Podcasts about American Mafia

Pod Crashing episode 4:17 with Anna Signa Nicolazzi from the Law And Order podcast season 2. An investigative audio series that explores how murder is tried in America through examining the cases that set the precedent. For over three decades, the Law and Order franchise has provided a glimpse into the American legal system. Beyond the drama, the show has reflected the evolution of how cases are tried in our courts of law. In this series, we delve into some of the most influential real-life cases that shaped the current justice system through the lens of New York City. Host Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi leads a team of experts in dissecting what went wrong and right in NYC's landmark trials. From the first high-profile organized crime convictions to introducing DNA as evidence, we're digging into the cases that changed the rules. Each season of the series will cover one subsect of criminal law, tackling multiple cases throughout the city's history to understand how elements of the modern trial have come to be. From the battle to bring down the American Mafia to tactics including undercover operations, wiretaps, and plea bargains, listeners will understand all of the tools and strategies that prosecution and defense work with when lives hang in the balance.

Pod Crashing episode 4:17 with Anna Signa Nicolazzi from the Law And Order podcast season 2. An investigative audio series that explores how murder is tried in America through examining the cases that set the precedent. For over three decades, the Law and Order franchise has provided a glimpse into the American legal system. Beyond the drama, the show has reflected the evolution of how cases are tried in our courts of law. In this series, we delve into some of the most influential real-life cases that shaped the current justice system through the lens of New York City. Host Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi leads a team of experts in dissecting what went wrong and right in NYC's landmark trials. From the first high-profile organized crime convictions to introducing DNA as evidence, we're digging into the cases that changed the rules. Each season of the series will cover one subsect of criminal law, tackling multiple cases throughout the city's history to understand how elements of the modern trial have come to be. From the battle to bring down the American Mafia to tactics including undercover operations, wiretaps, and plea bargains, listeners will understand all of the tools and strategies that prosecution and defense work with when lives hang in the balance.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

What does a thorny Mediterranean thistle have to do with the American Mafia? How did a humble vegetable — adored by Romans, cultivated by Renaissance queens, and grown lovingly by Italian immigrants — become the centerpiece of one of the strangest criminal rackets in U.S. history? And why did a fiery New York mayor decide that the only way to defeat organized crime… was to ban artichokes altogether?Join John and Patrick as they trace the extraordinary saga of the Artichoke King — Ciro Terranova — the East Harlem mobster who turned produce into power. From the early Italian farmers of California's coast, to the violent “Artichoke Wars” of the 1930s, to Fiorello La Guardia's theatrical crusade against racketeering, this is the bizarre and gripping story of how food, identity, and crime became entangled in the markets of New York.-----------Ever see a shirt that you could just eat it? Well, this New Jersey family-run business may just be it! Visit EatShirts here to order your favorite fruit or veggies shirt!-----------Join the History of Fresh Produce Club for ad-free listening, bonus episodes, book discounts and access to an exclusive chatroom community.Support us!Share this episode with your friendsGive a 5-star ratingWrite a review -----------Subscribe to our biweekly newsletter here for extra stories related to recent episodes, book recommendations, a sneak peek of upcoming episodes and more.-----------Instagram, TikTok, Threads:@historyoffreshproduceEmail: historyoffreshproduce@gmail.com

