14 Best Mafia Series on Netflix — Gritty Crime & Cartel Dramas

September 27, 2025
“14 Best Mafia Series on Netflix — sepia-toned mafia collage featuring posters of Peaky Blinders, Bad Blood, Gomorrah, and Narcos with Maxmag branding.”
“14 Best Mafia Series on Netflix: Peaky Blinders, Bad Blood, Gomorrah, and Narcos showcase Netflix’s top mafia dramas in this cinematic design — Maxmag.”

The mythos of organized crime has fueled prestige television for decades, but Netflix’s global slate brings the genre into sharper, more eclectic focus. This guide to the best mafia shows on Netflix spotlights dynastic clans, swaggering upstarts, and shadowy fixers operating from Birmingham to Naples to the Ozarks. We verified current U.S. availability and adhered to an IMDb 6.0+ threshold to keep quality high. Expect tense family showdowns, power plays across politics and police, and stylish direction that treats crime as high drama rather than mere pulp. From European neo‑noir to American cartel sagas, the selections balance fan favorites with newer discoveries. If you love prestige crime TV on Netflix and want narratives that spiral from loyalty to betrayal, you’re home.

Because catalogs shift, availability may change — but right now the lineup is deep, international, and binge‑ready. You’ll find period epics alongside modern street‑level tales, slick capers next to bruising tragedies, all filtered through streaming craft. To keep this list authoritative, we include seasons, total episodes, creators, and sub‑genre cues for quick scanning. Several entries were recently trending in 2024–2025, and a few have new projects in development that keep buzz high. Whether you crave ruthless politicking or blue‑collar grind, the best mafia shows on Netflix offer layered characters and razor‑edged stakes. Use it as a watchlist foundation, then explore adjacent Netflix crime shows prestige crime TV on Netflix and other prestige crime TV on Netflix as taste allows. Let’s dive into the crews, codes, and consequences that define organized crime on screen.

Our picks: the Best Mafia Series on Netflix to stream now

1. Peaky Blinders

  • Seasons: 6 (2013–2022)
  • Episodes: 36
  • Starring: Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, Helen McCrory
  • Creator/Showrunner: Steven Knight
  • Sub‑genre tags: period crime, British gangster, power politics
  • IMDb Rating: 8.8/10

Tommy Shelby claws his way from street rackets to political influence as the Peaky Blinders expand their empire and enemies evolve with each season. The show frames ambition as a tactical war, with family loyalty constantly in tension with survival. Guns, unions, and whiskey deals become levers in a larger game of legitimacy. Director‑driven style, needle‑drop music, and period grit give this saga prestige bite within prestige crime TV on Netflix. As an anchor of this genre on Netflix, it marries gangster swagger to generational trauma. Antagonists arrive like chess moves, forcing Tommy to trade mercy for momentum. Its historical canvas helps viewers trace how organized crime adapts to policy and war. The lasting appeal lies in ruthless choices that still feel intensely personal.

2. Suburra: Blood on Rome

  • Seasons: 3 (2017–2020)
  • Episodes: 24
  • Starring: Alessandro Borghi, Giacomo Ferrara, Filippo Nigro
  • Creator/Showrunner: Barbara Petronio; Ezio Abbate
  • Sub‑genre tags: Italian mafia, political corruption, neo‑noir
  • IMDb Rating: 8.0/10

In coastal Lazio, street soldiers collide with politicians and clergy as the Suburra web binds Rome’s future to illicit money. Aureliano, Spadino, and Lele seek territory and respect, but the true battlefield is influence. Visually lush and morally murky, the series threads personal urges through institutional rot. Its Vatican and municipal angles sets it apart among Netflix’s mafia standouts by showing power laundering as surely as cash. The friendships crack under betrayal, yet intimacy keeps every double‑cross human. If you browse prestige crime TV on Netflix, this delivers Italian neo‑noir at binge pace. Propulsive plotting turns land grabs into high tragedy. By the finale, Rome feels like a living accomplice rather than a backdrop.

3. The Gentlemen

  • Seasons: 1 (ongoing) (2024–)
  • Episodes: 8
  • Starring: Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito
  • Creator/Showrunner: Guy Ritchie
  • Sub‑genre tags: gangland caper, British crime, dark comedy
  • IMDb Rating: 7.7/10

Guy Ritchie transplants his wry underworld to the countryside, where an aristocrat inherits a stately home hiding a cannabis syndicate. Eddie’s crash course in crime etiquette pits etiquette against brutality with farcical precision. Schemes ricochet through boxing gyms, drawing rooms, and back‑alley boardrooms. As part of Netflix’s mafia lineup, it bridges caper energy with succession‑style family pressure. Giancarlo Esposito’s velvet menace and Theo James’s reluctant cunning make the power shift addictive. The show’s banter keeps stakes sharp without draining tension. Fans exploring prestige crime TV on Netflix will find a glossystreaming crime series , fast‑talking alternative to bleak grit. It ends each episode like a trap snapping shut — with a grin.

