Il capo dei capi

After I bought this series on DVD and watched the first episodes, I found myself glued to the television, and finished the 4DVD set in two days. Riveting stuff! The Series follows 4 young boys from the town of Corleone. Two of these are celebrities like Toto Riina and Bernando Provenzano, eventual leaders of the Cosa Nostra, and the hero Biagio Schiro – who in the face of Mafiosi turns to the straight and narrow path (something of a rarity in the mafia stronghold of Corleone). Biagio vs Riina drives the story throughout the better part of 50 years and it is a classic case of cat and mouse.

The Main characters and the people connected to them (wifes and children) are well developed. I quite often found myself in the mindsets of both Schiro and Riina, and the actors portraying this pair did a great job. The only character I felt lacked something was Provenzano. He was a very important figure to the corleonesi-cosa nostra but is not as prominent as one would expect. However, acting, directing and dialogue are top notch in general. The hours just fly by! I particularly enjoyed the scenes between Schiro and Boris/Falcone, where there is some much needed comic relief and nice one-liners.

Don't get scared by the Italian, put the subtitles on and enjoy one of the best mafia tales of the 00's!

Truth & fiction Having read the John Dickie's Cosa Nostra I found the Corleone series a bit disappointing.The main reason is the introduction of the fictitious police officer Bragio Shiro. Unfortunately a most common interspersing strategy in series based on a true story. In this case the trick did not function very well in my opinion. Too much of the story was focusing on the relationship between Schiro and Riino from an early stage, and then later Falcone and Schiro. A series that started out most promising ended up in irritation on my account. A rating of 4 points are all I'm willing to give.

Terje Ådland Bergen Norway..

Having been very fortunate to spend over five years living and working in Italy with my family I look out for 'Italian' series and found in Corleone an amazing storyline that took in events that I even remember! The story line is full of twists and turns and by starting with four young lads and telling their life stories I was (and still am) glued to my television. The two main characters of Toto Riina and his once best friend Schiro Biagio completely captivate you and the 'one step ahead of the other' storyline is spellbinding. You are completely engrossed in the various plots and to even imagine the horror going on around the lives of the Sicilian/Italian people is for us Brits, unimaginable! Loved it.

Firstly, if you are looking for the early story of Corleone, the godfather. This isn't it. Secondly, if you can find it, the version I got was almost unwatchable for first few seasons (unless you speak fluent Italian) the subtitles available are completely out of synch. Finally, there are more plot holes/gaps than bank station. Enjoyable in so many ways but could have been so so much better.

A TV series I liked after a long time. Watched it on TV as a 12 part series. Engrossing from the beginning. They could have easily made it a much longer series as there are so many stories within the story it its the editing and streamline presentation which makes it that's much more intense. Not being Italian had to use the subtitles which I think is more beneficial as you tend to have to concentrate and hence enjoy it more. Also not being Italian I didn't realise notably that these were based on real events but got the clues when I started to see real clippings from TV news etc. The acting from all the central characters is so laid back and real that you'd be forgiven if you thought they were the real characters. The direction is good and does justice to such a difficult story and like I said earlier the editing was the key and a job well done. Occasionally story flow seemed disjointed but I almost felt like it added to the whole charm. A must watch series !