 However the following year became a true banner one for Merli when he made "Violent Rome" which was an enormous success, and made him the star of "poliziotteschi" genre.He went on to make 11 more, two as Commissario Betti, Merli's character in "Violent Rome".Betti is a detective who metes out apoplectic violence, and in some way the character was an exploitative imitation of American police thrillers like Dirty Harry and a film of Nero.