Crime Story

Crime Story is an American television drama series crafted by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson. It debuted in 1986 and aired for two seasons on NBC. Michael Mann, who had previously worked on Miami Vice, served as the executive producer, leaving that series to focus on Crime Story and direct the film Manhunter. The series launched with a two-hour pilot, initially shown in theaters, which drew an audience of over 30 million viewers. It was initially scheduled to air after Miami Vice on Friday nights, maintaining high viewership. However, NBC later shifted it to Tuesdays at 10 pm, where it competed with ABC’s Moonlighting, leading to a decline in ratings and its eventual cancellation after two seasons.

Set in the early 1960s, before the Beatles’ rise, the series follows the intense rivalry between Lt. Mike Torello and mobster Ray Luca, each determined to bring the other down. Luca begins his criminal career with street crimes in Chicago, becomes a member of the Chicago Outfit, and is then dispatched to Las Vegas to oversee their casino operations. Torello, leading a special Organized Crime Strike Force, relentlessly pursues Luca. Both Torello and Luca, along with Torello’s friend Ted Kehoe, hail from Chicago’s “The Patch” neighborhood, also known as “Little Sicily” or “Little Italy,” a notorious area associated with the Forty-Two Gang. The show was both praised and criticized for its serialized storytelling, which unfolded a continuous narrative throughout the season, a departure from the episodic format typical of that era.