The Raging Bull, Jake Lamotta's Troubled Later Years

Jake Lamotta is alive and well at 88 years old. Jake (Giacobe) was born on July 10, 1921 in New York's Lower East Side. Lamotta known as the "Bronx Bull" and the "Raging Bull" began boxing professional at the age of 19. Lamotta had over 100 fights in his professional boxing career. His professional record was 83 wins (30 knockouts), 19 losses and 4 draws. Lamotta is best remembered for his 6 fights with Sugar Ray Robinson. LaMotta won 1 out of the six legendary matches.

Lamotta won the middle weight championship by a technical knockout from the Frenchman Marcel Cerdan, on June 16, 1949. Lamotta lost the title to Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951. In the fight called the "St. Valentines Day Massacre", Lamotta had been so severely beaten that the referee had to stop the fight. Lamotta retired from boxing after losing his last fight to Billy Kilgore in 1954.

After leaving boxing Lamotta's life went downhill. The 1950's were troublesome for Lamotta. He bought a bar and nightclub in Miami Beach. His wife, the beautiful Vicki Lamotta divorced him after years of physical abuse. Later, Lamotta spent 6 months on a Dade County, Florida chain gang on charges of corrupting the morals of a minor.

Lamotta made a comeback in 1970 with the publishing of his autobiography "Raging Bull: My story." Lamotta performed comedy routines for many years. His comic career got a boost by the release of the 1981 film "Raging Bull." The film based on Lamotta's autobiography earned Robert Dinero an Oscar.

Tragedy struck Jake Lamotta in 1998. His son Jack who had worked for Lamotta died of cancer died in February. Lamotta' other son, Joe came up with the idea of "Lamotta's Tomato Sauce." Joe Lamotta was just starting to rebuild his life after serving 5 years for distributing cocaine. Jake and Joe Lamotta went to Geneva to examine the marketability of "Lamotta's Tomato Sauce" in July of 1998.

Joe Lamatta died aboard Swissair flight 111 on September, 2 1998. He was headed back to Geneva from New York when the plane exploded. Lamotta, who claims less than a million dollars in lifetime earnings, was the first relative to file suit. He filed a $125 million claim against the Boeing and the airline.

Lamotta still lives in New York. He will be 89 on July 10, 2010.

Sources

encyclopedia.com