‘Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia’ Doesn’t Glamorize the Bad Guys

Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia
Preview
Courtesy of Netflix / 2020

Talk about an offer you can’t refuse: a docuseries about the mob’s rule in New York during the ’70s and ’80s that doesn’t glamorize the bad guys.

“We approach the story from the point of view of law enforcement,” says Sam Hobkinson, who directed the limited series Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia with “a panoramic view” of the era.

“From the wise guys in local social clubs running small-time shakedowns right up to…the attorneys and politicians dealing with the problem. They were all linked.”

That link is the Five Families — the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese gangs — who infiltrated nearly every aspect of business going back to the 1930s.

Fear City

(Credit: Courtesy of Netflix / 2020)

Through archival footage, never-before-heard recordings and new interviews, Fear chronicles the local and federal government’s scheme to bring these thugs to justice, resulting in a true-crime tale as suspenseful as any fictional goodfellas flick.

Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia, Docuseries Premiere, Wednesday, July 22, Netlfix