Lead singer of the Zombies.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/colin-blunstone/id1316200737?i=1000714644795

 

 

 

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/f0166bc6-8d4f-493a-9da5-bab4596a38f5/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-colin-blunstone

Not enough people knew “Elio” was out and not enough people who did knew if it was good and not enough people had friends who were going to see it…

Therefore, box office was disappointing.

But it could bounce back and it could sustain, depending upon word of mouth. But this is not how entertainment is made and marketed today.

There is a fiction that the wall to wall hype of the nineties still works. Now it occasionally does, last time with “Barbie,” then again, the movie was based upon a well known doll that had been in the market for half a century. But if you want to break something brand new?

And it’s not only movies, it’s music too. All the focus is on that which is made for big bucks immediately. Whereas it’s the little engines that could who are hoovering up all the dough, with low marketing costs and avid fans.

Used to be films were platformed. They opened in New York and L.A. and they might take months to hit the hinterlands. Then the paradigm shifted to opening in thousands of theatres and hoovering up all that dough on the first weekend. And then the film had another run in physical media, i.e. DVDs, then pay per view and cable/streaming…

That game was blown apart. But that’s the game the studios are still playing. I know I’m just one of many piling on the studio heads, but they are so out of touch, crippled with short term thinking to boot. Remember when everybody laughed when Netflix switched to streaming? Who’s crying now?

But Netflix has its own built-in marketing device. Its homepage. They serve up what they think you want and you don’t have to scroll down very far to see the Top Ten. So you get a feel for the marketplace instantly. Albeit a walled-garden, but Netflix is the big kahuna here and you can survive on Netflix alone, which is why Disney+ and Hulu have their streaming bundle, you need to entice people to sign up, whereas word of mouth about their shows gets people to sign up for Netflix and keeps them paying every month.

So conventional wisdom is it’s impossible to break an original movie and therefore sequelmania is the only option. Let’s be clear, the sequels do business because the audience already knows what they are, they know what to expect, and the originals are successes, otherwise no sequels are made. Whereas if you start with something new…

Studios have to accept the fact that something new is going to take time to percolate in the market and therefore they must be marketed accordingly. An original script should be seen as a four to six month project. With a slow rollout. There should be no imminent pay per view or streaming. The film goes to secondary distribution before most people are even aware of it. The movie business thinks America is enthralled and is following their releases…NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH! Most people are out of the loop and don’t care. How do you get them to care? By creating a product so good that it creates word of mouth and sustains.

But studios have giant contracts with the secondary markets, they get big bucks for these, but they’re killing original productions.

And original label productions have fallen completely by the wayside in music. The old game of signing an unknown to a label and marketing the hell out of them is completely done. First the act must establish a fan base independently and then the major label will sign it and try to blow it up further.

And why is this so? The death of terrestrial radio, which had a lock on exhibition. And while we’re at it, let’s talk about TV being in the dumper. There’s still a channel called MTV, but nobody watches it and it’s got little to do with music. And late night talk shows’ ratings have cratered and an appearance there means bupkes, so…

You can’t rig the game anymore. Anybody can play.

So what are the labels doing? Buying independent distribution networks. Rob Stringer just boasted about all the data Sony gets from the indie companies it acquired, not only the Orchard, but Kobalt. And now Universal wants to buy Downtown… Thank god the indies in the U.K. are fighting this. How are you supposed to compete with someone who has all your data?

Entertainment survives on new product. Almost no one has a hit on the chart a few years after their breakthrough. No, we need a steady slew of new acts. But since they’re so hard to break, the labels just promote that which sounds like everything else and most of the audience tunes out. Ditto on movies. SOME people like Marvel movies, many people don’t care. Marvel is a NICHE! Just like Taylor Swift. But the press still believes in the old paradigm too, they employ the traditional charts… Recently publications have started releasing lists of their best tracks of 2025. It’s laughable, all of them are from the Spotify Top 50. The acts selling tickets outside the pop/hip-hop genres are nowhere to be seen, even though they sell a boatload of tickets. We call this marginalization. Unless you’re a fan of the Spotify Top 50 try listening to some of this dreck, you’ll be horrified. As for the kind of music you want to hear, where the hell would you find it? The entire system is based on selling you a limited amount of tripe, and therefore you’re’ dependent upon friends to turn you on to the good stuff, and your friends might not be music aficionados, so you just spend time on TikTok, which is more exciting than the Spotify Top 50 anyway!

