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In this episode of Gangland Wire, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective Gary Jenkins sits down with author Frank Hayde to explore his latest book, Hoffa's Connection. Hayde, a Kansas City native and noted mob historian, brings forward a largely overlooked figure in organized crime history—Sylvia Pagano. The conversation centers on Pagano's rise from Kansas City to Detroit, where she operated at the intersection of organized crime and labor unions under Jimmy Hoffa. Known for her effectiveness as a union organizer, Pagano infiltrated workplaces, signed up members, and quietly maintained ties to powerful mob figures. Her ability to navigate both worlds made her a key behind-the-scenes operator during a volatile era in American labor history. Hayde details Pagano's role in helping broker alliances between the Mafia and the Teamsters during a turbulent strike, marking a turning point in the relationship between organized crime and labor. Drawing from FBI wiretaps, he reveals candid conversations that shed light on her relationships with influential mob leaders like Tony Giacalone and Moe Dalitz, emphasizing her strategic importance across multiple crime families. The episode also explores the life of Chucky O’Brien, who grew up surrounded by Hoffa and organized crime figures. Through Hayde's research and interviews, listeners gain insight into the generational impact of mob ties, as well as the strict code of silence that governed both mother and son. Beyond individual stories, the discussion expands to the broader national network connecting crime families and labor unions. Pagano's reach extended well beyond regional boundaries, illustrating how organized crime leveraged union influence across the country. This episode offers a fresh perspective on the enduring mystery surrounding Hoffa's disappearance by examining the deeper historical context—and the overlooked players like Sylvia Pagano who helped shape it. It's a detailed look at power, loyalty, and survival within the American Mafia. The book is Hoffa’s Connections:The Story of Sylvia Pagano: the Kansas City Girl at the Center of the Mafia’s Alliance with the Teamsters Union  xxx [0:00] Hey, all you wiretappers out there, good to be back here in the studio of Gangland [0:03] Wire. This is Gary Jenkins. I’m a retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective, later sergeant. I have this podcast, Gangland Wire. I’ve got a website. If you want to go check my website out, I’ve got a few things for sale on there. And you can go rent the documentaries I’ve done about the Kansas City mob on Amazon. Just search my name. I’m all over the internet. Just search my name and mafia and you’ll find more you ever wanted to know about me and the mob and what I’ve done. And today I have a really a former Kansas City boy, a Kansas City native who has done several books on the mob, particularly the Kansas City mob. And he’s got a most recent one that I find just really fascinating. It’s a little known story that will help shed the light on Jimmy Hoffa, a little bit more light than most of you ever knew. There’s some questions that I had myself that’s not really in the in the popular culture about Jimmy Hoffa. It’s Frank Hayde. Welcome, Frank. Thanks, Gary. Great to be with you again. All right, Frank. We’ve done Mafia Dreams and Mafia and the Machine. So tell the guys a little bit about yourself and your books. [1:13] I grew up in Kansas City. My family stretches way back in Kansas City, and they were involved in the political machine under Pendergast, and so I heard a lot of stories about those days growing up. Later in my career with the National Park Service, I worked a short stint at the Harry Truman National Historic Site, where I learned more about local history, more about the political machine and the mob in Kansas City. So that’s where my interest started. [1:39] And then many years later, I wrote The Mafia and the Machine, and then followed that up with some of these other books, including this most recent one, Hoffa’s Connection, the story of Sylvia Pagano, the Kansas City girl at the center of the Mafia’s alliance with the Teamsters. You know, that’s the mouthful, I know. You know how it is with the subtitle. You can try to get the, summarize the entire book in your subtitle. So, that’s what that is. Yeah. When you look up a book or you see it online or whatever, you want to know quickly what it’s about. So I see that title, Hoffa. Oh, that’s interesting. I thought everything was done about Hoffa. Then you got this subtitle in here and you say, oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t know about this. And I didn’t myself, this Sylvia Pagano. And the story starts in Kansas City. It’s a fascinating story, guys. I want to tell you, it is a fascinating story. [2:31] But before we get started, Frank was a park ranger, a law enforcement park ranger for the National Park Service for 20 years. And he has a really interesting mob interaction when he was in, I believe you run a temporary assignment out in California. Tell the guys about your mafia interaction as a law enforcement officer. [2:53] Yeah. So I was actually at the park service 32 years. 20 of those were law enforcement and just retired. But in the summer of 2024, I got to go out to Redwood National Park on what we call a detail, which is a temporary assignment. They were shorthanded and needed a little extra help. And I knew the place pretty well because I had worked there earlier in my career. So I went out there and it’s a beautiful place. And I was on patrol and I came upon a campsite and there was some violations going on. Nothing major, just the typical stuff that we see as park rangers. And I contacted the occupants of this campsite and I got their licenses and I was back in my vehicle running the licenses. There was a male and a female and the female, I noticed it was a New York license and Brooklyn address and last name is Scarpa. I said, no, that can’t be. That’d be too much of a coincidence. And ran the information, recontacted the subject. And I asked the female, I said, by any chance, are you related to Greg Scarpa? She said, oh, yeah, that was my grandfather. And Greg Jr. was my father. [4:02] And I guess I had to laugh. And by then, I had already written a ticket or two, I think, for just petty offenses. And so I handed her ticket and then asked her if she’d take a picture with me. But she was real nice. She understood that people don’t mind, and she was great. She took a picture with me, and she was more than happy to talk about her father and her grandfather. And it was all very interesting and just quite the coincidence. Yeah, really. That was quite a coincidence. Not only the main coincidence was that you knew her. And then a lot of people might know the name. You really knew the name. Yeah, no. And you had this whole interest in it to talk about. Yeah, I can tell you that 99% of park rangers, you have no idea. Now, if you’re a Brooklyn cop, that’s different. But I was probably the only park ranger alive that would have made that connection because of my interest in the topic. I’ve been trying to get Greg Scarlett Jr. to come on. He’s made some intimations to somebody else. He followed my Facebook group, and I followed his. And so I don’t know. I reached out indirectly. I don’t know exactly how to get a hold of him. Maybe I’ll package this little story up and I’ll send that to him. Maybe that’ll get him to come on the show. Except you wrote the tickets, damn it. That’s the problem. I hope he won’t come after me to write in his daughter’s tickets. Yeah. [5:25] All right, Frank. So let’s go in this most recent book, Hoffa’s Connection. How did you, Sylvia Pagano, how did you even get onto that name other than, did you start, she’s Chucky O’Brien’s mother, who most guys know if you’re really into Hoffa at all, or even on the little bit, Chucky O’Brien was, everybody thought he was like his illegitimate son a lot of times or his surrogate son. And he was really close to Hoffa and drove him around. I was going through your book. He was a guy that Hoffa could send around to other mob people because he was half Italian himself and both sides trusted him to carry messages and do meetings and things like that. So how did you get onto this originally? So I got a call from Jack Goldsmith, who’s a very interesting man because he is the learned hand professor of law at Harvard University, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, former assistant attorney general under President Bush. But for me, the most interesting thing about him was that he is Chucky O’Brien’s stepson. [6:29] And he was working on his book, Inhofe’s Shadow, when he contacted me. It’s a great book. I would recommend it to all the wiretappers. But it’s about Chucky. And he wanted to know if I had come across any information on Chucky O’Brien in my research for the Mafia and the Machine, because Chucky was from Kansas City. I said, what? Chucky O’Brien was from Kansas City? Because I knew all about Chucky O’Brien, but I had no idea he was from Kansas City. So that shocked me. And I don’t think very few people knew that. His Kansas City roots were scarcely known. Everybody just thought of Chucky as a Detroit guy. But when I finally read Goldsmith’s book, it’s about Chucky, but he touches on Sylvia. And I found what he wrote about Sylvia to be completely fascinating, especially because she was Kansas City. And so I thought, shoot, she’s in my wheelhouse. I thought, wow, she would make a great subject for a book. But I balked at it because she was so secretive that she left hardly anything information, hardly any documents exist about Sylvia. It’s just she wasn’t like the men that she associated with who were so extensively documented. There was just very little known about her, not even very many photographs in existence. [7:44] But fortunately, I got together with Pat Faisal in Kansas City. He’s a terrific researcher. You’ve worked with him a lot, Gary. You’ve had him on your show, I think. I think he’s written a couple of really important books on local history, and he had come across her independently of me, and through his own research, he had stumbled on just a brief mention or two of Sylvia Pagano in various FBI documents. [8:09] And so we decided to put our heads together, and Pat helped me with the research, did the lion’s share of the research, fed it to me, and then I would write the story. And that’s how it came together. [8:21] Interesting. And Frank, one of the coolest things, the research that Pat found was those wiretaps or bugs that the illegal bugs the FBI had in her house. And so they got a lot of really great conversations and they’re all transcribed and out there for somebody to find. So to me, that was fascinating. [8:45] Yes, that was probably our best source are these transcripts from the illegal microphones that the FBI placed in homes and businesses of organized crime associates all over the country back in the 60s. Got some great information from those. Sylvia talking freely in her apartment. Candidly, because she doesn’t know anybody’s list. And they had him in Tony Giacalone’s home juice company in Detroit also. And Sylvia was often a topic of conversation over there as well. By the way, Tony Giacalone was Sylvia’s paramour for many years. They had a long affair. People who think that Sylvia had an affair with Hoffa that produced Chucky O’Brien, [9:28] And that is not accurate. Chucky, we know who Chucky’s father was. He was a criminal out of St. Louis from the time he was a boy and went to prison when he was a young guy, was recruited from prison to come to Kansas City and work as a driver, for none other than Charlie Banagio. And so that put him right at the