In this episode of Gangland Wire, host Gary Jenkins sits down with former FBI agent Séamus McElearney, author of Flipping Capo, for a deep dive into one of the most remarkable Mafia investigations and how he took down the DeCavalcante Family. McElearney recounts his unlikely path from the world of banking to the FBI, driven by a lifelong fascination with law enforcement. Despite being told he didn't have the “right background,” he pushed forward—eventually landing in New York's Organized Crime Squad C-10, where he investigated both the Bonanno and DeCavalcante crime families. He describes the rare and demanding experience of working two Mafia families at once, and the teamwork required to dismantle them from the inside out. As the conversation turns to his book, Flipping Capo, McElearney explains the years-long process of writing it and the rigorous FBI review needed to ensure no sensitive investigative techniques were revealed. He shares early memories of notorious boss Joe Massino, and the high-stakes surveillance and arrests that defined his career. A major focus of the episode is the arrest and flipping of Anthony Capo, a feared DeCavalcante soldier—and the first made member of that family ever to cooperate with the government. McElearney walks listeners through the tension of that operation, his calculated approach to treating Capo with respect, and the psychological tightrope that ultimately persuaded Capo to talk. That single decision triggered a domino effect of cooperation that helped bring down the New Jersey mob family many believe inspired The Sopranos. Gary and Séamus dive into the proffer process, cooperation agreements, and the behind-the-scenes strategies used to turn high-level mobsters. McElearney also draws comparisons between real mob figures and the fictional world of The Sopranos, revealing how much of the hit series was grounded in the actual cases he worked. The interview closes with McElearney's reflections on how organized crime continues to evolve. While today's mob may look different from the one he battled in the '90s, he stresses that the methods—and the money—still flow. His candid insights offer a rare look into the changing face of the American Mafia and the ongoing fight to contain it. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app. 2:26 Seamus’ FBI Journey 6:26 Inside the DeCavalcante Family 9:05 The Process of Flipping 10:27 Comparing Families 12:30 The First Cooperation 17:43 The Proffer Process 25:03 Protecting Cooperators 27:44 The Murder of Joseph Canigliaro 29:42 Life on Trial 30:28 The Real Sopranos 39:43 Leading the Columbo Squad 44:15 Major Arrests and Cases 50:57 Final Thoughts and Stories Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here.  To purchase one of my books, click here. Transcript [0:00]Well, hey, welcome all you wiretappers. Good to be back here in studio of Gangland Wire. This is Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective. [0:07]Welcome to Gangland Wire [0:07]I have a former FBI agent as my guest today. And, you know, I love having these FBI agents on. I’ve had a lot of them on and I worked with a lot of the guys and they’re really good guy. Everyone I ever met and worked with was a really good guy. Now they got their deadhead just like we did. But these aggressive guys are the ones that write books and I’ve got one on today. Seamus McElherney. Welcome, Seamus. Thank you. It’s great to be here. All right. Well, an Irish name now working on the Italian mob, huh? How come you weren’t working on the Westie? So they were maybe gone by the time you came around. There’s no such thing. [0:47]Oh, yeah. You got your code. You Irish guys got your code, too. All right, Seamus, you got a book, Killing, or Killing, Flipping Capo. I want to see it back up over your shoulder there. Really interesting book, guys. He flipped a guy named Anthony Capo. And he really took down the real Sopranos, if you will. So Seamus, tell us a little about how you got started with the FBI, your early career. Okay. When I got out of school, I really didn’t know what to do. And I got into banking and I just decided that was really not for me. And I got lucky where I got to meet an FBI agent. and I was just so fascinated by the work. It seemed like every day was different. You know, one day you could meet a CEO and another day you could be doing surveillance. It just, the job just seemed really interesting. [1:38]Like fascinating to me. So I decided to try to become an agent. And I was constantly told, Shane, you should never become an agent. You didn’t have the background for it. And one, one, a motto in life to me is persistence beats resistance. And I was just determined to become an agent. And back then in the late 1990s, it was a long process and it took me close to two years to actually become an agent. And I was selected to go down to training and I was very fortunate to be selected to go down to training. Now it was your first office back up in New York and the, one of the organized crime squads, or did you go out into boonies and then come back? I actually was born and raised in New York, and I was fortunate to be selected to be sent back to New York. So my first squad, I was sent back to the city, back to 26 Federal Plaza, [2:26]Seamus’ FBI Journey [2:24]and I was assigned to a squad called C-10. And C-10 was an organized crime squad, which was responsible for the Bonanno family, and then later became the DeCavocanti family as well, which I can explain to you yeah yeah we’ll get we’ll get deep into that now now let’s let me ask you a little bit about the book tell the guys a little bit about the process of writing a book from your fbi experiences. [2:47]It’s a long process. First of all, I was contacted by someone who was interested [2:55]Writing a Book [2:53]in writing a book based upon my career. People had encouraged me to write a book because I had a very successful career. And when you work organized crime, it’s never just about you. It’s about the people that you work with, right? It’s definitely a team. It’s never just one person. I had great supervisors. I had great teammates. I had a great partner. And so I was approached to write a book. So then I had no idea. So there was an agent, a famous agent, an undercover agent named Jack Garcia. So I kind of really leaned on him to kind of learn how to write a book. And it’s a long process. You have to get an agent, the publisher, a co-author I had. And then when you finally have all that, and you do have the manuscript ready to be written, you have to send it down to the FBI. And that is a long process. The FBI, in this instance, probably took over a year for them to review the book because what they want to make sure is you’re not revealing any investigative techniques. Fortunately for me, a lot of the information that is in the book is public information because of all the trials that I did. Interesting. Yeah, it is. It is quite a I know it was quite a process. [4:00]Now, the banana squad, you work in a banana squad. You know, we know a little bit about the banana squad. [4:07]Was Joe Pacino the boss when you first came in? Yes, he was. And I actually had the pleasure of arresting Joe as well. Ah, interesting. I did a show on Joe. He’s a really interesting guy. I know my friend, who was at the banana squad, I think just before you were, and he talked a lot of, to me personally, he won’t go on the show, but he talked a lot about Joe Massino. He said, actually, saw him in the courtroom one time later on, he hadn’t seen him in several years. And, and Joe looked across the courtroom. He said, Doug, how are you doing? He said, Joe was that kind of guy. He was real personal. He was. [4:44]Yeah, so when I first got to the squad, the supervisor at the time was a gentleman named Jack Steubing, and he had the thought process to go after Joe and his money. So there was two accountants that were assigned to a squad at that time. It was Kimberly McCaffrey and Jeff Solette, and they were targeted to go after Joe and his money. And it was a very successful case. And when we arrested Joe, I think it was in January of 2003, I believe it was, I was assigned to be part of that arrest team. Interesting. You know, McCaffrey and Sled are going to be talking about that case out at the Mob Museum sometime in the near future. I can’t remember exactly when it is. And it was a hell of a case. I think it just happened, actually. Oh, did it? Okay. I actually just spoke to Jeff, so I think it just happened about a week or two ago. Okay. Yeah, I tried to get him to come on the show, and I think maybe he was committed to doing something else, and I didn’t keep after him. And I don’t like to pester people, you know. [5:44]And Fensell was the one that said, you got to get Jeff Sillett. You got to get Jeff Sillett. When I looked into that money angle of it, that was pretty interesting about how they were laundering their money through the parking lots and just millions. And when he gave up, like $10 million or something? I mean, it’s unbelievable. Yes. And that’s that’s one of the reasons why I wrote the book is because I don’t think the public or the press really put this together where that squad, C-10, is a very unique squad where we were dismantling the two families at the same time. Half the family was working the Bonanno family and half the family was working the Cavalcanti family. So it’s a very unique squad during that six or seven year time period where we were dismantling two families at the same time. [6:26]Inside the DeCavalcanti Family [6:26]Interesting and and that gets us into the dekavocante family i could always struggle with that name for some reason but that’s all right guys know i butcher these names all the time. [6:37]Forgive me guys anyhow so you ended up working on the dekavocante family down in new jersey now that you know that’s unusual how did that come about we got we got a new jersey branch of the fbi down there too, Yes, we do. So what happened was I went to training in February of 1998. The case actually starts in January of 1998, where an individual named Ralph Guarino was the mastermind behind this, but he had the idea of robbing the World Trade Center. So he had three people that actually tried to execute that plan. They did rob the World Trade Center, but when they came out, they took their mask off and they were identified by the cameras that were actually there. So those individuals were actually arrested pretty quickly. I think two were arrested that day. The third person, I think, fled to New Mexico and was found pretty quickly. Ralph was smart enough to know that he was going to be apprehended pretty quickly. So he reached out to an agent named George Hanna, a legendary agent within the office, and George was able to convince him to become a proactive witness, meaning he would make consensual recordings. That was in January of 1998. I think it was January 14th. [7:51]Approximately nine days later, there was a murder of an individual named Joseph Canigliaro. Who was a ruthless DeKalocanti associate assigned to a wheelchair. How he got in a wheelchair was back in the 70s, a DeKalocanti soldier and him went to go collect money from a loan shark victim. And the story goes that Jim Gallo, James Gallo, actually shot Joseph Canigliaro by accident and paralyzed him. No hard feelings. It was just the course of doing their business back then. But he was paralyzed from the 70s to the 90s. He was a ruthless individual. though. And the reason that they killed him is his crew around him had him killed. They actually killed him because he was such a ruthless person and who would extort people and just really was a bad person. There were stories that he would call people over to him in his wheelchair and shoot them. So a ruthless guy. And he was killed in, I think, January 23rd of 1998. [8:50]So that’s how this case starts. Ralph Guarino, as I said, became a proactive witness. When you have a proactive witness. You just don’t know where they’re going to go. What I mean by that is you would direct him through mob associates and many guys, and you’re trying to gather evidence on tape. [9:05]The Process of Flipping [9:06]Where Ralph Guarino led us was the Brooklyn faction of the DeCavalcanti family, namely Anthony Capo, Anthony Rotondo, Vincent Palermo. [9:17]Joseph Scalfani, a whole host of DeCavalcanti people that were located in Brooklyn. And that’s how we start to build this case. Now, granted, I was just in training at that time in February of 1998. I don’t get sent back to New York until May of 1998. And from May of 1998 until December of 1998, they put you through a rotation, meaning I go through the operations center, I go through surveillance, and then I finally get assigned to C-10 in December of 1998. At that point in time, Jeff and Kim are already on the squad, so they’re operating the case against Messino. I come to the squad, and the Decalvo Canty case has now started. So I’m assigned to the Decalvo Canty portion of the squad to work them. And as I said, that’s why we’re working two parallel cases at the time. One is against the Bananos, the other is against the Jersey family. And we operate, Ralph, proactively from January 1998 up until the first set of indictments, which was in December of 1999. So compare and contrast the Banano family structure and how they operated in [10:27]Comparing Families [10:24]a DeCavocante family structure and how they operate. Were they exactly the same or were there some differences? [10:31]They’re into the same types of the rackets that the Waldemar people are into, but I would say related to the Decalvo Canty family, since they’re based in Jersey, they really had a control of the unions out there. There was two unions that they basically controlled, Local 394, which was the labor union, and they also started their own union, which was the asbestos union, which was Local 1030. [10:53]And those were controlled by the Decalvo Canty family, so that was the bread and butter of the Decalvo Canty family. So, as I said, the first set, you know, we operated Ralph proactively for almost close to two years. And then in December of 1999, we executed our first set of arrests because there was whispers that Ralph, why wasn’t he arrested yet? Where he was the mastermind behind the World Trade Center being robbed, but he hasn’t been picked up yet. So there was whispers that he might be cooperating with the government. And for his safety, that’s why we took him off off the street and we executed our first round of arrest in December of 1999. [11:33]I’m a relatively new agent. I’d only been on the squad now for a year and we arrested 39 people that day. I get assigned to arrest Anthony Capo, who’s a soldier within the Decavacanti family based out of Staten Island. And I was really surprised by that because, as I said, I was just an agent for about a year. Usually when you’re a new agent, you’re assigned to the back, you know, like we are security. I was even surprised that I was going to be on a team. And I was fortunate enough to be the team leader, which is very surprising to me. And the case was out of the Southern District of New York. And in New York, just for the public, there is two districts. There’s a Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of New York. And the Eastern District of New York also had charges on Anthony Capo as well. So for my arrest team, I had members from the Eastern District of New York as well. There was a separate squad that was looking into Anthony Capo there. [12:30]The First Cooperation [12:27]So I got the ticket to arrest Anthony Capo in December of 1999. And that’s how this case starts. [12:33]Interesting. Now, nobody’s ever flipped out of the DeCavocante family before, I believe. It’s been a pretty tight family, really rigidly controlled by this Richie the Boot. I mean, he’s a fearsome, fearsome guy. I mean, you did not want to get crossways with him. And a smaller, tighter family, it seems to me like, than the New York families. That was right. Well, like up and up until that point, up until that point and unbeknownst to me that no made member in the DeKalbacanti family had ever cooperated with the government before. [13:08]So I had watched George Hanna, how he operated Ralph Guarino for those two years, and he always treated him with respect. And prior to going to arrest Anthony Capo, Anthony Capo had had a reputation of being an extremely violent person, hated by law enforcement and even hated by a lot of people within the mob. But I was going I wasn’t going to let that, you know, use that against him. I was going to treat him with respect regardless. Right. I didn’t know I didn’t know him. I never dealt with him before. And I would basically before I went to go arrest him, I was going to study everything about him, learn everything about him. And I was going to use the approach of treating him with respect and using some mind chess when I was going to arrest him. What I mean by that is I was going to learn everything charges about him, everything about his family. I wanted him to know that I knew him like the back of my hand from head to toe, the start of the book to the end of the book. [14:02]And when I went to arrest him, I remember when we went to his house, he wasn’t there. So all the planning that you do related to going into an arrest, the checks that you do, he’s at the house, you knock on his door, and guess what? He’s not there. So his wife basically tells us that he’s at his mom’s house. So then that throws all the planning out the window, and now we go to his mom’s house. And when I met him, you know, I saw that he had a relationship with his parents, which, you know, it gives me a different perspective from what I heard from him. Interesting. And that says something about him, that’s for sure. So everything that I heard of this violent person and hated person, the way he treated law enforcement, he wasn’t that way with me. [14:49]So when I get him in the car and I start to read him his rights and start to ask him questions, every question that I would ask him, I already had the answer to, like, your date of birth, social security number. And then he would invoke his right to counsel, and then you’re not allowed to ask him any more questions. So what I would do is I would let the mind game start then. And I would ask him, you know, tell him about the charges that he had at that point in time. He was only charged with a conspiracy to murder Charlie Maggiore, who was an acting panel boss of the Decalvo Canty family. At that time, that point in time, they had three panel bosses. It was Charlie Maggiore, Jimmy Palermo and Vincent Palermo. Vincent Palermo was known as the stronger personality and really known as the acting boss. And they wanted to kill Charlie Maggiore. So he was charged with that. conspiracy to murder. And he was also charged with, I believe, stock fraud or it was mail fraud that would lead to stock fraud. So when I would question him, I would tell him, since he already invoked his right to counsel, don’t say anything, just listen to me. For an example, I would say your plan was to murder Charles Majuri. Your plan was to ring his doorbell and shoot him right there with James Gallo, Joe Macella. But you guys didn’t do that because there was a cop on the block. So instead of just doing a ring and run, you guys were going to ring and shoot him, right? [16:17]And now you’ve got to think, I told him, don’t say anything. Just listen to what I just said, right? Because I can’t have him answer any questions. And this wasn’t a question. This was a statement. Yeah. So that gives him food for thought, because you got to think, how would I know that? He doesn’t know at that point in time, this is an indictment. How do I know that? He doesn’t know who the cooperator is. He doesn’t know who made a recording. So I’m just throwing this at him. And this is the first time he’s hearing this. So it’s got to make him think, like, what else does this agent know? And I did this with the other charges as well. And then I would just throw these little tidbits at him. And then I would speak to the driver. How are you doing this? just give him food for thought. And then we just developed a bond that day, just talking sports back and forth. He actually was a cowboy fan. I’m a Steeler fan. So we have that little intensity going back and forth about that. And then we just developed a bond that day. I think that was the first time that he had an interaction with law enforcement, where it was more of a respect thing, as opposed to someone yelling at him or being contentious with him. I don’t think he’s ever or experienced that before. [17:27]Also because of his delivery as well, right? You know, it works both ways where you can, he can have his delivery really angry and that could, you know, provoke law enforcement to be angry towards him too. [17:43]The Proffer Process [17:40]So I think that helped it that way that day. And then just throughout the whole day. And I think one of the things that I do talk about within the book is just explaining processes to people, which is generally, I haven’t seen that done in a book before about how pretrial works. So what is pretrial? How cooperation works? How trial works? So I think there’s a lot of tidbits within the book that kind of explain things like that. Even some crimes, too. Like everyone hears what loan sharking is. I go into detail as to what loan sharking is and how it really works, because it’s a very profitable way to make money. So we have our day together. And, you know, then I had to meet his stepfather. I think he had heard that I treated his stepfather with respect. And then approximately a week later, I get a call from his lawyer and I basically almost fell out of my chair when his lawyer said he wanted to cooperate. [18:37]I bet. And then, yeah. And, you know, keep in mind, I’ve only been on the job for a year and I immediately call the assistant who is a seasoned assistant. Maria Barton, what was her name? And she’s really concerned, like, what did I say? Right. So I told her in these situations, less is more. I just told her I was going to call you. That’s all I said. I didn’t say anything else. Didn’t promise anything at all. I said I was going to call you. So, you know, that started with the process and then you go through a proffer. So I explained what the proffer is and how that process works. Interesting. Yeah. A proffer, guys is is like a kind of agreement you know and you you have to be totally open and admit to every crime you ever did and and we’ll cover you but to a certain point the basis you’ll lie down the basics. [19:31]Right. So what, you know, what we kind of like call it is queen for a day, right? Where you come in, we can’t use your words against you unless you lie to us, right? If you were, if you were to lie to us and then go, go to trial and, you know, we could, if you were to take the stand, we could, we could use it against you. But as long as you come in and you tell us the truth and you tell us everything, all the crimes that you’ve done. And the beauty of the mob is when they do a crime, they never do a crime alone, right? They involve a lot of people within a crime. So that’s the beauty of that. So when we have our first proffer, you know, in time, you only have a short amount of time to actually speak about this because you can only be away from jail for a certain amount of time right before the bad guys start to realize that something might be up. Right. So he comes in. And even even before that, on his on his way back, when we’re taking him back to 26 Federal Plaza, one of the things that he tells us is and it makes sense when we went to his house, he wasn’t there. He was at his mom’s house in the car ride back. He throws a little shot at me and he goes, we knew you were coming. [20:33]Meaning that there was a leak. They got a leak. Yeah. Right. So then when we have the first proffer, he explains the leak to us. And it appears allegedly there was a court reporter within the Southern District that was feeding them information. So that’s not good. And then in the proffer, he tells us about two murders. So, and there might be the bodies, a body might be buried up in Phil Lamella, who was a DeCalvo County soldier, up in Marlboro, New York. So that’s the first thing that he tells us. So these are jewels to us, right? He tells us about a leak. He tells us about two murders. Bodies might be buried. So we have to huddle and we have to decide, is he telling us the truth or not? We all decide that he’s telling us the truth. The proper takes place with George Hanna, as I mentioned him before. Kenny McCabe, a legendary Southern District investigator, and me. And in these situations, again, I’m a new agent. Less is more. I don’t want to say something stupid. So I kind of keep my mouth shut, right? And just listen. So that went really well. And that kind of started this whole process. So now, as we said before, you have… No one cooperated in 100 plus years of this family. And now we have the first [21:49]A Spiral of Cooperation [21:48]made member to cooperate. And basically, Anthony starts a spiral effect of cooperation. [21:56]After he where he reported to in the family at that particular time, since he was such a violent person and hard to control within the family himself. Well, he reported to Vincent Palermo, who was the acting panel boss out of that panel that I talked about, but viewed as the acting boss because of his strong personality. So you have Anthony cooperating. He reports to the acting boss. So from our perspective, our perspective, that’s golden, right? Because now Vinny is going to have to make a decision. Is he going to cooperate or not? And then about three months later, guess what? Vinny decides to cooperate. So now we have a soldier and we have the acting boss who’s going to cooperate. So we go from no one in a hundred years to basically two people in three months. [22:45]Then we have an associate, Victor DiChiro, decides to cooperate. So we go and we arrest him. So now we have three people in four months. So we take all their information, and they have to plead guilty, and they get a cooperation agreement. I explain all that. And when you have a cooperation agreement, as I mentioned before, Anthony was initially arrested for conspiracy to murder, and I believe it was stock fraud. When he pleads guilty, he has to plead guilty to all his crimes that he committed throughout his entire life. Off the top of my head, I remember he pled guilty to two murders. [23:23]11 murder conspiracies, boatload of extortions, and basically every other crime you could think of. And then the same thing with Vinny and Victor. We take all their information, and then we have our next series of indictments. So the first series was 39 indictments. And then the second series of indictments is in October of 2000, October 19th, which we just we just passed the 25th anniversary of that. And that was known as the hierarchy arrest, where we arrested the official boss, John Riggi. We arrested the two other panel bosses, Charlie Maggiore and Jimmy Palermo. We arrested the consigliere, Steve Vitabli, a bunch of captains and soldiers. So that’s a significant arrest, right? So now, as you know, when you have an arrest, there’s trials, there’s plea negotiations. So now we arrested 39 people plus another 13. We’re already up to like 50 something like something people out of that arrest. We get a little shockwave in the sense is that there’s an