"Fear City: New York vs The Mafia"

Netflix trailer: https://short-link.me/15ALU

I thought they took the Mafia down in the seventies, after all didn't "The Godfather" come out in 1972? Weren't the seventies the heyday of Mafia movies? With made men testifying for the government in exchange for witness protection?

I guess not, according to this documentary, the Mafia was taken down in the EIGHTIES!

That's right, when the average punter could name the five families, they were still at it. Acknowledging the Feds like Tony and his paisans.

But the government was disorganized. That's one thing we've learned for sure in the past few decades, with the O.J. trial and so many more... If you've got money, you can hire attorneys who can run circles around those working for the government. After all, very few few see government work as the end all and be all. It's a stepping stone at best. Therefore, you get the young and inexperienced, which was the case in the trial against the Commission.

I'd love to tell you this documentary is well-made, a tour-de-force, but that is not the case. HOWEVER, we've all got this fascination with the Mafia, and it's all laid out here, the families and the FBI and Giuliani...

It all came down to a Cornell professor, who instructed the government on how to fight organized crime. They were suspicious, but they went along with it. The key was to create separate task forces and go against the head guys, the aforementioned Commission, via the RICO act! This professor had written it, the government did not know how to use it.

And how the FBI snoops...

That's really interesting. How they plant the bugs, how they build the case. Listening to hours of tape and figuring out the truth.

Not that these Mafiosi were dumb. They never left their houses empty. The heads of the families didn't write stuff down. And they controlled so much!

Like the concrete business in New York City. You marvel at how they could get away with it.

And you've got ex-Mafiosi who've served their time in prison explaining how the life was.

"Fear City" is not a huge commitment, only three episodes, but if you ever watched "The Godfather," if you ever had any interest in the Mafia at all, you'll dig it. Watch it.


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