center of the action. [9:53] And Sylvia, having married the young man that put her right, she was already at the center of the action because she knew all the movers and shakers in the North End at that time already from the time she was a girl. But they became very much a part of Banagio’s network. And this was one fact that really blew me away that I didn’t know. And I don’t think you know it or Owsley or O’Malley or really anybody in Kansas City that Charlie Banagio was Chuckie O’Brien’s godfather. Yeah, I didn’t know that. Yeah. That is interesting. So Sylvia Pagano, she lives down there in the North End, what we call the North End folks, which is our little Italy. There’s a big church that anchors that neighborhood. And that’s where all the people came from Southern Italy and Sicily, moved into Kansas City and were associated with the church down there. After them, the Vietnamese came in and the church sponsored a lot of the Vietnamese and settled in that same neighborhood as it became a shifting neighborhood. So she’s down over there in Little Italy or the North End. And she meets a guy named Michael. Was it Three Fingers? [11:03] Oh, yeah. Frankie. Frankie Three Fingers. Coppola. Coppola, yeah. So tell us about that relationship. Yeah, that’s really interesting because Frankie Three Fingers… Hasn’t really been chronicled much as part of the Kansas City family. Because he was a roving guy, he had a lot of clout in both Italy and the U.S., and he had memberships in multiple families, and he was a high-ranking status too. So wherever he went, whether it was Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York, New Orleans, he was all over the place, and he was well-respected wherever he went. But he was in Kansas City for quite a long time. He was strongly associated with Padagio. And it appears from all the evidence, as well as testimony from organized crime experts in Detroit, that Frankie Three Fingers escorted Sylvia to Detroit after her marriage with Charles O’Brien ended in about 1941 in Kansas City. [12:13] So Sylvia arrives in Detroit on the arm of Frank Coppola, and that put her on the fast track to getting to know the upper echelon of the Detroit family and mobsters, top mobsters beyond Detroit. Coppola was associated with Costello in his slot machine racket down in New Orleans. [12:36] And later, after he got deported back to Italy, He worked with Lucky Luciano to put together the whole narcotics syndicate network that included the French Connection. So tremendously influential as a mobster. Sylvia could really not have picked a more influential and well-connected guy as a boyfriend. That really put her on the fast track to getting to know a lot of the most powerful guys in the country. Really interesting guy. Frank Copeland. I’ll just say it and maybe someone else can run with it. I don’t know if it’ll be me or not, but he would make a great subject for a book. Yeah, he’s not very well known. And the mob used to have this guy, Nikolai Gentile. He traveled around to different families and brokered different deals. I think back before communication was so fast and you didn’t fly from one city to the other, you had to take a train. That’s a whole day on the train to get one city to the other. Telephone communication wasn’t that good. You didn’t hardly make long distance phone calls back there in the 20s and 30s. I don’t think they were hard. So you have guys like this that then travel around and take messages that are trusted by the different cities. And so he had to be one of those guys. [13:52] You’re exactly right. In fact, he knew Nicola Gentile. [13:58] Gentile is also, I speak about him in this book also. He plays a role, a pretty important one, and he describes some events that are really fascinating. This story actually doesn’t begin in Kansas City. It begins in Pueblo, Colorado. There’s three geographic areas that are really emphasized in this story. Pueblo, Colorado, Kansas City, and Detroit. But Nicola Gentili and Frank Coppola knew each other in the United States, and they knew each other in Italy. And you’re exactly right, they had a similar role as traveling diplomats within the mafia. Very interesting. Not too many other guys, especially later on. They had Johnny Roselli, who was really well-traveled, and some others. But in those early days, a couple of these guys, Coppola, Gentile, I don’t know if there was any others or not, but that was what they did. They were all over the place, and they were so well-connected, and they really had memberships in multiple families. And that seems to have faded away later. You didn’t hear too much about guys that had more than one member. So occasionally somebody would switch families, but yeah, they were really interesting, [15:11] real, what you would call international mystery men, I think. Interesting. So she had an affair with him, and he brought her up to Detroit and started making connections in Detroit, if I remember the story right, with the Jackalones. And so what. [15:27] Take us on from there. How does she then move in with Hoffa? And she’s like in the middle between the Peckerwood truck drivers and the Italian mob, which they both needed each other and they worked well together for a long time. So how does she end up in the center of that? Yeah, she’s still quite young when she gets to Detroit. She’s just early 20s, maybe mid 20s at that point. But and here she is she’s immediately meeting all of the wise guys but she was still she needed a job she needed work i’m sure coppola helped her out to some extent but he had his own wife he had his own he probably had another mistress or two as well i mean she needed to make a she needed to make a living and raise her son chucky and um she got a job with the teamsters at that time in In Detroit, unions were strong. There was a lot of unions, and it was the capital of industrial unionism at that time. And so that just became a natural choice. She ended up meeting Burke Brennan initially, actually, even before Hoffa. Brennan was Hoffa’s right-hand guy. [16:36] And he gave her a job with the Teamsters as a salter. She was an organizer, and a good one, and a legit organizer. But her specialty was salting. Now, what’s that? So she was a union representative, and she would get a job in a factory or a warehouse, just an ordinary job. And she would go to work, just like everybody else, punch the clock. But while she was there, her real objective was signing other people up to join the union. So she’s like a secret agent in a way, buried into the normal workforce, but with a real different agenda. And she was real good at it. And the union guys noticed that she worked really hard and she was loyal and that she would keep her mouth shut. And so those were the same qualities that the mob guys admired. So this was at the time, though, and this is very important, when most of the unions and the mob were still at odds with each other. Back then, the gangsters were getting hired by companies to break strikes and to oppose unions. [17:47] And there was a particularly bad strike going on. It lasted a long time. The Teamsters were striking the Detroit Lumber Company. This was at about 42. And it was violent. And Hoffa could see the writing on the wall that the Teamsters were losing the battle. It went on and on. It was violent. And that’s where Sylvia Pagano stepped in. Burt Brennan told Jimmy Hoffa he should talk to Facci. Facci was Italian for face. And that was Sylvia’s nickname that she got when she was young back in Kansas City. Had a very pretty face. And so they called her the face. So Hoffa talked to Fauci and she set up a basically like a summit meeting peace conference, more or less. And they brokered a deal where the mob switched sides and became allies with the Teamsters against the Detroit Lumber Company. So that was really the moment that changed history, brought the mafia into the Teamsters orbit and vice versa. And that’s all traceable right back to Sylvia Pagano. [18:55] Wow. That’s interesting. I always wondered what the genesis of that was with Hoffa and the mob. And of course, we can see how it developed, but what that actual birth of that was. I think you’ve stumbled across the birth of it. You also… [19:11] We’re able to stumble across the birth of the Eastern families and New York families connection to Hoffa, which that that gets even bigger. Tell us a little bit about that. She was involved in that, believe it or not, guys. And just like in Detroit, back in New York, there’s Johnny Dio. He was busting up labor union strikes for the companies. Yeah, I think that to some degree in New York, New Jersey, that some Teamsters locals had already been infiltrated by the mafia independently and maybe unbeknownst to Hoffa in Detroit. But it really became a big thing with Hoffa and with Sylvia’s brokering that alliance. Little isolated examples of mob infiltration, I think, were already happening in Detroit. But once again, as Hoffa’s progressing in his career, moving up the ranks, he always had his eye on the top job. He wanted to be the president of the IBT. And of course, he knew he needed help in the Northeast for that, to realize that goal. And so with Sylvia helped set up meetings with Tony Ducks Corral Johnny Diagordi Tony Provenzano and Sylvia had gotten to know Provenzano in Detroit because he had strong connections to Detroit let’s see his cousin was married to. [20:39] Tony Giacalone’s cousin was married to Tony Pro, I believe, or vice versa. That’s your book. Yeah. I’d have to go back and read my own book. Yeah, it’s hard to keep up. Hard to remember all the details. All these players. Giacalone’s cousin was married to Provenzano. And so Sylvia had already met Provenzano in Detroit. And Chucky, her son, had already started calling him Uncle Tony. And so she had this great connection to Provenzano. And so she helped facilitate the Teamsters Mob Alliance in New York and New Jersey, just as she had in Detroit. And then it goes on from there. Then she later, we’re moving forward now, but she would later become the link between Hoffa and his closest contact in Cleveland, which was Moe Daylitz. She became the link between Hoffa and Alan Dorfman in Chicago. And she became the link between Hoffa and the Sevilla brothers in Kansas City. So she really was, and this is all, they taught, there’s a, from those FBI tapes, those illegal FBI tapes, we have Tony Zarelli and Nick Sevilla in Florida speaking about Sylvia Pagano and her relationship as a liaison between the Detroit family and between the Kansas City family. Like, there’s your proof right there. Not that you need it. She was really… [22:09] The guys, a lot of them really liked, adored her in the sense of she did have an affair with a couple of them, and she was a good-looking woman. A lot of them had, Moe Dalitz was known to have a crush on Sylvia, possibly an affair with Sylvia. But she was more than your mob mole, right? She was a dealmaker. She was an advisor. She was a liaison. She brought money to the table. She did deals with the guys. She helped broker some pension fund loans, all these things. So what I like to say about Sylvia is that we all know that the mob never inducted women into their ranks. But if they had, Sylvia Pagana would have been their first choice because she worked hard. She was loyal. [22:56] She kept her mouth shut. And she really lived truer to the code than some of the men did. She was 100% omerta. She really was. and she learned that in the north end of Kansas City, where Umerta was extremely strong even up into this century after it wasn’t so strong in other places and so she passed that on to Chucky O’Brien. He was also a real strong adherent to the code of silence. Yeah, I think we have to remember Chucky O’Brien was half Italian. His father was Italian. No. [23:33] So his mother, Sylvia, was the Italian. Mother, Sylvia, yeah. Yeah, his dad was Irish. Yeah, I got that mixed up. Exactly, asked backwards. But yeah, he was half Italian. And so he really talked the talk, and he moved right in. All these guys were like his uncle, Uncle Nick, Uncle Quirk, and that kind of thing. So he came back to Kansas City. Tell a little bit about Chuckie O’Brien and Kansas City. Yeah, so in 1950, he’d been in Detroit for about nine years by that point. 