behind the scenes of the anti-mafia fight

NETFLIX – ON DEMAND – DOCUMENTARY SERIES

The weekend of the great summer crossover is certainly not the most conducive to television relaxation, but if the heat pushes to stay inside and turn on the set, it’s a safe bet that it is necessary browse the VOD platforms to find something to eat. That Something could very well be one of the last Netflix original creations, Fear City: New York against the Mafia, three-part documentary series – which makes it particularly digestible, and it’s not that common these days – devoted to the heyday, then the decline of the New York Mafia, from the early 1970s to the 1980s.

American history buffs know that this period was characterized by out-of-control violence in many metropolises across the country, combining race riots, an explosion of urban delinquency and organized crime. New York is the epicenter. This “jungle”, in which a handful of families with Italian names rule, serves as a backdrop to Fear City, which tells how the police and the FBI managed to knock off enough heads in the 1980s that the power of the “five families” receded in the city.

Adapt to the enemy

Trade unions, construction, small or large businesses, nothing at the time seemed to escape the tentacles of the Gambino, Lucchese, and other Bonanno. Lucrative, the business of extortion allows the godparents to lead great train. Those were the years of all excess: big cars, alcoholic evenings, unlimited powder. Opposite, disillusioned cops: “If we were lucky, we put one or two people in prison per year”, admits one of them. The legislative arsenal is only just beginning to integrate the fight against this type of crime: the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (or “RICO”), promulgated in 1970, still often comes up against the difficulty of gathering evidence against suspects.

Justice and the police would have to adapt to the enemy in order to launch large-scale operations: among the techniques developed at the time, that of wiretapping, which would prove to be decisive and allow numerous investigations to lead to prosecution. This is the angle, quite interesting moreover, chosen by the directors of Fear City to tell this story of cats and mice.

Among the techniques developed at the time, that of tapping, which will prove to be decisive and will lead to prosecution.

The means deployed in Fear City are substantial: to the licked images are added numerous audio archives (in particular the tapping in question, sometimes surprising) and especially strong testimonies – former police officers and FBI agents (including a few women, nice effort), in the front row -, even priceless, like those repentants, some of which come straight out of a Scorsese film.

This results in a well-executed documentary that is pleasant to watch, but which aligns the technical considerations, lacks context, is limited to showing without investigating, and sometimes seems to have left out the most interesting. Like, for example, the links of Donald Trump, who made his fortune in real estate, with the Mafia. Briefly mentioned, they could have been the subject of a separate section. If one is unfamiliar with the subject, it is likely that one will end up with the impression that you have not learned much more than the FBI techniques for putting a microphone in a car. Given the potential of the subject, it’s a shame.

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