Marlon Brando had said he had based his raspy voice portrayal of Don Vito Corleone in Le Parrain (1972) on Frank Costello's voice as heard from hearings aired on TV. Robert De Niro who also played a young Vito Corleone in Le Parrain, 2ᵉ partie (1974) goes full circle and portrays Frank Costello. However, in this film they stayed away Costello's raspy voice imitation.
This is the fifth collaboration between Barry Levinson and Robert De Niro after Sleepers (1996), Des hommes d'influence (1997), Panique à Hollywood (2008) and The Wizard of Lies (2017).
Real-life Vito Genovese and Frank Costello were portrayed in Barry Levinson's movie Bugsy (1991), in which Don Carrara portrayed Vito and Carmine Caridi portrayed Frank.
This movie was originally entitled "Wise Guys," which was almost the title for Les Affranchis (1990) even though it was spelled Wiseguy.
Reunites Robert De Niro with Kathrine Narducci after Il était une fois le Bronx (1993) and The Irishman (2019).