The Making of the Mob: New York
| The Making of the Mob: New York | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Historical drama |
| Written by |
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| Directed by | John Ealer |
| Starring |
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| Narrated by | Ray Liotta |
| Theme music composer | Joe Eslick |
| Opening theme | "The Drifter" |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Stephen David |
| Producers |
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| Production locations | |
| Cinematography | Andrew Huebscher |
| Editors |
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| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | AMC |
| Release | June 15 – August 3, 2015 |
| Related | |
| The Making of the Mob: Chicago | |
The Making of the Mob: New York is an American television miniseries, and the first season of The Making of the Mob. It follows notorious New York gangster Lucky Luciano and his rise in the New York City crime mob, alongside Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, Bugsy Siegel, and Vito Genovese. It is produced by Stephen David and aired from June 15 to August 3, 2015, on AMC in eight parts.[1]
A ratings success, the series led to a renewal by AMC for a second season, subtitled Chicago, which documents the emergence of organized crime in the American Midwest through the rise and fall of the iconic gangster Al Capone.[2]
Plot
Opening Introduction (narrated by Ray Liotta, who narrated the entire series):
From the chaos of the New York City streets, rises a legion of visionary gangsters. Vicious killers and criminal geniuses determined to create their own version of the American Dream. Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Vito Genovese and Frank Costello form alliances and revolutionize the underworld. Over a 50-year period, these ambitious, young immigrants come together to form the American mafia. Making millions, killing thousands, and changing the face of crime forever. Their authority stretches across two continents, impacting global wars and creating empires.
Release
The first trailer, released on April 12, 2015, promoted the "8-part premiere event" and June 15, 2015 release date, and featured the tagline, "Lucky Luciano is the ruler of the most powerful criminal organization this city has ever known."[3]
The series premiered in Australia on
Arena on December 9, 2015.[4]
Cast
Main
- Rich Graff as Charles "Lucky" Luciano
- Ian Bell (actor) as Meyer Lansky
- Anthony DiCarlo as Frank Costello
- Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel
- Craig Thomas Rivela as Vito Genovese
Recurring
- Gus Zucco as Albert Anastasia
- Stelio Savante as Joe Masseria
- Umberto Celisano as Al Capone
- Roberto De Felice as Salvatore Maranzano
- Joe Bonanno
- Richard L. Adams as Ralph the Booker
- Adam Jonas Segaller as Thomas E. Dewey
- Sam Little as Abe Reles
- Louis Lepke Buchalter
- Christopher Morrow as Dutch Schultz
- Noah Forrest as Carlo Gambino
- Caleb McDaniel as Tommy Gagliano
- James Davenjay as Pete La Tempa
- Anthony Bisciello as Joe Profaci
- Gregory Cioffi as Tommy Lucchese
- Daniel Jordano as Vincent Mangano
- Sam McCrea as William C. Dodge
- Raffaela Perra as Igea Lissoni
- Jessica Brodkin as Lauretta Giegerman Costello
- Yeshe Pfeifer as Anna Genovese
- Rick Borgia as Older Lucky Luciano
- Rachel Whitman Groves as "Cokey Flo" Florence Brown
- Marija Skangale as Galina "Gay" Orlova
Interviews
Each episode features several interviews from celebrities, authors, historians and political figures.
- Rudy Giuliani – former mayor of New York City
- Selwyn Raab – author, Five Families
- David Pietrusza – author, Rothstein
- Meyer Lansky II – grandson of Meyer Lansky
- Michael Green – historian, University of Nevada Las Vegas
- Rich Cohen – author, Tough Jews
- Vincent Pastore – actor, The Sopranos
- Alexander Hortis – author, The Mob and the City
- Gay Talese – author, Honor Thy Father
- Richard Hammer – author, The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano
- Joe Mantegna – actor, The Godfather Part III
- Salvatore Polisi – former Mafia associate
- Chazz Palminteri – actor, A Bronx Tale
- Sonny Grosso – retired New York City Police Department detective
- Frank Vincent – actor, Goodfellas
- Thomas Dewey III – grandson of Thomas Dewey
- Frankie Valli – singer, The Four Seasons
- Oscar Goodman – former mayor of Las Vegas
- Ellen Poulsen – author, The Case Against Lucky Luciano
- Drea de Matteo – actress, The Sopranos
- Edward McDonald – federal prosecutor
- Edwin Torres – New York Supreme Court judge
- H.W. Brands – historian, University of Texas at Austin
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | US viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Education of Lucky Luciano" | June 15, 2015 | 1.18[5] | |
|
In 1931, "Lucky" Luciano calls the most powerful gangsters in the country to a hotel in Chicago for a meeting that will change the face of American organized crime. He gets rid of the "boss of all bosses" with a board of directors and creates the Umberto Valenti in the street. Even though his debt is paid, he is now under Masseria's control and gets into selling heroin. After Luciano serves a six months sentence in prison for dealing, Lansky sets up a meeting with gambler and racketeer Arnold Rothstein who teaches Luciano how to be a businessman. During Prohibition, they make a fortune with their bootlegging business. However, they must give Masseria a cut of their profits, causing Luciano to plan a hit on him. | |||||
| 2 | 2 | "Equal Opportunity Gangster" | June 22, 2015 | 1.10[6] | |
|
