How the Mob Built Hollywood
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- Tom Patterson directed and produced the three-part documentary Hollywood Crime Story: The Mob Takes Over the Movies, which traces organized crime’s influence on Hollywood from the dawn of cinema to 1990.
- Thomas Edison used hired enforcers to attack competitors, prompting Jewish filmmakers to flee west and establish Hollywood, where organized crime soon followed.
- Al Capone sent underling Johnny Roselli to Hollywood, where Roselli gave Harry Cohn a $500,000 loan to seize control of Columbia Pictures, marking the mob’s first major stake in a studio.
- Lew Wasserman and Sidney Korshak led the 'Supermob'—a network of Jewish mob-connected figures—who wielded boardroom power instead of violence to control casting, funding, and unions in Hollywood.
- Robert Evans partnered with Florida cocaine cartel members to fund The Cotton Club, a decision that led to a murder trial and destroyed his reputation.
- Louis 'Butchie' Peraino used profits from porn films to distribute major movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, creating an early model for independent film financing.
- Mickey Cohen and Johnny Stompanato—mob-linked figures with ties to stars like Lana Turner—exemplify the violent, personal entanglements between gangsters and Hollywood elites.
Why it matters: The documentary reveals that mob influence didn’t just corrupt Hollywood—it helped shape its economic and cultural evolution, from studio takeovers to the rise of blockbusters. The shift from violence to boardroom control altered how power operated, with figures like Korshak and Wasserman enabling the very system that later marginalized traditional filmmaking in favor of high-profit franchises.
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