associate named Frank Scarabino. Frank Scarabino comes forward one day and tells us that there’s a contract on Anthony Capo’s family and Anthony Capo. [24:43]And also, there’s a contract on law enforcement. They want to go back to the old Sicilian ways and basically send a message. So, you know, that’s basically a little bit of a jolt where now we have to try to move Capo’s family. [25:03]Protecting Cooperators [24:59]And Capo’s in prison. He’s defenseless. And I explain all that. People have this sense of you go into the witness security program, you get a whole new life and you’re off and having a great time. They don’t realize that there are prisons within the United States that you have to go to prison. So I can’t say where the prisons are, but I kind of explain that process of how the WITSEC program works, which is run by the marshals. So that’s in that’s in the book as well. Yeah, they have a whole prisons that are just for people in WITSEC. I heard about a guy that said he was in one out west somewhere. Yeah. So and, you know, for those prisons, it’s not like you have to prove yourself. They’re all doing the same time. So they’re basically just trying to do their time and try to get out and get into the next phase of the WoodSec program. So that was kind of a jolt, right? So now we have Frank Scarabino cooperate. So now we have another person. So it’s the list is just getting more and more now. You got to stop taking cooperators and start putting people in jail for the rest of their life, man. [26:03]So it got to after that, we had like two more people cooperate. So we went from having nobody to having seven people cooperate in this period. And it’s interesting. And I know we’re going to go back and forth, but we went from 100 years of having no one to having seven people during this three year period. And since that time period, no other members have cooperated since. So we’ve started the clock again. I think we’re at 25 years plus again since no one cooperated during that period. And I mentioned the murder that we started this case, Joseph Canigliaro. So he was the guy that was in the wheelchair. So as I said, they wanted to kill him because he just tortured his crew. We were able, one of the guys who was initially arrested as part of the December 1999 arrest, he sees everybody’s, he is deciding to cooperate with the government. So he decides to cooperate. His name is Tommy DeTora. So Tommy DeTora decides to cooperate. He’s out on bail. So since he’s out on bail, we decide, let’s make him make a consensual recording. And he makes one of the best consensual recordings the Bureau has ever made. He gets everyone involved in that murder together. [27:28]And they talk about the murder from A to Z. It’s a priceless consensual recording that we used at trial. And it just, you know, one of the things that does stick in my mind is the shooter was Marty Lewis, who got a life sentence. [27:44]The Murder of Joseph Canigliaro [27:45]Marty Lewis is describing when he shot him. And he’s like, I shot him like five or six times in his car. Right. And then Marty Lewis gets out of the car. Joseph Canigliaro drives away, gets to the top of the block in Brooklyn, puts a signal on, put a signal on. And drove the traffic laws, drives to Joseph Wrightson’s house. A guy who was part of the murder conspiracy honks his horn for Joseph Wrightson to come downstairs. So can you imagine Joseph Wrightson looking down the window seeing the guy that’s supposed to be dead right now and telling him to get in the car to go to the hospital with him? [28:32]Unfortunately, when they go to the hospital one of the things that does happen is joseph brightson has uh unfortunately an nyp detective cop who’s a cousin and involves him in this as well and the cop takes shells from the car and he becomes he gets locked up by us as well they all go to trial they get convicted and. [28:55]You know, we also arrested a Genevieve’s captain related to the leak. So in total, I think the numbers were 71 defendants were convicted, 11 murders were solved, seven trials transpired. You know, as everyone knows, you have the arrest, but then you have the trials, right? And I know that from December 2002 up until November of 2003 was the year that I was on trial. There was three trials that I had, and then there was another trial. There was two trials that one was a mistrial. Then we had another trial. So during that one year, we had a year of trials, and the biggest trial I had went on for two months. [29:42]Life on Trial [29:38]So I basically had a year of no life where it was just trials. And as you know yourself, when you have trial, it’s not just you just show up at trial. You have trial prep beforehand. And then when you’re actually on trial every day, it’s 20, it’s 24, seven, you have a trial, you have trial, then at night you have to prep a witness. So there’s just constant stuff throughout the day. Yeah, really? It’s a, it’s a long, boring process for you guys. [30:05]You know, these are like what we would say the real Sopranos, you know, the Sopranos, Tom Soprano, and that’s kind of based on this New Jersey family. I tell you, that Soprano, so much of it was ripped from real life. I don’t know. They interviewed you for details. They interviewed some agents and looked some court cases in order to write those scripts. I know that. And in particular, I think of the gay member that was killed. [30:28]The Real Sopranos [30:27]You know, you guys had that down there. So there’s a lot of references in your book or things in the book that the guys will say, oh, yeah, they did that in the Sopranos. Can you tell us about some of them? [30:37]Well, the thing that was great, especially for trial, is in March of 1999, the show starts in January of 1999. And we have a consensual recording in March where we have DeCavocanti members talking about the show and them saying, saying, this is you, this is you, and this is you, which was priceless for trial. Right. It’s like a jury’s going to hear that. And even during the trial, the judge had to give the jury instructions about the show to make sure that it wouldn’t sway their decision. Then if you watch the show, the first season, the official boss in the show dies of stomach cancer. In real life, that’s happened in real life. In June of 1997, Jake Amari was the acting boss of the Decaval Canty family. He dies of stomach cancer. So that’s a… [31:40]It’s a part of the show right there. Then I know everyone sees the strip club, right? Well, the acting boss, as I told you at the time, Vincent Palermo, he had a strip club in Queens, Wiggles. [31:53]So there’s a similarity there. Then they have the meat market that they go to, right, back and forth in the show. That’s a real meat market. I don’t want to say the name of the real meat market here, but there is a real type of meat market there. We discussed the union angle, the two unions that they have. So there’s so many scams related to the unions. There’s the no show job, right, where you don’t have to show up to work. There’s the no work job where you come, but you don’t have to do any work at all. [32:26]Back then, what it was called was they had union halls, right, where you actually had to show up early in the morning. There’d be a line of people, and you would show up. It was called the shape up. and you would wait online and hopefully that you would get work that day. Well, the DeCable Cante members, they wouldn’t show up early and wait online. They would show up whenever they want and they would cut the line and they would get work. So these were their types of unions that they had. Then, as you mentioned, there was the gay angle too. So on the DeCable Cante real side, there was a guy named John D’Amato. And John D’Amato basically made himself the acting boss when John Riggie went to jail in the early 1990s. John D’Amato was part, was very close to John Gotti. There was a murder. It’s probably the most indictable murder in mob history called the murder of Fred Weiss. John Gotti wanted Fred Weiss killed because John Gotti thought that Fred Weiss was cooperating with the government. all because Fred Weiss switched lawyers. [33:35]He was paranoid that Fred Weiss was cooperating. So it became a race to kill Fred Weiss. So you had two mob families trying to kill him, the Decalvo Canty family and the Gambino family. So in total, I think either 15 people at least have either pled guilty or have been convicted of that murder. That murder happened on 9-11-1989, a horrible day, right? So, where I’m going is that happened in 89. In 1990, 1991, John D’Amato becomes the acting boss of the family. So, now he’s the acting boss of the DeKalb Alcanti family. John D’Amato had a girlfriend. His girlfriend starts to tell Anthony Capo that John D’Amato is going to sex clubs with her and they’re having sex with men. So this is this is brought to Anthony Capo’s attention. And he has to tell his superiors that we have a gay acting boss representing our family. And in his eyes, this cannot happen. Right. So he brings it to Vincent Palermo, brings it to Rudy Ferron, and the superiors that this is what’s happening. And they decide that he has to be killed. Now, also what he was doing was, and you speak to Anthony Rotondo, who also cooperated with the government. [34:58]John DeMotta was also stealing money from the family. He was borrowing money from the other families, telling him that it was for the DeCalbacanti family, but it was really to cover his game of the gambling losses that he was incurring. So those are two things that he was doing. Right. He was he was if you ask Anthony Rotondo, he says he was killed because of the gambling that he was incurring the losses. And if he asks Anthony Capo, he was killed because it was looking bad for our family, for their family, that he was a gay acting boss. And at that time, it wasn’t acceptable. Times have changed. But back then, it wasn’t an acceptable thing. And that’s similar to the show. There’s a gay angle within the show as well. [35:41]The Gay Angle in the Mob [35:42]Interesting. It’s the real Sopranos. I remember I watched that show, even going back and watch some of them every once in a while. And I just think, wow, that’s real. So, so even though the director says no one was speaking to them, it’s kind of ironic that there are a lot of like similarities between the show and real life. Yeah. And especially down there in New Jersey and, and, and their connection to the Bonanno family or to a New York, the New York families. And then also, and then also within the show is, is, is the stock stood. There’s also stocks. Oh yeah, the stock fraud. Yeah. They did a boiler room or something. And they were pumping and dumping stocks and Tony was making money out of that. So, yeah, that’s I’d forget. And then from and in real life, Bill Abrama was like the wizard of Wall Street. [36:37]So interesting. Well, you’ve had quite, quite a career. What do you think about New York organized crime now that today, you know, we just had quack, quack, Ruggiero, Ruggiero’s son and some other guys that were connected to families indicted for gambling. He’s got my gambling fraud. I haven’t really studied it yet. It is like they had some rig gambling games, which is common. Like in Kansas city, when I was working this, they would have, they would bring in guys who would love to gamble and had money businessmen. And then they’d, they’d play them for sure. They would cheat them and take a bunch of money from them. This was much more sophisticated, but that’s a, that’s a story that’s been going on a long time. You think that Bob is on a comeback from that? Ha, ha, ha, ha. [37:24]The mob has been around for 125 years. They’re not going to go away. Okay. They get smarter and they adapt. And it’s like, I haven’t read the indictment from head to toe, but they’ve used some, you know, sophisticated investigative techniques just to kind of con people. So they’re getting better, right? So some of the techniques that they use when you hear, it’s like some of the things that I saw where the poker tables that they use, the tables that they use were able to see the card. So they use some pretty, you know, slick techniques, you know, and then like some of the glasses or the contact lenses. So, you know, they’re not going to go away. They’re just going to keep on trying to rebuild. That’s why you have to continue to put resources towards them. Yeah. I think what people don’t understand for these mob guys, it’s if they don’t get out and go into legitimate business selling real estate or something like that. It’s it’s a constant scam a constant hustle every day to figure out another way to make money because they don’t have a paycheck coming in and so they got to figure out a way to make money and they got to make it fast and they got to make it big and in a short period of time it’s just constant every day every time they walk by knew a drug addict one time as a professional burglar and he said every time he’s in recovery he said every time i’ll buy a pharmacy he said in my mind I’m figuring out how to take that pharmacy off. So that’s the way these mob guys are. [38:52]And sports betting has been a staple of theirs forever. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And the apps are getting into them a little bit, but I see what’s going on now. Also, we had these players, Trailblazers coach and a couple, three players, are now helping people rig the bets. And you go to the apps, and you bet a bunch of money on some guy who’s going to have a bad day. And then he just doesn’t show up to work. You end up being the supervisor of the Columbo squad, I see. Same as after that DeCavoconte case, and you spent all that time, you ended up getting promoted to a supervisor and you must’ve been good because they kept you right there in New York and gave you another mob squad. I know one agent here in Kansas City that was promoted and he kept the one squad here, as they called it. [39:43]Leading the Columbo Squad [39:40]And that was really unusual. Usually it’d be somebody in from out of town. So that says something about you. So tell us about your experiences doing that. [39:48]Well, after we did this case, which was about six years, I was requested to go down to run the Columbo squad. And at that time, I think the Columbo squad had eight supervisors in eight years. I really thought I was too young to be a supervisor because I only had six years on. So I was basically voluntold, I would say, to go down there. And guys, that is young. I want to tell you something. I’ve seen a lot of different Bob squad supervisors come through here in Kansas City. And and they were all you know like 20 year agents 15 18 year agents that came from somewhere else so yeah so you know again I thought I was just way too young to be a supervisor as I said I was just on the job for about six years and I was voluntold to go down there yeah and I said if I’m going to go down there there’s a couple of things just based upon what I saw a I’m not a yes man and two the squad needs some sort of stability so I went down there and I was able to stay there I was there from actually December of 2004 all the way up until June of 2013. [40:51]So we at that time when I first got there we really didn’t have a lot of cases going trying to go on so I was able to change the tactics right because I think juries had changed at that point in time where instead of having a historical witness just go on to stand and tell things, now we had shows out there, right? You had NCIS where the whole DNA-type stuff came in, so I had to change our approach, and proactive witnesses making consensual recordings were the way to go. And I think during a seven-year time period, our squad. [41:24]Did an amazing job. Now it went from C10. I went, the squad went down to, it became C38. And we made probably 1,800 recordings in a seven and a half year time period. So, which is an amazing amount of recordings. So, a lot of transcriptions too. A lot of transcriptions. And I, you know, a three-hour tape could take you a day to listen to because you’re just trying to find that little piece of information. Yeah. Because a lot of it is just talk, right? Yeah. So I think our first big case was in June of 2008. And we took down the acting boss, a bunch of captains. And that’s when things really started to take off. We had a violent soldier cooperate named Joseph Compatiello. And, you know, we talk about proffers. His first proffer, he comes in and he basically tells us that there are three bodies buried right next to each other. So the layman would think, OK, they’re right next to each other. They weren’t right next to each other they were about 1.1 miles apart from each other. [42:28]And you could be in your your room there and we’re trying to find a body it’s really hard to find so we were actually able to find two of the bodies one of the bodies was a guy named while Bill Cattullo he was the under boss of the Colombo family we found him in Formingdale Long Island he was behind a berm we were out there for about eight days and each day you know I’m getting pressure from my superiors. We’re going to find something because there’s a lot of press out there. There was another victim named Cormone Gargano who was buried. He was killed in 1994 and buried out there. Unfortunately, there was a new building built. [43:06]And we could not find him there, but he was initially killed at a body shop in Brooklyn, and they buried him in Brooklyn, and then they decided to dig him up and bring him out to Long Island. So we went back to the body shop. What the Colombo family used to do, though, is they used to kill you, bury you, and put lime on top of the body. What lime does is it kills the smell, but preserves the body. Oh, I didn’t realize that. I thought it was supposed to deteriorate the body too. I think most people bought that. So good information. So, so when we found wall of bill, basically from his, from his hips up were intact. Oh, And when related to Cormier Gargano, because they had killed him in the body shop and then dug him up and brought him out to Long Island. We went back to the shop and figuring, let’s see if we can actually see if there’s any parts of him there. And there actually were. And we’re able to get DNA and tie it back and confirm it was him. [44:15]Major Arrests and Cases [44:12]So that’s how that dismantling of the Colombo family started. And then just to fast forward a little bit in January 2011, we have I spearhead the largest FBI mob arrest where we arrested 127 people that day across the states and also went to Italy, too, to take down people. [44:32]And after that, the Bureau decides to reduce the resources dedicated to organized crime. And I then get the Bonanno family back. So C-10 merges back into my squad. And then I have the Bananos, the Columbos, and the Decafacanthes as well. So now I have all three families back. And I basically run that for another two years. And I guess my last official act as a supervisor is related to Goodfellas, where Jimmy Burke had buried a body in his basement. We saw a 43-year-old cold case murder where he killed an individual named Paul Katz, buried him in his basement. And when he went away for the point shaving, the Boston College point shaving case, well, he killed him in 1969, buried him in his basement. Then he goes to jail in the 80s. He gets fearful that the cops that he had on his payroll back in the 60s were going to talk. So he decides to have our witness at the time, Gaspar Valenti, who came forward back in the 80s, moved the body with Vincent S. Our son so they move the body but again they’re not professional so pieces are going to be back there so in 2013 we go back and we dig and we actually find pieces of paul cats and we tie that to dna to his son to his son and we confirm that it was him. [45:57]So that was my last official act as a supervisor. Talk about art, art, imitating life again, you know, in the Goodfellas, they dug up a body. In the Sopranos, they dug up a body. I think I saw another show where they dug up a body. One of them, they were like, man, this smells. [46:13]I mean, can you imagine that going back and having to dig up a body? And then, you know, and, you know, they’re just wearing t-shirts and jeans and maybe leather gloves. And they’d have to deal with all that stuff and put it in some kind of a bag can take it somewhere else oh my god you know i have a question while bill cutello that this guy was part of the the hit team that took him out do you remember anything about right i’m trying to remember i’ve read this story once he was kind of like more of a peacemaker and and if i remember right you remember what the deal was with him well back like what happens is in the early 1990s there’s a colombo war right you have the persicos versus the arena faction and one thing about the Colombos and the Persicos, they never forget. So in the early 1990s, while Bill Cotullo was on the arena side, and as I said, there was a war where approximately 13 people were killed. In the late 1990s, Ali Persico was going to be going to jail, and while Bill Cotullo thought that Ali was going to go to jail and that he would take over the family, Ali didn’t want that to happen. So basically while Vilcunzulo thought he was getting the keys to the kingdom and they were going to kill him. [47:28]And what they did is they lured him to Dino Saraceno’s house in Brooklyn and Dino Calabro lured him into the basement and shot him in the back of the head. And we had all these guys then decide to cooperate. As I said, Joe Caves was the first person to cooperate. Dino Calabro cooperated. [47:48]Sebi Saraceno cooperated. So we had a whole host of people cooperate and we were able to dismantle the Colombo family. And I’ve been extremely blessed to be part of teams that have dismantled three families, Bananos, the Columbos, and the D. Calacanti family. So, you know, as I said, and it’s never just one person. It’s always teammates, partners, and also other supervisors that I’ve had. Yeah, interesting. Yeah, it does take a lot of people to take those down. When you’re writing books, you try to make sure everybody gets a little bit of credit. Yeah. And, you know, I think, you know, the thing that was that was, you know, crazy when related to the recovery of Wild Bill is we had our evidence response team out there. And, you know, the witness takes us out there to show us where he thinks the bodies are buried. And related to Wild Bill, it was in the back of a field. And he kept on saying it was behind a berm. So we took him back there and he showed us where he thought it was. So we had our evidence response team dig. And they basically dug us an Olympic-sized pool. [48:57]We could not find him. So there was two other sites that we were trying to look at because Richie Greaves was supposed to be next to the train tracks. And as I mentioned, Cormac Gargano was next to a building that had been replaced. So my squad, actually our squad, C-38, decides, Seamus, do you mind if we get some shovels? So I was like, sure. So there was, because we were just looking at each other at the time. So my team, Vincent D’Agostino, they’re pretty close by. He got some shovels and came back. And there was like six of us. And we just started digging ourselves. So we dug in one area, nothing. Then another agent basically said, let’s dig over here. [49:38]And sure enough, like talk about, you know, I always say hard work leads to good luck. We started digging and then we found the white stuff. We found the line and jackpot. It was while Bill, he was hogtied face down with his feet up. And as soon as I saw the white stuff and then I saw, you know, like his foot, then we stopped and I said, let me go get the professionals. I ran over, I drove over, and I got the team leader from ERT. She got in the car. And, you know, of course, she’s very excited. I was like, you know, we F.M. got him, you know. And so I drove her back over there. And that’s when you kind of contain the crime scene. And we were able to find him. But, you know, it was our squad that found him. And then, as I said before, then, you know, our squad decides to go back to the body shop. And we found remnants of Carmine Gargano there. So the squad just did an amazing job but really we basically found two bodies ourselves you know and i think in my career i’ve been extremely blessed to find five you know which is just crazy well that’s not something those accountants and lawyers and stuff were trained for you need to get those former cops out there on those shovels and digging for bodies. [50:57]Final Thoughts and Stories [50:57]Well interesting this this has really been fun seamus any any other stories you can think of You want to you want to just want to tell just busting to make sure people know that’s in this book. I tell you what, guys, this is an interesting book. It’s it’s, you know, as I said, those kinds of stories and the procedures and how FBI works. There’s there’s a lot of stories in there. I don’t want to give to give the book away. You know, there’s a lot of stories even. Yeah. You know, there’s an even during that year of trials. There’s plenty of stories there. There was a blackout that that year, too. So there’s a lot of stories related to that. You know, even even the trials, there’s a lot of things that came up at trial. So I don’t want to give to give those stories away. But I think it’s a good read. As I said, I think it’s one of the few books that actually explains things because, you know, I think the public hears these words, but they don’t know what these words mean. And I just think it’s important that they do know what it means, because there’s a lot of things that go on behind the scenes, especially with the jury. Right. You know, the jury only sees what they see. There’s a lot of things that go on when the jury leaves the room between the government, the judge and also the defense attorney. So I try to bring to shed some light related to that as well. [52:13]Interesting. Well, Seamus McElherney. And the book is Flipping Capo. That’s Anthony Capo. The first guy to be flipped in the Cavalcante family ever, which led to a cascade of other mob guys flipping, didn’t it? [52:32]Sure did. Just like in a Bonanno family, you know, they start flipping there. And it just, I didn’t know where it was ever going to end. Finally, it ended. [52:41]It sure did. Well, I have to say, it’s been great to meet you. I wish you continued success. And this has been a lot of fun. All right. Yeah, it’s been great to have you on Seamus. Thanks a lot. Don’t forget, I like to ride motorcycles. So when you’re out on the streets there and you’re a big F-150, watch out for those little motorcycles when you’re out. If you have a problem with PTSD and you’ve been in the service, be sure and go to the VA website. They’ll help with your drugs and alcohol problem if you’ve got that problem or gambling. If not, you can go to Anthony Ruggiano. He’s a counselor down in Florida. He’s got a hotline on his website. If you’ve got a problem with gambling, most states will have, if you have gambling, most states will have a hotline number to call. Just have to search around for it. You know, I’ve always got stuff to sell. I got my books. I got my movies. They’re all on Amazon. I got links down below in the show notes and just go to my Amazon sales page and you can figure out what to do. I really appreciate y’all tuning in and we’ll keep coming back and doing this. Thanks guys.

