Al Pacino's 1st Pics As Joe Paterno, Child Rapist-Protecting Football Coach

Here's one of the first pics of Al Pacino on a NY movie set as Joe Paterno -- the disgraced Penn State football coach who concealed the criminal actions of a serial child rapist.

Pacino is playing Paterno in an upcoming HBO movie about the Penn State scandal centered around PSU assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky, who habitually raped children at the Penn State athletic facilities.

Investigators later determined Paterno -- along with other PSU officials -- concealed information about Sandusky from University honchos and law enforcement.

Paterno -- who famously nearly/probably crapped himself during a televised football game in 2006 -- was fired in 2011, one month after Sandusky was arrested.