Variety apparently stopped its presses today to report the Earth-shattering news that--ready?--Robert De Niro is going to play a gangster next year. In fairness, it is kind of a medium-sized deal considering De Niro vowed to never again take a Mafia role in a film, but it looks as though Don Winslow's book The Winter of Frankie Machine is making it hard for him to keep his promise:

De Niro would play a Mafia hit man who has given up the game to become the proprietor of a bait shop. When he finds out that he's been targeted for a hit, he gets back in the business.

Winslow's work made the rounds in New York recently, sparking the interest of Tribeca (Productions). De Niro and (producing partner Jane) Rosenthal committed to the adaptation and, with the help of CAA, shopped it around to studios. ...

"He did say that (he wouldn't play a Mafia character)," Rosenthal told Daily Variety. "But along came Don Winslow, who created a perfect character. The lesson here is, never say never."

Lesson learned, although the plot summary does not indicate if Winslow's story follows the History of Violence vein or the "do not watch this" vein of De Niro's past mob comedies. However, Tribeca Productions has confirmed to The Reeler that Machine is indeed a drama (which kind of makes sense, considering its title's Man With the Golden Arm reference), which means that we can probably start speculating right now about De Niro's return to form, or perhaps his Oscar chances for 2007. It is never too early, is it?