From their rise out of the Profaci Crime Family to decades of bloody wars, betrayals, and federal takedowns, the Colombo Family is one of the most volatile and fascinating stories in American Mafia history. In this episode, we dive deep into how Joseph Profaci built his empire, how Joseph Colombo turned it into a media spectacle, and how internal wars nearly destroyed the family from within.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/outlaws-gunslingers--4737234/support.Subscribe to our YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@bangdangnetwork

In this episode of The Gangland History Podcast, host Jacob Stoops interviews acclaimed author and Mafia historian Scott Deitche, one of the nation's foremost experts on organized crime in Florida and the Trafficante crime family.Together, they trace the full evolution of the Tampa Mafia — from its earliest days under Ignazio Italiano, through decades of bloody rivalries, Cuban connections, and political intrigue, to its quiet decline under the final generation of mob leadership.The conversation begins with the waves of Italian immigration to Tampa's Ybor City and the cigar industry that built both the economy and the foundation of the underworld. From there, Scott and Jacob explore Tampa's first crime boss, Ignazio Italiano, and the city's early reputation as a hotbed of vice, gambling, and corruption.Listeners will hear about the 1928 Hotel Statler Meeting, where Mafia leaders from across the country gathered to define territories and business interests — putting Tampa's underworld squarely on the national map.From there, the episode dives into the violent Charlie Wall era, when the powerful gambling czar ruled Tampa's rackets amid a feud that pitted him against Ignazio Antinori and Santo Trafficante, Sr. The bloody power struggle culminated in Antinori's assassination in 1940, marking a turning point that ushered in the Trafficante dynasty.Under Santo Trafficante, Sr., Tampa's mob consolidated power — but not without conflict. His clashes with Red Italiano and Jimmy Lumia (whose murder rocked the city) underscored the treacherous nature of Mafia politics in Florida.After Sr.'s death in the 1950's, his son Santo Trafficante, Jr. rose to prominence as Boss of the borgata, leading the family for 30+ years through its golden age. Under Santo Jr.'s his reign, the Tampa Mafia reached international stature, with deep ties to Cuba's casino industry, relationships with New Orleans boss Carlos Marcello, and a presence at the Apalachin and Kefauver hearings that exposed the Mafia's nationwide reach.As the decades unfolded, Trafficante Jr. found himself entangled in the web of Kennedy-era politics, CIA intrigue, and allegations surrounding Cuba and the Bay of Pigs, while maintaining his position as one of the most powerful and respected Mafia bosses in America.Scott and Jacob also examine the decline of the Tampa mob as Trafficante Jr. aged — and how figures like Frank “Daddy Frank” Diecidue and Vincent “Vince” LoScalzo carried the torch into the family's final chapter. By the 1990s, with LoScalzo as the last recognized boss, the once-powerful Tampa Mafia had faded quietly into history.This episode offers a comprehensive, rigorously researched look at the rise, dominance, and fall of the Trafficante family — a story that blends Southern charm, Cuban influence, and old-world Mafia tradition into one of the most fascinating organized crime sagas in America.