If you’re an act, prepare for the long haul. There are exceptions, like Zach Bryan, but Zach’s music was totally different from the Spotify Top 50, he was original and credible and people hungered for him and his music, most acts are not that desirable.

And most movies are not that good.

You’ve got to flip the script. Instead of working from the audience backward, you’ve got to start with the art. Create something incredible on its own terms and then wait for the public to find it. This is Netflix to a T. Meanwhile, if dropping episodes week by week was such a great strategy, Apple TV+ would have a zillion more subscribers. There’s no heat. If every time I go to your platform I can’t find something new, I’m not going to pay to subscribe to your service.

This is all evident to consumers. Consciously or unconsciously. It’s only the purveyors and the attendant media who are brain dead.

Instead of declaring “Elio” a failure, expectations should have been low for the first weekend, with subsequent marketing to help enhance word of mouth. Hell, so much of the audience for this pic is under ten, good luck reaching them. As for their harried parents? They’re too busy paying the bills and doing the laundry and schlepping the kids to pay attention to your marketing. This is not Thursday night Must See TV with tens of millions exposed to Hollywood’s ads. And the dirty little secret is the audience HATES ads, they’re a turn-off, they know when they’re being marketed to, so it gets ever harder to market to them, your sales pitch must be the artwork itself, it must have intrinsic quality and appeal.

I’d say the landscape is going to change, but it’s ALREADY changed.

Just like the “New York Times” releasing their Top 100 movies of the century. I never go to a movie theatre, almost no one I know does, who does this appeal to? A niche lost in the past. You want to interest people? Do the Top 100 TV shows of the twenty first century. And include all the foreign ones, just like you do with films. And most of these series can be instantly accessed on a platform that many are already paying for anyway. Barry Diller says the film business is dead, but the “New York Times” which wrote all about his autobiography did not get the message!

It’s kind of like politics. The Democrats drove the car off the cliff and then were stunned when they lost. They thought the public would be happy having no choice in candidate, they thought the public was happy when in truth people were flipping out for economic reasons. It wasn’t only Joe Biden who was out of the loop.

Now you can get the straight poop if you talk to the young ‘uns. Even better, go on TikTok. But oldsters propping up the old model ABHOR TikTok! But what works on TikTok? Honesty, credibility, something different… If you do the same thing over and over on TikTok you lose views, you’ve got to constantly come up with new stuff, which used to be the studio’s job. But now these crybabies say it’s too difficult. Give me a break.

The business is disrupted by those who are digitally native. The Boomers and Gen-X’ers have to die off. They run  on nostalgia. A boomer will tell me they like episodes dripped week by week, but I’ve never ever heard this from someone under forty. They want to BINGE! In today’s world if the product is not available, people will go elsewhere!

How do you connect the consumer to the product. That’s the most difficult thing to do. The only ones who’ve figured it out are the ultimate distributors, like Amazon and Spotify. They offer EVERYTHING! And when you add up everything, it works. But if you’re just one product, one record on their service…

Digital boycotts? Ever find someone under forty who wants to start one? No, they know how good these services are!

“Elio” didn’t stiff because of the movie, it didn’t stiff because the public doesn’t want original productions, it stiffed because the studio and the surrounding press are employing an ancient template in a modern world.

Quick, who runs the studios?

Lord knows.

But you know who Ted Sarandos is. And Daniel Ek. And it’s only those who grew up in the old pre-internet system who rail against them. They want it the old way.

But the old way is never coming back.

Big Mick Ralphs fan here. The slow vibrato, the fat tone, the tasteful choice of notes, he had it all.

When I was somewhere around the 9th grade, my friends and I went to see Bad Co. at the basketball arena in Louisville. Just a group of music nerds with no money, we were sitting up in the cheap seats.

What I remember most about that concert, has had a deep effect on me. Here’s what happened; The place is completely packed, and a little ways into the show, they’re in the middle of a song, it might have been Rock Steady.  Both Paul and Mick are playing guitar. They’re about to start the second verse, and the power goes out. All the lights and PA are not working, but the amps on stage must have been on a separate line, because you could still hear them playing a little, but not coming thru the PA..

