Al Pacino joins Gotti mobster drama

Pacino famously played Michael Corleone in the Godfather films

Al Pacino has become the latest actor to join the cast of a new film about infamous American mobster John Gotti.

The 71-year-old will play Neil Dellacroce, part of the Gambino crime family, in Gotti: Three Generations, set to begin shooting later this year.

The film, directed by Barry Levinson, marks the Godfather star's return to the world of dynastic organised crime.

John Travolta will play John Gotti Sr, the so-called 'Teflon Don' who died of throat cancer in 2002.

Travolta's wife Kelly Preston will take the role of Gotti's wife Victoria, while Lindsay Lohan is lined up to play his daughter-in-law Kim.

Joe Pesci - whose won an Oscar for his mobster role in GoodFellas - will also star in the movie, according to production company Fiore Films.

"There's this whole thing about fathers and sons that plays through this piece," said Levinson, who recently worked with Pacino on TV movie You Don't Know Jack.

It is not known who will play John Gotti Jr, though the Rain Man director has suggested the role might go to "someone that we may not really know".