There also Murgia established a relationship with the wife of a Belgian coworker and escaped death that fatal night of the Marcinelle mining disaster, in which a gas explosion killed all the miners on his shift, including the woman's husband.

Murgia returned to his hometown, Oristano, but was forced to emigrate to Rome in order to escape the wrath of the family of another young woman which he wooed despite both of them being already married.

In Rome he began working as a dishwasher in a restaurant in the city center (Il re degli amici, the king of friends) until he was noticed by an assistant of the director Mario Monicelli, who invited him to the studio for an audition, after which he was given the part of "Ferribote"—a corruption of the English term "ferry boat", referring to the ferry that connects Sicily to the mainland—an extremely jealous and possessive Sicilian immigrant.

The movie was originally calledLe Madame—-slang for "policeman"—before censors required the film to be retitled I soliti ignoti, or The Usual Unknown, released in the US as Big Deal on Madonna Street.

He had found himself a job at a construction site at Ponte Milvio, when the production team miraculously tracked him down to give him a contract and an advance of ten million lire.