Born to a Japanese-American family in ritzy suburban Orange County, California, Kenny “Kenji” Gallo was a bookish, hyperactive kid who lived a double life as a car-bombing, gun-toting international drug trafficker. He owned a nightclub, produced porn movies, and was arrested for the murder of his own best friend- all before he could legally drink. Gallo graduated to life as a jet-setting playboy thug, refining his gangster style under Mafia legends, marrying a legendary porn star, and making millions in credit and stock fraud, extortion, gambling, and the sex trade. Then, after more than two daredevil decades, Gallo voluntarily wired up as an under cover FBI informant in exchange for a fresh start, nearly losing his life in the process. From 1980s cocaine cowboys, to the modern mob and its Tony Soprano wannabes, to the porn industry's dirty secrets, this riveting and redemptive memoir captures the American underworld in all its tawdry spectacle.https://amzn.to/4npx82aBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

Gregory Scarpa, known as “The Grim Reaper,” was a feared capo in the Colombo crime family and one of the most violent figures in the American Mafia. Rising to prominence in Brooklyn during the 1950s, Scarpa became infamous for his ruthless efficiency as a hitman—credited with dozens, if not hundreds, of murders. He ran rackets involving extortion, loan sharking, gambling, and narcotics, while maintaining a reputation as a stylish and brazen enforcer. His willingness to use extreme violence made him indispensable during the Colombo family's bloody internal wars, where he played a decisive role in eliminating rivals and consolidating power for his faction.Scarpa's criminal empire, however, was shadowed by his double life as a longtime FBI informant. Beginning in the early 1960s, he secretly collaborated with federal agents, reportedly even participating in the search for missing civil rights workers in Mississippi during the “Mississippi Burning” case. His relationship with the Bureau deepened in the 1980s under FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio, a partnership that sparked controversy amid claims the FBI allowed Scarpa to operate with impunity in exchange for intelligence. In 1986, he contracted HIV through a tainted blood transfusion, and by the early 1990s, he was terminally ill. Scarpa pleaded guilty to multiple murders in 1993 and died in prison in 1994 from AIDS-related complications—leaving behind a legacy as both one of the Mafia's deadliest killers and one of the FBI's most compromised informants.to contact  me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/oct/31/usa.international

In this episode of Gangland Wire, retired intelligence detective Gary Jenkins exposes the brutal fall of one of the Mafia's most calculating figures—Louis “Bobby” Manna, the Genovese consigliere who wielded silent power until a single wiretap changed everything. From the mobbed-up docks of Bayonne to the smoke-filled offices of Queens Borough Hall, we follow the story of Irwin “The Fat Man” Schiff, a civilian fixer with deep Mafia and political ties. Schiff played both sides—until the feds flipped him. And when Manna found out, it sealed Schiff's fate. Bobby Manna's Rise: From the 1950s onward, Manna ran the Genovese family's New Jersey rackets—extortion, labor corruption, and construction scams. He was quiet, feared, and always in the background—until FBI bugs in Casella's Restaurant picked up murder plots against Irwin Schiff and even John Gotti. Irwin Schiff's Double Life: A Jewish outsider in an Italian world, Schiff was the ultimate connector—tying mobsters, politicians, and union bosses together in backroom deals and rigged bids. But when he became a government informant, he became a marked man. The Hit: On August 28, 1987, Schiff was gunned down in a Manhattan restaurant. Three bullets in under ten seconds—“clean, no mistakes,” just like Manna ordered. The killing shocked the city and became the linchpin in a massive RICO case. The Fall of Manna: In 1989, Manna was convicted and sentenced to 80 years in prison. He died a frail old man after being granted compassionate release in 2025—but his downfall was sealed decades earlier, the moment the FBI pressed "record." Highlights of the Episode: 0:06 Introduction to Bobby Manna 1:56 The Rise of a Crime Boss 7:06 The Role of Irwin Schiff 12:24 Corruption in Construction 15:42 Fallout from Political Scandals 19:23 Betrayal and Consequences 24:22 The End of an Era Subscribe to Gangland Wire wherever you get your podcasts, and join us each week as we uncover the stories buried beneath the headlines—and the bodies. Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to "buy me a cup of coffee" To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here.  To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos.  XXXX [0:00] Hey guys, welcome back to Gangland Wire. This is your host, Gary Jenkins, [0:03] retired Kansas City Police Detective Intelligence Unit. And today we're going to dive into a deadly game of wiretaps, whispers, and betrayals and murder. This is the story of Louis Bobby Manna and really what brought him down. He was the feared consigliere of the Genovese crime family. And the one that was going to bring him down was the murder of Irwin, the fat man Schiff. He was a civilian fixer whose mouth got him killed. Now, from the mobbed-up docks in Bayonne to the backroom deals in Queensborough Hall, we'll trace how power was wielded in silence until the tapes started talking. And once they did, they were going to bring down one of the Mafia's most secretive tacticians, that's Bobby Manna. Bobby Manna once held one of the most powerful positions in the American Mafia in the 70s and 80s. He was the consigliere of the Genovese crime family when Gigante was in charge. He was the third in command. He also ran all the family's New Jersey operations, I mean, with some brutal efficiency. And he knew all the underworld's most feared players in the New York City area and that whole area. [1:13] And his influence stretched not only from the piers of Bayonne and the docks and the shipping industry, but also the political corridors of New York's construction rackets, which as you guys know,

Hey Wiretappers, listen to my short bonus episode. I'm looking for mob fans to read the first half of a memoir about my life, which is partly about being a cop and mostly about the Civella Spero War. Email me at ganglandwire@gmail.com and I'll send you a pdf to read. It's about 22,000 words. Once it's done, I'll send you a copy This week, we journey back to the early 1900s—a time when the first wave of Sicilian immigrants brought more than just dreams of opportunity to America. They also brought with them an age-old criminal code that would lay the foundation for the American Mafia as we know it. Our story begins with the Mustache Petes—those old-world mafiosi who preyed on their own immigrant communities through intimidation, extortion, and a cunning knack for organized crime. One of their earliest rackets? Counterfeiting.

In this powerful and unfiltered interview, Mike Moy—a former made man in the infamous Fuk Ching Syndicate and later a 25-year NYPD officer—breaks down the bloody history of Chinese-American gangs in New York City's Chinatown during the 70s, 80s, and early 90s. From underground gambling parlors, prostitution rings, and extortion rackets, to the $1 billion heroin trade and brutal gang wars, Mike reveals shocking insider details never before shared so openly. He explains how the Tong associations, triads, and local street gangs like the Ghost Shadows, Flying Dragons, and BTK worked together—and what ultimately led to their collapse under federal RICO prosecutions. Go Support Michael! Book: https://a.co/d/eVaVsur YouTube: @chinatowngangstories IG: https://www.instagram.com/chinatowngangstories/ This Episode Is #Sponsored By The Following: MANDO! Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get 20% off + free shipping with promo code MITCHELL at https://shopmando.com! #mandopod BAY SMOKES! To get your free sample just head to https://baysmokes.com/pages/free-thca-flower-gram-sample/theconnect Join The Patreon For Bonus Content! https://www.patreon.com/theconnectshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By Robert Riggs The Godfather. Goodfellas. The Sopranos. Hollywood entertained us with polished fiction—honor among thieves, loyalty bound by blood, men of principle wrapped in tailored suits. But the real mob? It was darker. Colder. Predatory. The smile came first. The knife came after. This is the true story of how FBI Special Agent Mike Campi helped dismantle the Genovese crime family—the oldest, largest, and most insidious of New York's five Mafia Families. Founded by Charles “Lucky” Luciano in 1931. Consolidated under Vito Genovese in the late 1950s. The family once ruled Manhattan's west side piers and the Fulton Fish Market on the East River with quiet brutality. Everything moved through their hands—money, muscle, silence. Campi joined the FBI's Organized Crime Squad in 1985, stepping into the heart of a sweeping federal assault on the American Mafia. Over the next two decades, he led investigations that exposed the rot behind the façade. His new book, Mafia Takedown, pulls back the curtain on what really happened. Not the Hollywood version. The truth.

Retired Intelligence Detective Gary Jenkins brings you the best in mob history with his unique perception of the mafia. In this episode of Gangland Wire, host Gary Jenkins interviews the prolific chronicler of the American Mafia, Jeffrey Sussman. Listeners will learn about Morris levy and the mafia's influence on the roots of the world's most important cultural influences, American Rock and Roll. Two of the most important men who influenced the rise of rock and roll were Morris Levy and Alan Freed. Levy had close ties with the Genovese crime family. Levy was the notorious head of the record label Roulette Records. Reportedly, Morris Levy used illicit money from the family to fund his businesses, with several members of the mob said to be present at his meetings. At the time, Freed and other corrupt Disc Jockeys corrupted the entire industry with their "pay for play" of records, which became known as "Payola." Morris Levy terrorized young performers into giving up thier royalities. Meyer Lansky, AKA the “mob's accountant,” was one of the most successful mafiosos in history and had many investments in jukeboxes. Reportedly, he “controlled every Wurlitzer jukebox in the New York area”. So too, did the Chicago Outfit (who rose to power under Al Capone) have many dealings with Lansky and his jukeboxes. A mob history book, The Outfit, argues that the Wurlitzer Corporation accused Lansky and his Chicago associates of disrupting the distribution of Wurlitzer jukeboxes. The Outfit is also said to have worked closely with Jules Stein, head of the Music Corporation of America. Apparently, Stein, the mob, MCA, and Meyer Lansky had all worked at least in some form with the mob fixer Sidney Korshak, a prominent mafia name in Los Angeles. Click here to get Backbeat Gansters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in Rock Music by Jeffrey Sussman. Subscribe to get gangster stories weekly Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to "buy me a cup of coffee" To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here.  To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast. Donate to the podcast. Click here!

