Lenny Montana
| Lenny Montana | |
|---|---|
Luca Brasi, as portrayed by Lenny Montana in The Godfather.
|
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| Birth name | Leonardo Passafaro |
| Born |
March 13, 1926 Brooklyn, New York |
| Died | May 12, 1992 (aged 66) Lindenhurst, New York |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Lenny Montana Lenny Passaforo Len Crosby Len Montana Chief Chewacki The Zebra Kid |
| Billed height | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) |
| Billed weight | 235 lb (107 kg) |
| Billed from | San Francisco, California |
| Debut | 1953 |
| Retired | 1972 |
Lenny Montana (born Leonardo Passafaro; March 13, 1926 – May 12, 1992) was an American actor, who played the role of feared hitman Luca Brasi in The Godfather. Prior to becoming an actor, he had a successful career as a professional wrestler as well as an enforcer for the Colombo family.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York City in 1926 of Italian-American heritage. He was fluent in both English and Italian. His wrestling career began in neighboring New Jersey in 1953. He wrestled under the Zebra Kid gimmick, and was billed at the height of 6 foot 6 inches. It wasn't long before Montana found success. Along with Golden Terror, he won the New Jersey Tag Team titles on April 4, 1953. Lenny began to travel on the road, wrestling in the Midwest. He soon won the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship, defeating Dave Sims on October 1, 1953 in Kansas City. However he lost the title on December 11, 1953 to Sonny Myers, who had held the title a previous three times before defeating the Zebra Kid. His final success of the 1950s came in 1956, winning the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship with Gene Kiniski, defeating Herb Freeman and Ray Gunkel on September 18 in Dallas under the alias Len Crosby. He also worked as a bouncer during this time to earn extra money.
By the late 1950s, Montana was on the road with the Carnival Circuit as a wrestler. As a popular wrestler within the circuit, Montana met the then unknown Eddie Sharkey in 1960. The two struck up a friendship. After seeing what Sharkey could do, Montana recommended that he try his hand at professional wrestling. Montana also clued in Sharkey on the then-unacknowledged truth about professional wrestling, that all the outcomes are predetermined. Later on in that year, Montana won the NWA Texas World Tag Team titles with Joe Christie, under the Len Crosby name. Then with Hard Boiled Haggerty, he won the AWA World Tag Team Championship on October 4, 1960, defeating Stan Kowalski and Tiny Mills ( wrestling as Murder Inc.) in Minneapolis. But in a match against Verne Gagne, Montana suffered a broken leg, forcing Haggerty to choose a new partner. After recovering from his injury, in 1961 Montana began to wrestle in Florida. He came to the Tampa Bay area and began to wrestle under The Zebra Kid alias. At his great size, he would often pin his opponents in under one minute. The Zebra Kid had a notable feud with Eddie Graham; their battles sold out Fort Homer Hesterly Armory many Tuesday nights in 1961. Things came to a head when Montana defeated Eddie Graham in a NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Georgia version) title match on May 1, 1962. On November 23, 1962, he won the NWA (Georgia) Southern Tag Team Titles with his partner Gypsy Joe, defeating 'Grizzly' Jake Smith and Luke Brown. Montana then went on to form a powerful partnership with Tarzan Tyler, in which they would win three titles. First, the NWA International Tag Team Titles on April 9, 1963 defeating Ted Evans and Chief Little Eagle, then again winning the NWA International Tag Team Titles later in June 1963, defeating billed champions Chief Little Eagle and Dick Steinborn. Finally, the duo won the NWA World Tag Team Championship in Georgia, during October 1963, they defeated Karl Von Brauner and Kurt Von Brauner. Montana was due to be Gorilla Monsoon's tag team partner in 1964, but it never happened due to Monsoon becoming partners with The African Savage at the last minute. Lenny had been interested in acting, and was meeting with casting agents in Los Angeles at the same time he was due to team up with Bison. Montana began to wrestle less and less, and went into semi-retirement; however he appeared in matches up until his acting career took off in the early 1970s.
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