Pay or Die

Pay or Die
Film poster
Directed byRichard Wilson
Written byBertram Millhauser
Richard J. Collins
Produced byRichard Wilson
StarringErnest Borgnine
CinematographyLucien Ballard
Edited byWalter Hannemann
Music byDavid Raksin
Distributed byAllied Artists Pictures
Release date
  • July 27, 1960 (1960-07-27)
Running time
111 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,500,000 (US/ Canada)[1]

Pay or Die is a 1960 American biographical and crime film directed by Richard Wilson and starring Ernest Borgnine, Zohra Lampert, Howard Caine, Alan Austin, and Robert F. Simon.

The film is a dramatization of the career of New York City police officer Joseph Petrosino, a pioneer in the fight against organized crime in America. The film deals primarily with Petrosino and his Italian Squad's opposition to the extortion rackets of the Black Hand in lower Manhattan's Little Italy.

  1. ^ "Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety, 4 January 1961 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.