The mafia has become a TV genre unto its own, in part because no matter how depraved its members might be, we can’t help but wonder what it might feel like to step into their shoes for a while.

Shows such as AMC’s docu-series Making of the Mob: New York, which debuted June 15, have a rich tradition of depicting organized crime. But the digital realm has opened up opportunities for viewers to actually pretend to be mobsters, thereby deepening the connection between content and consumer ever-further. Hence the rise of the selfie app, and AMC’s latest contribution to the growing mobile genre, Mobbed Up.

“Given the enormous popularity of the subject matter and the mob genre across TV and movies, we wanted to allow our viewers to transport themselves to this world,” said Linda Schupack, AMC’s EVP of marketing, in a statement. “Without the danger of being ‘whacked.’”

With this fun offering available on iOS and Android, fans can take pictures of themselves, or upload images, then edit the photo using realistic period props, filters and textures taken directly from the show. Once users have created their own mobster “personalities,” they can then, of course, share the images across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The app in fact resembles Instagram, only its photo-altering accoutrements include details such as newsie caps, trench coats and tommy guns. It’s easy to move the props around the given photo and attach them where needed, which allows for seamless integration with pet and baby photos as well – a must-have for any self-respecting selfie app.

According to Gina Hughes, SVP of marketing for AMC, a good selfie app has the “ability to customize your photo and optimize the design and messaging to reflect your personal style.” It’s a seemingly simple equation that has to also factor in the need for “the overall experience to reflect the world of the show,” she added. “Authenticity is essential… Our goal with every app we develop is to provide the fans with a unique experience and fun way to step into the world of each series.”

AMC perfected the art of the selfie app with its Walking Dead mobile offering Dead Yourself, which launched in February. In this product for iOS and Android, users could turn themselves into gruesome and discomfortingly realistic zombies using a colorful array of corpse eyes, mouths and various props from the hugely popular series. Through various updates, the app evolved to include multiple themes, including “Survivor Kam,” which gave viewers a reprieve from becoming undead to turn themselves into zombie apocalypse survivors, replete with shotguns and rotting hands reaching from above and below. Season 1 of Making of the Mob: New York focuses on Italian mobsters in Manhattan, but there are plenty of global crime rings to pull from for future seasons. This writer, for one, would love to turn himself into a yakuza.

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