Showtime Developing Series About Mafia’s First Family

If you were going to put together a new series based on the history of organized crime in America, we feel confident you really couldn’t do a better job than Showtime is currently doing. Granted, it’s still early days here, but the network is in the early stages of developing a series from Goodfellas and Casino co-writer Nicholas Pileggi, Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter (he also wrote and executive produced a little show called The Sopranos), and super-producer Brian Grazer. Sound interesting? Yes, yes it does.

Deadline broke the story, revealing that Showtime’s new series will be an hourlong drama, written by Winter and inspired by Pileggi’s work on the chronology of organized crime in America, “which is also the history of corruption in America – as seen through the eyes of the mafia’s First Family,” Deadline‘s Nelie Andreeva writes.

Before he was co-writing scripts with Martin Scorsese (and executive producing Scorsese’s epic The Irishman), Pileggi was a journalist who wrote “Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family” and “Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas,” which he ultimately adapted with Scorsese into Goodfellas and Casino. Teaming Pileggi with Winter seems like the perfect combination for a new mafia series, bringing in two heavy hitters to take on one of the most indefatigably interesting subjects in American history. Looking at America through a lens of endemic corruption has never seemed more fitting.

While there’s not much more info about the series itself, we all know how crucial casting is. The Sopranos is one of the greatest series of all time, and a huge part of that is the fact that, to a man and woman, the show was filled with brilliant performers. Boardwalk Empire was no slouch in the acting department, either, and considering their clout in the industry, one imagines that Pileggi, Winter, and Grazer will have their pick of talent when it comes time to start populating their new series.

Featured image: The Sopranos (P621) “Made In America” 03-22-2007. Director: David Chase DP: Alik Sakharov. Scene 61-63-65-67 (int) Holsten’s Diner. “The gang shows up for family dinner.” James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano), Edie Falco (Carmela), Robert Iler (Anthony Jr.). Photo Credit: Will Hart / HBO