Julius R. Nasso

While attending college in 1974, Nasso founded Universal Marine Medical Supply, Co. (UMMSC).[1] In 2014 Nasso was reportedly in the process of selling the company.[1]

In 1977, Nasso and his college professor Dr. Satish Patel formed Tishcon Corporation, one of the nation's largest private labeling vitamin and health supplement manufacturing plants, headquartered in Westbury, New York. In 1978, along with Xavier Roberts, he capitalized on the worldwide Cabbage Patch craze by opening the Cabbage Patch Babyland General Hospital Store, formerly located on 41st Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan. At Babyland General Hospital Nasso met Steve Ross, then CEO of Time Warner, who became instrumental in Nasso's acquisition of an overall production deal at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California.

In 1980, while continuing his career in pharmaceutical distribution, Nasso accepted a position as a personal assistant to director Sergio Leone.[1] Under Leone, Nasso worked on the New York portion of Once Upon a Time in America (1984),[1] and participated in the development of two films: In God's Name and Saint Peter's Banker. At this time, Nasso began to attend courses and seminars in film production at Cinecittà Studios in Rome, Italy. From 1981 to 1983, while still developing projects with Leone, Nasso went on to produce a television pilot for a Fox TV show entitled "Behind the 8 Ball,” starring Jerry Orbach, John Amos, and Jimmy Baio.

Nasso's next venture was as Head of International Promotions for the action film Above the Law (1986). This led to a 17-year producing partnership with Warner Brothers Studios, where Nasso was responsible for producing a series of action blockbusters including: Hard to Kill (1990), Marked for Death (1990),[1] Out for Justice (1991), Under Siege (1992), On Deadly Ground (1994), Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995), The Glimmer Man (1996), Fire Down Below (1997) and The Patriot (1998).

After his 17-year tenure at Warner Brothers Studios as a producer, Nasso returned to New York and co-founded Manhattan Pictures. He then produced and distributed Enigma (2001), starring Kate Winslet, Secret Lives of Dentists (2001) and In Praise of Love (2001), a Jean-Luc Godard film. In concurrence with Manhattan Pictures, Nasso founded Julius R. Nasso Productions, which produced award-winning films including: Prince of Central Park (2001), starring Kathleen Turner, Danny Aiello, Cathy Moriarty, Jerry Orbach and Harvey Keitel; and One Eyed King (2001), starring William Baldwin, Dash Mihok, Armand Assante, Jason Gedrick, Connie Britton, and Chazz Palminteri.

Nasso's most acclaimed achievement is his production of Narc (2002), starring Jason Patric, Ray Liotta, and Busta Rhymes, which was nominated for the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Award and won the Special Prize Policier Award at the Cognac Film Festival in France. Following Narc, Nasso produced In Enemy Hands (2004), starring William H. Macy, Til Schweiger, Lauren Holly, and Scott Caan; and The Poet (2007), starring Roy Scheider and Daryl Hannah, and Nina Dobrev.

Since 2006, Nasso has been working as Harry Belafonte's producer on a number of projects including Sing Your Song (2011) and Another Night in the Free World. Sing Your Song is a biographical documentary that surveys the life and times of singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte. Another Night in the Free World will be Nasso's first movie documentary promoting nonviolence.

Nasso has produced multiple films premiering in 2013, including Nailed (2013), starring Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel; Squatters (2013), starring Academy Award winner Richard Dreyfus and Thomas Dekker; Split Decision (2013), starring Brendan Fraser and Dominic Purcell; Pride of Lions (2013) starring Louis Gossett Jr. and Bo Svenson; and Getaway (2013), inspired by the Steve McQueen hit of the same name, starring Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez and Jon Voight.

Nasso has recently teamed up with Whoopi Goldberg to produce The Christmas Pearl, based on the bestselling novel written by Dorothea Benton Frank and scheduled to be released Christmas 2014.

Nasso is a 20-year Directors Guild of America member and a highly respected philanthropist, having been honored by countless civic leaders and institutions for his tireless charitable works. He recently co-founded Belafonte Arts and Media, located in Manhattan, has multiple movie projects in development. As of August 1, 2013 he sold his former company UMMSC International to Unimed Holdings.

Nasso was involved in a six-year legal battle with his former longtime collaborator Steven Seagal after their business relationship ended in 2000. The two had been "best friends", according to Seagal, and formed Seagal-Nasso Productions together, but their relationship eventually became strained. Believing that Seagal owed him $3 million in compensation for backing out of a four-film deal, Nasso enlisted members of the Gambino crime family to threaten Seagal in an attempt to recoup money Nasso allegedly lost. Gambino family captain Anthony Ciccone first visited Seagal in Toronto during the filming of Exit Wounds in October 2000.[3] In January 2001, Primo Cassarino and other gangsters picked up Seagal by car to bring him to a meeting with Ciccone at a Brooklyn restaurant. At the meeting, Ciccone bluntly told Seagal that he had a choice of making four promised movies with Nasso or paying Nasso a penalty of $150,000 per movie. If Seagal refused, Ciccone would kill him.[4] Seagal, who later claimed that he brought a handgun to the meeting, was able to stall Ciccone and escape the meeting unharmed.[5] Ciccone and Cassarino again visited Seagal at his home in Los Angeles the following month.[6] In the spring of 2001, Seagal sought out another mobster, Genovese crime family captain Angelo Prisco, to act a "peacemaker". He visited Prisco in prison at Rahway, New Jersey and paid Prisco's lawyer $10,000.[7]

On March 17, 2003, Cassarino, Ciccone and others were convicted of labor racketeering, extortion, and 63 other counts under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.[8] Seagal testified for the prosecution about the mobsters' extortion attempt.[9] Nasso pleaded guilty to the charge of extortion conspiracy in August 2003 and, in February 2004, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, fined $75,000 and ordered to take mental health counselling on release from jail.[10] He had been described by prosecutors as a mob associate.[7]

Nasso agreed to drop a $60 million lawsuit against Seagal for an alleged breach of contract when the two settled out of court in January 2008.[11]