4. Top Boy

  • Seasons: 3 (Netflix revival) (2019–2023)
  • Episodes: 24
  • Starring: Ashley Walters, Kane Robinson, Micheal Ward
  • Creator/Showrunner: Ronan Bennett
  • Sub‑genre tags: street gangs, British crime, social realism
  • IMDb Rating: 8.4/10

On East London estates, Dushane and Sully struggle to stabilize a fragile throne as younger rivals upend the rules. The drama watches business decisions ripple into households, schools, and friendships. Its vérité texture rejects romanticism and finds dignity in impossible choices. Sitting alongside Netflix’s best organized‑crime shows, it demonstrates how local economies make or break bosses. Every favor carries interest; every ally, a timer. Music and street poetry ground the stakes in lived experience, not myth. For viewers combing prestige crime TV on Netflix, this is a quintessentialorganized crime series on Netflix street‑level saga. Final chapters hit like cold dawn after a long night — inevitable and devastating.

5. Narcos

  • Seasons: 3 (2015–2017)
  • Episodes: 30
  • Starring: Wagner Moura, Pedro Pascal, Boyd Holbrook
  • Creator/Showrunner: Chris Brancato; Carlo Bernard; Doug Miro
  • Sub‑genre tags: cartel epic, docudrama, manhunt thriller
  • IMDb Rating: 8.8/10

A quasi‑documentary pulse drives the rise and pursuit of Pablo Escobar and the Medellín Cartel. Voiceover context and archival textures widen the frame beyond shootouts. The series maps money, terror, and politics with clinical intensity. Within Netflix’s mafia canon, it stands as the blueprint for modern cartel storytelling. Agents and kingpins chase each other in loops of ambition and attrition. Performances keep the humanity visible inside monstrous decisions. Audiences searching prestige crime TV on Netflix will find a masterclasstop gangster shows on Netflix in narrative propulsion. It shows how institutions bend when confronted with cash and charisma.

6. Narcos: Mexico

  • Seasons: 3 (2018–2021)
  • Episodes: 30
  • Starring: Diego Luna, Michael Peña, Scoot McNairy
  • Creator/Showrunner: Carlo Bernard; Chris Brancato; Doug Miro
  • Sub‑genre tags: cartel federation, procedural manhunt, historical crime
  • IMDb Rating: 8.4/10

The companion series tracks the Guadalajara Cartel’s federation model and its brutal unraveling. Diego Luna’s Félix builds alliances as if laying railroad — fast, risky, and world‑changing. DEA pressure and internal pride make the system crack from the inside. As part of Netflix’s organized‑crime pantheon, it reframes success as a fuse burning toward collapse. Scoot McNairy’s narrator‑detective frames cause and effect without absolution. Set pieces burn hot, but the aftershocks are colder and longer. Among prestige crime TV on Netflix, this is essential for understanding the franchise’s full arc. It’s a study in how power centralizes — and why it splinters.

“14 Best Mafia Series on Netflix — gritty mafia backdrop with posters of Peaky Blinders, Suburra: Blood on Rome, The Gentlemen, Narcos, and Ozark — Maxmag branding.”
“14 Best Mafia Series on Netflix: Peaky Blinders, Suburra: Blood on Rome, The Gentlemen, Narcos, and Ozark headline this cinematic mafia lineup — Maxmag.”

7. Ozark

  • Seasons: 4 (2017–2022)
  • Episodes: 44
  • Starring: Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Julia Garner
  • Creator/Showrunner: Bill Dubuque; Mark Williams
  • Sub‑genre tags: money‑laundering, rural noir, family crime
  • IMDb Rating: 8.5/10

A suburban accountant drags his family to the lake to launder money, trading PTA politics for cartel deadlines. What starts as triage becomes a philosophy of control for the Byrdes. Marty and Wendy’s marriage weaponizes trust, turning love into leverage. Amid Netflix’s mafia canon, it’s a cautionary tale about competence without conscience. Every scheme spawns two more, and compromise corrodes faster than cash cleans. Ruth Langmore’s fury gives the show its wounded heart. Viewers browsing prestige crime TV on Netflix will find a slow‑burnglobal Netflix crime lineup that ends in fireworks. It’s Shakespeare by ledger — bloody, meticulous, and tragic.

