His big break (but small role) came in the 1982 classic comedy film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", as a convenience store robber. In 1984, he appeared in "Beverly Hills Cop" as Mikey Tandino, a friend of Axel Foley who is murdered. That same year he starred in "The Cotton Club" and played small-time hood Bugsy in Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America". Russo's other big role was as a brutal rapist in the 1986 drama "Extremities", opposite Farrah Fawcett. He starred in the 1988 drama-suspense-thriller film "Freeway".