Best Italian crime movies

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

Virgil Oldman is a world renowned antiques expert and auctioneer. An eccentric genius, he leads a solitary life, going to extreme lengths to keep his distance from the messiness of human relationships. When appointed by the beautiful but emotionally damaged Claire to oversee the valuation and sale of her family’s priceless art collection, Virgil allows himself to form an attachment to her – and soon he is engulfed by a passion which will rock his bland existence to the core.

An American tourist in Greece finds himself on the run after a tragic accident plunges him into a political conspiracy that makes him a target for assassination.

Marcello, a small and gentle dog groomer, finds himself involved in a dangerous relationship of subjugation with Simone, a former violent boxer who terrorizes the entire neighborhood. In an effort to reaffirm his dignity, Marcello will submit to an unexpected act of vengeance.

A gangster known as "Samurai" wants to turn the waterfront of Rome into a new Las Vegas. All the local mob bosses have agreed to work for this common goal. But peace is not to last long.

A gripping and chilling thriller that brings us to a hazy mountain village where an enigmatic detective is investigating the sudden disappearance of fifteen-year-old girl.

After old enemies kill his family, a former mafia enforcer and his feisty daughter flee to Milan, where they hide out while plotting their revenge.

After reuniting with his first mentor Bruno and receiving his latest mission, an exiled Ciro is left to fearlessly confront whatever comes his way, navigating a new chapter of gang warfare while grappling with devastating memories of loss and trauma. Weaving between his past as an orphan in Naples' cruel underworld and present as a hardened, cunning assassin with nothing left to lose, Ciro is plunged into the cold, dark depths of a world where immortality is just another form of damnation.

Bad Boy Bubby is just that: a bad boy. So bad, in fact, that his mother has kept him locked in their house for his entire thirty years, convincing him that the air outside is poisonous. After a visit from his estranged father, circumstances force Bubby into the waiting world, a place which is just as unusual to him as he is to the world.

A young opera singer is stalked by a deranged fan bent on killing the people associated with her to claim her for himself.

A bumbling government agent recruits a trucker whose gambling knowledge can help crack an illegal Florida operation.

When the family patriarch is murdered, seven women find themselves trapped together in his mansion to solve the mystery.

While Arturo tries to gain the love of Flora, he witnesses the history of Sicily from 1969 to 1992, miraculously dodging the crimes of the Mafia and supporting as a journalist the heroic struggle of the judges and policemen who fought this infamous organization.

Pietro Zinni is asked by the police to revive the old gang to create a task force that will stop the spread of smart drugs.

To rescue his daughter, an unstable Special Forces veteran unleashes his inner beast as he pursues her kidnappers — and soon becomes a suspect himself.

1960s, the city of Clerville. The forthcoming visit of heiress Eva Kant, who'll be bringing a famous pink diamond with her, catches the attention of Diabolik, the infallible and elusive thief whose real identity is unknown: while trying to steal the jewel, he finds himself bewitched by Eva's charm, a feeling she may be reciprocating. But the police, led by relentless Inspector Ginko, is rapidly closing in on him...

A burned-out New York police detective teams up with a college psychoanalyst to track down a vicious serial killer randomly stalking and killing various young women around the city.

Hapless Depression-era gangsters Al, John and Jack find out their boss wants to get rid of them and come up with a plan to sell him to the FBI, but Al's short-term memory loss could make it difficult.

In a tiny community enclosed by wheat fields, the adults shelter indoors, while six children venture out on their bikes across the scorched, deserted countryside. Exploring a dilapidated and uninhabited farmhouse, nine-year-old Michele discovers a secret so momentous, so terrible, that he dares not tell anyone about it …

A look at the controversial riot cops unit, told through the stories of three veteran cops and a young recruit.

On the night before his retirement, police lieutenant Franco Amore is called to investigate the death of a long-time partner of his in a diamond heist in which he was involved.

A gang of teenage boys stalk the streets of Naples armed with hand guns and AK-47s to do their mob bosses' bidding – until they decide to be the bosses themselves.

Best friends Peppe and Mario are thieves, but they're not very good at it. Still, Peppe thinks that he's finally devised a master heist that will make them rich. With the help of some fellow criminals, he plans to dig a tunnel from a rented apartment to the pawnshop next door, where they can rob the safe. But his plan is far from foolproof, and the fact that no one in the group has any experience digging tunnels proves to be the least of their problems.

Milan, Italy, 1967. Santo Russo, a boy of Calabrian origin, arrives north with his parents and younger brother to find better living conditions. Due to an absurd misunderstanding and his father's contempt, Santo ends up in prison, where he gets a “true education.” In 1978, he and his friends Slim and Mario embark on a 15-year criminal career, a successful and ruthless spiral of robberies, kidnappings, murders and heroin smuggling.

Ferdinando Cefalù is desperate to marry his cousin, Angela, but he is married to Rosalia and divorce is illegal in Italy. To get around the law, he tries to trick his wife into having an affair so he can catch her and murder her, as he knows he would be given a light sentence for killing an adulterous woman. He persuades a painter to lure his wife into an affair, but Rosalia proves to be more faithful than he expected.

