Driving John Lennon

Set on the outskirts of Chicago’s notorious west side, filmmaker Vito Brancato’s old-world Italian cafe doubles as his production office and an authentic film set for his dark comedy series CAFÉ GANGSTER. The show revolves around a crew of local gangsters who use a coffee shop in Little Italy as a front for their criminal activities. Meanwhile, a bungling, sex addicted FBI agent stumbles upon their plan to smuggle Sicilian heroin in bags of espresso beans.

Brancato’s career in television has its unusual roots in the colorful world of professional wrestling. Vito cut his filmmaker teeth on Sportschannel’s (Fox Sports) CHICAGO WRESTLING as an editor, writer, director, producer and the villainous star performer Tony “The Razor” DiVito.

After a four year run, Vito parlayed his colorful ring persona into the half hour comedy TV program “The Razor Show” which garnered a cult following with Chicago viewers. The success of "Razor" led to a string of independent films and videos including a dramatic short film for PBS, BLACKSTONE about an assassination attempt on JFK in Chicago one year before Dallas.

Driving John Lennon is a short film based on Brancato’s screenplay OUR NIGHT WITH ELVIS. Vito ambitiously envisions OUR NIGHT as the "greatest rock and roll movie of all-time!"…a rock and roll fantasy about the night The Beatles and Elvis met.