How to Watch and Stream ‘American Godfathers: The Five Families’ for Free

A new nonfiction documentary series titled “American Godfathers: The Five Families,” executive produced and narrated by Emmy Award-winning actor Michael Imperioli (“White Lotus,” “This Fool”), will air three consecutive nights beginning Sunday, August 11 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on the History channel, a division of A&E Networks.

Produced by Propagate and the Barnicle Brothers, this six-hour documentary series explores the origins, rise and fall of New York City’s five Mafia families. For more than 50 years, these families have been involved in every facet of organized crime in America, from bootlegging and drug trafficking to extortion and gambling.

Based on Selwyn Raab’s New York Times bestseller “Five Families: The Rise, Decline and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires,” “American Godfathers: The Five Families” chronicles the Mafia’s deep, dark history, beginning with its earliest ties to Sicily.

HOW TO STREAM ‘AMERICAN GODFATHERS: THE FIVE FAMILIES’ ONLINE FOR FREE

If you’re a cord-cutter or don’t have cable, you can watch “American Godfather’s The Five Families” online on one of the following streaming platforms and get it for free via a trial offer:

• Philo TV — Free 7-day trial. At just $25 a month, this is one of the most affordable streaming services.
• Direct TV Stream – 5-day free trial.

ON WHICH CHANNEL IS HISTORY ON?

If you’re watching on cable, check out “American Godfathers: The Five Families” on the History channel.

Using the channel finders here, you can see which channel History is on: Verizon Fios, AT&T U-verse, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum/Charter, Optimum/Altice, DIRECTV, and Dish.

NEW HISTORY CHANNEL SHOW INVESTIGATES THE MAFIA

It was in 1931 when Charles “Lucky” Luciano, a Sicilian-born gangster, founded The Commission, which served as the governing body for the American Mafia and appointed the original “New York Five”: the Bonanno, Gagliano, Luciano, Mangano and Profaci families.

They lived by a code of honor or set of rules, the most important of which was omertá, which means “silence.”

Omerta, the key to the Mafia’s success, kept the families safe from law enforcement and the public eye for a generation. They made millions of dollars through wars, depressions and changes in the law, allowing them to move effortlessly from one gang to another.

From the heyday of Lucky Luciano, the Valachi hearings of 1963, and the brutal and public murders of Albert Anastasia, Joey “Crazy Joe” Gallo, Paul Castellano and Carmine Galante – and others – to the media storm that resulted when Joseph “Big Joey” Massino turned his back on his own family in 2005, the history and subsequent collapse of the code, coupled with the ever-changing violent power struggles within each of the five families, are captured in crystal-clear detail in each two-hour episode.

Through archive footage, film footage, audio recordings and reconstructions, as well as new, candid on-camera interviews with authors including Raab himself, historians, experts, law enforcement officials, witnesses and former mafiosi, viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at the most powerful criminal organization of the 20th century.

A PREVIEW

THERE IS MORE

Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens and Chelsea Friedland are executive producers of Propagate and are produced by Propagate and the Barnicle Brothers.

Nick Barnicle and Colin Barnicle are executive producers for Barnicle Brothers. Michael Imperioli is executive producer.

Matthew Davis Walker is co-executive producer. Mary E. Donahue and Zachary Behr are executive producers for The HISTORY Channel. Imperioli is repped by Anonymous Content and Gersh.