1950, he’s getting into high school age, and Sylvia sent him back to Kansas City to live on Independence Avenue with his grandparents, and he went to Cardinal Glennon High School. [24:13] And became a good athlete, started dating a gal from the old neighborhood who was a lot like Sylvia. I think that’s really interesting because Chucky really idolized his mother, but he never really, when he was young at least, got to spend as much time with her as he wanted. He spent a lot of time back in Kansas City. He spent a lot of time at his uncle’s house in Detroit because Sylvia was so busy with Hoffa and with the mob. So here’s Chucky in Kansas City. He meets a gal from Sylvia’s old neighborhood who has other things in common with Sylvia and who even looks, in my opinion, quite a lot like Sylvia. And he would eventually take her back to Detroit and marry her and have a family together. But his main objective, it really in Kansas City wasn’t so much going to school. It was becoming a truck driver. He wanted to become a truck driver so that he could put himself on the path to becoming a union organizer like his hero and surrogate father, Jimmy Hoffa. And according to Chucky, Uncle Nick and Uncle Cork got him his first job as a driver and got him his first union card with local 541. [25:23] And this was right at the time when Local 541 was becoming ground zero for labor strife and union corruption in the United States. And Gary, you said a key word earlier, which was Peckerwood. And that’s who was running the Kansas City Teamsters at the time. It was dominated by Peckerwood guys, country boys, basically, and like Hoffa. And these guys were just as bad as the Italian gangsters who were more famous. They ran those locals with intimidation and terror, and they were violent, and they were very ambitious. They had political power. [26:08] Make a long story short, in 1953 in Kansas City, we had an inter-union labor war. And it was the Teamsters versus almost every other union in town. And Teamsters were trying to dominate a lot of these other unions is what it was. And so you had a complete paralysis of the entire construction industry for three months. Imagine just all construction stopping for three months in any metro area and how devastating that is to the economy. 23,000 Kansas Citians were out of work. The Teamsters were refusing to pick up or deliver supplies. And that eventually morphed into violence and sabotage. You had guys going into battle at construction sites. People were getting badly injured. People were getting kidnapped. It was, and then furthermore, we had four military defense projects centered in the Kansas City area, and this is right at the height of the Korean War. So these military installations were suffering work stoppages also. So this was unacceptable in Washington. And Congress swooped in with hearings and an investigation. [27:17] And they called this, basically, it was, I think the exact language was something like the most forbidding chapter in the history of American unions, something like that. It was a big deal. This history has been mostly forgotten. But Kansas City was [27:32] completely paralyzed for about three months. And that was the union that was the local mainly primarily local 541 which chucky was a young member of he was too young at that time to get drawn into the politics of the union i don’t believe that he was on the front lines of these these battles and violence that was happening he was just a brand new truck driver at the time but he was part of that in the sense that he was a local a member of the local at the time this stuff was happening so yeah that’s that’s what happened when Chucky came back to Kansas City. [28:07] Interesting. And that must have been the time when Roy Williams started moving up the ladder and the mob was moving in and they moved this auto ring and some of his people out. And Roy Lee Williams must have, with the support of Nick Civella and the local mob, must have moved right on in. Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. The main guy behind all the strife and violence I was just talking about was Orville Ring, classic quintessential Peckerwood guy and then after all this happened Hoffa swooped in and helped negotiate an end to these conflicts in 1953 and, And Nick Civella and his crime family, they were all watching all this from the wings, planning and scheming. Wow, there’s a lot going on here. How can we capitalize on this? [28:50] So in the aftermath of it all, the Savellas basically intimidated Orville Ring out of the Union. He went back to his farm. Later, he was killed in an accident on his farm, which a lot of people thought was the mob, that the mob did it. But it looked probably just an accident. And I think a tractor rolled over on him or something like that. But yeah, Roy Williams. So at this time, just basically the Italians were taken over from the Peckerwoods. There were still some useful Peckerwoods, and they worked together. And Roy Williams was the key guy there. This is when Nick Civella and he started working together to take over the Teamsters in Kansas City. You’re exactly right. And the rest is history. Really? really. Roy Williams is an interesting guy. He was a war hero from World War II. He had several bronze stars and he was a huge war hero, but he knew which side of the bread got the butter. And so he went with that and he went with Nick Civella. And he did, he bucked up to him a few times, but Nick Civella, actually in a famous scene, Nick Civella had him picked up and driven somewhere and shined a bright light in his eyes and said, you will go along with this scheme. [30:05] So it’s, but he kept going along to almost, he almost, he did become the president of the union for a short period of time, almost right there at the end of his life and when everybody was going to jail. But he was Nick Civella’s protege and Nick Civella’s puppet for his whole life and the whole Teamsters union was. [30:24] Yeah and that story you mentioned with the white spotlight shining in his eyes they kidnapped him and took him into this empty warehouse and i always point to that as just one of those. [30:34] Terrifying stories about how the mob used to work and yeah man and that wasn’t the only time that they intimidated roy williams in that manner so he like you said he was this tough guy war hero He was a big guy, and yet even a guy like that can get intimidated into doing whatever these guys tell him to do because his tactics that they used were just terrifying. Yeah. I read one thing where he later on, he claimed when he turned and gave evidence and talked to the Bureau that he claimed that they also threatened his wife and children during one of these sit downs with him. I mean, they did the same thing to Alan Glick out in Las Vegas. Tuffy DeLuna was out there, and he read off Alan Glick’s name of his wife and his children. He said, you may find yourself expendable, but I don’t think you’re going to find your family expendable and read off their names. So there’s two good examples of them. Say that Bob never messes with your family. There’s two good examples of them using the family and family as threats. Yeah. [31:40] It’s very tough. Yeah, it is. I heard knowing Mo Dalitz, to me, that was key because he was such a mover and an operator. Talk a little more about that. He had been in Cleveland. He had to set her up with Bill Presser. And that was primarily Jewish mobsters in Cleveland, seemed to me like. And then he also had all those connections to Chicago to get to Red Dorfman, his son, Alan Dorfman. Talk a little more about that relationship with Mo Dalitz. In Mo Dalitz’s biography, I can’t think of the name of the author at the moment, but that author states that Sylvia was one of Mo Dalitz’s lovers. I’m not sure if that’s true or not. I do think that Mo Dalitz, at the very least, had a crush on Sylvia, but also respected her very much. And she, just as she had with the Detroit family before, she brokered an alliance with Daylitz. What happened was Daylitz had a laundry empire, was a rum runner and a racketeer and a leader in the Jewish mob. But he also had a lot of legitimate businesses, including a laundry empire in Detroit and Cleveland. [32:53] And while he was still in Detroit, before he really made his move to Cleveland, his permanent move to Cleveland, his laundries, along with other laundry owners, they bonded together in an association. And they were very anti-union. And they were basically at odds with the Teamsters. And until Sylvia swooped in. And Sylvia had her own connections by now to the Laundry Workers Union also. So she’s working for the Teamsters, and she’s very close to Hoffa, but she then married a guy named John Paris, who was the head of the Laundry Workers Union. [33:32] So Sylvia knows Hoffa, and she knows the head of the Laundry Workers Union very closely, and she knows Dalitz. So she’s the one who’s positioned to bring these people together, sit them down at the same table, and start working together, start negotiating. And that’s what she did with Daylitz. And so that led to Daylitz paying off Hoffa, basically, to settle this contract on terms that were favorable to Daylitz and the other laundry owners. [34:07] But you could say that Hoffa, in that case, sold out his members, at least at that time. Now, I do want to make it clear that most rank-and-file teamsters for many decades loved Hoffa because he definitely did negotiate some great contracts that brought truck drivers into the middle class, got them very good pay and benefits. And it’s only fair, it’s only right to give him credit because as somebody once said about Hoffa. [34:33] He was always a criminal, but also always a teamster. And he worked very hard for his membership. He never stopped working. And it was sincere, I do believe. But there were times when he, the ends justified the means and he did whatever he had to do to keep the union alive, but also to serve himself and enrich himself. And that was one of those cases where the membership lost out a little bit when Hoffa and Daylitz formed their alliance with the initiation and the help of Sylvia Pagano. Interesting. So let’s go back to Chucky O’Brien for a minute. He goes back up from Kansas City. He ends up back up in Detroit and working very closely with Jimmy Hoffa. And you talked to his son. Yeah. And to make that, and he was probably a huge help and some insight into what his father was like. So talk about Chucky O’Brien when he got back with Hoffa. Yeah, so he goes back to Detroit. [35:31] And he steps right back into the Hoffa family circle because Sylvia became part of the Hoffa family. She was Josephine Hoffa’s best friend. Jimmy Hoffa relied on her not only for important work in the union and for important connections to the mob, but he also relied on her heavily as Josephine’s personal assistant and caretaker. Sylvia worked extremely hard serving other people. And she was an excellent caretaker to Josephine who needed a lot of care, had very poor health, made worse by severe alcoholism. And Sylvia was a wonderful caretaker. But Chucky stepped right back into that family orbit. Later, when his own kids were small, Chucky and his wife and his kids moved into the Hoffa house. They’d all lived under the same roof for quite a few years. But Sylvia was really