It’s a killer combination. Mafia writer Nicholas Pileggi develops a screenplay populated by Italian “wise guys” with names like Tommy DeVito and Artie Piscano, who are big on family and bigger on racketeering. A notable director adapts Pileggi’s story for the screen. Robert De Niro stars, awards abound. In fact, it’s been a while since we saw this specific formula play out (Goodfellas in 1990, Casino in 1995), but the American public’s interest in well told cosa nostra narratives has hardly waned, if 2019’s The Irishman and AIR MAIL’s own podcast, Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli, are any indication. Now Pileggi and De Niro are back, this time with The Alto Knights, directed by Barry Levinson. This biographical drama follows the beef between 1950s Italian-American mob bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. Genovese puts a hit out on Costello; Costello survives, and decides to retire from his life of crime. De Niro stars as both predator and prey. —Jack Sullivan