Death Collector

A short-tempered neighborhood kid comes home to North Jersey, goes to work collecting debts for a local boss, and discovers he is better at making enemies than delivering the money. Ralph De Vito’s only film as director is a low-budget 1976 mob picture that would change Hollywood by accident: it is the first billed movie role for Joe Pesci and an early showcase for Frank Vincent. Robert De Niro saw their work here and took the print to Martin Scorsese; Raging Bull followed, and with it the Pesci–Vincent partnership that defined a generation of screen wiseguys. Joseph Cortese stars as the hothead enforcer Jerry Bolanti. Rough, regional, and unpolished, Death Collector is a time capsule of pre-Goodfellas street crime, and the reel that got two extras from New Jersey into film history.