A beautifully rendered, fact-based crime film about a crusading Italian policeman battling Black Hand extortionists in New York’s Little Italy is back on the big screen. In addition to Ernest Borgnine’s brilliantly sensitive portrayal as Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino, this engrossing picture is deftly photographed by Lucien Ballard, beautifully scored by David Raksin with a stellar supporting cast including Zohra Lampert and Alan Austin. Literate, suspenseful and emotionally moving, this memorable film remains the definitive depiction about the emergence of the Mafia in America.
Acting
Borgnine's quietly devastating Petrosino — tough, tender, doomed.
Cinematography
Ballard's shadow-drenched Little Italy feels lived-in and urgent.
Score
Raksin's music swells without ever overwhelming the grit.
Director
Richard Wilson
Ernest Borgnine
Police Lt. Joseph Petrosino
Zohra Lampert
Adelina Saulino
Robert F. Simon
Police Commissioner
Robert Ellenstein
Luigi Di Sarno
Howard Caine
Enrico Caruso
Barry Russo
Lupo Miano (as John Duke)
Vito Scotti
Officer Simonetti
John Marley
D. Caputo, Ragman
Alan Austin
Johnny Viscardi
Sheryl Deauville
Girl attacked in Laundry Scene by Mafia
Margarita Cordova
Lupo's Girl
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The real Joseph Petrosino was America's first Italian-American police lieutenant, assassinated in 1909. His case remains officially unsolved.
Released the same year as Psycho, this flopped commercially — audiences wanted Hitchcock's thrills, not historical moral complexity.
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