Crime Story

Lieutenant Mike Torello is a tough, old-school cop who makes chasing a single, ruthless gangster the center of his life. The show follows Torello's relentless hunt for Ray Luca, a charismatic and dangerous mob operator, and how that pursuit shapes relationships inside the squad and on the streets. Episodes mix procedural beatwork with longer-running threads, so cases pile up and the cat-and-mouse dynamic between cop and criminal intensifies over time. The tone stays gritty and tense, with moral gray areas and personal costs weighing on both sides, but I won't spoil how those conflicts resolve.

Premiering in 1986, the series was created by Gustave Reininger and Chuck Adamson, and it adopted a period crime aesthetic that set it apart from contemporary cop shows. The casting of Dennis Farina as Lt. Mike Torello and Tony Denison as Ray Luca was central to its identity.

Critics and fans have generally given the show positive marks, reflected in a solid fan rating around 7.97 out of 10 from user votes. Reviewers praised the harsh, realistic depiction of law enforcement and organized crime, and the performances of the lead actors drew steady attention. The series sticks with themes of obsession, shifting urban power structures, moral compromise, and how a single fixation can warp a life.

Among crime drama followers the series has kept a steady reputation, appreciated for its period detail, tense pacing, and filmlike approach to TV storytelling. It didn't become a mainstream blockbuster, but it influenced later serialized crime dramas by favoring long arcs and character work over simple episodic closure. Fans still quote scenes and remember its mood and style.

The show didn't rack up major industry awards, yet its status has grown in retrospective readings of 1980s television. Actors like Dennis Farina went on to have notable careers in crime roles, and the series continues to be cited when people talk about gritty, character-focused police dramas from that era.