I have been able to catch up on episode three of Romanzo Criminale second series but to appreciate the significant developments I need to recap and revise what was written before. The fictitious crime drama series does follow actual events in Rome
’s crime history and the role of corrupt politicians, officials including the Security Services and secret bodies. The Crime gang whose history is featured in the two series was in fact a combination of two gangs of young men who dreamed of becoming big time and eventually controlled drug distribution throughout Rome, leading the high life of fast cars and gambling but also attempt to establish themselves through financial investments.
The first series ended with the leader of the combined group known as Lebanese who was rejected by his mother because of his criminality and is gunned down and suspicion falls on two brothers, why I cannot remember or if it was disclosed who killed him.
The first two episodes of the second and final series deals with the aftermath of the killing. Towards the end of series one Lebanese had become wild and unstable and with the second in command attempting to go straight because of a serious relationship with a young woman who had previously been the girl friend of his brother who he had worked hard to keep in college and out of trouble. The impact of the girl turning to Freddo led the brother to dropping out of higher education and taking drugs.
The death of Leban and the instinctive need for revenge results in Freddo abandoning plans to leave Rome with Roberta and to become unofficial leader. The gang are not members of the Mafia but have an arrangement as they have had with others including contact with the security services. What I am not sure is the extent to which Dandi the third of the most familiar of gang members was involved with a Mafia take over of Rome drug distribution. As his nickname suggests he is a young man with a liking for fine things especially Patrizia originally a high class beautiful whore but now runs a whore house for him with the help of her male gay companion so he can have her all to himself.
The complication is that the police detective Commissario Scialoja has a grand passion for her and she had shown interest in him. His hands are not clean and is regarded as a Communist sympathizer because his sister was part of a communist action group and who arranged to leave Italy when she was about to be arrested.
The Commissario picks up Freddo’s brother and holds him in jail knowing that there will be an attempt to get to him by enemies of Freddo and that Freddo will be forced into action. Freddo’s attempts to protect his brother in jail while he gets his lawyer to seek the release fails and the young man is beaten up and susceptible to pressure from the Commissario and agrees to wear a wire and attempt to trap his brother. This does not work and Freddo sends his brother packing.
Freddo is also at sixes and sevens with Roberta infuriating her when he abandons the trip away but she then gives him an alibi for the killing of one of the brothers thought responsible for Libanese‘s death. Later when she appears to waiver he sends her away knowing what he has to do and the likely implications, especially with the Commissario hot on his trail.
The second series opened with a flash back to how Libanese and two other formed the nucleus of their gang as boys. There is anger when they discovers that Libanese’s cars have gone and when they discover they have been taken by his father he is given the opportunity to save himself not by getting back the expensive ones but the Mini which they used in the early days. This is then pushed down a mountainside so that no one else can use the vehicle.
They also insist on the immediate liquidation of his assets in order to provide a funeral fit for a king but his mother rejects the money and one of his closest friends steals the coffin which he places in the best available so he and the other have a wake. They do this with special food and drink before returning the coffin to the mother and attending the formal funeral where the Commissioner also attends.
The police take the other brother to stop him being killed by the group and to test for evidence of his guilt but the secret power group delay returning the findings but let Freddo see a copy in order to enable the group to get their revenge and settle things. Freddo then agrees that Dandi as the driver and two other should undertake the assassination of the other brother once he is released from custody. When this starts to go wrong Dandi freezes from putting himself in the firing line to pick up the under fire other two who are wounded with one taken into custody. Dandi returns to Patrizia to lick his wounds having been approached to take over the gang by other interests. However he may not have bargained that one of the two others getting, an original friend and associate of Lebanese, getting away.
Freddo also tracks down to person who sold the brother the drugs and finds that she is a feisty female who points out the brother was an established addict in need and that she is best local distributor than all the others. Freddo’s makes enquiries and puts her in charge of the area previously managed by the Libanese much to the anger of another of the gang with whom the Roman group had previous problems.
In the third episode which moves the story significantly forward, the wounded Bufalo gets help and swears revenge of Dandi who abandoned them. This is backed up by the other member who is in police custody. Freddo refuses to sanction action against Dandi but instead orders him to kill the remaining brother in hospital. When the heavily guarded villain regains consciousness and looks as if he will survive the Police Commissario cuts a deal to save his life if he will provide evidence against Freddo and the rest of the Roman Gang, Her agrees but insists that neither he or his brother killed Lebanese. Freddo orders Dandi to take out the brother as his punishment and the price of protecting him against Bufalo. Dandi asks for help form I assume the Mafia (possibly his secret services) and they agree on the understanding that he will do a favour when next asked.
A fire at the hospital puts everyone including the police off guard and the murder suspect appears to have committed suicide jump out of the ward balcony. The Inspector had also failed to get direct help with the allocation of more men to watch the gang members in order to track down Bufalo. The Commissario presses the head of the anti drug squad to provide the men but they fail to provide anything of value except for a photo of the girl to Freddo and promoted within the crime organisation. They also provide a photo which shows a link between the Secret Services who stopped previous actions in communication with the gang. It is the Secret service who showed Freddo a file of a forensic test which appears to prove that the brother killed Leban. The episode ends with the admission that the forensic test was negative and they made up the report implicating the man who has now officially committed suicide.
The theme of second series is the disintegration of the gang following the death of Lebanese and because it is known that Freddo was on his way out and therefore lacks authority. Worse is to come when one of the gang resents that Freddo has appointed the girl to collect the money required to fund the next drug shipment because she is not yet known to the authorities as a gang senior. She hands over the money and then the man claims it is associates of her who stopped and rob him taking his credit card and other cash on him as well as haul.
When a transvestite attempts to use the credit card the gang member admits that he had gone with the individual for sex and was then held up by two obvious associates of her and only afterwards realised the extent of their haul. The Trans is found and taken and she reveals her companions who are shot in her presence but she is allowed to go to ensure everyone else knows what happens.
Bufalo manages to confront Dandi returning with Patrizia celebrating who quickly disarms his attacker, beats him up and leaves him to die in the street while he has sex with Patrizia.
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