the glue that kept it all together and Chucky’s son who’s also named Chuck O’Brien he was a young boy at this time so his memories of his grandmother. [36:42] And Jimmy Hoffa started when he was a young boy and continued up until Sylvia died when he was in his late teens, but he was a great source for the book helped out a lot I really appreciate him And it was interesting to have direct access to someone who actually lived under the same roof with Jimmy Hoffa. So he was not privy, young Chuck was not privy to any inside information or any mob dealings or anything like that. But he later moved to Kansas City and went to work in the River Key for his uncle at the Godfather Lounge, which just a couple of years later was torched in the River Key War. And then young Chuck had worked in professional hockey for a while. And then he became a truck driver and joined Local 41. And so all this history just comes full circle and repeats itself. And I was a little fascinated by these Sylvia’s grandkids who were born and raised in Detroit. They both ended up back in Kansas City in the land of their parents and their grandparents. And they ended up in the same neighborhoods that Sylvia had been born in many years before. [37:57] Interesting. And Chucky O’Brien, then he’s kind of Hoffa’s driver sometimes. And Aaron Renner on up to the end of Hoffa’s life was even implicated at the very end. Some people claim that he helped set Hoffa up because he was the one person that Hoffa trusted. And that one movie, The Irishman or whatever, really threw a lot of shade on Chucky O’Brien. So how did you deal with that. [38:21] Yeah, I think Chucky got a real bad rap, and as I used to study Hoffa and read all the Hoffa books, I always thought, I always had a very low opinion of Chucky O’Brien, and he became the butt of a joke, and he was portrayed as this blundering, not-too-bright guy who either helped kill his surrogate father or was duped into giving him a ride to where he was killed without knowing what was going on and without being able to, realize it to the point where he could have maybe helped Hoffa. I think Jack Goldsmith put all that to rest. He really changed my opinion of Chucky in his book, but I realized that Chucky had been misunderstood in many ways. Was he involved in Hoffa’s disappearance or not? I think Goldsmith basically vindicates Chucky. [39:15] However, I do believe that there’s still some evidence that could strongly suggest that even in light of what Goldsmith wrote, that Chucky could still have known more than he let on. But he was so committed to Emerita that he took a lot of secrets to his grave, I believe. What’s interesting is some of the other co-conspirators in the Hoffa thing ended up dead, like Sally Buggs, and got killed in Little Italy a few years later, and the prevailing wisdom, at least, was to, keep him quiet about the Hoffa case. And they would have probably done the same thing to Chucky if Chucky could have pointed the finger at anybody or implicated anybody. And I’m sure he could have. I’m sure he knew some things about that. He was so close to Giacalone. Chucky was very close to Tony Giacalone and to Tony Provenzano. [40:07] And I think that Chucky survived because Giacalone trusted him 100% just as Sylvia Pagano’s son. Giacalone’s trust in Chucky to not give anybody up was just so rock solid. And he loved Chucky. And I think that he was also honoring Sylvia by allowing Chucky to stay alive. So I know I’m straying from your initial question, Gary. There’s so much going on with the whole Chuck O’Brien thing and his involvement. It gets very interesting. You have to get really down in the weeds with it to understand all of it. But I think that Goldsmith’s book is a great read for anybody who’s interested in Hoffa and the whole case. I definitely would recommend it. So it may come down to Chuck O’Brien. And was he more loyal to the mob, to the mafia and their code? Or more loyal to Hoffa and the Teamsters? as Hoffa as an individual, not to the teams or his union, but Hoffa as an individual. Was he more loyal to Hoffa or more loyal to the union or more loyal to the mob? And giving up those guys, he has to turn his back on everything. [41:21] The union and the mob. And so I can see where he, whatever he knew, [41:25] he was not going to say a word. It would be to his advantage. He has no, they didn’t have a hammer on him. Wasn’t a criminal. They didn’t have a life sentence hanging over his head for anything. They did have, they did prosecute Chucky on a federal case. It was a small time thing. He took some, maybe took some gifts from a, from an employer in his role as a union guy, some small gifts. And then he had also got caught up in a cargo theft case, which is all documented in the book, Office of Connection. But the law enforcement did have a couple of cases that they could apply pressure onto Chucky. But he didn’t say a word, and he just went to prison and served his time. He didn’t have to serve too much time. He was only in for about a year, I think. It was a low-level felony. But he just, he’d never thought once about turning state’s witness. He just went and served his time and got back out and went on with his life. [42:25] Yeah. It’s those 50 and 75-year sentences that’ll make the right attorneys. You get even, I used to say, when they came up, those sentencing guidelines for cocaine dealers, you could make a guy talk about his mother when he’s looking. He’s 40 years old and he’s looking at a 50, 75-year sentence. Yeah. I do have to say, though, if there’s one guy that might, and there was a few of them who went and served a hard time. Yeah, a long time until they’re old. Rather than give anybody else up. And I think Chucky would have been one of those guys. I do. Yeah. [42:57] Having been raised by sylvia pagano he was just so committed to that culture and those traditions and that way of life and and omerta yeah sylvia even had almost a kind of a halfway making ceremony for chucky she arranged for the top guys in detroit when he came back to detroit from kansas city in the early 50s tony giacalone put together a little event where chucky walked into the back room of grecian gardens restaurant in detroit and all the top guys were sitting around a table and he made a pledge of loyalty to them at that time and then he sat down and broke bread with them and he didn’t prick his finger and burn a card and he wasn’t made into the family but it was all halfway a little bit and they did that for sylvia and because they just valued her so much they respected her and they needed her they she was the connection to their most valuable asset, which was Jimmy Hoffa. So that tells you a little bit about how much respect they had for Sylvia and also for Chucky’s unique role. Here he is. [44:05] He’s he’s the son of charlie banagio’s low-level chauffeur yeah and yet he’s sitting down with guys like meyer lansky in florida he’s sitting down with all the top guys in detroit chicago inu acardo rica rosanova all these top guys in chicago then he would sit down with them on behalf of jimmy hoff he was he probably i say in the book that he probably had more chucky o’brien the son of, Banagio’s chauffeur probably had more sit-downs with high-level mobsters than Nick Civella did. As Hoffa’s representative, that was the life. And he knew how to handle that kind of thing because he was raised by Sylvia. So he knew how to say, what not to say, how to behave himself in those types of meetings. So that came naturally to him. And he was Hoffa’s gopher. He drove in places. He took Hoffa’s wife to her medical appointments. He did low-level stuff like that, but he also did more important work, more sensitive stuff, like sitting down with mob bosses and relaying information back and forth, just like as Sylvia had taught him to do. [45:16] That’s fascinating. I tell you what, guys, Frank Hayde, Hoffa’s Connection, the story of Sylvia Pagano, the Ken City girl at the center of the mafia’s alliance with the Teamsters Union. I might have links in here. You better get this book. This is untrod territory. Unplowed ground, as we used to say on the farm. This is fresh stuff that you’ve read. There’s so many books out there about Hoffa and his disappearance that they just want to, come on, we can’t do this. I can’t do this again, Hoffa’s disappearance. You’re never going to find his body. You’re never going to figure out exactly who killed him. Nobody’s going to talk, and anybody that could is dead. But this unearthed some really fresh, interesting information about Hoffa and his connection with the Italian La Cosa Nostra in the United States, the entire United States, really. Yes. Thank you, Gary. That was a very nice little summary of it. And I really appreciate you. You’ve had me on your show before, my other books, and I listened to your podcast. Can’t get enough of it. You do terrific work. All us wire trappers love you, man. And we all appreciate you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Are you still doing the, are we still buying you cups of coffee and that kind of stuff? Yeah, you can always buy me a cup of coffee and hit the donate button. [46:29] I forget about doing that. I’ve been doing this so long and I got a few guys that hit it regularly and some never do. I do this for the pure joy of it anyhow, but it helps to have a little extra money coming in now and then. When you were selling books yesterday, you love writing this book. You love all that research and putting it together and educating people, but it’s nice to get paid for it too. [46:50] It’s a small-time racket, but hey. It’s a small-time racket. Another interesting thing, Frank, we were talking about people doing time, getting so much time, and trying to force them to talk. Yesterday, Frank had a program at the library, and we had a local guy who was a subject of his last book, Mafia Dreams, who was a mob hanger-on guy when he was a young guy. And he got caught up in a murder, an accidental murder in a way. That it’s a long story and you have to get mafia dreams to learn about it. The next generation of the wannabe. [47:25] Italian mafia guys in kansas city and so that guy was there he did 25 years 25 years for what we call felony murder another guy he transported a friend of his to a drug by only the guy killed the man was selling the or tried to kill the man that was selling the drugs and the fbi had it set up and ran in and shot and killed the kid who almanese had carried up to the drug ripoff and And so they charged this driver with felony murder, and he did 25 years, just got out about four or five years ago. He could have talked. He had enough to buy him a lot of grace on that 25-year sentence, and he did every minute of it. He never said a word, and it was hard time. It was state time here in Missouri. Yeah, I think that’s true. I think he is representative of Kansas City in a way, because I do believe that in Kansas City, the Code of Emerita persisted longer than most places. And yeah, when you’re 24 years old, I think he was 24 at the time that he was sentenced. Maybe he was 25 and you get sentenced to 25 and a half years. [48:38] And you have the chance to whittle that down by giving up information on your friends. And you don’t take it, and you choose to do the 25 and a half years, that’s hardcore. And he did, and those are the best years of his life that he’ll never get back. But he is out now, and he’s making a legitimate living and keeping his nose clean and just trying to make up for a lot of lost time. Yeah, he is. 25 years will straighten your mind out, won’t it? Yeah. Man. All right, Frank. Thanks so much for coming on the show. Hey, thanks again, Gary. Don’t forget to donate Bob the Bob Gary cup of coffee, y’all. Thank you. Okay, Gary. Okay, Frank. That was great. Talk to you later.