By 1928, Lucky and his gang are successful criminals bent on taking out the most powerful gangster in the city. However, their plans are halted when Rothstein is gunned down over a gambling debt. In the wake of his mentor's death, Lucky reads that the federal government is cracking down on gang activity and special task forces raid speakeasies and mob headquarters. This nationwide effort to take down mobsters was triggered by the actions of notorious gangster Al Capone with the capo di tutti capi and hires a hitman to kill those he doesn't trust, Lucky is at the top of the list. It's killed or be killed, so Lucky gets to the boss of all bosses first by having his men disguise themselves as IRS agents to carry out the hit. In less than five months, Lucky has just taken out the two biggest mob bosses and becomes the king of New York. | |||||
| 3 | 3 | "King of New York" | June 29, 2015 | 0.982[7] | |
|
After taking out the two most powerful mob bosses in the city, Lucky, now 34 years old, plans to seize control of the New York Mafia. He sends out an army of hit men to eliminate old regimes and in just two days mobsters are murdered, but he saves a select few as allies. One of these men is Joe Bonanno, who's not tied to the old Sicilian ways and makes him head of his own crime family. Lucky creates an organization that won't war with each other and turns to his homeland for his inspiration. He sets up a The Commission", a power-sharing group made up of heads of the Five Families who will run the Mafia instead of the boss of bosses. They have the final say on all mob matters, from dividing up territories to ordering hits, and feuds were settled in underworld court. To carry out the mob's approved hit list, Lucky hires a notorious gang of Jewish hit men that will come to be known as Murder, Inc., each with his own signature style of killing. And in just ten years, they will kill a thousand people with hundreds of murders remaining unsolved. Lucky faces his biggest threat from within; Dutch Schutz, known as the beer baron of The Bronx who isn't a part of the Five Families. When Schutz tampered with political elections, he caught the eye of assistant U.S. attorney Thomas E. Dewey. After seeing law enforcement agent Eliot Ness putting Al Capone in jail for tax evasion, he follows his lead and goes after Schutz on the same charge. With all this unwanted attention from J. Edgar Hoover and his Feds, Schutz plans to kill Dewey. But Lucky has to put a stop to the spotlight Schutz put on everything he built and organizes a hit on him. However, by taking his own man out, Lucky has put himself at the top of Dewey's most wanted list. | |||||
| 4 | 4 | "A Rising Threat" | July 6, 2015 | 0.937[8] | |
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After taking out Dutch Schultz, the New York mafia has eliminated the greatest threat to their power and is back in business. By 1935, Lucky, now 38 years old and his gang are living the high life as bosses, pulling in the modern day equivalent of over $100 million. Lansky turns his low-rent gambling dens into high-end establishments. Genovese's heroin racket pulls in millions but begins to run high stakes poker games, luring in businessmen and fixing it so he always wins. Siegel, the leader of Murder, Inc. carries out the assassination orders sent down by The Commission. Costello keeps the authorities at bay by paying off corrupt politicians and law enforcement. From his hotel suite at the wiretap, while Dewey organizes a city-wide raid to find Lucky. He escapes to his hideout in corrupt Hot Springs, Arkansas, but the search is widened to a nationwide manhunt. On April 3, 1936, a traveling New York detective recognizes Lucky, and after months on the run, the most powerful gangster is arrested. But he bribes the local sheriff who is unwilling to hand him over to Dewey and Lucky becomes Public Enemy Number One . A day later, Lucky is forced to surrender to the governor's state troopers. Back in New York, Lucky is out of bail facing charges of compulsory prostitution and plans his defense against Dewey for his trial on May 13, 1936 in Supreme Court. | |||||
| 5 | 5 | "Exit Strategy" | July 13, 2015 | 0.962[9] | |
|
On June 6, 1936, after years of eluding the law, Lucky takes the witness stand in Sing Sing Prison, Abe Reles begins ratting on Murder, Inc. This causes Costello to order a hit on him, tracking down Reles at the Half Moon Hotel in Coney Island , using his police connections to kill him. Meanwhile, Lucky is determined to get out of prison and his opportunity may come from a battle soon to be waged halfway around the world. | |||||
| 6 | 6 | "The Mob at War" | July 20, 2015 | 1.04[10] | |
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As Lucky remains in prison keeping his operations under control, he fears the other mob families will try to grab his power if he doesn't get out soon. Lansky and Costello search nationwide for the three prostitutes whose testimony put their boss away. They find the women, who escaped to California and go to a law office to sign a paper saying they lied in court. However, Dewey convinces the judge to dismiss the allegations and Lucky's appeal is denied. Dewey sets his sights on Louis Lepke of Murder, Inc., who the F.B.I. wants to arrest on a narcotics charge. An international manhunt is conducted, but he's in a Brooklyn basement, taking out witnesses so there won't be a case. After a year of searching, Hoover looks to Lucky to give up Lepke and has Lansky double-cross Lepke. He sends Albert Anastasia to convince him to surrender on lesser drug charges, giving Lucky the leverage he needs. Hoover brings Lepke into custody, arresting him for murder and he's sentenced to death in December 1941. Dewey campaigns to become the next governor of New York and Lucky is certain if he wins, he