After Luciano organizes the removal of Salvatore Maranzano, he institutes significant changes to the American Mafia. Luciano's most notable innovation is the creation of a governing body known as The Commission. The hope is that The Commission – made up of mob bosses from across the country – will resolve internal conflicts and avoid another major war. In 1935, The Commission faces its first big test when Dutch Schultz, an infamous New York gangster, wants to kill an ambitious federal prosecutor named Thomas E. Dewey. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join   Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial.   On YouTube, subscribe to INFAMOUS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage.   For more details, please visit www.blackbarrelmedia.com. Our social media pages are: @blackbarrelmedia on Facebook and Instagram, and @bbarrelmedia on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we sit down to talk to Louis Ferrante all about his Borgata book series which charts to rise of the American Mafia! We spoke about some of the main characters, the relationships between different racial groups in building up the mafia, and how they influenced the American political process!Grab a copy of Borgata: Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia and Borgata: Clash of Titans: A History of the American MafiaKeep up to date with Louis through his website, and XIf you want to get in touch with History with Jackson email: jackson@historywithjackson.co.ukTo support History with Jackson to carry on creating content subscribe to History with Jackson+ on Apple Podcasts or support us on our Patreon!To catch up on everything to do with History with Jackson head to www.HistorywithJackson.co.ukFollow us on Facebook at @HistorywithJacksonFollow us on Instagram at @HistorywithJacksonFollow us on X/Twitter at @HistorywJacksonFollow us on TikTok at @HistorywithJackson Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this exclusive interview, John "Red" Shea, former Irish-American gangster, shares his untold story of rising to power alongside the infamous James "Whitey" Bulger in South Boston during the 1980s. Shea opens up about his role as a key cocaine supplier, the inner workings of Bulger's criminal empire, and the ultimate betrayal by corrupt FBI agent John Connolly. Red covers his experience with the Irish Mafia including: -How Whitey Bulger ruled South Boston for three decades -The rise of Red Shea and his pivotal role in the Irish mob's drug trade -Shocking details about FBI corruption and how it protected Bulger -Why Whitey Bulger went on the run for 16 years and how he was finally captured -Inside stories of drug deals, loyalty tests, and survival in the underworld -The truth behind Whitey Bulger's brutal prison murder Red Shea also discusses his life after prison, finding closure through his book "Rat Bastard", and the lessons learned from a life entangled in crime. Go Support Red! Book: https://a.co/d/4BpTmsG IG: https://www.instagram.com/red_shea_official/ Podcast: @redsheapodcast This Episode Is #Sponsored By The Following: The Perfect Jean! F*%k your khakis and get The Perfect Jean 15% off with the code CONNECT15 at https://theperfectjean.nyc/connect15 #theperfectjeanpod BetterHelp! Give online therapy a try at https://betterhelp.com/connect and get on your way to being your best self. Join The Patreon For Bonus Content! https://www.patreon.com/theconnectshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Don: 36 Rules of the Bosses is the fascinating culmination of author RJ Roger's extensive research into the Italian-American Cosa Nostra. Analyzing more than 100 years of underworld history, Roger has distilled the behavior of the bosses of the five New York Mafia families-the most powerful in the United States-into 36 rules. Unwritten until codified in The Don, these rules were the foundation of the bosses' success for over a century. Created in collaboration with Joost Elffers, the producer behind Robert Greene's international bestseller The 48 Laws of Power, The Don: 36 Rules of the Bosses details the history of the American Mafia. More important, it elucidates the strategies by which the bosses of the Five Families achieved and held power. Many of these leaders were devotees of Niccolò Machiavelli's treatise The Prince, a manual for would-be rulers written in 1513 and still read today by power brokers of many kinds around the world. Understanding the influence of this book on the most successful Mafia bosses, and also applying his expertise in contemporary business practices and his deep knowledge of America's underworld, Roger has identified 36 rules common to them all. In The Don, he explains these rules in ways that will be useful to any reader hoping to gain power, whether personally, politically, or in business. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Johnny “The Enforcer” Papalia was one of Canada's most feared mobsters. From his rise in the Hamilton underworld to his brutal reign as a Mafia enforcer, this episode uncovers his deep ties to the American Mafia, his role in drug trafficking, extortion, and his ultimate downfall. We explore his ruthless tactics, the power struggles that defined his career, and the hit that ended it all.All our links:https://bio.to/canboringThis podcast is hosted two idiots and created purely for entertainment purposes. By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that the CIB Podcast makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions presented in this Podcast are for general entertainment and humor only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. However, if we get it badly wrong and you wish to suggest a correction, please email canadianpoliticsisboring@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, on Crime & Entertainment, we sit down with Chris Colombo. Recently, the History Channel released a documentary called the 5 Families, which Chris was a part of. However, after hours of recording, only a few minutes of his footage was used. Why is that you ask? Did it not fit the narrative? Was a lie more interesting than the truth ? You be the judge as we break it down here on Crime & EntertainmentFollow Chris Below Chris Colombo's Channel is below.   / @takingactionwithchriscolombo  IG  / thechriscolombo  Links to Crime & Entertainment Like us on Facebook -    / crimeandentertainment  Follow us on Instagram -     / crimenentertainment  Listen on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4T67Bs5... Listen on Apple Music - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Listen on Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/crime-e... Listen on Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0... Listen on Amazon Music -

Greg Scarpa, known as "The Grim Reaper," was a notorious and violent figure in the American Mafia, specifically within the Colombo crime family. Born in 1928 in Brooklyn, New York, Scarpa rose through the ranks of organized crime, earning a reputation for brutality and unwavering loyalty to the Mafia's code. Over decades, he engaged in a variety of criminal activities, including extortion, loan sharking, drug trafficking, and numerous murders. Despite his high-ranking position within the Colombo family, Scarpa led a double life as an FBI informant, feeding agents information about Mafia operations while continuing his criminal activities. His dual role allowed him to avoid serious consequences for much of his career, as he manipulated both the FBI and the Mafia to maintain his power and evade prosecution.Scarpa's life was marked by extraordinary violence and intrigue, even by Mafia standards. He played a central role in the Colombo crime family's internal wars, including the bloody conflict of the early 1990s, during which he was suspected of personally committing several murders. His work as an FBI informant also sparked controversy, as it later came to light that he was protected by federal agents despite ongoing criminal activity. Scarpa's health deteriorated in the 1990s due to HIV, contracted from a tainted blood transfusion after surgery, and he died in prison in 1994. His legacy is one of betrayal, violence, and the murky intersection between law enforcement and organized crime.to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

The Don: 36 Rules of the Bosses is the fascinating culmination of author RJ Roger's extensive research into the Italian-American Cosa Nostra. Analyzing more than 100 years of underworld history, Roger has distilled the behavior of the bosses of the five New York Mafia families-the most powerful in the United States-into 36 rules. Unwritten until codified in The Don, these rules were the foundation of the bosses' success for over a century. Created in collaboration with Joost Elffers, the producer behind Robert Greene's international bestseller The 48 Laws of Power, The Don: 36 Rules of the Bosses details the history of the American Mafia. More important, it elucidates the strategies by which the bosses of the Five Families achieved and held power. Many of these leaders were devotees of Niccolò Machiavelli's treatise The Prince, a manual for would-be rulers written in 1513 and still read today by power brokers of many kinds around the world. Understanding the influence of this book on the most successful Mafia bosses, and also applying his expertise in contemporary business practices and his deep knowledge of America's underworld, Roger has identified 36 rules common to them all. In The Don, he explains these rules in ways that will be useful to any reader hoping to gain power, whether personally, politically, or in business. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

Louis Ferrante is back on the show, sharing more of his extensive research into the history of the American Mafia. In volume two of his trilogy, called "Borgata: Clash of Titans", he focuses on the Mafia during the height of its power in the 1960s and 70s. In our interview he talks about the origins of the animosity between the mob and Bobby Kennedy, and how he believes Bobby's pressure led to his brother's assassination. We also go quite a bit into J. Edgar Hoover's role in the conflict, and I ask Lou what he thinks happened to Jimmy Hoffa's body. More about the author and his work here: https://louisferrante.com/ Our sponsor this week is Acorns. Head here https://acorns.com/notorious or download the Acorns app to start saving and investing for your future today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you curious about the history of the American mafia and its role in politics? The mafia met its first serious external threat to its existence when U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy decided to take on the mafia with a vow to eradicate organized crime in America. Lou Ferrante, a former heist expert and Gambino crime family mobster, joined us to detail how the mafia came into conflict with the American political elite!Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio and listen to NightSide with Dan Rea Weeknights From 8PM-12AM!

Pod Crashing episode 355 with Anna Sigga Nicolazzi from the Law and Order podcast An investigative audio series that explores how murder is tried in America through examining the cases that set the precedent. For over three decades, the Law and Order franchise has provided a glimpse into the American legal system. Beyond the drama, the show has reflected the evolution of how cases are tried in our courts of law. In this series, we delve into some of the most influential real-life cases that shaped the current justice system through the lens of New York City. Host Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi leads a team of experts in dissecting what went wrong and right in NYC's landmark trials. From the first high-profile organized crime convictions to introducing DNA as evidence, we're digging into the cases that changed the rules. Each season of the series will cover one subsect of criminal law, tackling multiple cases throughout the city's history to understand how elements of the modern trial have come to be. From the battle to bring down the American Mafia to tactics including undercover operations, wiretaps, and plea bargains, listeners will understand all of the tools and strategies that prosecution and defense work with when lives hang in the balance.

Chris and Taylor review the second season of the crime comedy-drama series Tulsa King created by Taylor Sheridan. The show follows American Mafia capo Dwight "The General" Manfredi who is sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma to establish criminal operations after serving a 25-year prison sentence. The series stars Sylvester Stallone, Martin Starr, Jay Will, McKenna Quigley Harrington, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza, Garrett Hedlund, Dana Delany, Neal McDonough and Frank Grillo. Follow us on: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepotential_podcast/ X: https://x.com/thepotentialpod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thepotentialpodcast Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/thepotentialpodcast Thanks to our sponsor: AURA Get a 14-day free trial of Aura for individuals, couples and or their family by going to aura.com/potential 

Pod Crashing episode 355 with Anna Sigga Nicolazzi from the Law and Order podcast An investigative audio series that explores how murder is tried in America through examining the cases that set the precedent. For over three decades, the Law and Order franchise has provided a glimpse into the American legal system. Beyond the drama, the show has reflected the evolution of how cases are tried in our courts of law. In this series, we delve into some of the most influential real-life cases that shaped the current justice system through the lens of New York City. Host Anna-Sigga Nicolazzi leads a team of experts in dissecting what went wrong and right in NYC's landmark trials. From the first high-profile organized crime convictions to introducing DNA as evidence, we're digging into the cases that changed the rules. Each season of the series will cover one subsect of criminal law, tackling multiple cases throughout the city's history to understand how elements of the modern trial have come to be. From the battle to bring down the American Mafia to tactics including undercover operations, wiretaps, and plea bargains, listeners will understand all of the tools and strategies that prosecution and defense work with when lives hang in the balance.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

My special guest tonight is author Mike Rothmiller returning to discuss his book called  True Crime Chronicles.K-=TRUE CRIME CHRONICLES, Volume One, includes stories about Belle Gunness, who had a penchant for killing men and feeding them to her hogs, Dr. Holmes and his “murder castle,” The Bloody Benders, and Amelia Dyer, the “baby farmer,” the darker side of Wyatt Earp, and the forerunners of the American Mafia, “The Black Hand.” Imagine yourself accompanying these reporters visiting the crime scenes, interviewing witnesses, and penning the stories of murder, lynchings, evil, and swift frontier justice.     More History on Baby Farming: Baby farming is the historical practice of accepting custody of an infant or child in exchange for payment in late-Victorian Britain and, less commonly, in Australia and the United States. If the infant was young, this usually included wet-nursing (breast-feeding by a woman not the mother). Some baby farmers "adopted" children for lump-sum payments, while others cared for infants for periodic payments.   Though baby farmers were paid in the understanding that care would be provided, the term "baby farmer" was used as an insult, and improper treatment was usually implied. Illegitimacy and its attendant social stigma were usually the impetus for a mother's decision to put her children "out to nurse" with a baby farmer, but baby farming also encompassed foster care and adoption in the period before they were regulated by British law. Wealthier women would also put their infants out to be cared for in the homes of villagers. Claire Tomalin gives a detailed account of this in her biography of Jane Austen, who was fostered in this manner, as were all her siblings, from a few months old until they were toddlers.[1] Tomalin emphasizes the emotional distance this created. Particularly in the case of lump-sum adoptions, it was more profitable for the baby farmer if the infant or child she adopted died, since the small payment could not cover the care of the child for long. Some baby farmers adopted numerous children and then neglected them or murdered them outright (see infanticide). Several were tried for murder, manslaughter, or criminal neglect and were hanged. Margaret Waters (executed 1870) and Amelia Dyer(executed 1896) were two infamous British baby farmers, as were Amelia Sach and Annie Walters (executed 1903).[2] The last baby farmer to be executed in Britain was Rhoda Willis, who was hanged in Wales in 1907. The only woman to be executed in New Zealand, Minnie Dean, was a baby farmer. In Australia, baby-farmer Frances Knorr was executed for infanticide in 1894.[3] In Scandinavia there was a euphemism for this activity: "änglamakerska" (Swedish, including Hilda Nilsson) and "englemagerske" (Danish), both literally meaning a female "angel maker".   An undercover investigation of baby-farming, reported in 1870 in a letter to The Times, concluded that "My conviction is that children are murdered in scores by these women, that adoption is only a fine phrase for slow or sudden death".[4] Spurred by a series of articles that appeared in the  British Medical Journal in 1867, the Parliament of the United Kingdom began to regulate baby farming in 1872 with the passage of the  Infant Life Protection Act 1872.Follow Our Other ShowsFollow UFO WitnessesFollow Crime Watch WeeklyFollow Paranormal FearsFollow Seven: Disturbing Chronicle StoriesJoin our Patreon for ad-free listening and more bonus content.Follow us on Instagram @mysteriousradioFollow us on TikTok mysteriousradioTikTok Follow us on Twitter @mysteriousradio Follow us on Pinterest pinterest.com/mysteriousradio Like us on Facebook Facebook.com/mysteriousradio]