Ciao Italiani Veri, come avete festeggiato la Santa Pasqua?Scriveteci e rendeteci partecipi ❤️ Noi vi raccontiamo un incontro fra "quattro amici al bar", anche se si tratta di un bar virtuale... Sara, Paolo, Max sono abbastanza vicini, ma il nostro Luca si trova addirittura dall'altra parte del mondo. Scoprirete il tutto ascoltando l'episodio. Anche perché bisogna votare fra le parole da italiani veri dei quattro amici (nei commenti sul post Patreon o sul sondaggio in coda all’episodio su Spotify) — una più bella dell'altra. Io ho già votato ma non vi posso svelare nulla. Sembra che il primo posto sia già stato prenotato da Max, ma potete ribaltare tutto!

Ciao Italiani Veri,come state? Se siete di buon umore riuscirete a digerire meglio la canzone di apertura di Max

Ciao Italiani Veri,come state? In questo episodio parliamo di nomi sovrabbondanti…ma tranquilli, allegria, canti e risate non lo sono mai

Ciao Italiani Veri,vi portiamo sempre in giro oltre che nei nostri cuori. In questo episodio, Achille, il nostro ospite mai visto, ci guida alla scoperta della vera Napoli, come solo lui sa fare, con le sue bellezze e con l’accoglienza unica dei suoi abitanti. In studio è tornata a trovarci anche la nostra Sofia Loren, che ne ha di cose da raccontare… anche qualche malefatta con il suo cugino preferito