You could see their silhouettes thru the darkness, and they all huddled around the drums and kept playing.

Not missing a beat, just grooving in a little huddle, the crowd cheered them on, because you could still hear it a little bit. Not sure how long this went on, probably around a minute. Then the lights burst back on, the PA cranking, they turned around to the crowd, never once stopping the groove and went right into the second verse. The place absolutely exploded. It was one of the most badass things i’ve ever seen, will never forget it. For me as professional musician and record maker, it’s always been about the groove and the pocket, and  that night in Louisville, i got a great lesson in how it’s done. I will carry that with me always.

Much love and peace to Mick Ralphs and his family.

Kenny Greenberg

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In 1977 the Outlaws had the pleasure of being the special guest on the Bad Company Burning Sky Tour. On that Tour I met Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke (who the Outlaws invited to the White House thanks to Jimmy Carter) Boz Burrell, Peter Grant, Jerry Weintraub, Tom Hulett, John Meglen, Paul Gongaware and although all left their imprints on me it was Mick Ralphs that always brought the biggest smile to my face. Almost 20 years later I had the pleasure of managing Bad Company with different lineups but finally I had Rodgers, Kirke and Mick together and there was nothing like that set list of great songs cowritten by Paul & Mick. Always magic on the stage …. Ronnie VanZant’s favorite singer was Paul and Gary loved Kosoff and Ralphs.

Many long and wonderful nights with Mick and I will miss him until I see him again.

RIP Mick Ralphs your music will live on forever.

Cheers,
Charlie Brusco

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Bob,

A great note.

I promoted every one of the bands mentioned and I loved the music of all of them.

All the Young Dudes” is still a favourite.

Yes Mick Ralphs quietly held the band s together both with his writing and playing.

Bad Company were a favourite of Peter Grant. He really loved the band and pushed them hard.

Mick was a great unsung hero.

May he rest in peace

Harvey Goldsmith

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Testify, Bob. Bad Company until the day I die indeed. Love every one of those Bad Co. tracks you mention with Mick’s stamp on ’em — and I’m still also partial to “Electricland,” which I may have mentioned before. Can’t get enough (sorry/not sorry) of his solo on that underappreciated Rough Diamonds opener.

Also, when I asked Ian Hunter in 2023 about what made Mott the Hoople’s version of “All the Young Dudes” so indelible, his response was immediate: “Well, it’s Mick Ralphs’ intro that did it, you know? David (Bowie) had done it in C and we took it up to D, and we added that little rap at the end. David was bored with the way he’d done it because he’d done a lot of alto sax on it, as he was an alto player. He just ran out of ideas — but with us, it was a whole different ball game. Our version excited him. It was just two nights of recording, and that was it.”

Mike Mettler

Editor, Analog Planet

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Worked security at the 1977 Burnin’ Sky tour at what was then the Fabulous Forum in LA. Actually got into the back stage party where the many very pretty women wouldn’t give me the time of day. Was a great show and I actually remember some of the songs thay played. Always wondered why they weren’t in the RRHOF a while back. “Bad Company till the day I die” a rock motto to live by in your 20’s.

Alan Fenton

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Mick Ralph’s was always a master minimalist. Never played four notes when one was just what the song needed.

Bob Levy

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Nice tribute, Bob. Mott’s All The Young Dudes belongs in the pantheon of greatest all-time rock albums.

Tom Lehr

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Such an underrated musician.  To teenaged guitar players like I was in the ’70’s there were few players whose sound you couldn’t quite figure out. Mick Ronson (we later found out it was the wah), Jimmy Page (multiple tricks), and others, including Mick Ralphs and his fat, razor-edged wailing.  There’s a great bit in a recent Mike Campbell interview of Lukas Nelson where Nelson recalls asking dad Willie if he thought he was a good player.  Willie says (paraphrasing)  “yeah, your good, but who cares?  You need to develop a VOICE.”  Now Willie was talking about Lukas’ singing voice, but it’s no less true of standout guitarists.

Writing is a rare talent.  Playing great guitar is a little less rare, but when you combine that with a wholly unique sensibility–a voice–you can transcend.  RIP Mick.