will sign his pardon. But a violent West Side docks, fearing the war has reached the city. To prevent sabotage on the waterfront, the government reaches out to Lucky, whose mafia controls 200 ports, and orders a lock down of the docks in the exchange to shorten his sentence. With Lucky doing his part in the war effort, in Forlì, Italy, Genovese strikes a deal with dictator Benito Mussolini by donating millions to his fascist party for the freedom to set up his heroin racket. In July 1943, the Allies invade Sicily and Genovese is on the losing side and switches, becoming a translator for the U.S. Army. When they find out he's wanted for murder, Genovese is brought back to America and thrown in prison on the witness account by one of his mobsters, Peter LaTempa . On January 15, 1945, LaTempa is poisoned in his cell and 4 months later the Allies claim victory in Europe. Lucky writes a letter requesting parole to Dewey, the newly elected governor, but after seven months, there's no response. The navy puts pressure on Dewey, but releasing Lucky would hurt his presidential aspirations, so he deports him to Italy. Forty years after he arrived in America a penniless immigrant, Lucky is forced to leave the country he considers his home and leave his criminal empire behind. | |||||
| 7 | 7 | "New Frontiers" | July 27, 2015 | 0.901[11] | |
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On February 28, 1946, after ten years in prison, Lucky Luciano is finally a free man. But he's been exiled to Italy, never to return to America. Living in hearings . Costello is called to trial and thinks he can outwit them, leaving an opportunity for Genovese to take him out. | |||||
| 8 | 8 | "End Game" | August 3, 2015 | 0.968[12] | |
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On April 19, 1951, a mob boss is violently removed from power when Miami Beach dying of old age in 1983 with only $37,000 to his name, but had millions in secret bank accounts. Luciano, Lansky, Costello, and Genovese, along with Bugsy Siegel left behind a legacy that forever changed America. | |||||
Reception
The Making of the Mob: New York received mixed reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the series has a score of 59 out of 100, based on 6 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[13] On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has a rating of 40%, based on 5 reviews.[14]
Brian Lowry of Variety writes, "The Making of the Mob: New York will merely remind fans of quality drama how much they miss Boardwalk Empire. The dialogue is generally muted underneath the narration and a positively abusive musical score, which never approximates anything less than a swelling crescendo."[15]
Kyle Anderson of Entertainment Weekly writes, "While the presentation can get a little stilted, Making is a relatively clear-eyed look at a still-gripping mutation of the American dream."
References
- ^ Evry, Max (April 10, 2015). "AMC Announces Premiere Date for The Making of the Mob: New York". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
- ^ "'The Making of the Mob' Renewed for Second Season + 'The West' Gets Straight to Series Order at AMC - Ratings". TVbytheNumbers.Zap2it.com. July 31, 2015. Archived from the original on August 3, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
- ^ Lacey Rose (January 10, 2015). "AMC Orders 'Making of the Mob' Docudrama". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
- ^ Purcell, Charles (December 3, 2015). "New This Week (Dec 7): 40+ new shows including Da Vinci's Demons, Grimm and live sport". The Green Room. Archived from the original on December 4, 2015. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (June 16, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 100 Monday Cable Originals (& Network Update): 6.15.2015". ShowBuzzDaily. Archived from the original on June 17, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (June 23, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 100 Monday Cable Originals (& Network Update): 6.22.2015". ShowBuzzDaily. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (June 30, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 100 Monday Cable Originals (& Network Update): 6.29.2015". ShowBuzzDaily. Archived from the original on July 2, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (July 8, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 100 Monday Cable Originals (& Network Update): 7.6.2015". ShowBuzzDaily. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (July 14, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 100 Monday Cable Originals (& Network Update): 7.13.2015". ShowBuzzDaily. Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (July 21, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 100 Monday Cable Originals (& Network Update): 7.20.2015". ShowBuzzDaily. Archived from the original on July 23, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (July 28, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 100 Monday Cable Originals (& Network Update): 7.27.2015". ShowBuzzDaily. Archived from the original on July 30, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (August 4, 2015). "SHOWBUZZDAILY's Top 100 Monday Cable Originals (& Network Update): 8.3.2015". ShowBuzzDaily. Archived from the original on August 6, 2015. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "The Making of the Mob: New York - Season 1 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
- ^ "The Making of the Mob: New York: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
- ^ Brian Lowry (June 12, 2015). "'The Making of the Mob: New York' Review: AMC's History Hybrid Misfire". Variety. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