8. Griselda

  • Seasons: Limited (2024)
  • Episodes: 6
  • Starring: Sofía Vergara, Alberto Guerra, Christian Tappan
  • Creator/Showrunner: Doug Miro; Eric Newman; Carlo Bernard
  • Sub‑genre tags: queenpin biopic, Miami crime, Narcos‑adjacent
  • IMDb Rating: 7.1/10

Sofía Vergara embodies Miami’s Cocaine Godmother, building a ruthless pipeline through audacity and paranoia. The miniseries compresses a chaotic decade into six propulsive hours. It pairs neon style with the cost of power in a man’s world. Within Netflix’s mafia canon, it offers a rare queenpin perspective that complements Narcos. Ambition curdles into isolation as rivals multiply and allies vanish. Domestic scenes double as strategy sessions, tender and terrifying at once. If your queue skews toward prestige crime TV on Netflix, this limited run lands hard. Awards buzz and controversy made it one of 2024’s loudest crime stories.

9. Undercover

  • Seasons: 3 (2019–2021)
  • Episodes: 28
  • Starring: Tom Waes, Frank Lammers, Anna Drijver
  • Creator/Showrunner: Nico Moolenaar
  • Sub‑genre tags: undercover infiltration, Benelux crime, slow‑burn thriller
  • IMDb Rating: 7.9/10

Two agents pose as a couple to unseat a Dutch ecstasy boss, blurring romance, duty, and personal cost. Camping holidays turn into surveillance, and neighbors become suspects. Frank Lammers’ Ferry Bouman is as charming as he is chilling. Among mafia shows on Netflix, this is the gateway to a wider ‘Ferry’ universe. Operations that start tidy inevitably grow messy, morally and tactically. The show excels at pressure‑cooker intimacy and rural menace. Fans of prestige crime TV on Netflix will appreciate its lean tensioncrime sagas on Netflix . Each sting tests how much of a life you can fake before it becomes real.

10. Ganglands

  • Seasons: 2 (2021–2023)
  • Episodes: 14
  • Starring: Sami Bouajila, Tracy Gotoas, Samuel Jouy
  • Creator/Showrunner: Hamid Hlioua; Julien Leclercq
  • Sub‑genre tags: heist‑crime hybrid, Paris underworld, cartel feud
  • IMDb Rating: 7.2/10

A master thief and a novice are thrown together when a cartel’s rage narrows their options to fight or die. The show moves like a heist — clean setups, savage payoffs. Family ties are both shield and liability as turf lines redraw. Placed in this mafia lineup on Netflix, it scratches the itch for kinetic, stunt‑driven crime. Sami Bouajila anchors a world where loyalty is a currency as volatile as cocaine. France’s underworld styling shifts between sleek and bruised. For those combing prestige crime TV on Netflix, this is a sharp, compact binge. Season two widens the battlefield without losing the first season’s bite.

11. Ferry: The Series

  • Seasons: 1 (2023–)
  • Episodes: 8
  • Starring: Frank Lammers, Elise Schaap, Raymond Thiry
  • Creator/Showrunner: Piet Matthys; Nico Moolenaar; Bart Uytdenhouwen
  • Sub‑genre tags: origin story, Benelux crime, biker‑adjacent
  • IMDb Rating: 7.7/10

Before he was a kingpin, Ferry Bouman fumbles toward power in Brabant’s MDMA trade. His relationship with Daan keeps the dream seductive and the stakes human. Every alliance carries a trap door, and every victory invites retaliation. As a prequel presence in the Best Mafia Series on Netflix, it deepens the Undercover ecosystem. Motorcycle clubs, rival chemists, and small‑town gossip make the world feel lived‑in. The series asks whether charm is a strategy or a mask. Viewers sampling prestige crime TV on Netflix, take this as essential connective tissue. It proves that origin stories can sting as much as endings.

12. El Chapo

  • Seasons: 3 (2017–2018)
  • Episodes: 35
  • Starring: Marco de la O, Humberto Busto, Alejandro Aguilar
  • Creator/Showrunner: Silvana Aguirre; Carlos Contreras
  • Sub‑genre tags: biographical cartel, manhunt thriller, political crime
  • IMDb Rating: 7.8/10

This biographical thriller tracks Joaquín Guzmán from small‑time runner to notorious escape artist and global symbol. The show sketches the logistics behind myth: tunnels, alliances, and PR. Power compounds until it collapses under its own lies. Among the best mafia shows on Netflix, it complements Narcos with a parallel vantage. Domestic costs mirror public carnage, making rise and fall equally stark. Law enforcement remains reactive, always a step behind a moving target. If you browse prestige crime TV on Netflix, add this to the historical spine. It’s a reminder that success in crime is only ever rented.