Ciao Italiani Veri, come state? Avete finito con le corse per i regali di Natale? Oggi vi facciamo noi un bel regalo con questo episodio. ❤️ Rapisce, come tutti i racconti del nostro Paolo: insieme alla voce esperta di Simona Sacrifizi

Episodio 891 de Contralínea En Vivo conducido por Nancy Flores, Aníbal García y Pedro Iniesta: -EU pactó con Los Chapitos, la facción del ‘narco' que más trafica fentanilo- Transmisión 21 de julio de 2025 CONTRALÍNEA EN VIVO se transmite de lunes a viernes a partir de las 10:00hrs (hora del centro de México) a través de Facebook live, YouTube y Telegram. La MESA DE ECONOMÍA POLÍTICA se trasmite todos los lunes a partir de las 14:00hrs. Nuestro programa de análisis, AMÉRICA INSUMISA, se trasmite los martes a partir de las 14hrs. AGENDA DE SEGURIDAD NACIONAL es los miércoles a partir de las 14:00hrs Estamos en Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Whatsapp y Telegram como Contralínea. Escúchanos en Spotify, Apple Podcast e Ivoox como Contralínea Audio.

Ciao Italiani Veri, in studio oggi tre ospiti, tre Italiane Vere provenienti da tutto il mondo.

Ciao Italiani Veri!Oggi ci troviamo con un ospite mai visto, molto originale e interessante. Vedrete raga, che ci scialliamo tutti

Ciao Italiani Veri,come sono andate le vacanze? Avete praticato un po’ di italiano… di quello vero?Noi vi stavamo aspettando qui con Giada, Luca e Max per un episodio tutto da ridere... e da studiare!Si parla di grammatica, modi di dire e soprattutto del famigerato periodo ipotetico

Ciao Italiani Veri,come state?Noi bene anche perché oggi siamo in compagnia di un’amica, Simona Sacrifizi, che ci conquisterà con la sua professionalità, la sua passione e il suo entusiasmo

Ciao Italiani Veri!Siete in ferie? Abbiamo pensato, nel caso vi capitasse di essere invitati a qualche cerimonia, di farvi conoscere Damiano. Ne sa di cose. D’altronde conosce bene il mestiere, un professionista nel suo campo

Ciao Italiani Veri!Ci siete tutti? Partiamo insieme per le vacanze?Vi portiamo al mare, in montagna o in entrambi i posti

Alex Golden and Facci preview Game 7, discussing the keys to what has helped each team win in the last 6 games of this series and what it will take for Indiana to win their first ever title. The guys also discuss what a championship will mean to this team and what it will mean for all the players who have been longing for this moment. Join our Setting The Pace Group Chat on Chat BCC for Game 7 interactions!

Alex and Facci join forces to discuss the Indiana Pacers 108-91 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, forcing the greatest 2 words in all of sports...a GAME 7! The guys dive into all of the players that contributed to this massive victory, Haliburton playing through injury, the bench rising to the top, Myles struggles but still finding ways to impact the game and so much MORE!The guys also discuss what Game 7 brings to the table, look back at NBA history to see how Indiana will fair against OKC and MORE!

Alex and Facci join together to discuss Game 5 of the NBA Finals. Indiana struggled all night long to protect the basketball and get any offense going, but they overcome a horrific first half and cut the Thunder lead to 2 points in the 4th. However, OKC was able to go on a massive run and pull away with a double digit victory. The guys dive into that, Haliburton's injury, why Facci is guaranteeing a Game 6 victory in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, why Game 5 was a must-win for OKC and whether or not J Dub and SGA can repeat what they did in Game 5 in a closeout game.  Join the Setting The Pace Group Chat in Chat BBC App!

On Part 2 of our Game 5 Preview, Alex and Facci discuss what they want to see differently in Game 5. The guys point out Pascal Siakam's lack of touches in the 4th quarter, Aaron Nesmith needing to provide more defensively than he has this series, the mediocre of Myles Turner over the last 2 seasons and whether or not extending him to a long term contract is the right move after all, a deep dive into the 3PT stats for both teams, a lineup Alex would like to see potentially, expectations and predictions for Game 5, and closing out the show talking about Desmond Bane being dealt to Orlando and whether or not that makes the Magic a playoff contender next season.  Also! Don't miss out on all the fun over in the Chat BCC Group Chat! You can hear Alex's and Facci's thoughts throughout the entirety of the game. Click THIS LINK to join!

00:00 – 22:56 – JMV is LIVE at The Pub ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finals! He is first joined by John Nolan, the voice of the Indiana Fever, who talks about the Indiana Fever and their loss to the Atlanta Dream last night! They also look ahead to Game 3 between the Pacers and the Thunder! 22:57 – 42:04 – Kevin Bowen from The Fan Morning Show joins JMV as the Game 3 preview continues! JMV and Kevin discuss how the Pacers can take control of the series, how they need to establish the pace of play early, how Tyrese Haliburton has to be dominant and more! 42:05 - 45:29 – JMV wraps up the 1st hour of the show! 45:23 – 1:08:44 – Pat Boylan from the Pacers Radio Network, as well as Alex Golden and Mike Facci from Setting The Pace, join JMV ahead of Game 3! They predict what we will see from Tyrese Haliburton this evening, and if they expect the Pacers to retake the series lead! Alex and Facci stick around as they and JMV keep previewing Game 3! 1:08:45 – 1:21:30 – JMV, Alex and Mike all keep things rolling by taking some calls from listeners of the show! 1:21:31 – 1:25:49 – JMV, Alex and Mike wrap up the 2nd hour of the show! 1:25:50 – 1:49:26 – JMV, Alex and Mike continue the show as game time inches closer and closer! 1:49:27 – 2:04:25 – James Boyd both from The Fan Morning Show and The Athletic joins the show live at The Pub! James and JMV talk about how the OKC defense is handling Haliburton, and how he can overcome that. They also discuss the margin for error the Pacers have against a heavily favored opponent. 2:04:26 – 2:12:45 – The 3rd hour wraps up as Zak Keefer from The Athletic stops by and joins JMV’s and James Boyd! They preview tonight’s matchup, and also discuss the new leadership for the Colts and what that means for guys like Chris Ballard, Shane Steichen and Anthony Richardson. 2:12:46 – 2:38:19 – Chris Denari from Pacers TV joins the show! Chris and JMV reflect on how far the Pacers have come in the last several years, and how exciting of a time it is for the city of Indianapolis! Josh Chalfant, the man behind the song of the summer, “Yes ‘Cers”, joins and performs his song LIVE on air! Josh and JMV then talk about the inspiration behind the song and how much attention it has gained since it first released! Josh then goes into a rendition of John Denver’s “Country Roads” as the segment closes out! 2:38:20 – 2:43:26 – Eddie Garrison, producer for Query & Company and for the Pacers, joins the show as we close another hour! 2:43:27 – 3:00:29 – JMV is joined by Wes Reynolds, who has some insight on betting odds for tonight, as well as Evan Sidery of Forbes and more! Evan, Wes and JMV keep the party rolling with tip off fast approaching! 3:00:30 – 3:18:57 – JMV is joined by Jeremiah Johnson of Pacers TV! JJ, JMV and Evan Sidery continue to preview Game 3 of the NBA Finals! 3:18:58 – JMV wraps up the show! Support the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-ride-with-jmv/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alex Golden is joined by the guys from the group chat, Lincoln Anderson, David Cole and Carson Stafford. The guys discuss what the NBA Finals run has meant for them personally and then they dive into this pivotal Game 3.-Making Changes vs. Staying With What Brought Indy This Far-Rotation Changes (4 Man Bench Lineups Need to Go)-Balancing how to Guard Shai, minimizing the amount of wide open 3PA the role players got-How to get Tyrese and Pascal more scoring opportunities-Other Adjustment Ideas: Less TJ? Crashing the offensive glass? Change Starting 5? -Game 3 Predictions Download the Chat BCC Application on your phone and join the Setting The Pace Group Chat to talk Pacers with Alex and Facci, as well as your fellow Pacers fans!

