LOGLINE: Frank Costello was known as the Prime Minister of Organized Crime because he eschewed violence and believed that all internal disputes could be solved through negotiation since, as he often said, there was enough money for everybody. Frank Costello’s story is the story of how organized crime got its start in New York City and then the entire US.
PITCH SYNOPSIS: Frank Costello’s story is a rags-to-riches epic dealing with the origin and growth of organized crime in the US. It is a drama built on greed, jealousy, trauma, and treachery. This is what we will see and learn from the script:
- How Frank’s gang joined forces with a gang headed by Lucky Luciano and a Jewish gang headed by Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel
- How Prohibition led to the gang’s enrichment and political influence.
- How Arnold Rothstein polished the gang’s manner of dress, behavior in public, and the
- How the gang assassinated the two Sicilian bosses in Little Italy
- How the gang forced Al Capone to go to jail after the Valentine’s Day massacre brought law enforcement heat on the gang’s operations
- How Lucky Luciano was framed by Tom Dewey and sent to prison
- How Dutch Schultz signed his own death warrant by wanting to rubout Tom Dewey
- How the gang was forced to turn over the leaders of Murder Inc. to the law
- How Frank excelled in his ability to bribe and influence officials
- How Frank came to be known as the Prime Minister of the Underworld
- How Bugsy Siegel got a loan from the mob to build the first Las Vegas casino
- How mob treachery led to the attempted assassination of Frank.
All this and more will be found in the script including the main characters of organized crime in the 20th century: Frank Costello, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, and Al Capone.
SCRIPT SOURCE: The script is adapted from the book “The Prime Minister of the Underworld” by George Wolf and Joseph DiMona. The request for the script came from a fellow whose father worked in Wolf’s law firm.
