The Octopus (1984)

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! Episode 1 - RETURN TO SICILY - is the coming back of several characters to the little town where, years ago, the police commissary Cattani was set up and murdered by the Mafia. Rosario Granchio is transferred to the local prison against his will, tries to reach the prosecutor magistrate Silvia Conti but is killed due to the poor protection offered by an inexperienced deputy commissary Breda and an inept inspector Livotti. Silvia fails to get information from Rosario's daughter, Sara, who prefers to confide what she knows about his father's dangerous liaisons to Antonio Ragusa, a young thug. He aims at destroying the ascending Mafioso, Nuzzio, but is soon disposed of by the ruthless Nuzzio. Sara decides to punish the lecherous boss by killing his lover, but in the doing, she accidentally kills Nuzzio's natural son. Meanwhile, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saverio is working underground in cahoots with Marcella, a banker's assistant, to discover a strange Mafia money laundering project. Episode 2 - THE BARROTTI GANG - Sara and Biagio, her brother, create an extortion gang, named after the village's suburbs where they live. They are taking the «business» out of Nuzzio's hands. Don Aragonese forbids Nuzzio to take vengeance against Sara, but Nuzzio's friend, now a widower and a grieving father, tries to take revenge on Sara. By mere chance, a career promotion takes Silvia Monti off the Mafia's trail, and an overconfident commissary Breda blunders the case against a top Mafioso. Meanwhile in Russia, Saverio's long and discreet digging brings results: now he knows who is sending the Mafia's treasure in bank notes through what cargo ship to what numbered bank account and where. He knows enough, and can now return to Sicily for his vengeance against his former Mafiosi friends. Behind him, he leaves a broken-hearted wife, and his mistress. Episode 3 - LOOK-OUT FOR SAVERIO - Saverio comes home to reunite with Nuzzio against the higher powers of the Mafia, but these are alert and after him, after torturing his mistress in St. Petersburg. Also after him, is his wife, still under the protection of Oleg, Saverio's bodyguard. Silvia Conti enlists the help of a computer wizard with a past, and a pirate radio reporter who is a revolted young man, son of an old industrialist who married the sexy countess Olga Camastra who ordered the killing of Cattani, after failing to stop him by using her personal charms. The ghost of that cop killing, and the countess's escape from justice for lack of evidence years ago, is even more presence after a sort of re-enactment of the murder, now with commissary Breda and his wife as targets. This time, Silvia Conti gets a confession from Olga's husband - but he suffers an heart attack, and is killed in the hospital by a Mafia paid doctor. Episode 4 - THE INQUEST - The local television channel, owned by Olga Camastra, puts the blame of her husband's death on Silvia Conti's harsh interrogation of the old man. Saverio's ascension to power seems unstoppable: he masters over Nuzzio with his superior intelligence, and helps him escape an ambush; the Barrotti gang is massacred by Nuzzio's men; and he breaks and enters into the countess's palace, frightening her, and demanding the names' list. The countess plays for time, and decides to print and keep a list of all the Mafiosi names and account numbers for her own protection, while deleting them all from her computer. The password is a Latin motto, Salus Nostra Extrema Thule (literally, the northernmost-isle is our salvation, Ultima Thule being an ancient word for the most far-away inhabited land by humans known to the Greek culture). Olga owns that medallion of the «Thule Academy», similar to the one Saverio gave his wife as something that would be her best protection. After laboratory expertise on the remains of three human bodies are complete, Silvia Conti knows the identity of three of the six men who killed her former lover, Cattani. Since another was Rosario Granchio, recently killed, only two remain - those not yet crossed in a photo Saverio kept, of six boys: one is himself, the other is Nuzzio. Olga arrests the countess for interrogation, but she refuses the questioning, claiming that they were rivals in love once, for Cattani, and the chief prosecutor puts Silvia off the case. By accident, Camastra's son-in-law discovers the secret cache where she had hidden the Thule's list, and Cattani's broken wrist-watch. Going against the rules, Silvia Conti forces a meeting with Olga Camastra in prison, and confronts her alone, showing her the wrist-watch - thus implying she owns the names' list, too. Olga breaks, and starts her confession. Before she is taken to court, the Thule's leaders, made powerful by their police informers, has her killed. Episode 5 - THE KILLING ATTEMPT - Silvia is blamed for another strange death, the young commissary Breda is sent away to his hometown far north - something he had requested before he was into this case - and their only witness, Sara, is pressed by a police inspector and the new prosecutor to deny her earlier testimony. Yet, Sara's conscience leads her to a drastic solution: she does her confession to a music tape recorder borrowed to her by Breda, and kills herself in prison before the new trial hearing. The corrupt inspector cleans up her cell, and gets hold of the compromising tape. However, Silvia confronts the corrupt chief prosecutor with what she knows, and he breaks into a full confession. Outside the magistrate's villa, there are Mafiosi in watch, and a new killing attempt on the courageous woman magistrate and her aids is being prepared. Episode 6 - THE SENTENCE - The killing attempt worked almost to perfection, and more blood runs in the streets. Silvia Conti's life is spared due to the intervention of Oleg, Saverio's bodyguard, who decided against Nuzzio's opinion that she would be more valuable to them alive. Stefano Mura, the computer wizard is killed by the corrupt inspector Livotti. Olga Camastra's son-in-law almost dies when the Mafia sets a bomb in the factory where he was alone, working overnight in his father's double accounts, to expose the Mafia's money laundering schemes using his companies. The workers and the village shopkeepers unite under the guidance of the schoolteacher, and a demonstration is set to the day of the funerals of the repentant magistrate and Stefano's. Chiari who was now very fond of Stefano Mura, is devastated by his death, but is able to finish his computer puzzle by replacing the missing letters in the password with the letters she saw on the medallion her husband had given her. The day of the funeral is long in events, from a bomb in the church's crypt, a last-minute intervention by commissary Breda, a confession from a repentant corrupt member of Parliament, a truck chase, and a shoot-out between Nuzzio's men and the police. Silvia Conti manages to bring the all-powerful Professor Piemonte to court. Even before he is sentenced, though, a car travels north to Tano Cariddi's mountainous hide-out. Piemonte's young protégé shows Cariddi the Thule medallion and, according to his instructions, buries a small box with the floppy-disks that contain the secret history of the last thirty years of the affairs between company owners, Mafiosi and the secret society. One day, they will be revived.

The Octopus is a crime show featuring Remo Girone and created by Nicola Badalucco.

The Octopus is currently streaming on MZ Choice Amazon Channel and Mhz Choice.

It is also possible to buy The Octopus on Amazon Video.