Romanzo Criminale - Season 2

SEASON 2 of this cracking Italian crime series continues where SEASON 1 had left off: with gang leader supreme ‘Libanese’ in the morgue and a rising power struggle as to who the new ‘King of Rome’ might be…

When previous gang leader Libanese (Francesco Montanari) became too careless for his own good we all knew his end would be nigh – indeed, in the cliff-hanger scene his life was brutally snuffed out in a hail if bullets. It’s now 1981 and the remaining gang are busy indeed: everyone’s hell-bent on finding Libanese’s killer and the race is on to appoint a new leader for the pack! At first it seems as if the ever loyal-to-the-gang-till-death-do-us-part Freddo (Vinicio Marchioni) might be the one though it’s precisely his stubborn ‘all for one and one for all’ attitude that will cost him dearly…
Meanwhile, Dandi (Alessandro Roja) begins to show his true colours although he still holds conversations with the deceased Libanese (in his mind of course). Not only does he demonstrate a skill for true leadership but also considerable skills for arrogance, betrayal, and always putting his own interests first. His more than dubious characteristics soon catapult him to the very top. Dandi’s ruthless attitude combined with smart business sense sets him worlds apart from his gang members. Whilst they begin to quarrel and grass each other up, super-grass Dandi always seems to have the last laugh, the flashest cars, the smartest suits, the most expensive apartment…

The tide is turning for sure as he falls out with the others due to his increasing selfishness. While Freddo and gang still try to find the culprit who killed Libanese it becomes clear that finding the murderer is not one of Dandi’s priorities. This in turn raises suspicion amongst Freddo and in particular loose cannon Bufalo (Andrea Sartoretti) who ends up in the slammer after a botched shootout during which Dandi took off and left him wounded and stranded.
Meanwhile, hopelessly idealistic Commissario Scialoja (Marco Bocci – without doubt the sexiest cop in TV history!) still firmly believes that he will bring the gang down despite corruption in the highest places and possibly even in his own department. He’s also still hopelessly smitten by Patricia (Daniela Virgilio), wealthy brothel madam and Dandi’s sassy on/off girlfriend. Patricia isn’t really in love with Dandi, she’s only in love with herself. However, she realises that he’s the only one who can provide her with the lifestyle she’s accustomed to and our brave hero Scialoja is once again left heartbroken when she announces that she and Dandi are about the get married. To be fair, she does have a thing for Scialoja though it would mean chucking her lifestyle plus her ‘praying mantis’ attitude overboard… and it won’t happen! In a somewhat bemusing scene the jealous Scialoja arrives at Dandi’s house with his colleagues and has the place searched high and low (without a warrant) for drugs, only so he can trample over the bridal decorations. Dandi, not to be outdone, has a slice of wedding cake sent to the shattered Scialajo, before his bodyguards shatter some of his ribs and reduce him to a man depending on his walking stick.

With individual gang members all doing stints in prison (some incredibly brutal scenes there!) and gradually turning against each other we know that things can get worse! More trouble is a–brewing when it emerges that an outsider is peddling heroin on the gang’s home turf. The situation soon escalates and now it’s the almighty Mafia and the Camorra which bring additional danger (and dead bodies) to the already fractured gang. When an icy new blonde called Donatella arrives on the scene the men’s loyalties are further jeopardized, and the body count quadruples in no time. To worsen things further, when Scrocchiazeppi (Riccardo De Filippis) gets out of prison he discovers that his wife has been cheating on him with his alleged best friend, fellow mobster Fierolocchio (Mauro Meconi). It is a discovery that’s bound to have deadly consequences, but for whom?

SEASON 2 spans almost a decade and ends at the early 90’s. Chartering those very years we see the gradual fall of what was once the most powerful and feared criminal gang in Rome. At the end everyone (well, almost everyone) gets what they deserve.
The central performances are compelling and frightfully realistic, while the plot is so full of twists and turns one can hardly keep up with the action. Brilliantly photographed and directed, Romanzo Criminale is compelling viewing and one of the finest (and darkest) crime dramas around!