Inside the Mafia

The term "ripped from the headlines" is always used when a film on the big or small screen has a plot taken from real life. In the case of Inside The Mafia the recent underworld stories of the exile of Lucky Luciano, the murder of Albert Anastasia, and the gangland convention at Appalachia are all elements in the plot of this film.

Ted DeCorsia is hit in a hotel barbershop Anastasia style, but he doesn't die right away. After the hospital stay he's moved to a secluded place and sends for his number 2 guy Cameron Mitchell. DeCorsia was trying a syndicate power play that obviously fell short. But he's not out of moves. The boss of bosses who is in exile is secretly flying in to a convention held in a secluded rural spot of Upstate New York at Edward Platt's estate. Mitchell decides to make a hit as Grant Richards arrives at the small county airport.

To do that involves taking Jean Louis Heydt the manager of the airport and his daughters Elaine Edwards and Carol Nugent hostage. Getting swept up in it is State Trooper James Brown and Nugent's boyfriend Michael Monroe. So they wait for the plane with Richards to arrive.

Film buffs will no doubt recognize the plot from Suddenly has been reworked from a presidential assassination to a gangland hit. Still Inside The Mafia is fine no frills thriller from United Artists and holds up well today.

Though a knowledge of gangland history helps one get the fine points of the story.