“Before Tulsa King and Frisco King, Michael Mann’s Crime Story Set the Blueprint for Modern” — what this page in the network covers. Long before Taylor Sheridan’s Tulsa King introduced Dwight Manfredi to Oklahoma and the upcoming Frisco King expands that universe, Michael Mann’s Crime Story was redefining the gangster genre on television. The 1986–1988 NBC series, created by Chuck Adamson and Gustave Reininger and executive produced by Mann, followed Lieutenant Mike Torello (Dennis Farina) and his obsessive pursuit of rising mobster Ray Luca (Anthony Denison) across a changing American landscape—from Chicago to Las Vegas.
Crime Story blended period detail, serialized storytelling, and cinematic style, anticipating the modern prestige crime drama by decades. Its DNA is evident in Sheridan’s work: the clash of old-school criminals with new territories, the morally gray protagonist, and the sprawling, multi-episode arcs. For the complete material, the listing points back to the source inside the network.