The film portrays the FBI planting a listening device in a lamp in Paul Castellano's home while Castellano is on vacation in Florida. In actuality, an FBI agent posing as a television repairman planted a bug in Castellano's TV set with the unwitting assistance of Castellano's underboss Tommy Bilotti.
The character Joey Bazzini is based on the real-life Gambino crime family associate Joseph Iannuzzi, who operated bookmaking and loansharking operations in Florida for made man Tommy Agro. Iannuzzi became an FBI informant after Agro and two associates beat him almost to death with a baseball bat and tire iron when he fell several months behind in delivering payments to Agro.
Steven Bauer and Mark Margolis also appear in Scarface (1983), Breaking Bad (2008), Better Call Saul (2015).
Director Dwight H. Little and actor Daniel Benzali previously collaborated in Murder at 1600 (1997).