Traficant: The Congressman of Crimetown

Eric Murphy’s TRAFICANT: THE CONGRESSMAN OF CRIMETOWN depicts the turbulent career of Youngstown politico Jim Traficant. Since his days as a high school quarterback, Traficant was never one to follow directions. And that confident roguishness was precisely what appealed to voters. In the early 1980s, he ran for Sheriff and then for Congressman in a region of Ohio known as much for its organized crime as for its collapsing steel industry. Charges of contempt of court and later racketeering — for which he legally defended himself and won —could not smear Traficant’s populist Democratic image among his local supporters. Alongside Washington bigwigs, Traficant’s disheveled hair, brash clothes, and orotund speeches drew national attention, but this underdog could not stay on top forever. Featuring rich archival footage and extensive interviews with Youngstown natives Ed O’Neill (of Married with Children and Modern Family) and boxing champ Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Murphy’s documentary is an illuminating and captivating portrait of an infamous local son. – E.B.