[1][2][3][4][5][6] Viterelli was born on March 10, 1937, in New York City and grew up in a tough neighborhood on Manhattan's Lower East Side.
[2][3] Viterelli told Larry King that before he acted, "I had a couple of beer joints that I sold in New York and I came out here (in California) and I was looking around.
'"[1][5][6] Years later, Viterelli got a call from Penn's actor son, Sean, who was in New York City to make the 1990 gangster melodrama State of Grace.
[3] Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Viterelli had appeared in more than 40 movies, playing guys with such names as Nick Valenti (Bullets Over Broadway; 1994), Joe Profaci (Mobsters; 1991), Fat Tommy Carducci (What She Doesn't Know; 1992), Vinnie "The Shrimp" (Mickey Blue Eyes; 1999) and Fat Tony Ragoni (The Cure for Boredom; 2001).
[3] A year before his death, Viterelli was considered for a role as former Governor of Illinois George Ryan in a biopic Abby Mann attempted to make.
[1][3] Viterelli was able to convince De Niro and director Harold Ramis to cast him as Jelly after almost losing the role to a much younger actor.
[3] In a Larry King Live interview, Viterelli said that De Niro was the "(e)asiest man to work with in the world," and that Crystal was "the funniest guy I ever met in my life.
[9] Viterelli participated in a roast of Magic Johnson, during which he told a joke about finding the former NBA star handcuffed to a tree naked, just after he had gotten robbed.
He is survived by his wife, Catherine, and five children, including his son, the film composer Joseph Vitarelli, who spells his last name differently.