In the final episode of an unconventional series on Mobster Crazy Joe Gallo, the Steve and Mustache Chris draw striking parallels between Joe Gallo and Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Wagner Group. Spanning decades and continents, the episode explores their tumultuous lives, with major conflicts like the Russian-Ukrainian war serving as a backdrop. From Gallo's battles within the American Mafia to Yevgeny  Prigozhin's deadly involvement in recent global affairs, the discussion delves into their complex legacies and why they both had scores of enemies. The episode also reflects on the idea of being a disruptor in different systems, comparing both men's motivations and ultimate downfalls.00:00 Introduction to the Unconventional Series Finale01:01 Comparing Crazy Joe Gallo and Yevgeny Prigozhin 04:21 Yevgeny Prigozhin's Early Life and Criminal Beginnings06:33 Prigozhin's Rise in Business and Organized Crime 20:22 The Wagner Revolt and Parallels to Joe Gallo32:28 The Center of the Universe: Joe Gallo and Prigozhin 's Impulsiveness39:25 Theories and Speculations: Who Killed Joe Gallo and Prigozhin? 41:23 The Rebellion and Its Aftermath43:36 The Futility of Prigozhin 's March 51:11 System Disruptors: Joe Gallo and Prigozhin's Motivations Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/SPxcxYuYU17You can learn more about Beyond the Big Screen and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.pagewww.beyondthebigscreen.comClick to Subscribe: https://www.spreaker.com/show/4926576/episodes/feedemail: steve@atozhistorypage.com www.beyondthebigscreen.comParthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.comOn Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistoryhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypagehttps://facebook.com/atozhistorypagehttps://twitter.com/atozhistorypagehttps://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/Music Provided by:"Crossing the Chasm" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

In this episode, we continue the “State of the Mafia (1967)” series. If you haven't already, I highly encourage you to go back and watch ‘The State of the Mafia: Part One' “The rules that hold us together” as it will be a very good primer for this episode's content. I'm calling this show ‘The State of the Mafia (1967): Part Two' “Life or Death Obligations.” Like the first part of this series, this report will jump around a lot, but in the end I think you'll still enjoy it, and hopefully it teaches you “a couple of three things.” Okay, so let's reset the stage here.  This 1967 FBI report, which we began to cover in Part One (again, go watch or listen to it first if you haven't), is a veritable gold-mine of information. The aim at the time of creation was focused on providing an overall picture of LCN membership and activities throughout the United States as things stood in 1967. The report was declassified in 1996. The originator of the report was a man named Robert G. O'Neil, and the report itself was submitted to the FBI Director at the time, one J. Edgar Hoover. Sometimes in the course of historical research, you just find things that are simply too good not to share. In this case, I found this report by accident, got to reading it, and was very much enthralled by it. And based on the responses in the first episode (a 96% approval rating on YouTube), I think it's worth continuing.  In Part One, I covered the following topics: The historical background of the Mafia and where it came from The ‘Commission,' its members and purpose Organizational structure, terminology, qualifications and admission to membership Initiation rites and the differences between regions and families in ‘making' ceremonies In this episode, we're going to continue along that track and get into: Membership obligations Advantages of La Cosa Nostra membership Security measures Transfers of Members For the sake of time, we'll stop this episode after transfers of members. The report in its entirety will likely require four parts in total to fully cover, and will be linked in the description of the episode. Again, it contains references to 50+ cities and 196 informants in total. So, it's a massive dossier and treasure trove of information on the Mafia. Link to full report: https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=113324#relPageId=21 There are many different families, individual mobsters, and stories referenced in this episode. The episode bounces from the "who's who" of the American Mafia, to several lesser known characters, citing informant reports that were geared on teaching the FBI about the Mafia back in the 1960's. And now, I'm bringing this information to your doorstep.

On April 7, 1972, Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo was shot and killed at Umberto's Clam House in Manhattan's Little Italy while celebrating his 43rd birthday. The hit occurred early in the morning, with Gallo dining alongside his wife, daughter, sister, and bodyguard. His presence at the restaurant was noticed by Joseph Luparelli, a member of the Colombo crime family, who alerted other Colombo associates nearby. Soon after, four gunmen entered the establishment and opened fire on Gallo.Reports suggest that Gallo attempted to defend himself by overturning a table and drawing his own weapon, but he was hit multiple times, including in the back, elbow, and buttocks. Although he managed to stagger out of the restaurant, he collapsed on the street and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. Some accounts speculate that he was trying to divert the attackers away from his family as he exited the building.The assassination is believed to be tied to long-standing tensions between Gallo and the Colombo family, especially after Joe Colombo was shot months earlier, with Gallo rumored to be behind the attack. The hit on Gallo remains a notorious mob killing, with different narratives about who exactly ordered and executed it, but no one was ever formally charged for the crime.The scene of Gallo's murder at Umberto's Clam House became infamous, symbolizing the chaotic and violent underworld of the American Mafia at the time, as depicted in various mob-related books and movies over the years, including The Irishman and references in popular culture like Bob Dylan's song "Joey"​.(commercial at 15:05)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comsource:https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/08/archives/joe-gallo-is-shot-to-death-in-little-italy-restaurant-joe-gallo.htm

The History of the American Mafia: How the Mob Built Its Empire in the US, with Former Gambino Crime Family Associate, Louis Ferrante.In this episode, Mark sits down with former Mob associate Louis Ferrante to discuss his book, Borgata: The Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia.The history of the American Mafia, known as La Cosa Nostra or simply "The Mob," is well known. Prohibition in the United States during the Roaring Twenties saw the rise of characters who have since been mythologized in Hollywood: Charles "Lucky" Luciano and his close confidant Meyer Lansky, Al "Scarface" Capone, Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein, Dutch Schultz, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria, and Salvatore Maranzano.What makes Borgata different is that it was written by someone who lived "The Life," providing a unique perspective. Lou discusses the formation of The Commission, an underworld ruling council that controlled the Five Families of New York (now known as the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno, and Colombo), The Outfit in Chicago, and the Philadelphia Mafia.Lou talks about the rules, the use of violence, and how the US government looked to tackle the growing power of organized crime, spearheaded by the likes of prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey.We also hear about Lou's own life in La Cosa Nostra and how he and his crew committed some of the most successful heists in US history, which ultimately landed him in prison.In prison, he began to read everything he could get his hands on, including history, philosophy, and the great classics of literature. He never turned on his former associates, but when he left prison, he also left "The Life." Now he speaks about his experiences with the Mob and has become a successful author (Unlocked: A Journey from Prison to Proust), including his new a huge three-part history of the American Mafia. In this episode, Mark and Lou discuss the first book, Borgata: The Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia.====================================================Louis Ferrante's book 'Borgata: The Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia' is available here: https://a.co/d/cDcxOQ2 Audible version: https://a.co/d/2VHu3Ht ====================================================

How much do you know about the Italian mafia? Louis Ferrante is a former Mafia associate and heist expert who served eight years in prison after refusing to incriminate his fellow Gambino family members. After extensive research into the history of the Mafia from its origins in Sicily to organizing in America as well as drawing on his own personal experience, Ferrante wrote a three-volume series on the history of the American mafia starting with his book “Borgata: Rise of Empire.” Louis joined us on NightSide to give you an inside look into life in the mafia!Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio!

The Bull is one of the most prolific figures in the history of the American Mafia… underboss to John Gotti in the Gambino family, and a man who walked away from the entire business when his boss turned on him. This episode is part 1 where he discusses his life now after leaving the Family. This is truly a banner episode for the podcast

The Bonanno family is one of New York City's notorious Five Families, central to the American Mafia's history. Founded in the early 1930s by Joseph Bonanno, the family quickly rose to power, becoming a dominant force in organized crime. Bonanno, often referred to as "Joe Bananas," was a traditionalist who enforced strict secrecy and discipline within the family. Under his leadership, the Bonanno family became heavily involved in various criminal activities, including loan-sharking, gambling, extortion, and drug trafficking. One of their most significant ventures was their involvement in the French Connection, an international heroin smuggling operation that brought vast wealth and influence to the family.During its peak in the mid-20th century, the Bonanno family was one of the most powerful Mafia organizations in the United States. However, this success was not without internal and external challenges. The family faced significant internal strife during the 1960s, known as the Banana War, a power struggle sparked by Joseph Bonanno's attempt to consolidate control over the Mafia Commission. This period of infighting, along with Bonanno's mysterious disappearance and eventual forced retirement, weakened the family considerably. The situation worsened in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the FBI's Donnie Brasco operation, where an undercover agent infiltrated the family, leading to the arrest and conviction of many members and severely damaging the family's reputation.Despite these setbacks, the Bonanno family managed to survive, albeit with diminished power and influence. In the 1990s, under the leadership of Joseph Massino, the family experienced a brief resurgence, regaining some of its former strength. However, Massino's eventual decision to cooperate with law enforcement and testify against his own family marked a significant blow, leading to further convictions and weakening the family's structure. Today, the Bonanno family continues to operate, though on a much smaller scale, remaining a shadow of its former self. Their history is a compelling narrative of rise, fall, and survival in the ruthless world of organized crime.(commercial at 9:37)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

