Genovese Capo Matty the Horse Ianiello and Gay Bars Author Phillip Crawford Jr. has released a dramatic and shocking account, The Mafia and the Gays, showing how the New York Mafia and the Chicago Outfit used the societal fear and loathing of to earn money. The Genovese man who oversaw the segment of Mob business was Matty the Horse Ianiello. He is known best for his control of Manhatten’s Times Square and 42nd Street Combat Zone of peep shows, strip clubs, and gay bars. In the 1950s-1960s, homo...
Oct 12, 2020
Frank Cullotta RIP December 14, 1938- August 20, 2020 In this episode, Gary hosts a Zoom call with podcast supporters who have either donated money or time to keep the podcast going. Since Frank Cullotta died recently, I have true crime author Dennis Griffin as a special guest. Dennis tells many stories about his life helping Frank Cullotta compose, edit and publish the three books on his life. In addition, Dennis Griffin has written several other true crime books like Surviving the Mob: A Stree...
Sep 28, 2020
Australian Fans Dan Bashford from Southwest Australia and I talk organized crime in both Kansas City and Australia. Dan is a long time podcast supporter and an ardent fan of all things organized crime. I got up early and did a special Zoom call with him to answer questions about the mob and my career and in the process, I asked him questions about Australian organized crime activities. Donate Show Notes by Gary Jenkins Support the Podcast Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a be...
Sep 21, 2020
Arnold Rothstein develops Carpet Joints Greg Veitch, retired Chief of Police has written two excellent mob history books a bit a little known but an important period of organized crime history. Starting at the turn of the century, Saratoga Springs New York developed local mineral springs and a race track into a well-known spa retreat for the rich elite of New York City. The race track gambling drew the mob to this summer retreat. Arnold Rothstein built a large opulent casino called the Brook. he...
Sep 14, 2020
Niko Vorobyov explores the world of dope Gary interviews author Niko Vorobyov about his book Dopeworld. (click here to purchase) Listeners learn how Niko started out selling Ecstasy and Marijuana in the London rave scene and ended up doing some time in a British prison. Instead of plotting how to commit more and better crimes upon his release, Niko sharpened his writing skills like well know former prison inmate writers Seth Ferranti or Gunnar Lindblom. Niko’s plan upon his release was to emulat...
Sep 07, 2020
Sol Landie and Nick Civella In January of 1970, four days before the KC Chiefs met the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, KC bettors were laying thousands on a Chief’s victory. An FBI agent climbed a pole directly across the street from the Northview Social Club, aka The Trap, and hooked up a couple of wires. About 20 blocks away at the local FBI headquarters, Agents gathered their coffee mugs, ashtrays, and snacks and put on earphones and settled in for a long boring day. It was not but a few ...
Sep 03, 2020
In this 3rd and final episode, Gary and Cam take the Teamsters and the Mob to its conclusion through the transfer of power after Hoffa to the last mob influenced president, Kansas City Teamster boss Roy Lee Williams The Big Skim with Roy Lee Williams and Frank Ranney Dorfman and Presser’s legacy is a loan made to a young real estate developer named Allen Glick in 1974. Glick had known Bill Presser for some time when he was introduced to Milwaukee boss Frank Balistrieri as someone who could help ...
Aug 31, 2020
Cam and Gary continue discussing the Teamsters and the mob. In this episode, they examine Jimmy Hoffa and his efforts to consolidate bargaining with all trucking companies and have one agreement rather than separate agreements with each company, how he used mob muscle, how he ended up in prison and his deal with the devil to get released. Master Freight Agreement Many people view the Pension as the only interchange between the mob and Hoffa, but the relationship went both ways. From 1961-1964, w...
Aug 24, 2020
In episode 1 of this 3-part series on the Mob and the Teamster’s Union, Gary and Cam discuss the early days of Jimmy Hoffa as he moves up in the Union making connections with mobsters and earning the respect of his fellow union members The Mob and the Teamsters, Part I: Jimmy Hoffa and the Pension Jimmy Hoffa (b.1913) James Riddle Hoffa joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the early 1930s. He made his way through the ranks from city to city making connections in each city. In Det...
Aug 17, 2020
RICO and The Comission As you wiretappers know last week Netflix released Fear City which is a 3 part series on how the FBI and the US Attorney convicted the bosses of the Five New York Families; the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese families. These bosses formed The Commission, and on a national basis, you can add the Chicago family boss to the Commission. The Commission settles disputes and makes decisions about approved and unapproved activities for La Cosa Nostra crime famili...
