Unseen Films: American Godfathers: Five Families (2024)

The History Channel series The Five Families is excellent. The series is six hours long and covers the history of the Mafia in America in an informative and entertaining way.

Chances are you’ve seen this story told a few times and in many different ways, so it’s hard to make one that doesn’t seem dated. Five Families succeeds in not being dated.

I think the reason the show works is that it does what most recent retellings haven’t done, and that is tell the whole story in one go and give an overview of the important points. No, it’s not really detailed and yes, it leaves a lot out, but it gives us a great sense of the whole story from its creation to its recent downfall in the days after John Gotti. Personally, it was nice to have it all together after watching so many docs and shows about the different aspects.

To be honest, I didn’t plan on watching the show, but flipping between innings during the Met game on the first night drew me in and I ended up watching the show the next two nights, even rewatching the parts I had seen before.

The real crime comfort food and is recommended