Retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective Gary Jenkins sits down with actor, writer, director, and Gravesend creator William DeMeo to discuss bringing 1980s Brooklyn mob culture to the screen. DeMeo discusses growing up around Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Mill Basin, and Dyker Heights—Brooklyn neighborhoods where organized crime figures were part of the landscape. Those memories helped shape Gravesend, his television series centered on Benny Zerletta and the world surrounding him.
William explains how his acting career began with a small role in A Bronx Tale, where Robert De Niro selected him from the extras, gave him lines, and helped him earn his SAG card on his first project. He eventually moved into writing, directing and producing his own films and television.
They also discuss the impressive Gravesend cast, including Chazz Palminteri, Armand Assante, William Forsythe, James Russo, Dominic Chianese, Vincent Pastore, Tony Danza and Shaquille O’Neal. Gary and William explore why audiences remain fascinated with Mafia stories, why The Sopranos became a cultural phenomenon, and how Gravesend attempts to capture something beyond organized crime—the social clubs, pizzerias, bakeries, churches, stoops, families, cars, clothes, and street culture of 1980s Brooklyn.
William DeMeo also explains why he doesn’t want to glamorize organized crime. Gravesend portrays prison, broken families and the consequences that accompany the life, while still functioning as entertainment and a nostalgic trip back to old Brooklyn.
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