Godfathers Collection - The True History of the Mafia
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DVD details
Artist: Artist Not ProvidedBrand: A and E Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 300 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-01-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 71105
Studio: A&E Home Video
Product features:
- They were born in the foothills of Sicily. By 1924 their growing numbers and criminal activities had attracted the attention of Mussolini, who went about purging Italy of their secret society. America became their escape. In this stunning overview of the phenomenon known as La Cosa Nostra, THE HISTORY CHANNEL®, RAI International, and BIOGRAPHY® present six programs that fully unveil
DVD Reviews of Godfathers Collection - The True History of the Mafia
DVD Review: The story of Vito Cascio Ferro and others
Summary: 3 Stars
GODFATHERS COLLECTION: TRUE HISTORY OF THE MAFIA, is another release
from the History channel.
This series is a departure from the earlier ones, and although
valid, with a fair bit of footage, suffers from its accelerated,
lightening speed or "expedited" editing. It also struggles to weave
a common thread through 100 years of incidents by some many people
in so many circumstances. There is a lack of depth, and lack of deep
insight that only a well-read historian can tell, which is the case
on other works.
Still, the work's theory that the real powerhouse behind much of the
USA's original mafia was Don Vito, or Vito Cascio Ferro is
interesting.
This is the man who nominated first Joe Masseria, and then
Marranzano as his representative gang leader in the USA, before he
traveled himself to the USA and intervened personally at political
rallies using specially coded words intended for the immigrants in
American lands, to back their ethnic leaders to achieve political
critical mass, which in reality, was a call for obedience to him and
the underground, replicating what existing in the Old World.
Mussolini could not longer tolerate rival powers such as Don Vito
and so, he waterboarded and electrocuted the genitalia of known
mobsters to gain information, eventually getting a list of most, if
not all of the mob's members in Sicily, forcing an exodus to
America, to flee fascism.
At the same time, the story of the 2 original New Orleans powerhouse
families, the Provenzano's and Matranga's is told, the lynching of a
dozen incarcerated immigrants in detention, the $25k compensation
paid by the president to their families as compensation, and their
control over the sensitive dock operations there, for the produce
markets, which they ran as well. Gang strife for control over the
prostitution, gambling and other rackets resulted in 40 deaths in 2
years in 1891.
The film lays out Don Vito's terms: any declined orders will result
in death, and any favors granted are a debt to eventually be repaid
by the recipient upon demand at a future date.
It goes over the extortion racket, Enrico Caruso's (tenor)
cooperation with a NYPD officer, Giuseppe "Joe" Petrosino who
investigated the criminal backgrounds of those arriving in New York,
the streams of money financing those men and their operations, only
to be killed. A banker back in Europe, Di Bartolo, handles the money
laundering operations.
With the onset of WWI, the sulfur mines gain a new strategic and
economic role, for gun powder and explosives, as miners actually
toil naked inside, from a lack of proper attire, and the heat in the
shafts.
A segments goes over Colosimo's rubout in Chicago, from declining in
taking part in rum-running and booze smuggling, by Joe Torrio,
himself in turn almost murdered by the rival North Side Irish gang,
turning over then the reigns of power to his right hand man, Al
Capone.
With the bad publicity over the St Valentine bloodbath, Capone turns
to soup kitchens, attending baseball games with his kid, trying to
turn around his image in the papers. suggesting he's a valuable
economic force in the area.
The dynamic duo Meyer Lansky and Sal Luccania (Lucky Lucciano) gain
massive influence through a series of rubouts of their opponents,
slicing up New York into territories and assigning them to various
families so as to achieve a co-existence and profitability without
the earlier strife.
Vallachi, who rolls over, reveals the rituals and hierarchy of his
entire organization and its inner workings. The underground grows
even wealthier from the New Deal construction contracts awarded for
various projects, such as the Hoover Dam, as labor organizing, docks
and trucking operations, horse races and bookie businesses,
prostitution and protection rackets.
The film alleges Al Anastasia arranged to torch the troop carrier
Lafayette in the NY harbor, later leading to a deal with the Navy
spooks to collect information on any German U-Boats on open water,
and suspicious individuals hanging around the piers and docks, to
the point of arranging for mob bosses in taking the reigns of power
back again, as Mussolini and the Axis are removed from power in
Sicily in WW II, supporting the reconquest by Allied forces.
A bizarre anarchist, Salvatore Giuliano, with a dream of making
Sicily an American territory or State, wreaks havoc and bodies on
the island, agitating various crowds for his own purposes. Enrico
Mattei has a key role as politician, such as of dismantling AGIP the
oil company, but is rubbed out also for antimob beliefs and conduct.
Leo Vitale and Tommaso Buscetta area the exception in that they
rolled over, and broke silence on the island.
The 1980's are examined, with the rubout of the MD Michele Navarra,
who was acting head honcho, by Luciano Liggio, and then in turn by
Salvatore (Toto) Riina, the latter using dynamite and explosives on
a regular basis, at any time for any reason, against anyone anywhere
in the city, men, women and children included. Judges, police,
military are all targets, with over 150 casualties in the space of 1
year alone, including victims Giovanni Falcone (lead prosecutor),
his replacement Borsolini, the Italian banker Michele Sindona (money
launderer, who made Riini vulnerable from the cashflows being
traced), Stefano Bontate, etc.
From those behaviors, and total anarchy and chaos, mass media front
page news, the American underworld halts their business association
with their European counterparts, in America, resulting in the
latter creating their own retail distribution fronted by pizza
parlors for the narcotics product.
The work concludes with over 340 ring members convicted for their
participation in the underworld.
The movie does a decent job of covering so much news on a pair of
DVD.
Description of Godfathers Collection - The True History of the Mafia
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