After serving prison time for a juvenile offense, Freddo gathers his old buddies Libano and Dandi and embarks on a crime spree that makes the trio the most powerful gangsters in Rome. Libano loves their new status, and seeks to spread their influence throughout the underworld, while the other two pursue more fleshly desires. For decades, their gang perpetrates extravagant crimes, until paranoia threatens to split the friends apart.

A story set in the 90s and in the outskirts of Rome to Ostia. A world where money, luxury cars, night clubs, cocaine and synthetic drugs are easy to run. A world in which Vittorio and Cesare, in their early twenties, act in search of their success.

When a grandmother falls for a cheeky suitor with dubious intentions, her family devises a secret plan to protect her life — and their inheritance.

Near the end of WWII, a young bootlegger and his nightclub-singing girlfriend assemble a ragtag team for an dangerous heist: to steal Mussolini's treasure right from his headquarters.

Inspector “Flatfoot” Rizzo investigates crime and corruption in Naples.

Inspector Rizzo and Marshal Caputo go to Egypt and look for Professor Cerullo, who is missing.

Inspector Rizzo in Napoli gets a message from a policeman from South Africa who wants to meet him. Immediately before this meeting the South African policeman is killed. Dying he shows Rizzo a picture of his young son Bodo. Rizzo travels to Johannesburg to find out what the policeman was working on and to find Bodo.

Tangled up with blackmail and crooked cops, the son of a former gangster seeks out his father's old friends, who risk everything to save him.

Set in Italy in the 1970s, VALLANZASCA is the true story of the Italian underworld’s most infamous outlaw. A criminal by age 9, Renato Vallanzasca grew up to become the country’s most notorious mobster before the age of 27. Vallanzasca and his gang wrested control of the Milan underworld with a string of high profile robberies, kidnappings and murders. In the process, he captivated the public and earned the nickname ‘il bel Renè’ – for his devilish charm and handsome face. Arrested multiple times, his daring escapes from prison enraged the government, angered his rivals and fed his legend.

Felice returns to his native Rione Sanità in Naples to look after his dying mother, having lived abroad for the last forty years. Here he discovers that his old friend Oreste has become a notorious crimeboss.

Gino, a drifter, begins an affair with inn-owner Giovanna as they plan to get rid of her older husband.

Just out of prison, ex-con Ugo Piazza meets his former employer, a psychopathic gangster Rocco who enjoys sick violence and torture. Both the gangsters and the police believe Ugo has hidden $300,000 that should have gone to an American drug syndicate boss. Caliber 9 is the first part in Di Leo's "Milieu" Trilogy of poliziotteschi films. It was followed by "The Italian Connection" (1972) and "The Boss" (1973).

Two mismatched buddies are mistaken for mob enforcers in Depression-era America.

Following a bungled robbery, three violent criminals take a young woman, a middle-aged man, and a child hostage and force them to drive them outside Rome to help them make a clean getaway.

A posh couple experience car trouble on their way to a villa party and stop into a local mechanic's shop for assistance, unaware of his shady background. After he and his mentally challenged assistant fix the car, the couple invite them to the party to return the favor, leading to an evening of mayhem.

Belle Duke, in order to get revenge on her former lover Philip Bang, organize his jail break. But instead of Philip is the Italian Felice Brianza, AKAS Felix, to escape. Now Felix is obliged to help Philip to escape. He will succeeded and from that moment on the two will join to defraud Belle. The swindle plot become more complicate when Felix falls in love for Philip's daughter.

Diabolik narrowly escapes Inspector Ginko's latest trap, leaving his partner in crime Eva Kant behind. Furious, Eva offers Ginko her help in capturing him, but the former has to face first the return of an old flame of his, noblewoman Altea.

Francesca and Walter are two-bit criminals in Northern Italy, and, in an effort to avoid the police, Francesca joins a group of women rice workers. She meets the voluptuous peasant rice worker, Silvana, and the soon-to-be-discharged soldier, Marco. Walter follows her to the rice fields, and the four characters become involved in a complex plot involving robbery, love, and murder.

Pio Amato, a 14 year-old member of a small Romani community in southern Italian town of Gioia Tauro in Calabria, is in a hurry to grow up. Pio follows his older brother Cosimo everywhere and from him he learns how to hustle and how to navigate the streets of his hometown. One night Pio sets out to prove to his brother that he is as good or better than him but, when things go wrong, a series of events will forever change the way he sees the world.

Aging small-time conman Augusto works with two younger men: Roberto, who desires to become the Italian Johnny Ray, and Carlo, nicknamed Picasso. Through a series of mishaps and personal entanglements, things go badly for Augusto.

A former narcotics smuggler, now living peaceably in the Calabrian hills, is drawn back into his family’s drug-trade dynasty by his impetuous teenage son.

A prison drama where an old mobster and a prison guard must find a way to coexist so that imprisonment can become less so, and perhaps reveal the paradox that is behind the very concept of captivity.

