tDavidson said of the movie, which has been a passion project for the SNL alum and King of Staten Island star: \u201cTommy Karate is the greatest mob story never told. I\u2019ve been working on this for over three years, and I\u2019m beyond thrilled that it\u2019s finally in motion. Playing a role like this is a dream job. We have a great team behind this one, and I can\u2019t wait for people to see what we\u2019ve come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDavidson serves as a producer alongside Lucan Toh for Two & Two Pictures, and Ford Corbett and Nathan Klingher for Gramercy Park Media. Executive producers include Mark Fasano and Joshua Harris (Gramercy Park Media); Michael Rothstein, Samuel Hall, and Warren Goz (north.five.six.); and Laura Garofalo, Jarod Einsohn, and David Osokow.<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector Chon, known for directing Cannes title Blue Bayou and on hit Apple series Pachinco after an acting career that included the Twilight franchise, added: \u201cTogether with Pete and the team, we\u2019re reimagining the gangster genre through a contemporary lens\u2014driven by character, fresh visuals, and real consequence. This isn\u2019t nostalgia. It\u2019s a reinvention.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tProduction is taking place in the U.S. North.five.six. is handling international sales, while domestic rights are represented by WME Independent and CAA Media Finance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: After working on the project for more than three years, Pete Davidson is taking on a \u201cdream…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88,21542,13954,244519],"class_list":["post-548964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-paul-walter-hauser","tag-pete-davidson","tag-tommy-karate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}