Aug 03, 2020
Fear City Recently Netflix released a 3-part series title Fear City. This documentary tells the story of how the New York office of the FBI made a RICO case on the heads of the 5-Families otherwise called The Commission. Charlotte Lang In this episode, I interview retired FBI agent Charlotte Lang who was recently a key figure in the Netflix documentary Fear City. The FBI first assigned Ms. Lang to review wiretaps searching for evidence that the Commission gave the order to murder Bonanno acting ...
Jul 29, 2020
Joey Doves Aiuppa and the Muskie Mobsters and fishermen are notorious liars. Something about the nature of both lives lends itself to exaggeration. This is an example of where the two worlds meet. In 1949 angler Louis Spray reportedly caught the largest Muskie ever at the Chippewa Flowage in Wisconsin. The fish was 69 lbs, 11 oz, and there is a picture of Louis in a red flannel, corduroy field hat, and the fish is as long as he is tall. There have been several claims through the years of other f...
Jul 27, 2020
Great Bookie Robbery; Melbourne, April 21, 1976 “Ray Chuck” Bennett “Ray Chuck” Bennett was a career criminal (“crim”) in Australia—also known as “The General,” for his ability to plan jobs. He was a well-known bank-robber and smuggler. In the early 1970s, he left Australia and joined the “Kangaroo Crew” in England, pulling heists around the UK when he was arrested. While in prison, he worked closely with a British crew called the Wembley Mob learning military-style techniques for burglary. Usin...
Jul 13, 2020
George Freeman, Lenny McPherson, Stan Smith: Sydney Australian Crime Lords George Freeman was born in 1935. First arrest was 1947 for theft. Born in 1935, he left school around 1946 and began work as a stable hand, continued petty crime, ended up in Boy’s Home, which is kind of like a Juvenile Detention Center. These places were terrible for young boys. Older boys brutalized them in a lot of ways. Many of Australia’s best-known criminals did time in these awful places. They were scarred for life...
Jul 06, 2020
Another case of wrongful conviction True crime author Nate Hendley tells about a horrid case of wrongful conviction in 1950’s Toronto Canada. In a change of pace from organized crime stories, Gary Jenkins interviews Mr. Hendley about his latest book, The Boy on a Bicycle: A Forgotten Case of Wrongful Conviction in Toronto Canada. On September 15, 1056, a passerby found the body of seven-year-old Wayne Mallette on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. The police found he had...
Jun 29, 2020
FBI Agent Elaine Smith and Ken Eto Ken Eto was a Japanese-American who became the highest known Asian-American in any Organized Crime family in the United States. He was called Joe the Jap or Toyko Joe by his peers in the Chicago Outfit. In this podcast, I interview retired FBI agent Elaine Smith about Eto because she worked up a gambling case on him and after it became known the government was sending Eto to jail, his Chicago Outfit boss, Vincent Solano ordered his murder. Ken Eto History Ken E...
Jun 22, 2020
How Paul Derry ended working with the Hell’s Angel’s Paul Derry started in Halifax Nova Scotia as a teenage informant earning $20.00 for revealing where a drug stash was kept and then warning the dealer that the cops were on their way to sieze his marijuana. By the end of his colorful career as a professional criminal and informant, he goes deep undercover into the Nova Scotia Hell’s Angels gang. Paul Derry talks strip club During his early criminal career, Derry started dealing in junk pot and ...
Jun 15, 2020
Nate Hendley on Joe Pistone In this episode noted Mob author and historian, Nate Hendley and Gary discuss the boring life of a mobster. Nate points out that Joe Pistone wrote in his book, Donnie Brasco, about how the Bonanno crew sat around a social club or bar all day exchanging small talk, gossip, other mob stories, and possible scores. He was allowed into this crew by a made guy named Anthony Mirra.Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero took Pistone under his wing and instructed him in the ways of the Maf...
Jun 08, 2020
The Shark Gary was able to land this interview with Joe the Shark Lopez, well known Chicago criminal attorney. He has represented Outfit guys like Frank Calabrese Sr. in the Family secrets trial and many Columbian and Mexican drug kingpins. We learn that Joe Lopez started out to be a divorce attorney until he was given a federal case where a woman was charged with possession of a single kilo. At is first hearing, he obtained a filing of no probable cause and the judge dismissed these charges. Jo...
Jun 01, 2020
Al Capone Myths Exposed Cam Robinson and Gary Jenkins interview Mario Gomes, Al Capone historian and blogger on www.myalcaponemuseum.com . Mario has made it his mission to expose the various myths that have been perpetrated about Al Capone and his life. Was Al Capone a cocaine fiend? For example, after the modern Al Pacino film, Scarface became a massively popular film about a cocaine-addicted Cuban drug lord, rumors arose that this film was based on the first Scarface film released in 1932. Som...