On today's show, we have two awesome guests lined up: Ryan Hammer and Tyler Smith. In segment 1, Ryan Hammer joins Alex and Facci to discuss the NBA Finals matchup and then discusses the upcoming NBA Draft at the tail end of our conversation. Players the Pacers could target, what big name college athlete would make a ton of sense for their style of play and system and more.Then, Tyler Smith joins Alex in segment 2 to really dive into the Pacers-Thunder NBA Finals matchup. The guys discuss how inconsistent OKC has been on the road, what home court does for the Pacers in the playoffs, potentially making some lineup changes or rotation changes and what to make of Tyrese Haliburton's play through 2 games.  Join the Chat BCC Group Chat HERE! Setting The Pace Group Chat! Please leave us a 5 star rating and review if you enjoy all the content we are putting out for you!

Alex Golden and Mike Facci are here to recap ANOTHER Tyrese Haliburton game winner in the postseason! The Pacers trailed by 15 in the 4th quarter and committed 19 first half turnovers, but this team never quits. Spearheaded by the tough nosed play of Andrew Nembhard, the Pacers stormed their way back for a thrilling victory over the greatest defense in the NBA. While several players contributed to this incredible comeback, it was Tyrese Haliburton who played Mariano Rivera and closed this one out for the blue and gold once again! Tune in and join in on the fun! Please follow us on Chat BCC, home of the GREAT APP on Planet Earth! We chat all things Pacers, ALL the time, and what better time to be a Pacers fan than today?Today's episode is dedicated to a great man who lived life to the fullest, and passed away on Thursday. “Poppy“, was a faithful supporter of his grandson, Facci, and he was so proud of all the work he has done with Setting The Pace. We honor the life of Poppy today by dedicating this episode to him. Please keep the Facci family in your thoughts & prayers.

Alex Golden and Facci are joined by Jacob Kniffen and Justin Peabody of The Uncontested Podcast to preview the upcoming NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. With both podcasts covering these teams on a game-to-game basis, they know the ins-and-outs of their team better than anyone. This episode dives into what OKC's weaknesses are, what their strengths are and how Indiana can attack them, they also dive into what Indiana's weaknesses are, what theirs strengths are and how they can attack them. The guys give their predictions at the end of the podcast to wrap this one up before Game 1!

On today's show, Alex and Facci kick off the show discussing their upcoming conversation with Keith Smith of Spotrac, and then discuss how the Knicks fired Coach Thibs after losing to Indiana in 6 games in the Eastern Conference Finals. Then, Keith Smith joins the show for a deep dive on the upcoming NBA Finals matchup between two similar, yet different teams. Keith shares his thoughts on how Indiana can make this a difficult series for the Thunder, but also how the Thunder can make this a difficult series for Indiana.The guys dive into specific matchups that will be key, how Indiana can overcome OKC's defense, what potential crossmatches we could see form OKC and Indiana and Keith gives his predictions. Lastly, Keith shares his offseason thoughts, especially with all the reporting that this will be an incredibly active offseason. 

Justin and Jacob link up with Alex and Facci from the Setting the Pace podcast to share perspectives about the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers heading into Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals. We discuss what should scare teams the most about their opponent, key matchups including Tyrese Haliburton, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Williams, strengths and weaknesses, and what it will take for each team to lift their first Larry O'Brien trophy in the coming weeks. Be sure to check out the Setting The Pace podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Get your Uncontested Finals merch now: https://cottonbureau.com/people/the-uncontested-podcast Join our Patreon for Discord access and exclusive bonus content: https://www.patreon.com/TheUncontested

Bonus Episode: Alex and Facci share what this moment of making the NBA Finals means to them, and then they share videos/audio clips from fans on what this Pacers run to the NBA Finals means to them!

On today's episode of Setting The Pace, fresh off seeing his team conquer the Eastern Conference Championship, Pacers GM, Chad Buchanan joins Alex and Facci for an in-depth conversation about this Indiana Pacers' run to their first NBA Finals in 25 years. Chad praises the efforts of so many, highlights how special this group is and more.Feelings in the moment after last night's winHow much Coach Carlisle has meant to this groupPascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton trades that got them the talent to get hereHappiness for Myles Turner and TJ McConnellJarace Walker injury updateBennedict Mathurin's first playoff run: the good and the badThe impact Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith have had on this seriesStrength in Numbers: How deep this team is and how they've been able to utilize a deep rotationChad's favorite moment in the Eastern Conference PlayoffsHis thoughts on the upcoming matchup against OKCMORE

Alex Golden, LIVE at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, is joined by Facci to recap one of the greatest moments in Indiana sports history. Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton lead the Indiana Pacers back to the NBA Finals for the 1st time in 25 years, by defeating the Knicks 125-108 in Game 6. The guys discuss what reaching the NBA Finals means to them and they recap the game!

After a dominating performance in Game 4, Tyrese Haliburton follows up a great performance with a horrific one in Game 5. Alex Golden and Facci breakdown the game, explain what the Pacers did so poorly in Game 5 and Facci has a bold take for the middle (to end) of the show.Please feel free to leave us a 5 star rating and review, as it will help the podcast grow more. For those who like being online (or offline) during the playoffs, I highly recommend downloading the Chat BCC app and partaking in a fun Pacers conversation with Facci and my friends. 

Alex Golden and Mike Facci open up the show hitting the big talking points from this game and then share player awards. Then, Es Baraheni from The Athletic joins Facci for a deep dive on what went down in this Game 4 matchup between the Pacers and Knicks. The guys dive into Haliburton's historic night, Siakam doing so many things well and at the right time, Aaron Nesmith being able to play through his ankle injury and delivery at a high level, Benn Mathurin having a breakout performance and the best moment of his NBA Playoff career as well as how the Pacers were able to take complete control of this game. 

Alex and Facci recap the Pacers incredible Game 2 victory over the New York Knicks! Pascal Siakam was sensational in the victory, Myles Turner showed up much in the clutch and the role players of Ben Sheppard and Tony Bradley played significant roles in Indiana's win. The guys share a ton of stats after this game, discuss how incredible this feeling is, what is so special about this team and read some tweets from former players and other podcasters about the Indiana Pacers! Celebrate the fun with us and leave a 5-star rating and review on Apple or Spotify! Also, join the Chat BCC Group chat for all the fun Pacers convos during the greatest playoff run in 25 years!

On today's episode, Alex Golden is reunited with Facci to discuss the magical moment that Facci witnessed in MSG. Then, the guys dive into what they want to see differently in Game 2 from Indiana: challenging Brunson more on defense, consider man-to-man defensive assignments with Myles and find ways to get Pascal going on a more consistent rate. 

On today's episode of Setting The Pace, Facci attended the MSG Masterpiece and snapped a 17 game losing streak! In addition to that, he had a message for the fans after Indiana's 138-135 victory! Then, Alex Golden was joined by the Pacers Pod Father, Dave Searle, to recap what happened in MSG, how the Pacer were able to pull THIS off...AGAIN...and give out player awards at the end!  Join the fun over on the Setting The Pace Group Chat, on your FAVORITE app Chat BCC!

