Black Hand was a type of Italian extortion racket. Originally developed in the eighteenth century, Black Hand extortion was exported to the United States in the later nineteenth century with Italian immigrants.
Michele Placido is an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He began his career on stage, and first gained mainstream attention through a series of roles in films directed by the likes of Mario Monicelli and Marco Bellocchio, winning the Berlinale's Silver Bear for Best Actor for his performance in the 1979 film Ernesto. He is known internationally for portraying police inspector Corrado Cattani on the crime drama television series La piovra (1984–2001). Placido's directorial debut, Pummarò, was screened Un Certain Regard at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Three of his films have competed for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. He is a five-time Nastro d'Argento and four-time David di Donatello winner. In 2021, Placido was appointed President of the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara.
Vito Cascio Ferro or Vito Cascioferro, also known as Don Vito, was an Italian criminal who was a prominent member of the Sicilian Mafia. He also operated for several years in the United States. He is often depicted as the "boss of bosses", although such a position does not exist in the loose structure of Cosa Nostra in Sicily.
Vampire in Venice, also known as Prince of the Night and Nosferatu in Venice is a 1988 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Augusto Caminito and an uncredited Klaus Kinski, and starring Kinski, Christopher Plummer, Donald Pleasence, and Barbara De Rossi. The story follows Professor Paris Catalano (Plummer), who travels to Venice following the trail of the last known appearance of Nosferatu (Kinski), who was seen at Carnival in 1786. Catalano learns through a séance that the vampire is seeking eternal death, and tries to put an end to its existence once and for all.
Joseph Petrosino was an Italian-born New York City Police Department (NYPD) officer who was a pioneer in the fight against organized crime. Crime fighting techniques that Petrosino pioneered are still practiced by law enforcement agencies.
Caliber 9 is a 1972 Italian poliziottesco film written and directed by Fernando Di Leo and starring Gastone Moschin, Mario Adorf, Barbara Bouchet, Philippe Leroy, Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli, and Lionel Stander.
Contraband is a 1980 poliziotteschi film directed by Lucio Fulci.
The Day of the Owl is a 1968 Italian–French crime drama film directed by Damiano Damiani, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Leonardo Sciascia, adapted for the screen by Damiani and Ugo Pirro. It stars Franco Nero, Claudia Cardinale, and Lee J. Cobb. Set in a small Sicilian town, the story follows a Carabinieri chief investigating a murder, hampered by the deep-seated presence of the Mafia that perpetuates a culture of silence.
Luigi Cozzi is an Italian film director and screenwriter. At a young age, Cozzi became a fan of science fiction and began his career as an overseas correspondent for Western film magazines. After directing his first film The Tunnel Under the World, Cozzi befriended director Dario Argento and began working with him in film and television as well as directing his own features including Hercules as well as continuing work with Argento. In the 2010s, he returned to directing with the film Blood on Méliès' Moon.
Philippe Leroy-Beaulieu was a French actor. He appeared in over 150 films from 1960, and worked extensively in Italian cinema, as well as in his native country. He was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor for his debut performance in Jacques Becker’s The Hole (1960), and for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for playing the title role in the Italian miniseries The Life of Leonardo da Vinci (1971). He was previously a decorated paratrooper in the French Foreign Legion, where he served in the First Indochina War and the Algerian War.
Laura Belli is an Italian actress and singer.
Pay or Die is a 1960 American biographical and crime film directed by Richard Wilson and starring Ernest Borgnine, Zohra Lampert, Howard Caine, Alan Austin, and Robert F. Simon.
Trastevere is a 1971 Italian comedy film. This is the first and only film directed by actor and screenwriter Fausto Tozzi. The film was heavily cut by producer Alberto Grimaldi, who cut the roles of Umberto Orsini, Martine Brochard, and Riccardo Garrone.
Counselor at Crime is a 1973 Italian-Spanish crime film directed by Alberto De Martino and starring Tomas Milian, Martin Balsam and Francisco Rabal.
Gang War is a 1971 criminal comedy film written and directed by Steno and starring Carlo Giuffré, Pamela Tiffin, Vittorio De Sica, Aldo Fabrizi, Jean-Claude Brialy and Salvo Randone.
Stephan Talty is an Irish American journalist and author born in Buffalo, New York (state) to parents from County Clare. He is famous for creating the character of Abbie Kearney, a fictional female detective who pursues serial killers in Buffalo, New York. He also co‑wrote A Captain's Duty, about the 2009 hijacking of a ship by Somali pirates.
The Black Hand: The Epic War Between a Brilliant Detective and the Deadliest Secret Society in American History is a non-fiction book written by Irish American author Stephan Talty, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on 25 April 2017.
The Son of Black Eagle is a 1968 Italian historical adventure film directed by Guido Malatesta and starring Mimmo Palmara, Edwige Fenech and Franco Ressel. It was inspired by the historic success of Riccardo Freda's Black Eagle and Revenge of Black Eagle.
This is a list of organized crime in the 1900s, arranged chronologically.