Ted Doyle

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I don’t remember how my brother and I first heard of Bad Company.  There was certainly some buzz about them being favored by Led Zep being on their record label.  At some point, maybe as Can’t Get Enough started showing up on the radio, we made our way to Bailey’s Music Rooms on Church Street in Burlington.  When we went into the store we headed over to the POP / Rock section and looked under “B.”  The LP was nowhere, nothing.  Then we heard a voice from behind the cash register… “What are you boys looking for?”  When we told him we were in search of the Bad Co. LP he waved us over.  Yes, they had an open case of the LPs at the cash register…they were flying out the door.  We made off with one and listened to it seemingly a million times when we got home.  It is still a favorite.

The interesting thing about this band, the music was not a bunch of shredding, it had a solid, simple groove behind it, and brilliant song writing and playing.  R.I.P. Mick!

Joe Tymecki

Fairfax, VT

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Thanks, Bob, for a nice tribute to Mick Ralphs – agree very much overlooked as your detailed synopsis of his work proves. All I can add is an observation from when I was a younger guy working at Maurice Placquet in Shepherd’s Bush, as many aspiring 70’s musicians did, providing sales and rentals to the stars of the day. Mick was one of the rare ones who would come into the store/warehouse and tool around on the guitars we had in stock, and was always friendly and ready to chat – one of the all-round nice guys in the business. Rare, and happy his work will live on, perhaps more recognised in the future than it has been in the past….

Adam Howell

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Thanks for a wonderful tribute, Bob!

I loved Mick Ralphs! Loved those first three Mott The Hoople albums and then had the honor to work with Mick and

Bad Company (“Desolation Angels” era) during my stint at Atlantic Records.

A lovely man and the driving force for so much that molded a lifestyle back then!

Really appreciate you giving Mick Ralphs even just some of his due.

Alan Wolmark

CEC Management

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Thanks for the well deserved tribute to the rather unsung Mick Ralphs.

The early Mott had another impressive cover version. Their “Brain Capers” album featured “Darkness, Darkness” from the Youngbloods’ “Elephant Mountain” LP.

I was fortunate to catch them on a bill at the Fillmore West slotted between Freddie King and Albert King. Quite memorable.

Best,

Michael Wright

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Wonderful tribute to the great Mick Ralphs. You mentioned the Mott the Hoople song “one of the boys“ and of course at about 49 seconds of that song is the riff that would not long after become the opening riff to Bad Company’s “can’t get enough.“.

Thank goodness, Paul’s short-lived trio called “peace,“ did a short run opening gigs for Mott the Hoople in late 1971 while Free took a break. That’s where Paul and Mick first started hanging out in the tuning room before the gigs, developing a relationship that would become the foundation for Bad Company.

Chris Epting

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“…down in the city just Hoople and me, don’t I love him so…” I remember the rock critics making a big deal about that line when Queen recorded it. Mott The Hoople will always mean so much to me. Often wondered if it bothered Ian Hunter that Mott’s biggest song was one he or the band didn’t write. It didn’t bother me because All The Way From Memphis, Roll Away The Stone, Ballad of the Mott and of course All The Young Dudes never left my stereo system in the 70’s. I still play Roll Away The Stone monthly along with Silver Blue and Gold from Bad Company. And speaking of Bad Company. Did any band sound better on the radio than them? Thank you Mick Ralphs for all that and much more.

Jeff Sacks

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Thank you for writing about the great Mick Ralphs. I’ve always urged friends to listen to the extended outro on “Sweet Jane,” the lead track from “All The Young Dudes,” to truly capture Mick’s exquisite sense of melody and tone. It’s so beautifully crafted and my favorite guitar solo of all time.

Rich Ulloa

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Hi Bob. I was 16 years old on a sunny day at Charlton Football Stadium in South London. It was my first music festival and I had to go straight from Saturday morning school in my school uniform, much to my embarrassment. The bill was f*cking stupendous, including Lou Reed, Humble Pie and The Who topping the bill. But the band that blew my schoolboy socks off was the first show from a brand new band- Bad Company. These guys were the real thing. Kick-ass rockers with stupendous songs… of course every Free fan knew who Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke were… but as a young guitar player I couldn’t take my eyes of the dude in the leather pants. He was a f*cking rock God, strutting around, slamming out the riffs, and ripping out ear bursting solos. They played 44 minutes and I loved every second. There was no internet, I had to wait for that week’s Melody Maker to be released to find out who this guy was. Mick Ralphs. Right up there with the other generation of guitar heroes- especially Blackmore and Page. I had no idea he wrote most of those songs. But he was absolutely the genuine article. RIP.