A Lothario, in trouble for fooling around with a Senator's wife, becomes an unwitting witness to a mob murder. Police Lieutenant Parker tries to solve the case in enough time to take his long-suffering family on vacation.

On the run from his former employer, a reluctant hitman seeks refuge in an isolated village where he is faced with events that test the true nature of his conscience.

Policewoman Anna Mari is forced to play a dangerous game with the title serial killer. If she loses, she witnesses the maniac's tortured victims having their throats cut in explicit close-up detail via webcam. She teams up with British cop John Brennan to find out the identity of the murderer.

Cenerentola struggles to escape the shadow and evil schemes of her stepmother and six stepsisters who all live aboard the Megaride, a ship stuck in the port of a decaying future Naples.

Released from captivity in Vietnam, two American Army officers return to civilian life and discover they have acquired an insatiable taste for human flesh. A city is terrorised... as they stalk the inhabitants to satisfy their primitive appetites.

A chambermaid and a former cop meet at a speed dating event and a romance develops. But during a romantic getaway things suddenly take a turn for the worse when her mysterious past is revealed.

A group of desperate men, unsatisfied by their lives, decides to attempt a heist to a postal armored truck guard.

A bickering couple driving cross-country pick up a murderous hitchhiker who threatens to kill them unless they take him to a sanctuary. In return he agrees to split some bank loot he has on him.

Sicilian bandit Salvatore Giuliano's bullet-riddled corpse is found facedown in a courtyard in Castelvetrano, a handgun and rifle by his side. Local and international press descend upon the scene, hoping to crack open the true story behind the death of this young man, who, at the age of twenty-seven, had already become Italy’s most wanted criminal and celebrated hero.

A psychotic small-time criminal realizes that the everyday robberies, rapes and murders he commits aren't profitable enough, so he figures to hit the big time by kidnapping the daughter of a rich man.

For years, Andrei Evilenko eluded the obsessive Detective Lesiev and the psychiatric profiler Aron Richter. Spurred on by his rabid fury at the gradual crumbling of his precious Soviet Union, Evilenko is a man who will live, die and kill as a communist.

Carmine is a Neapolitan mafioso who isn’t cut out for the criminal life. Under the protection of his boss Pasquale, Carmine is sent north to run a money laundering operation through a restaurant. He simply needs to defrost frozen meals, issue receipts and dinner is served. But everything changes when he meets Consuelo, a chef who always pursues perfection and dreams of winning a Michelin star. Carmine hires her and decides to transform the establishment into a high-end restaurant. Could the love for food and dream of winning a Michelin star give them both a second chance?

Captured by a ruthless gang of bank robbers, foes Diabolik and Ginko find themselves facing certain death. While Eva Kant and Altea forge an unlikely alliance to rescue their lovers, Diabolik reveals his mysterious past to the Inspector.

On December 12, 1969, a bomb kills 17 people at the Piazza Fontana national bank in Milan, Italy, marking the beginning of the Years of Lead. Local anarchists are scapegoated for the massacre by police and the media, but a lone prosecutor uncovers a conspiracy of far-right groups, corrupt secret services, and other interests that seek to undermine democracy.

Mirko and Manolo are best friends and live in the suburbs of Rome. They both live in poor conditions with their single parents, are still in school and struggle with occasional odd jobs to make ends meet. Together they share dreams of women, of sex and money, of a better life to come. Then, after killing a man in a hit-and-run one night, they get involved with the local mafia and their lives change dramatically.

A Camorra boss fakes his own death in order to start a new life elsewhere with his family, but a nurse happens to see him alive and well after the funeral. A hitman is promptly sent to get rid of her, only to find out that she's his first and unforgotten love. He decides to protect her, becoming himself a target.

Gilda has long since moved to a small southern island and earns her living as a prostitute in a context suspended between retrograde traditions and modernity. During one summer, his destiny intersects with that of Olivia and Crocetta, two women from the area, the former a happy wife and the latter an ugly, unlucky wife. The three are forced by fortuitous circumstances to come together to save themselves but their behavior attracts the suspicions of Nino Malachia, a brusque police commissioner who is convinced that they are hiding something.

An unidentified fifteen year-old girl is found hanged after an anonymous tip-off. The girl, Silvia Polvesi, is soon discovered to have been murdered. A peeping tom is caught with photos of her having sex with a teenage drop-out but he is later released due to lack of evidence. The investigation, conducted by Inspector Silvestri and the assistant public prosecutor Vittoria Stori, focuses on the girl's parents. Conspiracies and horrors pile up, as do the body parts.

A teacher discovers his calling. Marco relocates to Palermo from Milan and takes a job teaching in a reform school while he waits for a high school position. He tries to understand and motivate his handful of students, reading them colloquial poetry, encouraging them to stand up for their rights, finding out about their histories. Natale, in for murder, enamoured of the Mafia, the King Rat within the group; Mery, a drag queen, arrested for assault when defending himself, in love with Mario and, in daylight, rejected by all; Pietro, illiterate, muscular, believing his destiny is set; the callow Claudio, vulnerable, learning to harden himself. What can Mario learn and do in such a short time?