Gustave Reininger

Who was Gustave Reininger?

Gustave Reininger was an American scriptwriter who was the co-creator of the NBC TV drama, Crime Story. It was executive produced by Michael Mann. Crime Story was based on the Mafia in Chicago,"The Outfit," and how it got off the streets and into the boardrooms of Las Vegas casinos. The show premiered with a two hour pilot - movie, which had been exhibited theatrically, and was watched by over 30 million viewers. Crime Story then was scheduled to follow Miami Vice on Friday nights, and continued to attract a record number of viewers.

Reininger was a former Wall Street international investment banker who had come to Mann's attention based on a screenplay he had written about arson investigators, and a French language thriller with Dennis Hopper that he had co-written and produced. Mann's agent somehow reached Reininger while he was traveling incognito in the Mayan Highlands of Guatemala, with a liberation theology catholic Bishop.

Reininger researched Crime Story by winning the confidence of Detective William Hanhardt who put him in touch with undercover officers in the Chicago Police Department. They sent him on meetings with organized crime figures. Reininger risked wearing a body microphone and recorder. After visiting the crime scene of a gruesome gang slaying of bookmaker Al Brown, Reininger backed off his Mafia interviews.