Martin Scorsese returns to the mean streets...

Martin Scorsese returns to the mean streets of NYC in April to shoot “Wise Guy,” the true story of life inside a Mafia family, for Warner Bros. The project re-teams the director with his “Raging Bull” producer, Irwin Winkler, who first optioned the book “Wise Guy” and several related articles by Nicholas Pileggi nearly a decade ago.

Ray Liotta (“Something Wild,” “Dominick and Eugene”) will star as Henry Hill, who rises from the lowest ranks of the “family” to a position that gives him access to high-ranking crime bosses. Eventually undone by rivals, he informs on his employers and enters the Federal Witness Protection Program. Scorsese and Pileggi co-scripted.

A spokeswoman for Winkler, acknowledging the TV series with the same title, said “Wise Guy” is only a working title: “It’s not a copyright problem because our material predates the series and a recent movie (Brian DePalma’s “Wise Guys”). We just don’t want people to be confused.”