Plot Synopsis

Narrated by Michael Imperioli and based on Selwyn Raab's book, "Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires," AMERICAN GODFATHERS: THE FIVE FAMILIES is a three-night event series that explores the inception, rise, and fall of New York City's five Mafia families who over a fifty-plus-year period had a hand in every facet of organized crime in America -- from bootlegging and drug trafficking to extortion and gambling. The series traces the extensive history of the Mafia beginning with its early ties to Sicily. In 1931, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, a Sicilian-born gangster, created The Commission which acted 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 an honor code or set of rules; the most important was omerta meaning "silence." For a generation, omerta, the key to the Mafia's success, kept the families safe from law enforcement and public view as they made millions through wartime, depression, and changes in legislation to seamlessly move from one racket to the next. Over time, the uniquely American values of greed and celebrity, coupled with the relentless pursuit by federal law enforcement, proved too great a match. From the heyday of Lucky Luciano, the 1963 Valachi hearings and the brutal and public slayings of Albert Anastasia, Joey "Crazy Joe" Gallo, Paul Castellano, and Carmine Galante, to name a few, to the media storm that ensued when Joseph "Big Joey" Massino flipped on his own family in 2005, the history and subsequent breakdown of the code coupled with the ever-changing violent power struggles within each of the five families is vividly chronicled throughout each two-hour episode. Through investigative archival images, footage, audio recordings, and recreation as well as new, candid on-camera interviews with authors including Raab himself, historians, experts, law enforcement, witnesses, and former mafia affiliates, viewers will get an inside look at the inner workings of the most powerful criminal organization of the twentieth century. AMERICAN GODFATHERS: THE FIVE FAMILIES debuted from 8-10pm ET/PT on three consecutive nights, beginning Sunday, August 11, 2024:

"Death of the Old Rules" (Sunday, August 11, 2024 from 8-10pm): Follows the American Mafia from their early development in New York City neighborhoods through Prohibition, to the boom days of the 1950's. It explores how public violence, involvement in the drug trade, and appearances at government hearings affected the families' operations and conflicted with their alleged code of honor.

"Rise of the New Dons" (Monday, August 12, 2024 from 8-10pm): This installment focuses on the deadly conflict between the Families' old guard and a new generation of younger, American-born, mobsters willing to defy the authority of the bosses and the long-established rules in order to fulfill their own ambitions of power, wealth, and revenge.

"The Last Don" (Tuesday, August 13, 2024 from 8-10pm): The finale shows how a decidedly new, more aggressive commitment by law enforcement to "eradicate" the mafia forces the families to find creative ways to stay in business and out of jail. But it's not as easy as it's been in the past and some are willing to throw it all away, once and for all.