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John Santucci
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Miami Vice Characters
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Born
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November 8, 1940
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Died
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February 22, 2004 (age 63, Chicago, Illinois, cancer)
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Active
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1981-1995
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John Louis Schiavone (November 8, 1940 - February 22, 2004) was an American actor known as John Santucci. He appeared in the show Miami Vice as Dale Menton, Rabbi to and CIA liaison for Lao Li in the episode "Golden Triangle (Part II)", Charlie Fusco, an aide to Al Lombard who turned on his boss and went to work for Librizzi in the episode "Lombard", and Harry Grubbs, mobster who loaned $50,000 to Jack Crockett, then was paid back, then loaned it back to Jack in phony money in the episode "Jack of All Trades".
Career[]
Santucci was a jewel thief before he was hired by Michael Mann to appear in and be a technical advisor in the 1981 movie Thief (with Chuck Adamson, Dennis Farina, Willie Nelson and Tom Signorelli); Thief is notable for the extraordinary coincidences surrounding its cast, largely stemming from Mann's love of employing the right people for technical authenticity - Farina was a Chicago police officer before he became an actor and actually arrested Santucci while the latter was a jewel thief. Furthermore, the main heist in Thief, involving the use of a thermal lance to cut through a vault door, was based on a real-life robbery orchestrated by Santucci. Many of the other tools used in robberies throughout the film were also Santucci's own.
Mann also cast Santucci in his other 1980s series Crime Story (with Farina) as mob boss Pauli Taglia, then in his TV movie L.A. Takedown (with Scott Plank, Ely Pouget and Xander Berkeley). His other appearances were in Wiseguy and The Flash. His last recorded appearance was in 1995's Pointman.
Death[]
Santucci died in Chicago, Illinois, of cancer on February 22, 2004, at the age of 63.