Ralph De Vito (a screen writer/director), was approached by some investors to produce a low-budget mob drama film he had written, “Death Collector”. It was Ralph’s first effort as a director. The film was about a neighborhood kid who goes to work for the mafia as a debt-collector. Local guys were cast, amongst them Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent (Joe and Frank’s first appearance in a movie). After seeing Pesci and Vincent in “Death Collector”, Martin Scorsese cast both of them in “Raging Bull.” In 1979, Ralph and I formed “De Vito Brenner Productions” to produce 30-second television commercials for entrepreneurial municipal bond firms.