Hollywood Crime Story: The Mob Takes Over the Movies, a three-part documentary series produced and directed by Tom Patterson, explores the historical relationship between organized crime and the film industry. According to Patterson, criminal elements have been present since Hollywood’s inception, with roots extending back to inventor Thomas Edison’s use of hired thugs to eliminate competitors in early motion picture technology. This conflict prompted eastern businessmen, largely Jewish entrepreneurs, to relocate westward and establish what would become the studio system. Simultaneously, Prohibition-era criminal syndicates including The Outfit in Chicago and the New York mafia were consolidating power, setting conditions for eventual overlap between organized crime and entertainment.
The first episode spans from cinema’s origins through the 1960s, documenting how Chicago mob figure Al Capone dispatched Johnny Roselli to Hollywood to explore business ventures. Roselli quickly integrated himself with industry leadership, including Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn, providing a half-million-dollar loan that enabled Cohn to consolidate studio control. The narrative includes figures such as Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Mickey Cohen, and Johnny Stompanato, along with accounts of mob influence over labor unions including IATSE and the Teamsters. Notable anecdotes include an assassination plot against Screen Actors Guild president James Cagney, which was reportedly forestalled by Paul Muni’s personal intervention with Capone.
The second episode covers the late 1960s through early 1980s, examining how organized crime evolved following the decline of the traditional studio system. Patterson notes that rather than diminishing, mob influence became more deeply embedded through legitimate business channels. Key figures include super-agent Lew Wasserman and lawyer Sidney Korshak, who operated within a network known as the Supermob or “Kosher Nostra.” This group controlled casting, financing, unionization, and various off-the-books transactions. The documentary credits their influence on The Godfather’s production, which was partly funded by Vatican banker Michele Sindona and received an unofficial greenlight from crime boss Joe Colombo.
The series argues that The Godfather’s cultural impact reshaped how both filmmakers and criminals operated, with mobsters subsequently adopting the film’s aestheticized portrayal of organized crime. The documentary concludes that the influence wielded by figures like Korshack and Wasserman fundamentally altered Hollywood’s economic structure, inadvertently facilitating the rise of the blockbuster era. The series ends at 1990, marking what Patterson describes as a natural conclusion with the concurrent releases of The Godfather Part III and Goodfellas.
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