Twisted Roots is a sweeping historical crime drama that charts the harrowing journey of Cesare Romano, a young exile from the war-torn hills of Italy, as he carves a path through the shadows of New York’s criminal underworld. After avenging a brutal assault on his sister, fourteen-year-old Cesare is smuggled out of his homeland with nothing but a promise to his mother and the weight of his father’s sacrifice. Upon arrival in America, he is assigned as a servant and bodyguard to Anthony Cavallo—the spoiled and ineffectual son of a powerful mafia don. Cesare quickly learns to stay silent, absorb everything, and strike only when necessary. While Anthony postures in the limelight, Cesare becomes the invisible hand behind his growing reputation, handling threats, collecting debts, and eliminating enemies with cold precision.

As rival families crumble under wartime drafts and street violence, Cesare’s quiet efficiency becomes indispensable to the Cavallo empire. Yet his true influence remains cloaked in anonymity. Behind closed doors, he learns languages, studies enemy patterns, and consolidates power with methodical calm. When the Corti family—New Jersey’s most respected Italian syndicate—proposes a strategic marriage to unite their bloodlines with the Cavallos, Cesare finds himself at the center of a delicate web of diplomacy, betrayal, and ambition. With tensions mounting, allegiances shifting, and violence lurking behind every toast and handshake, Cesare begins to make decisions that will alter the future of the criminal world—laying the foundation for a legacy built not on fear alone, but on control, calculation, and a name whispered with reverence.