Leonardo DiCaprio to battle the Mafia in The Black Hand

DiCaprio will play NYPD officer Joe Petrosino, a man apparently nicknamed “the Italian Sherlock Holmes,” as he works to expose the dirty dealings of the mob. Unfortunately, at the risk of spoiling history, Petrosino does eventually get killed by so-called Black Hand thugs. So that makes this a crime drama, a period piece, and a thriller where the main character will probably die at the end, all of which are basically DiCaprio’s favorite things to have in a movie.

As Deadline also points out, Talty is the ghostwriter behind A Captain’s Duty, which was adapted into the film Captain Phillips. It’s way too early to say how well The Black Hand will work out, but that’s definitely a good sign.