If you thought good old-fashioned gangster action, hit men, people seeking bloody retribution for wrongfully-offed comrades, and the use of phrases like "rubbed out" were all just the dramatic devices of classic cinema anymore, you were wrong. These things still happen in New York City. Sometimes to people we've heard of.

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, who famously bit part of a guy's ear off in 1997, has been accused of paying $50,000 to have two men killed, possibly connected to the murder of his friend and bodyguard, whose nickname, by the way, was "Homicide."

Tyson denies any involvement at all. Deliberations at the federal trial begin this week.

Fun fact: growing up as a delinquent in Brooklyn, Mike Tyson had been arrested 38 times by the time he was 13. Another fun fact: Did we already mention he bit part of a guy's ear off back in 1997?

Image: Still from Godfather, Paramount Pictures