Movie Review: MOB COPS

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: April 25th, 2025 / 01:37 AM

MOB COPS movie poster | ©2025 Grindstone Entertainment

Rating: R
Stars: David Arquette, Jeremy Luke, Danny A. Abeckaser, Joseph Russo, Nathaniel Buzolic, Kyle Stefanski, Bo Dietl, Kevin Connolly, Graham Sibley, Hunter Daily, Leila Ben Khalifa, Deborah Geffner, Lorenzo Antonucci
Writer: Kosta Kondalopoulos
Director: Danny A. Abeckaser
Distributor: Grindstone Entertainment Group
Release Date: April 25, 2025 (theatrical, VOD)

MOB COPS starts with the onscreen information “based on a true story.” To be more specific, it is based on two former real-life NYPD detectives, Stephen Caracatta & Louis Eppolito, who moonlighted as associates of the New York Mafia. Eppolito also appeared in a few films, including GOODFELLAS, and wrote the film TURN OF FAITH, based on his novel (in which his alter ego is a hero cop).

In MOB COPS, Caracatta and Eppolito’s fictional counterparts are, respectively, Sammy Canzano (David Arquette) and Leo Benetti (Jeremy Luke), decorated NYPD detectives. Leo’s cousin Freddy is in the Mob, and once he tells his handler Ben Sherman (Bo Dietl) that he has a relative who can fix anything, it’s not long before the two cops are doing all sorts of Mob errands, for a nice fee.

Some of Sammy and Leo’s errands include using their flashing lights in their unmarked car to “arrest” Mob enemies and turning them over for execution. Eventually, the two cops begin carrying out hits themselves.

MOB COPS starts in Staten Island, 2002, as Detective Tim Delgado, played by the film’s director, Danny A. Abeckaser, solemnly tells us in voiceover about how when a cop crosses the line, there’s no going back.

Delgado is still plagued with guilt that one of his informants, Phil Hughes (Kyle Stefanski), was killed because Delgado hesitated to pull him out. When Phil’s mother (Bridget Hughes) recognizes Leo when he’s on a TV news show promoting his book, she reaches out to Delgado, who decides to go after Leo and his partner Sammy.

Through plentiful flashbacks, Delgado continues to narrate some of the action, with other sections narrated by Sherman, and still others by Sherman’s boss Galiano (Joseph Russo).

Through this, we get a composite picture of what the “Mob cops” did. Sammy worries about Leo drawing attention to himself – not to mention clashing with the mobsters – and both of their wives (Hunter Daily, Leila Ben Khalifa) are increasingly concerned about the source of their husbands’ extra cash.

Written by Kosta Kondalopoulos, MOB COPS appears to be stuck between wanting to be a genuine mob movie, like, well, GOODFELLAS and telling a detective story. Its heart seems to be much more with the former, as the deals, obscenities, and violence all seem credible, and director Abeckaser gives the late ‘80s through early ‘00s the right period look and the right sort of irritable professionalism to his wise guys.

The detective aspect, on the other hand, feels forced from the start. It seems a little odd that it takes a civilian to direct Delgado’s attention to the possibility that two fellow detectives might be corrupt. These two guys have been breaking the law for at least fourteen years, and Delgado hasn’t heard a whisper about it until now?

It seems even odder that we see no departmental pushback. Granted, there are plenty of movies and TV shows that cover the subject matter of police investigating other police. MOB COPS is under no obligation to be one of them. However, since that’s how the filmmakers have chosen to shape their narrative – through Delgado’s point of view – it seems like they ought to at least show him asking his brothers in arms a few questions.

Arquette is a standout as the quiet, wary Sammy, a man to be both feared and pitied. Luke gives his volatile, glad-handing Leo a naturalistic quality. Between the two actors, we get a sense of their characters’ bond that isn’t well-explored in the script.

MOB COPS runs under ninety minutes. With so much unshown material, this is an instance where more might have been more. If nothing else, it makes us curious about the real events behind the fictionalization.

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