THE REAL GOODFELLAS: "ROMANZO CRIMINALE"

The world is not enough for the Banda della Magia crime cartel in the epic Italian series ROMANZO CRIMINALE. Image: SKY ITALIA/CATTLEYA

Wanting a piece of the unique success pie that the BBC and CHANNEL 4 have shared in acquiring ground breaking foreign dramatic TV series, it's now SKY ARTS 1 HD's turn, as the channel exclusively bring us the lavish and highly acclaimed Italian crime drama ROMANZO CRIMINALE, starting tonight at 9pm.

Based on a popular book by Judge and screenwriter Giancarlo De Cataldo, and following on from an equally successful movie adaptation, this 1970's set true story tells the terrifying and bloodthirsty genesis of a notorious and highly dangerous Italian crime family, the Banda della Magia, who brought terror to their home country from within their base foothold in Rome: its society- almost family- members responsible for some of the most shocking and brutal acts ever committed at that time, ranging from extortion, drug trafficking, assassination, kidnappings, high stakes robberies and even terrorism. It's an empire that starts with just one man, simply known as The Libanese, whose dreams of power, and being at the top of the tree of the Italian crime dominion, come to fruition with the help of a motley, but no less equally fear inducing group of "talents" aiding him in his dreams (two of which are his childhood friends), within a heady and evocative backdrop world of the 1970s-meticulously realized by the shows production team in all its decadent high society mixed with ancient iconoclasm- of nightclubs and discos, drugs and women. Along the way, his band of unmerry men become icons of the very worst kind and are seemingly unconvictable whilst their bribery and corruption seeps into the very heart of the Italian justice and police systems trying to catch them. Even more shocking, the country's own Secret Service try to acquire them for specialized work!

Trailer: Romanzo Criminale la serie Trailer HD - YouTube

As the most successful TV series ever made in its home country, will ROMANZO CRIMINALE live up to the hype and achieve the same kind of kudos and popularity in the UK? Well, with a consistent cult film and TV audience that has lived and thrived on gangster epics like THE SOPRANOS, THE GODFATHER and GOODFELLAS, it has more than a strong chance of doing so and keeping such antagonists in firm demand for concrete overcoats. If slightly macabre, viewers continued interest and fascination in crime empires, and the extraordinarily evil people who live and die within them, looks unlikely to goes out of fashion...