On paper, there’s real appeal to being part of an organized criminal enterprise like the mafia. They value family and friends, they protect the community, and they make a pretty good living. Just not in a way that’s strictly legal.

Maybe that accounts for our fascination with gangster movies and shows. They are often about regular people who pull themselves up by their bootstraps — or suspenders, as the case may be — to achieve power and wealth, and who doesn’t want that? They even offer halfway decent advice: “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”; “It’s business, not personal”; and that mind-easing mantra, “Fuhgeddaboudit.”

If you’re in the mood for some thugs and hoodlums, no need to know a guy who knows a guy — we've got you. Here are 15 gangster movies and shows with offers you just can’t refuse. So, grab some moonshine (your beverage of choice) from the juice joint (your kitchen), give yourself a nickname like “Babyface,” “Greasy,” or “Lucky,” and get ready to join the mob in the most legal way possible: movie magic. And snitches don’t get stitches around here, so invite friends!

Peaky Blinders

It’s the series that quickly became a classic in the gangster genre and gave us an iconic — and historically inspired — group of outlaws. It’s 1919 and Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) returns home to Birmingham, England, after fighting in World War I. Part of an Irish Romani family, he joins his brothers Arthur (Paul Anderson) and John (Joe Cole) in running a powerful local gang, the Peaky Blinders, named for their tradition of sewing razors into the peaks of their caps. Looking to level up the gang’s influence, Tommy sets his sights on selling weapons and building their gambling business. However, this new playing field comes with all-new enemies.

Peaky Blinders

6 Seasons   TV-MA   2013

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Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man

It’s 1940, seven years since the events of the series finale in Season 6 of Peaky Blinders. Tommy Shelby (Murphy), who has been in a self-imposed exile, is driven back to Birmingham amid the chaos of WWII. His estranged son, Duke (Barry Keoghan), has become embroiled in a Nazi plot. The future of his family — and the country — is at stake, meaning Tommy needs to face his own demons and decide whether he wants to confront his legacy, or burn it all to the ground.

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man

1h 54m   R   2026

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The Highwaymen

There are few historical outlaws with as much pop culture influence as Bonnie and Clyde. This film gives us their story through the eyes of the two men who eventually brought down the notorious duo and ended their spree of robberies and murder. Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) and Maney Gault (Woody Harrelson) are former Texas Rangers tasked by Governor "Ma" Ferguson (Kathy Bates) to track down the couple. While older and retired, the two lawmen have good instincts and old-school tactics they use to follow and close in on the criminals, eventually cornering them in the infamous final standoff.

The Highwaymen

2h 12m   R   2019

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The Irishman

Spanning decades, this epic saga from gangster-film connoisseur Martin Scorsese follows Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), a hustler and hit man who worked alongside the most notorious criminals of the 20th century. Sheeran’s climb through the ranks of the crime world reveals the inner workings and political connections of the mob, culminating in his work alongside legendary union boss and mafia figure Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Scorsese gives us Sheeran’s side of the story in what is considered one of the greatest mysteries in American history: the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa.

The Irishman

3h 29m   R   2019

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Casino

Another of Scorsese’s acclaimed gangster films, this one is based on the true story of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, whom the mob employed to run a number of casinos in 1971 while controlling the Teamsters. Here, De Niro plays the fictionalized version, Sam “Ace” Rothstein, a gambling king sent by the Chicago mafia to Las Vegas to run the Tangiers Casino. He’s joined by his childhood best friend, Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), who builds his own team to protect the casino and indulge in their own criminal activities. Ace is positioned for power and wealth, but when he falls for Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone), a showgirl and con artist, he risks losing it all. 

Casino

2h 58m   R   1995

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Caught Stealing

In this black comedy crime caper, Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) is a bartender and former high school baseball phenom. His punk-rock neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith), asks him to watch his cat for a few days, and suddenly Hank is caught in the middle of a motley crew of oddball gangsters, including violent Russians and Hasidic drug-dealing thugs. While trying to stay one step ahead of his pursuers, Hank has to figure out how to stay alive long enough to figure out what exactly it is that they want.

Caught Stealing

1h 46m   R   2025

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Animal Kingdom

After his mother dies, Joshua "J" Cody (Finn Cole) moves to Southern California to live with his estranged relatives. There, he meets the Cody family matriarch, Janine "Smurf" Cody (Ellen Barkin), who is fiercely protective of her three sons: Andrew "Pope" Cody (Shawn Hatosy), Craig Cody (Ben Robson), and Deran Cody (Jake Weary), as well as her adopted son, Barry "Baz" Blackwell (Scott Speedman), who is second in command of the family’s criminal enterprise. J soon learns he’ll need to prove his loyalty to his grandmother to hold his own in the Cody family.

