The History Channel has just added a number of new titles to its future programming, and among these is Five Families, the non-fiction series that will take viewers into the past to show them the unseen side of New York’s organized crime and powerful mafia families. Emmy Award-Winning actor and producer Ray Liotta (Henry Hill in Goodfellas) will be executive producing the series along with Los Angeles-based Propagate.
The series is based on author and reporter Selwyn Raab’s book Five Families: The Rise, Decline and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires. Raab has won multiple awards for his chronicling and coverage of the Mafia and now his The New York Times bestseller, which was praised as "riveting history" by People Magazine, is getting adapted for the screen.
The series will take a profound look at the dramatic ascension and collapse of New York’s top five mafia families: Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese. For decades these families managed to elude and outwit the FBI while ruling over the city and building their underworld empire. The series will narrate the Mafia’s explosive growth during the 1920s Prohibition, its golden age of the 1970s and 1980s, all the way to the violent war with law enforcement which ultimately led to their downfall. Like in Raab’s book, the audience will most likely be seeing the rise and fall of infamous figures like Lucky Luciano and John Gotti.
Regarding the upcoming series and his partnership with the History Channel Liotta said: “Whether it’s power, money, status or living by your own rules at a time when the American Dream seemed out of reach for so many, there’s a reason why there’s so much public intrigue around the mafia and why it continues to be a pop culture mainstay. I’m excited to partner with The HISTORY Channel to tell the origin stories of New York’s five families, chronicling their rise to the top as well as their eventual demise while weaving together the historical significance of the times that allowed their power to carry on across decades.”
Along with Liotta, Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens are serving as executive producers for Propagate, and Michael Stiller is executive producing for The History Channel. A+E Networks, the company which owns The History Channel, holds worldwide distribution rights.
Five Families, which has no release date as of right now, will consist of eight 60-minute episodes.