The True Story Inspiration Behind Tulsa King -
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00:00Paramount's Tulsa King is about banished New York mobster Dwight the General Manfredi
00:16Sylvester Stallone, an entirely fictional character whose life is loosely based on the
00:20Mafia's dark history.
00:22Since it began in 2022, Tulsa King has quickly become one of the most popular and best shows
00:27on Paramount+.
00:28The show has been so popular that Tulsa King season 3 was confirmed even before season
00:332 had finished being released.
00:35Part of the reason for its popularity is its novel premise, of a New York gangster taking
00:39control of an Oklahoma city, but it actually is more rooted in reality than it seems.
00:44There have been plenty of gangster movies that were inspired by true stories, from The
00:48Godfather to Goodfellas.
00:50Most gangster stories are rather loosely based on reality, and it turns out that Tulsa King
00:54is no different.
00:55While there hasn't actually been a New York Mafia carpo who traveled to and took over
00:59the city of Tulsa, the idea of Dwight comes from real-life mobster history.
01:03Tulsa King's real-life inspirations evoke one of the bloodiest eras and gang wars in
01:07the history of the Sicilian Mafia.
01:10Tulsa King isn't a true story, but the show is based on a real mob family.
01:14Dwight's banishment seems to be inspired by the Inzirillo crime family.
01:18Much of Tulsa King is predicated on the idea of Dwight being a representative of the old
01:22ways of the Mafia.
01:23But more traditional view of the Mafia and how his silence should have been rewarded
01:27put him in contention with Chicky Invanizzi, the soon-to-be-don of the New York mob.
01:31Chicky's contention surrounding Dwight ultimately led to him banishing the carpo to Tulsa to
01:35start a new operation out west.
01:38Dwight is not based on a single person, but his banishment to Tulsa is highly reminiscent
01:42of what happened to the Inzirillo crime family of Palermo, Italy.
01:46The Inzirillo crime family explained.
01:48The Inzirillos were banished from Sicily in the 1980s.
01:51Chicky Invanizzi, Dominic Lombardozzi, holding a gun to a beaten Jerry Izzo, Joseph Riccobine,
01:57s head in Tulsa King season 2 episode 1.
02:00The Inzirillo crime family has been described as the Mafia aristocracy of Palermo, but they
02:04are mostly known for their fall from grace, via La Repubblica.
02:08In the 1980s, while the Gambino crime family ruled New York, the city of Palermo was ruled
02:13by the ruthless Salvatore Renar, also known as the Boss of Bosses and the Beast.
02:18Authorities deemed Renar responsible for thousands of murders.
02:21In a successful bid to take leadership of the Sicilian Mafia, Salvatore Renar and the
02:26Corleonesi faction of the Mafia nearly exterminated the Inzirillo family and their other rivals
02:30throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.Salvatore Renar allowed the Inzirillos to escape his
02:36takeover of the Sicilian underworld after the Inzirillos' American allies, including
02:40the Gambinos, intervened on the family's behalf.
02:44While he let them live, Renar also demanded they leave and never set foot on Sicilian
02:48soil ever again.
02:49The banished Inzirillos lived their lives in exile in New York, mostly content with
02:53staying under the radar and the protection of the powerful New York Mafia, at least,
02:57until the Gambino crime family, the real-life inspiration behind Goodfellas, fell from power
03:02in the mid-80s.More recently, the Inzirillos have made a new play for power in both New
03:07York and Sicily.
03:08In the 2000s, some surviving Inzirillos and Gambinos, most notably Tommaso and Francesco
03:14Inzirillo, returned to Palermo, via CBS News.
03:17In 2019, however, 15 members of the Inzirillo and Gambino families were arrested as part
03:23of a joint raid carried out simultaneously by American and Italian law enforcement.
03:28It's unknown what the Inzirillo family has done since then, how many members remain active,
03:32or how involved they are with either the New York or Italian mafias.
03:36How much of the Inzirillo crime family has been adapted for Tulsa King?
03:40Tulsa King is only loosely inspired by the Inzirillo crime family.
03:44Though Dwight's story and the premise of Tulsa King are reminiscent of the history
03:47of the Inzirillo crime family, the show has also deviated from it significantly.
03:52The biggest part of the story that Tulsa King adapted was the idea of banishment.
03:56Dwight's banishment to Tulsa, however, was little more than an ineffective move by Chicky,
04:01and Dwight was very easily able to become a veritable kingpin himself.
04:05In contrast, the Inzirillo family was banished as a form of mercy after the head of the family
04:09was murdered, and they never rose to the same prominence in New York that Dwight has in
04:13Oklahoma Additionally, the Inzirillo's banishment came with a very literal threat – a return
04:18to Sicily while Salvatore Renard was still in power would mean certain death.
04:22Dwight, on the other hand, returned to New York several times in Tulsa King season 1,
04:27though Chicky did eventually try to have Dwight killed.
04:30Chicky is also only loosely based on Renard, as he has yet to become a real threat to anybody
04:34but his own father.
04:36In short, Tulsa King only follows the history of the Inzirillo family in premise alone,
04:40and has since become a completely fictitious story However, there is a chance that history
04:44could play a bigger role in future episodes of Tulsa King.
04:48After the ending of Tulsa King season 2, episode 4, it seems that there could be a shake-up
04:52of power within the New York Mafia families, which would be similar to Renard's takeover
04:57of Sicily.
04:58It's even possible that Dwight could follow in the Inzirillo family's footsteps and eventually
05:02return to New York, trying to take the Invernesses down.
05:05Whatever future fictional storylines are in store for Tulsa King, however, there will
05:09always be factual inspiration for the show.