La piovra

The Octopus (La Piovra) is a groundbreaking Italian television series that ran for 10 seasons from 1984 to 2001. It explored the tenacious grip of the Mafia in Sicily (hence the title) and told the story of one police captain's struggle to destroy it. Michele Placido played the lead role of Commissario Corrado Cattani, supported by an excellent international cast that included Patricia Millardet as Judge Silvia Conti and Remo Girone as the arch villain Tano Carridi. Series 1 through 7 follows the epic battle to subdue the Mafia in Sicily, while Series 8, 9 and 10 are prequels which document the history of Mafia in the 1950s and 1960s.