Pierce Brosnan, Ray Liotta launch HISTORY Channel shows

March 2 (UPI) -- HISTORY announced new shows from stars Pierce Brosnan and Ray Liotta on Wednesday. Brosnan will host History's Greatest Heists with Pierce Brosnan and Liotta will executive produce Five Families.

History's Greatest Heists will use re-enactments and visual effects to show audiences how historic thieves pulled off their heists. The Wilcox train robbery of 1899 and Boston's Great Brink robbery of 1950 are subjects of episodes.

"Great heist stories are thrilling, and when well told, have the ability to bring the viewer along as almost a co-conspirator to the crime itself," Brosnan said in a statement.

Brosnan has several heist films on his resume including The Thomas Crown Affair and After the Sunset.

Five Families profiles New York's Genovese, Gambino, Bonnano, Colombo and Lucchese crime families. Selwyn Raab's book Five Families: The Rise, Decline and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires provides the basis for the series.

Liotta starred as Henry Hill in the mafia movie Goodfellas and played twin Moltisanti brothers in last year's Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark.

"Whether it's power, money, status or living by your own rules at a time when the American Dream seemed out of reach for so many, there's a reason why there's so much public intrigue around the mafia," Liotta said in a statement.