Animal Kingdom

6 Seasons   TV-MA   2016

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Gangs of Oslo

This Norwegian crime drama focuses on two friends, Moaz (Emir Zamwa) and Rami (Mohammed Youssef). In their younger years, they messed around together, committing petty crimes with their friends, but as adults, they took two very different paths. Moaz became a police officer, and Rami a drug cartel leader. A gang investigation leads Moaz to his childhood friend, causing the sins of his youth to come back to haunt him as he tries to keep his past secret. But now Moaz will have to decide if his loyalties lie in the brotherhood that got him to adulthood, or in the life he’s built for himself since.

Gangs of Oslo

6 Episodes   TV-MA   2023

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The Outfit

Taking a unique perspective on the gangster world, Leonard Burling (Mark Rylance) is a tailor in a mob-controlled neighborhood in 1956 Chicago. Burling allows the mob to use his shop to hide money, since they are his best customers. But one night, two mobsters, one the son of the top boss and the other his chief enforcer, show up injured and demanding Burling hide a suitcase with an FBI recording detailing the mob’s inner workings that was provided by Al Capone’s syndicate, “The Outfit.” Burling has to think fast to treat wounds with his sewing expertise and navigate the politics of what quickly becomes a mole hunt among the local gang. 

The Outfit

1h 45m   R   2022

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Gun City

The 1920s were a thriving time for gangsters and not just in the United States. It’s 1921 in Spain and there is social and political upheaval, especially among anarchists, the mob, and the police. Officer Aníbal Uriarte (Luis Tosar) arrives in Barcelona to investigate a train robbery of war-bound rifles. He works with Inspector Rediú (Vicente Romero), a cop with questionable morals and nefarious side dealings. Uriarte has to play all sides, even amid the shady practices of his associates, to find the weapons that could trigger an all-out war. 

Gun City

2h 6m   TV-MA   2018

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The Ruthless

This Italian-French crime drama stars Riccardo Scamarcio as Santo Russo and starts in 1967. Russo is 16 and moves with his family to Milan when his father is expelled from the ’Ndrangheta, Italy’s most famous and powerful crime syndicate. A rebellious teen, Santo gets into trouble with a friend, spending time in a juvenile detention center where he builds relationships with ’Ndrangheta affiliates. Soon, Santo is climbing the ranks of the gang during its 1980s heyday.

The Ruthless

1h 50m   TV-MA   2019

Remind Me

The Hooligan

This Polish limited series depicts a very different, but quite real, kind of gang: football hooligans. Built on the fervor of football fans, hooligans defend their favored teams with violence and disorder. Michał (Karol Pocheć) returns home from prison and takes his son Kuba (Grzegorz Palkowski) to a football match, both to reconnect and to introduce the boy to the club he supports, Gladius. Kuba is soon drawn into the frenzy and fandom, joining the hooligan firm known as the Wolfpack. Ignoring his parents’ warnings, Kuba heads down the same path his father fell into, selling drugs and falling under the spell of the Wolfpack’s leader, Zyga (Wojciech Zielinski).  

The Hooligan

5 Episodes   TV-MA   2025

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Top Boy: Summerhouse

The first two seasons of this acclaimed British crime drama are included here, with the following two seasons available as Top Boy. The series starts in the tense atmosphere of East London’s housing estates. Here, there is tension between drug gangs and those just trying to live in an affordable but crime-riddled area. First, there is Dushane (Ashley Walters), a drug dealer determined to be “Top Boy,” or leader, of his drug gang. Then there is teen Ra’Nell (Malcolm Kamulete), a good-natured kid trying to do right but forced to grow up quickly without his mother. Both just need to survive as best they can.

Top Boy: Summerhouse

2 Series   TV-MA   2011

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Brotherhood

This Brazilian drama series is another that showcases the blurred lines of morality within the gang world. District attorney Cristina Ferreira (Naruna Costa) lives with the guilt of being responsible for her brother Edson’s (Seu Jorge) arrest when they were children. Now, after 20 years in prison, Edson is back on the stand and accused of murdering an inmate. As Cristina soon learns, Edson is being framed for daring to speak out against the corruption occurring in his prison. And he isn’t alone. Edson is the leader of a gang known as the Brotherhood. Torn by a strict moral code, Cristina decides to defend her brother, even if it means pushing the boundaries of the law.

Brotherhood

2 Seasons   TV-MA   2019

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Good Girls

This four-season series is a bit more comedic in tone, but it starts like many criminal tales do, with innocent people at their wits’ end. Three suburban mothers, Beth (Christina Hendricks), Ruby (Retta), and Annie (Mae Whitman), are each struggling financially and together form a plan to rob a grocery store. They are delighted to pull off the heist until they count the money and realize they’ve stolen far more than they intended, which in turn reveals that a local gang has been using the store for money laundering. The women get pulled into a lucrative, dangerous, but very addictive world of crime.

Good Girls

4 Seasons   TV-MA   2018

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