User Reviews

I notice a comment from Terri in the UK. I have the same problem. I want a copy of the original Gangster Chronicles - not the documentary sent to me from Amazon. This was still very good but, as Terri found, it was virtually 'news' clips and was NOT the original mini-series, as I remember it. As others have said - it was a proper history performed as portrayed by proper actors - such as Michael Nouri as Luck Luciano, Robert Davi as Vito Genovese and in particular Richard Castellano as Joe 'The Boss' Masseria. Can anybody out there tell me where I can get a copy? I cannot get, also, in the UK The Borgia Stick (1967) TV. and Timestalkers (1987) TV. Where do I go to get these please? RON DURY

Can anyone please tell me where I can find this show? The DVD depicted for The Gangster Chronicles is a documentary and not the drama that I saw back in the 1980s.

I have been trying to find it for years.

I will revisit this page so please leave a message if you know where I can get it.

Before I saw this show I had heard of Al Capone but never heard of Charlie Luciano and how he was the biggest mobster of them all.

(An interesting fact - he was responsible for getting the alies into Italy in the second world war).

The cast in the show are superb and it was the first time I had seen Jonathan Banks, who later found fame in Breaking Bad.

Ranking with the great mini-series of all-time (ROOTS, ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS, HOLOCAUST, BLIND AMBITION, BACKSTAIRS AT THE WHITE HOUSE, and MASADA), this was a superb retelling of the history of organized crime in America. Pretty much based on fact, but also loaded with a few fabrications, it tells the story of how Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky basically invented "the mob" in the early thirties which exists to this very day. Meyer Lansky, however, was still alive in 1981 when this was made so his name was changed to Michael Lasker and he was excellently portrayed as an adult by Brian Benben. Charles "Lucky" Luciano, played as an adult with solid charm and confidence by Michael Nouri, has his major source of revenue, prostitution, falsely seen as something he'd never be involved with. But, hey, this was TV in the 80's and NBC must've wanted to avoid censorship. And since the show almost made Luciano look like a guy who only became a criminal because it was the smart thing to do, if they'd shown him cleaning up as a pimp it would've been too much. Perhaps the most dynamic performance of THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES, though, was by Joe Penny as the adult Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. As Michael Lasker's boyhood friend he joins forces with Charlie and Michael as they drift from small-time hoods to underworld kingpins, though Bugsy was more of a muscleman than the mastermind who put the "organization" together. The first half of THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES features powerful narration by E.G. Marshall who ended every chapter by saying, just in case you thought these guys were heroes, that "Charlie Luciano, Michael Lasker and Ben Siegel were hardened criminals who lived by a cruelty that would someday destroy them." But the show is so entertaining you really will find it hard not to root for Charlie, Michael & Ben as they take on the real "bad guys" like Al Capone, Dutch Schultz and earlier, Joe The Boss Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. The rest of the cast was terrific including Richard Castellano as Joe The Boss, Madeline Stowe as Michael's wife, Kathleen Lloyd as Ben's wife, Allan Arbus as Charlie's youthful friend and cleaning store operator Mr. Goodman, Robert Davi as Vito Genovese, Markie Post as Charlie's onetime girlfriend, Jonathan Banks as Dutch Schultz, Louis Giambalvo as Al Capone, Jon Polito as Tommy Lucchese, James Andronica as Frank Costello, and Alex Rocco as a hood who uses similar lines in a dispute with Luciano to the ones he used as Moe Greene in THE GODFATHER, the greatest movie of all-time, by far. Shot down by weak ratings and NBC's favoring of the even weaker-rated (at the time) of the fabulous HILL STREET BLUES, it was a shame the show ended with so much left to tell in 1932.

I would like to see this mini-series again,(also I would like my boys to see this) I watched this round about 1981 possibly, it was when my children were small I used to get them into bed so I did not have any disturbance, phone would be left off the hook - it used to come on at 11.00 on a Monday night for 2 hours. I have seen a condensed version of the story but it does not have the characters in it who are in the mini-series. Me and my family loved this series we couldn't wait for the next Monday to come. I bought the Gangster Chronicles DVD on the ebay just before Christmas 2006 but its like a documentary thing not what I want, I wondered if there was anybody out there who has this series so i can watch it along with the rest of my family. This miniseries was great, you did not want to get up and make a cup of tea as I did not want to miss any of it. I like the Godfather but I preferred this because it showed you how they were when they were kids. thanks hopefully Terri.

superbly written and acted. easy to follow and engaging. i am a fan of the godfather trilogy but i like this better!!!! the only miniseries that i stopped what i was doing or rushed home to watch. michael nouri and brian benben were outstanding. basically you are drawn to the charators.

I watched this series when I was 13. I remembered I watched them all in one weekend and it was beta video tape format and guess around 12 tapes. As I have personal interest in Mafia movies and series I can easily say this is one of the best mafia series I have ever watched. Micheal Nouri , Joe Panny and Brian Benben was great and espeacially Johnathan Banks as Dutch Shultz was extraordinary. It was a true story of orginise crime in New York from 1900 to 1930's and foundation of orginise crime in USA. The hit of Joe Masseria in Coney Island restaurant and hit of Dutch Shultz in a phonebox was unforgettable scenes. You can not compare this series with now a days phenomenon Sopranos because yes Sopranos is really great however it is fiction but Gangster Chronichles based on a true story and events. I would be really happy to watch it again but there is no DVD or VHS format of the series is available anywhere.

Whether it was the TV company scheduling (or mis-scheduling!) but it seemed to me to stop in mid- action. Did you feel this? Just like 'Amazon' did! This was my first sight of both Joe Penny and Michael Nouri and I have followed with interest their careers from then to date. As an avid reader of all things Mafia styled this was the most authentic portrayal of that lifestyle until the more recent Sopranos and Goodfellas.Why have the TV companies never repeated this series? It would be a welcome change from some of the current dross that is being shown. The epithet 'Lucky' was given to Luciano after he survived a severe beating and left for dead in a wooded area, not as some say due to his gambling luck.

I own a VHS of the Gangster Chronicles from the mini series but I think I may be missing some episodes. I have about 5 hrs without commercials.

I just bought the Gangster Wars on DVD but its condensed to about 2 hrs.

The Godfather was great( at least 1 & 2) but The Gangster Chronicles is better in my opinion as they were real characters. I mean who really is Vito Corleone? Is it Luciano or Genovese or Anastasia?

My father got me interested in Gangster movies when I was a young kid as my father was born and raised in Brownsville,NY. My Grandfather was even involved in a shootout with Murder Inc.

I wish I could go back to the 20s and I would have ran sh*t

Effectively this film is the story of the mafia's coming to power in 1920's America. The film is not that bad. However, it loses a lot by depicting the main characters as being intelligent, friendly, loving men, never addressing the fact that these men were brutal cold blooded murderers.

How can I get or see 👀 this Siri's in its entirety I tried on YouTube but it didn't give me the whole series I would love to see the entire series can you help me do that sincerely yours Tyrone Neal !!! 👍🏾💕🌹👌🏾