May 25, 2020
Anthony “Tony” Stollo: the early days First of all, I must tell you that I am stopping the extra episode every week until we get another “Shutdown.” Things are opening up here in KC and I want to play a little golf. This week Cam and I take a look at an early Lupara Blanca or “White Shotgun” murder. We learned during our Pizza Connection research that this means a mafia murder where the body is never found. Strollo was born in Manhattan on June 14, 1899, to Italian immigrants Leon and Jennie Str...
May 18, 2020
How did Richard Cain become a Chicago cop Gary interviews Chicago Outfit historian and Administrator of the Chicago Outfit – Old and Current News and Articles Mike Byrne. Richard Cain was born to an Irish-American father and Italian-American mother. He would sometimes go by Richard Scalzitti. Richard Cain started as a private Investigator learning about wiretapping and conducting surveillance. by the time he was in his twenties, he was recruited by Sam Giancana to join the Chicago Police Departm...
May 14, 2020
Lucky Luciano and the Night of the Sicilian Vespers Gary interviews well known true crime author Nate Hendley about Charles “Lucky” Luciano and how he recruited other young gangsters to kill the old Mustache Petes and created the modern National Crime Syndicate. Francis Ford Coppola used this scenario in his fictional recounting of these events in The Godfather. Many people have mythologized these events and distilled them down to a single night where teams of young mafia assassins spread across...
May 11, 2020
Danny Greene – The Celtic Warrior Gary and Cam interview Rick Porrello, the author of Kill the Irishman: The War that Crippled the Mafia, The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia, Superthief, Bombs, Bullets, and Bribes. Danny Greene and the Cleveland Mafia Danny Greene was an up and coming young hoodlum who started working the docks as a stevedore. He used his popularity and machismo to become the President of the local International Longshoremen Association (ILA) until he was convicted of embez...
May 07, 2020
History of the ‘Ndrangheta In this episode, Gary and Cam examine the history of organized crime in Australia as a big shout out to Sydney fan Dan Bashford. They examine how the ‘Ndrangheta became the largest and most powerful criminal organization in Australia. The ‘Ndrangheta organization originated from the state of Calabria in Italy. After WW II, many criminal members took part in the large immigration from post-war decimated Italy to the vast empty agricultural land in Australia. Once these ...
May 04, 2020
What is the biggest Mob Blunder ever? In this episode, Cam Robinson and Gary Jenkins discuss blunders by various organized crime families. We believe the largest and most devastating was the murder of Jimmy Hoffa on 6/30/1975. After his release from prison, Hoffa began campaigning to reclaim the leadership of the teamsters. The mafia enjoyed greater control under Frank Fitzsimmons and did not want Hoffa’s return. In addition, Hoffa began making threats to speak to authorities and to call in loan...
Apr 27, 2020
Sidney Heard and the Kuggerrand Fraud In this episode, I interview Synova Cantrell about her book, Unorganized Crime: You Don’t Have to be Italian To Be a Wiseguy. Synova formed a friendship with a professional criminal named Sidney Heard and chronicled his flamboyant life in Unorganized Crime. Synova Cantrel is a prolific author who has written seven true crime books (click here to see them) and one on how to write and sell your book. In addition, she conducts a series of classes on how to writ...
Apr 23, 2020
Frank Costello goes South In this episode, Casey McBride, Frank Costello historian, discusses how a well known New York mobster formed a relationship with the flamboyant Huey P. Long, Louisiana’s governor, and then-Senator during the 1920-1930s. Frank Costello and Phil “Dandy Phil” Kastel set up the slot machine business in New York City. They disguised them as candy machine and the slots would dispense a mint on a losing pull and money on a winning pull. He soon had around 25,000 machines runni...
Apr 20, 2020
How Ori Spado became a friend to many mobsters We interview Ori Spado, the Accidental Gangster this week. Mr. Spado started out as an insurance man who pioneered the extended warranty business for new car dealerships. This part of his life has nothing to do with organized crime but we learn that Spado started in New York where he made connections with some of the early gangsters like John “Sonny” Franzese Russell Bufalino, Meyer Lanskey, and Frank Costello. These men were gangsters who also had ...
Apr 16, 2020
Michael McCollum has a rough start McCollum started early in a life of crime after his father, a motorcycle gang member, was the victim of a murder attempt where a dynamite bomb was detonated at their family home. Former law enforcement officer Gary Jenkins interviews former Hells Angel and Chicago Outfit Associate Michael McCollum. After having a dramatic enlightening, Michael turned his life around and is working on a book about his life on the wrong side of the law. That is when he is not wor...
Apr 13, 2020
