Who is Frank Sheeran? Real Life Story

The Netflix movie The Irishman, which was screened for the first time at the New York Film Festival in September 2019, is directed by Martin Scorsese, a real master, and master actors such as Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci are in the cast. What makes this movie unique is that it tells the life of Frank Sheeran, who actually lived and worked as a mafia hitman for many years.

After returning home as a World War II veteran, Frank Sheeran, who suddenly got involved in dark jobs and continued these jobs for many years, confessed everything in an interview he gave near his death, and the book consisting of these confessions became the subject of the movie The Irishman. Let’s first take a look at the plot of the movie for those who don’t know, and then take a look at the life of the name Frank Sheeran, which is successfully described in the movie.

The Irishman movie plot:

• Year: 2019
• Genre: Crime , Biography, Drama
• Director: Martin Scorsese
• Stars: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci
• IMDb: 7.8

Long In The Irishman, which tells the life of Frank Sheeran, a loyal member of the Bufalino crime family for years, we follow the story that leads step by step to the murder of a union president. Some of the secrets of the secret world of the mafia come to light throughout the movie, which progresses with many flashback scenes.

A veteran who fought for hundreds of days, Frank Sheeran:

mafia hitman described in The Irishman, Frank Sheeran, on October 25, 1920 in New Jersey of the United States of America He was born in the state. The Sheeran family was Irish immigrant, Catholic, and working class. Growing up in Philadelphia in financial difficulties, Frank enlisted in the army when World War II began.

Frank Sheeran, who joined the US Army in 1941, was caught in the middle of intense conflicts after Pearl Harbor. In the midst of many important events such as the invasion of Sicily, the Battle of the Bulge and the German invasion, Frank fought for 411 days. Considering that the time a normal soldier spends in war is 100 days, we can understand the negative impact of this situation on Frank.

What does a soldier returning from war do?

After hundreds of days of fighting, Frank Sheeran was discharged home in 1945, got married and got a job as a truck driver. As a war-torn veteran, he was prone to violence. He committed his first crime by beating two men to death after an accident. The sequel came quickly.

Unable to earn much as a truck driver, Frank Sheeran started working with local loan sharks to increase his earnings a little. The event that changed his life happened in 1955. Having met the leading crime boss of the state of Pennsylvania, Russell Bufalino, Frank started doing important ‘work’ for the mafia from that moment on.

Member of both mafia and union:

Frank Sheeran, who started working for the Bufalino family, is also a member of a labor union called the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and even mentioned was one of its leaders. He had close ties to union leader Jimmy Hoffa and for him also did some ‘work’ against rival unions.

According to many, Jimmy Hoffa was an important mentor to Frank. But Frank’s allegiance changed when Hoffa was arrested on racketeering and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Deeply attached to the Bufalino family, Frank also established close ties with Frank Fitzsimmons, who succeeded Hoffa as union leader.

‘get out’ Hoffa:

When Jimmy Hoffa was released from prison in 1972, he found that the union was no longer viable. He started to do some work to regain his old power, but the new leaders and some officials did not want Hoffa to be in power again. Frank Sheeran, a hitman, was ordered to ‘take out’ Hoffa.

In 1975, Frank Sheeran and Jimmy Hoffa met at a home in Detroit. Frank fired two bullets into the back of Hoffa’s head and ‘pushed him out’. Talking about this situation, which is considered quite cruel for normal people, Frank Sheeran said that he felt nothing.

Frank Sheeran and his blood-curdling confessions:

All these details about Frank Sheeran and his work, written by Sheeran’s lawyer Charles Brandt, I Heard You We learn from the book Paint Houses. The Irishman movie was also adapted from this book. The name of the book comes from the phrase I heard that he paints houses, which means I heard he killed people in the language of the mafia.

Frank Sheeran openly confessed to murdering Jimmy Hoffa in this book. But that wasn’t his only confession. Frank said he killed 25 people in total. More interestingly, he said that US President John F. Kennedy was killed by the mafia, and that he even chose the death weapon himself.

How did Frank Sheeran die?

Unlike many names in the mafia world, Frank Sheeran died of cancer in a nursing home in Pennsylvania on December 14, 2003, at the age of 83. It has to be admitted that it is a very innocent ending for someone who is the murderer of dozens of people and maybe the instigator of many more.

We answered the question of who is mafia hitman Frank Sheeran, played by master actor Robert de Niro in The Irishman, and talked about the details you need to know about the life of this critical figure. You can share your thoughts about Frank Sheeran and The Irishman movie in the comments.