The Genovese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime in New York City and are part of the nationwide criminal syndicate known as the American Mafia. Often considered the most powerful and secretive of the Five Families, the Genovese family has a long history dating back to the early 20th century.Origins and Leadership:Early History: The family was originally founded by Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria in the 1910s. After Masseria's death in 1931 during the Castellammarese War, control passed to Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who reorganized the American Mafia into the structure it has today, with the Genovese family becoming one of the key pillars.Vito Genovese: The family is named after Vito Genovese, who took control in the late 1950s. Under his leadership, the family expanded its influence and became involved in a wide range of criminal activities, including narcotics trafficking, extortion, loan sharking, and labor racketeering.Structure and Operations:Organizational Structure: The Genovese family operates with a hierarchical structure typical of Mafia families, with a boss at the top, followed by underbosses, capos (captains), and soldiers. Associates work for the family but are not full members.Territory and Influence: The family's operations are primarily based in New York City, but they also have significant influence in other areas, including New Jersey, Florida, and Las Vegas. They have been involved in infiltrating legitimate businesses, particularly in the construction and labor industries.Criminal Activities:Racketeering and Extortion: The Genovese family has been deeply involved in extortion and loan sharking, using violence and intimidation to collect debts and maintain control over various industries.Labor Unions: They have historically exerted control over labor unions, using their influence to manipulate contracts, embezzle funds, and control labor markets.Drug Trafficking: While historically less involved in drug trafficking compared to other families, the Genovese family has still participated in the narcotics trade, often using intermediaries to distance themselves from the operations.Decline and Current Status:Law Enforcement Pressure: Over the years, the Genovese family has been targeted by numerous law enforcement operations, leading to the arrest and conviction of many high-ranking members. Despite these setbacks, the family remains influential and continues to operate.Current Leadership: The current leadership of the Genovese family is less well-known, as the family has adapted to increased law enforcement scrutiny by maintaining a lower profile and operating more discreetly.The Genovese crime family remains a powerful entity within the American Mafia, known for its secrecy and resilience despite decades of law enforcement efforts to dismantle it(commercial at 8:14)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano was a notorious mobster who rose to prominence as the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family during a time of significant change and upheaval in the New York Mafia. Born and raised in the Bronx, Basciano quickly became involved in organized crime, using his charm, intelligence, and ruthlessness to climb the ranks. He earned his nickname from his meticulously groomed appearance and owned a beauty salon that served as a front for his criminal activities. Under the mentorship of Joseph Massino, Basciano expanded the family's operations into more sophisticated criminal enterprises, such as construction rackets and stock fraud, while maintaining traditional mafia activities. His leadership style was a blend of modernization and old-school brutality, which helped him consolidate power but also attracted intense scrutiny from law enforcement.Basciano's downfall came as law enforcement intensified its efforts against organized crime, leading to his arrest in 2004 and subsequent conviction on multiple charges, including murder and conspiracy. His former mentor, Massino, turned informant, providing critical testimony that sealed Basciano's fate. Despite his attempts to control the Bonanno family from prison, Basciano's conviction marked the decline of the Bonanno family and symbolized the broader erosion of the American Mafia's power. His story reflects the ultimate failure of the Mafia's traditional codes in the face of changing legal tactics and the willingness of former members to cooperate with authorities. Basciano's life and career serve as a stark reminder of the fleeting nature of power in the criminal underworld and the inevitable consequences of a life steeped in violence and betrayal.(commercial at 8:22)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Joe Valachi was a low-ranking member of the Genovese crime family in the American Mafia who became infamous for being the first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the existence of the organization. Born in 1904 in New York City, Valachi became involved in organized crime during the 1930s and rose to become a soldier in the Genovese family. His life took a dramatic turn when he was arrested in 1959 on narcotics charges and, fearing for his life after mistakenly killing a fellow inmate, decided to cooperate with the U.S. government.In 1963, Valachi testified before the U.S. Senate in what became known as the Valachi Hearings, revealing the inner workings, structure, and rituals of the Mafia, including the secretive induction ceremony. His testimony was a turning point in the fight against organized crime, providing law enforcement with crucial information that led to numerous arrests and convictions. Valachi spent the remainder of his life in protective custody, living in fear of Mafia retribution until his death in 1971. His legacy is that of a key figure who helped expose and weaken the Mafia in America.(commercial at 9:55)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso was a notorious and feared figure in the American Mafia, serving as the underboss of the Lucchese crime family. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1940, he grew up in a family with deep ties to organized crime and quickly rose through the ranks of the Mafia due to his ruthlessness, strategic mind, and capacity for extreme violence.Casso was involved in numerous criminal enterprises, including labor racketeering, drug trafficking, and extortion. He was directly responsible for or ordered dozens of murders, earning a reputation as one of the most dangerous men in the Mafia. His nickname, "Gaspipe," symbolized the fear he instilled, and he became infamous for his involvement in high-profile criminal schemes like the "Windows Case" and for his corrupt relationships with law enforcement officers, most notably the "Mafia Cops."Despite his power, Casso's empire began to crumble in the 1990s as law enforcement targeted key Mafia figures. After being captured by the FBI, he turned informant, but his unreliable and manipulative behavior led to a lengthy prison sentence. Casso died in prison in 2020, leaving behind a legacy of terror and a cautionary tale about the dark consequences of a life dedicated to crime and power.(commercial at 9:37)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

We kicked off the program with four news stories and different guests on the stories we think you need to know about! Nazar Yasin - founder of the holistic mental health app Sol discussed September is National Suicide Prevention Month. The Art of Conscious Conversations: Transforming How We Talk, Listen, and Interact. Our guest for this segment is Chuck Wisner – Author & Coach.Rob Kelley - Supply Chain Expert talked about the Canadian freight railroads shut down, dealing a potential blow to North America's economy.Louis Ferrante - former Mafia associate (former Gambino family heist expert) & author talked about  history of the American Mafia. Featuring the book: Borgata: Clash of Titans - covers 1960 to 1985, as the mob comes into conflict with the American political elite.Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio!

Joe Valachi was a low-ranking member of the Genovese crime family in the American Mafia who became infamous for being the first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the existence of the organization. Born in 1904 in New York City, Valachi became involved in organized crime during the 1930s and rose to become a soldier in the Genovese family. His life took a dramatic turn when he was arrested in 1959 on narcotics charges and, fearing for his life after mistakenly killing a fellow inmate, decided to cooperate with the U.S. government.In 1963, Valachi testified before the U.S. Senate in what became known as the Valachi Hearings, revealing the inner workings, structure, and rituals of the Mafia, including the secretive induction ceremony. His testimony was a turning point in the fight against organized crime, providing law enforcement with crucial information that led to numerous arrests and convictions. Valachi spent the remainder of his life in protective custody, living in fear of Mafia retribution until his death in 1971. His legacy is that of a key figure who helped expose and weaken the Mafia in America.(commercial at 9:55)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.com

The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, part of the larger American Mafia or Cosa Nostra. The family was founded in the early 20th century and rose to power during the Prohibition era, engaging in various illegal activities such as bootlegging, extortion, loan sharking, and later, drug trafficking, gambling, and labor racketeering.Named after Carlo Gambino, who became the boss in 1957, the family became one of the most powerful and influential crime organizations in the U.S. under his leadership. The Gambino family has a long history of violence, internal power struggles, and conflict with law enforcement. Over the years, it has been involved in numerous high-profile criminal cases, including the assassination of mob bosses and cooperation with other crime families.The family gained widespread public attention in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly under the leadership of John Gotti, who was known as "The Dapper Don" for his flamboyant style and "The Teflon Don" because charges against him often didn't stick, thanks to jury tampering and witness intimidation. Gotti's eventual conviction in 1992 marked a significant blow to the Gambino family.Despite law enforcement crackdowns and internal strife, the Gambino crime family continues to be active, though its influence has waned compared to its peak during the mid-20th century. The family is still involved in various illegal activities, but its operations are more low-key compared to its more notorious past.(commercial at 8:04)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.com(We are trying something new with the AI voice over, please don't hesitate to shoot me feedback with any comments or suggestions.   Thank you!)

The Gambino crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, part of the larger American Mafia or Cosa Nostra. The family was founded in the early 20th century and rose to power during the Prohibition era, engaging in various illegal activities such as bootlegging, extortion, loan sharking, and later, drug trafficking, gambling, and labor racketeering.Named after Carlo Gambino, who became the boss in 1957, the family became one of the most powerful and influential crime organizations in the U.S. under his leadership. The Gambino family has a long history of violence, internal power struggles, and conflict with law enforcement. Over the years, it has been involved in numerous high-profile criminal cases, including the assassination of mob bosses and cooperation with other crime families.The family gained widespread public attention in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly under the leadership of John Gotti, who was known as "The Dapper Don" for his flamboyant style and "The Teflon Don" because charges against him often didn't stick, thanks to jury tampering and witness intimidation. Gotti's eventual conviction in 1992 marked a significant blow to the Gambino family.Despite law enforcement crackdowns and internal strife, the Gambino crime family continues to be active, though its influence has waned compared to its peak during the mid-20th century. The family is still involved in various illegal activities, but its operations are more low-key compared to its more notorious past.(commercial at 8:04)to contact me:bobbycapucci@protonmail.com(We are trying something new with the AI voice over, please don't hesitate to shoot me feedback with any comments or suggestions.   Thank you!)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-epstein-chronicles--5003294/support.

Tonight, my special guest is author Roman Martin who's here to give you some guidance on how to join La Cosa Nostra that's detailed in his book Underworld: How to Survive & Thrive in The American Mafia.   Have you ever fantasized about being able to do whatever you want, when you want, and to whom you want? Or perhaps you've dreamed about never having to take crap off anyone ever again? If so, then the Mafia could be the perfect new profession for you! For the first time in history, there is now an easy-to-follow self-help guide on how to join and rise in the most exclusive men's club in the world—the Italian-American Mafia (aka La Cosa Nostra). Learn everything from loansharking to leg-breaking to corpse disposal, all without leaving the comfort of your mobile home or prison cell.  Based on interviews with dozens of former high-ranking Mafiosi and many other hardcore mobsters from across the globe, true-crime auteur Roman Martín has risked life and limb to bring you this spellbinding tour de force. Whether you're a couch-surfing gangster-wannabe or simply someone who's watched “The Godfather” too many times, this breathtaking exposé of “the Honored Society” offers something for everyone.  Pushing the bounds of the First Amendment to their breaking point, Don Martín also reveals the FBI's most closely guarded secrets when it comes to “wiseguys” and “goodfellas”. Wanna know the one surefire way to find out who in your crew is an undercover cop or fed? Or the best way to deal with those annoying witnesses? Then look no further, friends, for all your questions about the outlaw lifestyle shall be answered in UNDERWORLD.  It's about goddamn time someone realized that mobsters need love, too.Follow Our Other ShowsFollow UFO WitnessesFollow Crime Watch WeeklyFollow Paranormal FearsFollow Seven: Disturbing Chronicle StoriesJoin our Patreon for ad-free listening and more bonus content.Follow us on Instagram @mysteriousradioFollow us on TikTok mysteriousradioTikTok Follow us on Twitter @mysteriousradio Follow us on Pinterest pinterest.com/mysteriousradio Like us on Facebook Facebook.com/mysteriousradio  

We examine the current state of today's American Mafia families.

This month Jordan and Greg from Brigham Young Money join Francis to watch a faceoff between the Japanese Yakuza and American Mafia.  Get the full episode by signing up at the $5 level of the Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/posts/107262756 Get your weekly dose of Utah news, politics, and favorite Crumbl cookies here http://brighamyoungmoney.com/

Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo aka the Big Tuna (!) was one of the most powerful Mob Bosses that the American Mafia has ever seen, sitting atop the brutal Chicago Outfit for 40 years. From being an errand boy turned hitman for none other than Al Capone to taking the Outfit from a local prohibition gang to a national powerhouse with multiple Vegas casinos, Accardo's seven decade career in the underworld is legendary. And you'll never guess which current NFL all stars are his great-grandsons... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest this week is bestselling author Louis Ferrante. He was an associate in the Gambino crime family before going to prison, where he studied history and began writing books. He joins us to talk about the origins of the Sicilian Mafia and how they followed Italian immigrants to the United States, initially establishing themselves in crime-ridden New Orleans alongside a corrupt police force.  His new book is called "Borgata: Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia", the first volume of his Mafia trilogy.  More about Lou Ferrante and his work on his website: https://louisferrante.com/ Lou Ferrante's Simon & Schuster Publisher Page: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Borgata/Louis-Ferrante/Borgata-Trilogy/9781639366019 Lou Ferrante on Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/louferrante Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, on Crime & Entertainment, we sat down with Mafia Historian Jeff Nadu. Nadu has been a staple in the "Mob Tube" genre for the last few years and is highly regarded as one of the best in the business on the current as well as past landscape of the American Mafia. Check out this episode as we cover everything from old school mafioso to the modern-day gangsters. We also discuss  their current impact on YouTube & and social media. This is definitely a cant miss episode if you are a fan of the genre.Jeff's New Channel    https://www.youtube.com/@thesitdownwithjeffnaduLinks to Crime & Entertainment Like us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/crimeandentertainmentFollow us on - https://www.instagram.com/crimenentertainment/Listen on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4T67Bs5... Listen on Apple Music - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Listen on Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/crime-e... Listen on Google Podcast - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0... Listen on Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9cd...

You're probably familiar with the American mafia, at least through its portrayal in popular culture. But how did this infamous secret society come to be?Louis Ferrante traces its origins in the first volume of his slated trilogy on the subject, entitled Borgata: Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia. While there's been plenty written on the mafia, Ferrante, who was incarcerated for being a mobster himself, offers the first insider's history of this crime organization. Today on the show, he shares the surprising influences on the formation of the mafia in Sicily, why Louisiana and not New York was actually the mob's American Plymouth Rock, the unexpected collaboration between the government and the mafia during WWII, the real reason J. Edgar Hoover didn't go after the mob, why that hands-off approach changed, and much more.Connect With Louis FerranteLouis' websiteLouis' previous appearance on the AoM podcast — #551: Inside the Gangsters' Code