Alex and Facci are joined by Andrew Claudio of Knicks Film School for  a New York Knicks perspective on the upcoming series. The guys discuss the additions of KAT and Bridges, how teams have guarded the Knicks and what the Pacers might do, strengths and weaknesses of both teams and a ton more! Andrew shares his series predictions at the end of the episode.  If you enjoyed this show, please leave us a 5 star rating and review! We also want you to join us for some Pacers conversation on the Chat BCC Group Chat! Click the link and be a part!

On today's show, Facci shares BREAKING NEWS with Alex to start the show off, then, the guys dive into their series predictions for Pacers-Knicks. After that, Dustin Dopirak, from The Indy Star, joins the show to preview the Pacers series against the Knicks. The guys discuss how Indiana can win this series, what the Knicks do well, what the Pacers do well, how the clash of philosophies could impact both teams and what the Pacers need to do to win this series. Join the Pacers fun in the GROUP CHAT! 

On today's show Alex and Facci dive into what went right for the Pacers, how Siakam's 2nd quarter was a huge lift, playing with more force and hitting your open looks from three. The guys also discuss Facci's jersey curse, give out player awards and so forth. For our main segment, we have Chris Denari joining us. He breaks down what he sees, discusses Tyrese's words on his absence from media after Game 3 and Game 4 and more!

On today's episode of Setting The Pace, Facci is joined by Bob Schmidt of Fear The Fro Podcast to discuss what in the world led to the Pacers being up 2-0 on Bob's Cavaliers. They dive into everything that has happened, what is next for both teams in this series and potentially adjustments Cleveland could make. Lastly, the guys also touch on Indiana's depth and pace! Join the Pacers Group Chat on Chat BCC by clicking THIS link! Winner of the Free Tickets to Game 3 will be announced on @AlexGoldenNBA's Twitter account, as well as @_Facci's Twitter account. 

Tyrese Haliburton DOES IT AGAIN! Alex Golden and Mike Facci are BACK to recap the Pacers incredible come from behind victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, spearheaded by an incredible 4th quarter effort. Never doubt this team! Facci and I relive this game, share our thoughts on the good and the bad, how the Pacers were able to overcome some of their mishaps early in the game and how so many players contributed to this miracle comeback win!Chat BCC Friends...CLICK THIS LINK to join in on the fun and earn TICKETS to Game 3 for FREE! Facci and I will pick the winner at noon on Thursday!

Today on Setting The Pace, Alex Golden and Facci are joined by Derek Schultz to discuss the Pacers upcoming playoff series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Derek discusses how Indiana can win this series, what he is looking to see from Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, how Bennedict Mathurin can impact this series, what Obi Toppin could do, how Andrew Nembhard needs to be effective on both ends of the floor, three point shooting, assists/turnover ratio, rebounding and more!Join in on the fun with the BEST APP on planet Earth! Talk Pacers basketball everyday with the guys on the Setting The Pace Group Chat on Chat BCC!

On today's show, our good friend, Bob Schmidt joins Alex Golden and Facci to breakdown what makes the Cavaliers so good, how they matchup against the Pacers, what he thinks Cleveland will do to defeat Indiana, discusses the Siakam-Mobley matchup, why the front court matchup is the most intriguing, Darius Garland and Ty Jerome's impact and his prediction of the series.  Join in on the fun by becoming a member of the Setting The Pace group chat on Chat BCC!

On today's episode, Alex and Facci dive into the Indiana Pacers 129-103 victory in Game 4 over the Milwaukee Bucks. The guys discuss the incredible play from Myles, Tyrese's insane stat line, Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith making strong contributions again, a solid showing from the Pacers bench, a quieter night from Siakam and injuries to two key guards, Benn Mathurin and Damian Lillard. 

On today's episode of Setting The Pace, Alex Golden and Facci dive into the Pacers 117-101 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, allowing the Bucks to make this more of a series. Gary Trent Jr. had a playoff career high 37-points, Giannis was spectacular as per usual, and the Pacers absolutely stunk on wide open threes. The guys dive into what caused Milwaukee's success, why the Pacers were unable to hold onto a 12 point 3rd quarter lead and what Indiana can do better for Game 4. Alex shares how many open looks GTJ got from Pacers overplaying to prevent the Bucks easy baskets from Giannis and how many wide open 3s the Pacers missed in this one. 

Alex Golden, Facci and Derek Schultz went LIVE on YouTube to recap Game 2 of Pacers-Bucks. Indiana takes a commanding 2-0 series lead behind the strong play of their starting 5, clutch shot making from Siakam and Nembhard, and strong play from their bench. Indiana was able to overcome a 13-0 Bucks 4th quarter run, and rallied to put this team in the control of the series. We discuss what Milwaukee did, how Indiana overcame that, the scuffles and more! A LOADED show for you today!

On today's episode of Setting The Pace, Alex and Facci start the show off by discussing the exciting news with the Facci family. Then, we dive into the game, highlight the great games from Turner, Siakam and Nembhard, read comments from our live youtube watchers and discuss what Indiana did so well to help them get the 19 point victory. The guys give out their player awards, discuss how awesome the Setting The Pace group chat in Chat BCC was and more!IF you want to interact with Facci and I during the game, please follow this link to the Group Chat.Thanks for being the BEST Pacers fans in the world and for interacting with us on whatever platforms you prefer. Have a blessed day, and LET'S GO PACERS!

On today's show, Alex Golden goes solo to preview the Pacers-Bucks series, as Facci was unable to make it, but for a GREAT reason! Baby Facci #2 is HERE! Michael J. Facci will be back Saturday to recap Game 1, but Alex went solo here to preview the series by sharing 5 things he wants to see the Pacers do in this series, and then 5 things he fears the most about the Milwaukee Bucks. At the end of the show, Alex shares his series predictions! #LetsGoPacers

On today's episode, Alex and Facci are joined by Keith Smith from Spotrac and the NBA Front Office Show to dive into the Pacers-Bucks series from a National Perspective. After chatting with Ti about the Bucks, and Chris Denari about the Pacers, we wanted a neutral, unbiased analysts to give us his thoughts on the series upcoming and what both teams must do to win. At the end of the show, Keith gives his prediction for the series!

On today's episode, Alex and Facci are joined by the voice of Pacers TV, Chris Denari, to discuss the Pacers-Bucks series through the eyes of the Indiana Pacers. Home Court AdvantageMathurin's first PlayoffsImproved Pacers DefenseWhat Nembhard can do without the Dame assignmentNesmith's hot shooting and what he bringsJarace's potential impactMyles and TJ leading as vetsObi Toppin's importanceThe Stars: Tyrese and PascalOvercoming GiannisMORE

On today's episode, Alex and Facci are joined by Ti Windisch of the Gyro Step Podcast to look at this upcoming Pacers-Bucks series from a Bucks Perspective.Post Trade Deadline Additions: KPJ & KuzmaDamian Lillard's Injury and Potential ReturnBobby Portis suspension, play since returnGiannis dominant play this seasonMilwaukee's size and athleticism versus Indy's speedBrook Lopez pros and consRyan Rollins stepping into a bigger roleLooking Back at the regular season seriesPredicitionsMORE

On today's show, Alex Golden and Mike Facci discuss the Indiana Pacers overcoming a 27-point deficit to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 126–118 in double overtime, securing their 50th win of the season! This is the Pacers first 50-win campaign since 2013–14! Alex and Facci then give out their Season Awards using these 8 categories: MVP, Surprise Player, DPOY, Underrated, Best Play, Best Single Game Performance, Best Celly and Funniest Moment of the season. 

On today's show, we start things off with a Smothered Chicken montage, thanks to the great Alex Riley. Then, Alex and Facci chat with Jeremiah Johnson from Fan Duel Sports Network about the Indiana Pacers remaining schedule. how this season has gone for the blue and gold, takeaways from specific players this season, the potential playoff matchup with the Bucks and MORE!JJ also tells us WHEN he listens to Setting The Pace, why he has an extra pep in his step and dissects how Quinn Buckner goes about calling certain blocks a Smothered Chicken.