Fear City: New York vs The Mafia

This article is about the Netflix documentary series. For the 1984 film, see Fear City.

Fear City: New York vs The Mafia is an American true crime docuseries about New York City's Five Families: the Gambino, Colombo, Bonanno, Lucchese, and Genovese crime organizations.^[1]

Fear City: New York vs The Mafia
Genre	Documentary True crime
Directed by	Sam Hobkinson
Music by	Paul Moessl
Opening theme	"Hard Times" by Baby Huey & the Babysitters
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	3
Production
Executive producers	Dimitri Doganis Bart Layton Adam Hawkins Jon Liebman
Producer	Bernadette Higgins
Cinematography	Tim Cragg
Editors	Julian Hart Tom Parsons
Running time	44–62 minutes
Production companies	Raw Television Brillstein Entertainment Partners
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	July 22, 2020 (2020-07-22)

Premise

The series is told from the point of view of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, detailing how the implementation of wiretaps were able to bring down the mob in the Mafia Commission Trial.^[1] The series, released on Netflix on July 22, 2020, also featured appearances from Donald Trump (in archival footage), Rudy Giuliani, Michael Franzese and John Alite.^[1][2]

Episodes

Season 1 (2020)

No.	Title	Directed by	Original release date
1	"Mob Rule"	Sam Hobkinson	July 22, 2020 (2020-07-22)
As New York runs amok, the mob operates with impunity, until a little-known law and some innovative surveillance tactics give federal agents a leg up.
2	"The Godfather Tapes"	Sam Hobkinson	July 22, 2020 (2020-07-22)
As the FBI takes daring steps to wiretap the heads of the five families, the new US Attorney for the Southern District of New York joins the fight.
3	"Judgment Day"	Sam Hobkinson	July 22, 2020 (2020-07-22)
In order to prove a conspiracy among the mafia bosses, the FBI tries to tie "The Commission" to a high-profile gangland murder.

Release

Fear City: New York vs The Mafia was released on July 22, 2020, on Netflix.^[3]

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 71% based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 7.25/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Compelling interviews and a slick style help Fear City entertain, but those already familiar with the case will find few new insights."^[4] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[5]

Reviewing the series for The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienberg said it featured "by-the-numbers storytelling with a law enforcement perspective" and wrote: "I wish there were more consistency to when and how the reenactment device is used, but there are general potholes of sloppiness throughout Fear City."^[2] John Anderson of The Wall Street Journal said the series "offers a skewed history of the investigations into organized crime in 1970s-80s New York".^[6]