Crooks follows a former safecracker who’s pulled into a heist, and a washed-up gangster joining hands and fleeing several gangs across Europe who are after them for their lives and/or the invaluable coin they have in their possession.
The criminal underworld of Crooks (2024) is vast and grim. Across Europe, and beyond the continent on opposing sides, some gangs get involved in the matters at hand.
Many gangs collide as their motivations and paths intersect, while some of the gangs remain largely lurking through the shadows.
The Al-Walids
The Al-Walids run Berlin, and everyone fears the family full of ruthless gangsters who value family over anything else.
It’s two members of the family, Karim and Tarek, who steal an invaluable coin from a museum in broad daylight.
However, the head of the family, Hassan chooses to keep low for a while and hold on to the coin, since the police are hot on their tails.
Karim is upset and wants his coin back, but Tarek has already tipped off another gang to steal it, and when they do, they run into Karim, who’s killed in the crossfire.
Hassan needs to avenge his brother and after most other members of the gang that engaged in a shootout with his brother end up dead or caught, he heads to Marseille, where the last remaining member, Charly’s wife and son are hiding away.
The Al-Walids are not only the most feared name in Berlin, but their reputation is well-known in neighboring territories, though only to an extent.
Hassan uses his contacts and connections with the Algerians in Marseille, to try and track down Charly’s family and eventually him.
The Jugos
The Jugos are a small bunch of people led by Stepan. There’s also Mirko, Henning, and Stepan’s son Nero.
They are Charly’s old criminal associates who are offered 2 million Euros to steal the invaluable coin from the safekeeping of the Al-Walids.
Stepan gets his men to pressure Charly, a former safecracker who’s left the life of crime, to help them steal the coin. Stepan’s son Nero is stabbed by Karim while trying to escape after the robbery.
The Austrians
The gangster family from Vienna, headed by Karli Bachofner, who is on his deathbed, is another major force in the narrative of Crooks (2024).
Karli’s younger brother, Red wants it all as soon as Karli kicks the bucket. He has been trying his darndest to get the dying man’s signature for the inheritance.
However, Karli has ensured that his corrupt power-hungry brother gets nothing. He had promised Red all his estate and fortune if he brought him this historical coin from Berlin.
He knew it was stolen by the ruthless Al-Walids, and that soon, ferocious gangsters and powerful people from across the globe would be after the invaluable artifact.
Karli made sure that chaos ensued after his death and that Joseph remained safe amidst all the chaos and bloodshed. Joseph is a petty gangster and a driver for his gang.
He’s also his secret son, whom he leaves all his estate to, much to Red’s chagrin, who now wants Joseph dead and also the coin that the driver now possesses.
As Crooks (2024) concludes, the hierarchy of the gang has changed and Joseph becomes the new leader, ready to take on the Russians to help his friend Nina get her revenge.
The Algerians
The Algerian gang, led by Sharif, almost runs the city, except for the top dogs who can easily capsize their venture in an eye-blink.
They rule the streets and operate out of their stronghold sprawling with armed men and a drug-packaging workforce.
Hassan and Tarek seek their help in tracking down Charly’s wife and son. They fail to do so, and later when Hassan needs Sharif’s help in breaking into the villa of the head of the Corsicans, Sharif backstabs and gives him over to the top dogs.
The Corsicans
The biggest players in Marseille are the Corsicans, who are into drug smuggling, which has made the gang head Griselda Delacroix into a massively wealthy person.
Her villa sits atop an island that’s very inaccessible and makes for a near-impenetrable fort. She needs a shipment worth of cocaine that was seized by the police, to be retrieved, and tasks Charly with the heist.
Meanwhile, she also gets Hassan captured. The Crooks (2024) finale sees Griselda forcing Hassan and Charly, who purposefully ditches the heist and spoils her plan, into a brawl until one of them dies.
She intends on letting neither go but the two join hands to escape together anyhow. This leaves Griselda in a tough spot, as she now has to answer the cartel about the failed heist and the one-ton cocaine she couldn’t retrieve.
The Russians
There are Russians too, and even though the screentime devoted to the ruthless Russian gangsters is comparatively smaller, they make most of those minutes to clearly establish just how ferocious they are in their modus operandi.
The wealthy gangster Arkadij needs that coin and he sends Prizkov to get it from Red, who fails to deliver the coin to them as his son and other hired mercenaries fail to retrieve it from Joseph and Charly.
Red has to pay with his life later on, at the hands of Hassan, but not before he kills Prizkov himself.
Meanwhile, Arkadij remains alive but at the end of the Crooks (2024) finale, police officer Nina is joined by Joseph to exact her revenge on Arkadij, for killing her father.
A future installment may explore the Russians more and the chaos that contending with them will invite.
Also Read: Crooks (2024) summary and ending explained