American Godfathers docuseries spotlights the five Mafia families of NYC

You've seen fictional recounting of NYC's notorious Mafia culture in classic gangster films like Goodfellas , A Bronx Tale and The Godfather trilogy . Now learn about the real-life crime families that dominated New York City in the 20th century in a new three-part, six-hour documentary series from History Channel, kicking off tonight, August 11 at 8pm.

American Godfathers: The Five Families chronicles the founding and history of the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno and Colombo families over a fifty-plus-year period, during which they "had a hand in every facet of organized crime in America from bootlegging and drug trafficking to extortion and gambling," per History Channel.

Executive produced and narrated by Emmy-winning actor Michael Imperioli ( The Sopranos , The White Lotus ), and based on Selwyn Raab’s New York Times best-seller Five Families: The Rise, Decline and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires , the new nonfiction series traces the extensive history of the Mafia beginning with its early ties to Sicily and the ever-changing violent power struggles within each of the five families across three two-hour episodes.

With each edition padded out with investigative archival images and footage, audio recordings, and dramatic recreations, as well as fresh, candid on-camera interviews with historians, experts, law enforcement, witnesses, former mafia affiliates and even Raab himself, "viewers will get an inside look at the inner workings of the most powerful criminal organization of the twentieth century."

American Godfathers will air on three consecutive evenings beginning Sunday, August 11. Watch the first episode, "Death of The Old Rules"—which follows the American Mafia from their early development in New York City neighborhoods through Prohibition, to the boom days of the 1950’s—tonight at 8pm Eastern Time.

Episode two, "Rise of The New Dons," will air at the same time on Monday, August 12, with the third and final installment ("The Last Don," which "shows how a decidedly new, more aggressive commitment by law enforcement to 'eradicate' the mafia forces the families to find creative ways to stay in business and out of jail") will close things out on Tuesday, August 13 at 8pm ET.

To watch American Godfathers: The Five Families, you're going to need access to History Channel, which is included in most cable packages. However, if you've cut the cord, several live-TV streaming services include the channel, such as DIRECTV Stream , Hulu with Live TV , Philo , Sling , and Frndly TV.

Check out the official trailer of American Godfathers: The Five Families above before tuning into the first installment of the three-part TV event tonight on History Channel.