Bella Mafia is a 1997 American television film starring Vanessa Redgrave, Nastassja Kinski, Jennifer Tilly, Illeana Douglas and Dennis Farina.
Les Moonves, the disgraced CEO of CBS Corporation, gave Illeana Douglas the role as part of a deal to keep her quiet about his sexual assault against her.
[2] Lynda La Plante (who also created Widows) scripted this TV miniseries about the family life surrounding a Mafia don.
Sicilian magnate Don Roberto Luciano (Dennis Farina) and his wife Graziella (Vanessa Redgrave) live comfortably at Villa Rosa in Palermo, Italy.
After Don Roberto refuses to traffic drugs, angry U.S. mob boss Carolla (Tony Lo Bianco) retaliates by having his son Michael killed.
While at a convent, Sophia is given a hard blow when another pregnant woman tells her of his death; she almost immediately gives birth to Luca, Michael's son.
Roberto (Farina), sees Constantino's affections for Sophia and makes it clear to his wife that he doesn't approve of her, mostly due to her being poor and considered lower class.
The story begins to show the other brothers, Alfredo (Tony Maggio), who constantly tries to please their father, and Fredrico (W. Earl Brown), who is something of a troublemaker and doesn't like being told what to do.
Roberto pulls his son aside, slaps him across the face, and angrily demands that he dump Moyra and meet a nice girl that Graziella has picked and that this time he won't refuse.
She then takes off her coat to reveal her pregnant belly and announces she won't have the baby without the Luciano family supporting it.
Again, unknown to all, still believing she's depressed over her inability to conceive, Roberto decides to cheer up his daughter-in-law by giving her money to start her own boutique and fashion.
Over the years, Teresa and Alfredo have a daughter named Rosa (Gina Philips), Moyra's accepted into the family, and Sophia's boutiques have become very popular.
Elsewhere, Sophia's son called Luca (James Marsden), is revealed to be alive, but he's a violent child who was abused, and is almost feral with the monks who tend to him.
He eventually befriends a sickly young man named Giorgio (Christopher Shaw), the son of Pietro Carolla.
Believing their family is finally getting closure, all of the Luciano men (including Rosa's fiancé) go out for dinner to celebrate.
Luca sneaks onto the Villa and cruelly and quietly shoots Sophia's sons while they're asleep in bed, not knowing that they are his half-brothers.
Moyra leaves with the money, not knowing that Luka will kill Nicky, and the women find that Graziella has oddly enough won a big lottery.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Sophia befriends an apparent American mafia man named Vito Giancamo (Peter Bogdanovich) and his son, Michael, who is about Rosa's age.
Not long after this deal, the police come to her and reveal Luca's true identity and that he has murdered several people, including the American whose name he uses.
As Sophia and Teresa watch the young couple, it is revealed the women plan to finish out their revenge on Carolla's allies who helped murder their husbands.
Moyra eventually passes to Sophia the poisoned wine glass for Victor Muzetti (Michael Kagen), one of Carolla's men.