John Watkin

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Bob! THX for sharing this! Ive been a lifelong MOTT fan and was a Bad Co fan when I was a kid, but Mott remain in my top 3 All Time Greats.  I cannot agree w/ you more about the singular talent that Ralphs always was. Even the first couple of Mott’s albums – the ones referred to as their “hippie” years – had some great songs and most of them authored by Ralphs way before Ian hit his mark as the great songwriter he would become. And…right you are again about Ralphs as a guitarist. His solos were seismic and incredibly tasteful and well thought out and executed solos that brought the songs to life. Full of restraint, build and release and he was one of the few who could play in a way that made you want more. He didn’t give it all away at once. He made you think about what you were listening to and how to support the song in ways no other guitarist did or does.  Had Mott never released anything else after, the solo at the beginning and at the end of “All The Way From Memphis” on its own may be strong enough to illustrate what an influential and intelligent player he was, even before one took notice of the songwriting credits.  I appreciate you flying this fly for one of the Best. No one else will… Bless ya!

Rick Gershon

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I was 15 about to turn 16 in 1990. I was working as a dishwasher at a Swiss chalet, the most popular chicken chain casual dining restaurant in Canada. I was already bitten by the rock ‘n’ roll bug growing up, listening to the top 40 AM radio that was a constant in my house. I also had just started learning to play guitar. I was aware of who Bad Company were, at least the Paul Rodgers fronted band from their classic tracks always being spun on FM rock radio and did love them. (I mean when your first discovering classic rock as a kid in the 80s and 90s, if you didn’t own Bad Companys’ compilation 10 From 6, did you really like classic rock?)

Working as a dishwasher in that restaurant I’d befriended one of the older waitresses and she was a passionate 80s rock ‘n’ roll girl. I was only 15 and she had to be at at least 20 and our relationship was strictly platonic and about rock ‘n’ roll. It wasn’t that she wasn’t attractive, It’s just that’s our friendship developed because of our passion for rock ‘n’ roll and not based on some teenage boy crush. We’d talk about the different bands we’re hearing about or interested in. Grunge hadn’t hit yet so we were still clearly in the 80s hair metal era and we both loved majority of those bands and talk incessantly about them.

I mentioned one shift I had heard this new band on the radio that seemed to be a lot bluesier than even Cinderella and seem to have a more Stones edge to them called the Black Crowes. She said she actually had recently bought the cassette and that I could borrow it. When she lent it to me, she also included a cassette album called Holy Water. Bad Company? They were still around?

I had no idea what to expect but let’s just say Holy Water got a lot more play than Shake Your Money Maker until I returned them both to her. Not that I didn’t enjoy Shake Your Money Maker, but the hooks and guitar playing by Mick and Brian Howe’s slightly less raspy Brian Johnson vocal style had me playing that album repeatedly until I returned the tape back to her and went out and bought my own copy on CD. I just could not get enough of hearing Micks’ guitar playing on that album. Every riff was a hook! Every lead was its own song within the song!

I know the previous and following Bad Company albums with with Brian were not as well written or received, and the overall catalogue of that era with Brian is dismissed by Bad Company fans, but for me without taking anything away from the incredible and rightfully definitive Paul Rodgers Bad Company, Holy Water will always be a favorite of mine!

RIP Mick Ralphs

Michael Moniz

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In the Fall of 73, (freshman year of high school) I bought my first Circus magazine, mostly because of Robert Plant being on the cover and a multipage piece on Led Zeppelin (who I had discovered the previous summer).

There was also a multipage piece on Mott The Hoople, a band I had never heard of. The article was promoting their new release, Mott. You’re correct about Hunter and Watts being the attention grabbers, visually. Ian with his shades and Watts with his gray frosted hair and Gibson bass. But as I looked closer I noticed that Mick Ralph’s had a Fender Telecaster, which is the guitar I was saving for, but I noticed that instead of the typical Tele neck pickup, it had a HUMBUCKER, like Keith Richards. I took the picture to my local music store and told them that’s what I wanted to order. The owner looked at me and said “You can’t. It’s not in the catalog  Sorry kid”. I was fascinated enough by the article to ask for the record for Christmas. My parents mistakenly got me All The Young Dudes instead of Mott, but one listen to the record hooked me.  “Sweet Jane”, “Jerkin’ Crocus” “One Of The Boys” along with the title track and “Ready For Love/After The Lights”. I wore out the grooves on that record and eventually got Mott fairly soon after that. Those songs and those guitar riffs were killer and I wore that record out as well. And then I heard Mick Ralph’s, like Verden Allen before him, had left the band. The Hoople may have rocked a little harder but it seemed less special, more generic-with Mick gone they lost my interest.

