On November 14, 1957, over 100 of the most notorious organized crime figures from all over the United States held a historic meeting in the small town of Apalachin, New York.The meeting was ordered by Vito Genovese, who at the time successfully eliminated two of his biggest rivals, Frank Costello and Albert Anastasia. Genovese, who was the current boss of the Luciano crime family decided to consolidate power and announce to the underworld that it was his time to be Capo Dei Capi, “the boss of bosses.”
In the upstate New York town of Apalachin, Sgt. Edgar Croswell, a 40-year-old divorced state trooper who lived in the police station, began noticing strange and unusual activity in the small town. A semi-retired mobster named Joseph Barbara, known as "Joe the Barber” had recently bought a nearby ginger ale bottling plant and a 53-acre estate just outside of town. Genovese decided to hold the historical summit at the Barbara Estate. Much of the film revolves around planning for the meeting. Sgt. Croswell tried to alert local law enforcement and even the FBI, but his warnings were ignored. At the time, the FBI was so focused on fighting Communism the long-time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover refused publicly accept the existence of a "National Crime Syndicate" and the need to address organized crime in America.
Despite constant push back, Sgt. Croswell refused to back down and began investigating Joe the Barber, and his businesses in town. After stumbling on a major clue that Joe the Barber had not only purchased every piece of meat and fish in town, he also realized the every single motel room in town was booked. Without any back up, Croswell and a handful of local police officers busted the meeting and arrested 58 of the most notorious Mafia figures. Although all the arrests were eventually overturned, Sgt. Croswell single-handedly forced the FBI to publicly acknowledge the existence of an organized crime syndicate in America, leading J. Edgar Hoover to create an organized crime task force. This also led to the creation of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) act which law enforcement agencies currently use to fight organized crime.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 0% based on nine reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10.[5] At Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 24 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[6]