Halfway point: more of Netflix’s mafia heavy‑hitters

13. Cocaine Coast

  • Seasons: 1 (2018)
  • Episodes: 10
  • Starring: Javier Rey, Tristán Ulloa, Antonio Durán ‘Morris’
  • Creator/Showrunner: Carlos Sedes; Jorge Torregrossa
  • Sub‑genre tags: Galician smuggling, fact‑based, 1980s Spain
  • IMDb Rating: 7.9/10

In 1980s Galicia, a savvy speedboat pilot turns smuggler as Europe’s coke route shifts to Spain’s stormy shores. Based on journalism, it captures how small ports became big business. Friendships harden into cartels as the profits swell and loyalties buckle. Within the Best Mafia Series on Netflix, it offers a European counterpoint to Latin‑American tales. The sea is both highway and accomplice, beautiful and treacherous. Performances keep the stakes intimate despite geopolitical scale. If your taste in prestige crime TV on Netflix tilts toward fact‑based drama, start here. It’s a tight, complete story with waves that keep crashing.

14. Blood Coast

  • Seasons: 1 (2023–)
  • Episodes: 6
  • Starring: Tewfik Jallab, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Jeanne Goursaud
  • Creator/Showrunner: Kamel Guemra
  • Sub‑genre tags: police vs cartel, Marseille noir, action‑forward
  • IMDb Rating: 7.0/10

A rogue Marseille squad fires back as a ruthless dealer tries to seize the whole waterfront. Explosive raids collide with office politics in a city built on risk. The moral math is messy, and that’s the point. As a late addition to Netflix’s organized‑crime slate, it favors momentum over melancholy. The show scratches the itch for set‑pieces while hinting at deeper rot. It’s lean, loud, and unafraid to get dirty. Viewers scanning prestige crime TV on Netflix for quick, punchy thrills will eat this up. Consider it an adrenaline shot between heavier epics.

About Mafia Series and Netflix

The mafia sub‑genre began as immigrant folklore and tabloid scandal, then matured into operatic storytelling about business, ritual, and assimilation. Television stretched those ideas into interlocking arcs — lieutenants rising, families fracturing, and cities reshaped by protection money, unions, and political favors. Netflix’s global commissioning brought new dialects of the form, from Italian neo‑noir to Benelux underworld tales, good proof that the Best Mafia Series on Netflix Best Mafia Series on Netflix can travel without losing specificity.

The streamer’s reach also reshaped discovery: subtitles are no hurdle when the craft is sharp. That’s why many picks above broke out beyond borders via curated Netflix mafia lists, competing with Hollywood staples on equal footing. Shorter seasons concentrate plot, while diverse creatives remix tradition — queens, fixers, and hustlers alongside dons. As catalogs rotate, these pillars remain reliable on‑ramps to a vast library of prestige crime TV on Netflixprestige crime TV on Netflix .

Conclusion

Organized crime tales endure because they dramatize the cost of belonging — to family, crew, and myth. This collection spans eras and countries, giving you multiple entry points depending on mood: elegant capers, bruised street stories, or sprawling cartel histories. For deeper context on the craft and industry currents that keep these shows fresh, trade papers like Variety and magazine benchmarks like Empire Additionally, this roundup doubles as a living reference to the Best Mafia Series on Netflix for timely queue‑building. track trends, talent moves, and release cadences.

Queue a couple from the top, then alternate tones to avoid burnout — a sleek caper next to a grounded tragedy, a period saga next to a contemporary burner — a sampling that mirrors top mafia dramas on Netflix. As release slates evolve, check back for fresh contenders, because the world of mafia storytelling never sleeps. For now, these fourteen are the sharpest cuts on Netflix’s menu.

Source check: Availability verified via Netflix official pages and JustWatch; ratings via IMDb. Freshness noted where relevant.

FAQ

Emerging filmmaker and writer with a BA (Hons) in Film Studies from the University of Warwick, one of the UK’s top-ranked film programs. He also trained at the London Film Academy, focusing on hands-on cinematography and editing. Passionate about global cinema, visual storytelling, and character-driven narratives, he brings a fresh, creative voice to MAXMAG's film and culture coverage.

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