When the first Bad Company record came out, it was, as you said, undeniable. Whenever I read about Bad Company though it seemed like it was “Paul Rodgers and the other 3”. It wasn’t like Led Zeppelin where you had Page interviews, Plant interviews, and Bonham worship. Unlike Page, there were no stories of Mick making pilgrimages to Morocco, no guitar virtuoso drooling. Just meat and potatoes rock and roll, which is so hard to do as well Mick Ralphs did it. And yes, I’m saddened by all the obituaries of my music heroes lately, but thank you for taking the time to recognize Mick Ralphs. He more than deserved it

Jim Blaney

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Good for you Bob. Let’s not overlook or ever forget that unique incredible sound of Mick Ralphs, or his songwriting with Paul Rodgers.

When Mott had to move on without Ralphs, all of us fans knew that was a big blow. As good as Bender was, he just didn’t possess the gravitas of Ralphs. Mick Ralphs’ sound and style was a force to be reckoned with. Hunter had to explain it, and in the liner notes on the next Mott album he wrote about the Mott’s journey and the band changes with something akin to: “Mick Ralphs appeared to be in bad company.” I thought it was very clever the way he stated it.

Mick left because he had bigger musical visions for himself. And with Bad Co.he grew to his potential. Although not talked about nearly enough for all his talents, if you mention Mick Ralphs to any guitar player you will get a knowing smile. The guy was a giant. Bad Co. owned FM Rock Radio airwaves in the 80’s. A true supergroup of musicians with Paul Rodgers vocals being pushed by Mick’s incredible fat, crunchy Les Paul tone. Bad Co. is finallllly being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year. But it doesn’t matter. Because if you’re a rocker you know that both Paul Rodgers and Mick Ralphs are bigger than, and mean more than that whole institution. We lost a big-time guitar brother today. Ouch.

Paul Rappaport

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I totally agree with your article, not an obituary. Well written and well deserved.

Love, Paul Rodgers

“Fear City: New York vs The Mafia”

Netflix trailer: https://short-link.me/15ALU

I thought they took the Mafia down in the seventies, after all didn’t “The Godfather” come out in 1972? Weren’t the seventies the heyday of Mafia movies? With made men testifying for the government in exchange for witness protection?

I guess not, according to this documentary, the Mafia was taken down in the EIGHTIES!

That’s right, when the average punter could name the five families, they were still at it. Acknowledging the Feds like Tony and his paisans.

But the government was disorganized. That’s one thing we’ve learned for sure in the past few decades, with the O.J. trial and so many more… If you’ve got money, you can hire attorneys who can run circles around those working for the government. After all, very few few see government work as the end all and be all. It’s a stepping stone at best. Therefore, you get the young and inexperienced, which was the case in the trial against the Commission.

I’d love to tell you this documentary is well-made, a tour-de-force, but that is not the case. HOWEVER, we’ve all got this fascination with the Mafia, and it’s all laid out here, the families and the FBI and Giuliani…

It all came down to a Cornell professor, who instructed the government on how to fight organized crime. They were suspicious, but they went along with it. The key was to create separate task forces and go against the head guys, the aforementioned Commission, via the RICO act! This professor had written it, the government did not know how to use it.

And how the FBI snoops…

That’s really interesting. How they plant the bugs, how they build the case. Listening to hours of tape and figuring out the truth.

Not that these Mafiosi were dumb. They never left their houses empty. The heads of the families didn’t write stuff down. And they controlled so much!

Like the concrete business in New York City. You marvel at how they could get away with it.

And you’ve got ex-Mafiosi who’ve served their time in prison explaining how the life was.

“Fear City” is not a huge commitment, only three episodes, but if you ever watched “The Godfather,” if you ever had any interest in the Mafia at all, you’ll dig it. Watch it.