Travolta to play mob boss John Gotti

LOS ANGELES, March 31 (UPI) -- John Travolta is to play late mob boss John Gotti in director Nick Cassavetes' big-screen drama, "Gotti: Three Generations," The Hollywood Reporter said.

Written by Leo Rossi, the film will be about the relationship between John Gotti Sr. and his son, John Gotti Jr., who allegedly ran New York's Gambino crime family on his behalf in the late 1990s when Gotti Sr. went to prison for racketeering. The elder Gotti died behind bars of cancer in 2002. He was 61.

The younger Gotti, now 47, was a defendant in four racketeering trials -- all of which ended in mistrials -- between 2004 and 2009.

The Hollywood Reporter said Gotti Jr. is expected to appear with the movie's producers, Travolta and Cassavetes, at an April 12 news conference in New York to talk about the film.

Travolta's screen credits include "From Paris with Love," "Hairspray," "Get Shorty," "Pulp Fiction," "Grease" and "Saturday Night Fever."