Lucky Luciano

Inspired by real life events, ‘Lucky Luciano’ follows the infamous crime boss (Gian Maria Volonte) from the time he was pardoned after serving nine years of his 50-year sentence in the 1930s and 1940s, to his deportation to Italy. Once in Italy, Luciano is jailed for 10 years by narcotics investigator Charles Siragusa (playing himself in the film) who is trying to bring down a drug smuggling empire going from strength to strength. With ‘Lucky Luciano’ Rosi returns to his favourite theme, the connections between legal and illegal exercises of power (already present in films such as ‘Hands over the City’, also starring Rod Steiger). Rosi exposes the entanglement of the CIA and mob heroin-mongers during and in the years following World War II. Cast includes Edmund O’Brien, Charles Siragusa, Rod Steiger and Vincent Gardenia. The Italian-speaking actors are dubbed in English. Reference: San Francisco International Film Festival (1997). http://www.sfiff.org/festivals/1997/thefilms/html/bymaker_82.html