He's got that sense of danger, but it's not Channing Tatum,' Carlo had said at that time.

The US writer is thrilled to be working with Rourke.

'We hit it off beautifully. We're producing it together. We'll shoot in the spring in New York, New Jersey and Florida,' he said.

Kuklinski claimed to have murdered 50 vagrants before he turned 18, and then another 150 as a contract killer for several Italian-American Mafia families.

'Because it was bums, the police had no idea there was a serial killer on the loose. He used to use cobblestones, but he was getting gray matter on his clothes, so he stopped,' said Carlo.

Kuklinski was finally arrested in 1986 and died in prison 20 years later, aged 70.

Carlo's novel claims he was murdered by Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano, a Mafia member turned police informant.