Joe Pesci Wonderful" (1982), "Easy Money" (1983) and "Eureka" (1983). In 1984, he was cast in "Once Upon a Time in America", again appearing alongside De Niro. The following year he starred as private detective Rocky Nelson in the short-lived television comedy series "Half Nelson". In 1988, Pesci appeared in the Michael Jackson musical anthology film "Moonwalker", in the film's sixth and longest segment, "Smooth Criminal." He played the antagonist, crime boss Frankie "Mr. Big" LiDeo (an anagram for one of the film's producers and longtime Jackson manager Frank DiLeo, with whom Pesci later acted in "Goodfellas"). He appeared as Leo Getz,
Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro every drug you've got". Made after "Taxi Driver", the film was a box-office failure. Its budget was $14 million, a large figure at the time, but it grossed only $13 million at the box-office and its disappointing reception and his breakup with Minnelli drove Scorsese into depression and further into drug abuse. In 1980, Scorsese made "Raging Bull", a film starring De Niro as an emotionally self-destructive boxer, the film following his journey through life, as the violence and temper that leads him to the top in the ring destroys his life outside it. De Niro won an Oscar for