Hulu’s ‘The Godfather Meets American Gangster’ Series Makes Tony Soprano Look Weak

Published Jul 29, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT After joining Screen Rant in January 2025, Guy became a Senior Features Writer in March of the same year, and now specializes in features about classic TV shows. With several years' experience writing for and editing TV, film and music publications, his areas of expertise include a wide range of genres, from comedies, animated series, and crime dramas, to Westerns and political thrillers. Drawing on the most iconic cinematic crime family of all time as well as Ridley Scott’s 2007 movie American Gangster, TV crime specialists Chris Brancato and Paul Eckstein have developed a four-season masterpiece about New York’s criminal underworld during the 1960s. The whole series is available to stream on Hulu, pending a feature-length epilogue that’s still in the works. Surely the best thing about this series is its title character, a seasoned mob boss who commands the respect of law enforcers and politicians, in addition to his local community. Indeed, Godfather of Harlem’s Bumpy Johnson makes even the great Tony Soprano look weak by comparison. The head of the Soprano crime family might be among the best TV characters of all time, but he stands out for his vulnerabilities as a human being, as much as for his strengths as a ruthless, street-hardened and machiavellian mafia don. By contrast, Godfather of Harlem leans into these aspects of Bumpy Johnson’s character. He has other personality traits that would give him an advantage over Tony Soprano, too, were they to face each other across the negotiating table. Either way, Bumpy deserves to stand alongside Tony as one of the best gangster characters in TV history, and alongside Vito Corleone and Denzel Washington’s Frank Lucas as an all-time great screen mob boss. The Godfather Of Harlem Feels Like The Godfather Crossed With American Gangster A slow-burning epic centering on the New York mob scene in the mid-20th century that’s drenched in elegantly stylized production, Godfather of Harlem is, in many ways, the closest thing to The Godfather that television has ever given us. At the same time, it serves as a prequel of sorts to one of the best gangster movies of the 21st century. Ridley Scott’s American Gangster tells the story of Frank Lucas, Bumpy Johnson’s right hand, who took over the Harlem mob after Johnson died, and began selling "Blue Magic" heroin smuggled directly from Southeast Asia. Bumpy only appears briefly at the beginning of the movie, as his death is the inciting incident that precipitates Frank’s rise. In chronological terms, Godfather of Harlem leads directly into the plot of American Gangster. Because the two works share a single historical narrative, they inevitably share characters, too. For instance, Frank Lucas is played by Rome Flynn in season 4 of Godfather of Harlem. There are also tonal and thematic similarities, although their respective protagonists couldn’t be more different from each other. While Denzel Washington’s Lucas is a hot-headed risk-taker who flaunts his wealth in public, and provokes rival mobsters and federal law enforcers alike, Forest Whitaker’s Johnson is one of the shrewdest criminal minds ever portrayed onscreen. Bumpy Johnson Makes Tony Soprano Look Weak As A Mob Boss Even if Godfather of Harlem hasn’t quite become TV’s next Sopranos, it’s fair to say that Bumpy Johnson gives Tony Soprano a run for his money as a small-screen gangster. In fact, Bumpy shows himself to be a superior mob boss to Tony in almost every crucial aspect of the role. His standing is higher in the world of organized crime, he makes more money, he commands a larger operation, and he skilfully navigates his way around the various threats he faces as a key figure of New York’s mob scene. Bumpy repeatedly gets his way when confronted with the city’s notorious Five Families, and even allies himself with Malcolm X. He ensures that almost the entire community of Harlem ultimately has his back. Godfather of Harlem even suggests that Bumpy had various powerful figures across New York and beyond in his back pocket. Meanwhile, Tony Soprano begins his series having panic attacks, and becomes increasingly vulnerable as it continues. By the end, there’s barely anyone he can trust. Release Date 2019 - 2026-00-00 Writers Chris Brancato, Paul Eckstein Creator(s) Chris Brancato, Paul Eckstein