The Gangster Chronicles


The Gangster Chronicles is a 1981 American crime drama television miniseries starring Michael Nouri, Joe Penny, Jon Polito, Louis Giambalvo, Kathleen Lloyd, Madeleine Stowe, Chad Redding, Markie Post, Allan Arbus, James Andronica, Robert Davi, Joseph Mascolo, and narrated by E.G. Marshall.

Overview

A historically-based crime drama about the lives of gangsters Bugsy Siegel, Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky. Covering seven decades, starting in 1907.

Cast

There were thirteen 60-minute episodes. Although there were 13 episodes, the entire series was only aired over 9 nights. The premiere consisted of the first 3 episodes. On two subsequent airings, there were 2 episodes shown on both nights with the other six weekly airings consisting of only 1 episode each.

''Gangster Wars''

Gangster Wars is a 1981 American crime film directed by Richard C. Sarafian and based on the original Gangster Chronicles telecast. The film tells the story of three teenagers, based on real life gangsters Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel and Michael Lasker , growing up in New York's ghettos during the early 1900s to their rise through organized crime.
This movie was a three-hour opener for the subsequent miniseries. In addition to the characters above Brian Benben's character is a fictional composite of several mobsters. While the miniseries covered seven decades, the opener takes us from 1907 to the Prohibition era of the 1920s. After its initial run, the entire Gangster Chronicles saga was boiled down to 121 minutes and released to videocassette as Gangster Wars.