justincward Good points: the acting is fine and the CGI period locations successfully evoke the sense that 'this is how it happened', even if it didn't. It's also useful to be able to put faces to names in the timeline of the growth of the US Mafia, which is confusing on the page. And Eliot Ness was indeed a hapless drunk who didn't bring Capone down at all.Bad points: the whole thing has a continuous chugging cello soundtrack, repeated use of the same establishing shots (no matter how long or far apart), and even use of the same incidental scenes and locations for completely different events. This reminds me of a really, really cheap cartoon series.Some of the talking heads are Sopranos actors - how this qualifies them to be authorities on the Mob escapes me - and combined with the music, the repeated cut scenes and Ray Liotta's intense narration (he left the Chicago series to someone just as mean-sounding) - makes the whole thing come across like Gordon Ramsay's Hotel Nightmares set in gangster Chicago or NY. "Al Capone must now run a huge criminal organization single-handed!!!" "Miraculously, Lucky Luciano survives!!!"Also, the actors, while they do a great job and have a vague resemblance to their counterparts, are simply too glamorous for a supposed historical series. The quickest Google of Mafia gangster images will tell you that these wise guys were singularly ordinary-looking, which helped them stayed under the radar. In this, Al Capone is a handsome heavy-set guy with dark eyes and a Roman nose, and Lucky Luciano is almost an Al Pacino lookalike (only tall). Naah.

shinningstar-82066 I rated this series a 10 because I loved the production of it in general. Being a history buff I was a little disappointed with this series crediting Luciano with creating the blueprint of the "Five Families" when it's well documented that Maranzano was the mastermind of that operation and that Luciano was the one to implement it.I was also confused when the narrator described Murder Inc. as being a group of Jewish hit men and not a mixture of Jewish and Italian hit men with the ringleader Albert Anastasia being Italian. There were a few other historical discrepancies however it wasn't to the point where I would lower my rating of the entire production itself because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm hoping there will be another installment of this series because there are so many early gangsters that have notoriously made their mark in carving out a piece of the American Dream and it would be nice to see their story told.This was an excellent series and I was so sad for it to end.

albertmartinez-33947 I don't get a chance to watch a lot of TV let alone a series, but this docuseries really had my attention. I'm sure it's not as accurate like others have mentioned, but for 8 weeks I enjoyed it and was entertained.Ray Leota's narration and voice was great. It really helped to add to the drama. I got a huge kick out of all the smoking the characters did. I mean almost every seen someone has a cigarette in hand. My favorite characters were Lucky and Mere Lansky.It's not straight out of the history books like I mention, but I enjoyed the wardrobe, automobiles, fancy hotels and tommy guns. Thanks AMC for putting this on!

Mafia Walking Tour Much of the storyline was based on "The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano" -- supposedly taken from the "diaries" of Lucky Luciano -- which has been proved to be nothing but fairy tales. When it was first published, the FBI stated, "This book has no value to the FBI or anybody for that matter" and "It is unlikely that a mob boss would keep a diary, and if he did, whoever possessed it would not be alive to write a book." The Chief of the US Narcotics Bureau in Rome state, "Martin Gosch (author) is untrustworthy, a liar and an opportunist." Yet Hollywood (and many "experts") still use this book as a basis for research and entertainment. ****Just a few facts from episode one: -The characters featured in the show did NOT use Tommy Guns. In fact, Tommy Guns were extremely rare in NYC. -Luciano DID NOT create the Five Families -- Salvatore Maranzano did. -Luciano, Lansky and Siegel did not meet Frank Costello and Masseria like shown in the episode. -Luciano did not start working for Masseria like shown in the episode. -Rocco Valenti was gunned down two days after the failed hit attempt on Masseria -- not "weeks later." And the hit was an ambush by eight gunman in front of John's Restaurant on 12th Street as Valenti showed up with two bodyguards to a sit down called by Masseria. A seven year old girl and a street sweeper were shot in the crossfire. Nothing like in the series. Plus there is no proof that Luciano pulled the trigger or was even present. -Luciano, a Sicilian, can not pronounce the word "Consigliere"? (The "G" is silent.) -Half of the "experts" interviewed could not even pronounce "Luciano" correctly. (It's Lu-CHI-ano") These are just a FEW of the many inaccurate things in the first 30 minutes alone of the first episode -- Don't expect it to get any better from here. Come take a tour of the real mafia history and learn about all the Hollywood misinformation out there.