Criminal Underworld Codes
Crime stories where the real plot is the rules. Some are old-school mafia. Some are modern assassin guilds with hotel policies. But the theme is the same: there is a code, and breaking it costs blood. If you like your violence organized and your loyalty expensive, you’re home.
The Picks
The mafia movie that became the mafia blueprint. Family, power, and the slow realization that everyone is trapped in the code.
Official synopsis
Spanning the years 1945 to 1955, a chronicle of the fictional Italian-American Corleone crime family. When organized crime family patriarch, Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life, his youngest son, Michael steps in to take care of the would-be killers, launching a campaign of bloody revenge.
A charming fraudster runs circles around the FBI. It’s crime, but with charisma, momentum, and surprisingly tender moments.
Official synopsis
A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor. An FBI agent makes it his mission to put him behind bars. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit.
Honorable Mentions
A Black detective infiltrates the KKK by phone, and his colleague does the in-person part. Funny until it’s not.
Official synopsis
Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.