CRIME STORY: TOP OF THE WORLD (TV)
Summary
One in this serialized police drama -- set for the initial episodes in Chicago, then in Las Vegas, during the early 1960s -- which traces the intersecting lives of three men: Agent Mike Torello, the hard-boiled, hair-triggered leader of a Justice Department task force; Ray Luca, a ruthless gangster overseeing a vast criminal empire; and David Abrams, a tenacious U.S. Attorney. In this episode, Luca's megalomaniacal personality threatens to loosen the Outfit's grip on the casino rackets. As the story unfolds, a lavish celebration is held for Luca, who in a four-month span has gained control of five casinos. Knocking back martinis and gambling away thousands of dollars a night, Luca wallows in the excessive spoils of his climb to the top, simultaneously conducting affairs with Johann, the wife of longtime associate Max Goldman, and a variety of showgirls and escorts. Across town, Torello and his men, frustrated and disillusioned over their inability to build a solid case against the Outfit, huddle in their motel and vow to redouble their efforts to ensnare Luca. Through clever surveillance and carefully assembled evidence, they are able to convince the Nevada Gaming Commission to temporarily suspend Luca's licence. Barred from his own casinos, Luca lounges restlessly by his pool, where his wife Cori stays glued to one television game show after another. Fueled on by the pills he pops by the handful, Luca grows increasingly paranoid and violent and attaches himself to the ludicrous notion that Max is somehow responsible for his misfortune. Shaking off the hand of Kordo, who has tried to divert the boss's attention with the news that their cash-courier has disappeared, Luca leaps into his car and drives wildly to the studio where Max hosts a sports talk-show. Loadly boasting of the affair with Johann, Luca engages Max in a bloody fistfight and threatens to shot him on the spot. Later that night, when Max is nearly killed by a car bomb, Torello and Abrams realize that the dissention within Luca's ranks can be used to their advantage, particularly when Luca's roving eye settles on Paulie's new girlfriend. Commercials deleted.
(Star Dennis Farina had been a Chicago police officer for eighteen years before becoming an actor.)
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: March 6, 1987 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:50:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:34077
- GENRE: Drama, police
- SUBJECT HEADING: Crime and criminals; Law enforcement
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1986-1988
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Michael Mann … Executive Producer , Director
- Patrick Markey … Producer
- Chuck Adamson … Created by, Writer
- Gustave Reininger … Created by, Writer
- Peter Lance … Writer
- Frederick Rappaport … Writer
- Al Kooper … Music by
- Charles Calello … Music by
- Del Shannon … Theme Music by
- Max Crook … Theme Music by
- Dennis Farina … Cast, Lt. Mike Torello
- Anthony Denison … Cast, Ray Luca
- Bill Smitrovich … Cast, Sgt. Danny Krychek
- Steve Ryan … Cast, Det. Nate Grossman
- Bill Campbell … Cast, Det. Joey Indelli
- Paul Butler … Cast, Det. Walter Clemmons
- John Santucci … Cast, Paulie Taglia
- Stephen Lang … Cast, David Abrams
- Johann Carlo … Cast, Cori Luca
- Ted Levine … Cast, Frank Holman
- Jay O. Sanders … Cast, Steve Kordo
- Harry, Debbie (See also: Harry, Deborah) … Cast, Bambi
- Debra Sandlund … Cast, Joanne Goldman
- Paul Anka … Cast, Tony Dio
- Audrey Matson … Cast, Dawn Alexis
- James Gammon … Cast, Jack Claymore
- Dana Wheeler-Nicholson … Cast, Marilyn Ogden Stewart
- Gary Sinise … Cast, Samuel S. "Howie" Dresler
- Andrew Dice Clay … Cast, Max Goldman
- Mark Hutter … Cast, Ted Kehoe
- Leroy Caldwell … Cast, the Boxer
- Debra Christofferson … Cast, the Nurse
- Patricia Fields … Cast, the Glamour Girl
- Duncan Gamble … Cast, the Texan
- Terry Head … Cast, the Jockey
- Scott Loomis … Cast, the Medic
- Jocko Marcellino … Cast, the Guard
- Linda Moody … Cast, Nurse #2
- Santos Morales … Cast, the Poker Player
- Larry Pines … Cast, the Teamster
- Richard Wagner … Cast, the Lieutenant
- Joseph Zeoli … Cast, the Maitre D'
- Stephan Zema … Cast, the Board Member