Gary and Cam Robinson discuss organized crime’s infiltration of the pornographic film business. Specifically, Colombo Family member Tony Peraino. He was this crime family’s biggest earners because Tony Peraino developed pornography into one of organized crime’s biggest moneymakers after narcotics and labor racketeering. Tony Peraino was aided by his brother Joe “The Whale” Peraino, his sons Louis “Butchie” Peraino, and his nephew, Joseph Peraino, Jr. Venmo me @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me ...
May 16, 2022
Chris Armitage wrote a book on Sex Trafficking in the United States. This is a short interview to alert listeners to this problem and help Chris get his message out to a greater audience. As I suspected, drug gangs and sex trafficking go together. To find a copy, click on Forced Sex Trafficking: What it is and How Can You End It Venmo me @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 Br...
May 12, 2022
Gary tells the story of a party girl named Estelle Carey, who was found beaten, tortured, and burned in her Chicago apartment. Estelle was a B-girl and chip hustler in the Rush Street Colony Club owned by Outfit associate Nick Circella, aka Nicky Dean. He was purportedly the first person who suggested and helped the outfit start an extortion racket that ended with the arrest and conviction of many bosses. Along with Willie Bioff, Circella was getting ready to testify against Outfit men like Paul...
May 12, 2022
Lou Romano is a guy that grew up in a New York Mafia neighborhood where young men either became cops, firemen, or joined the mob. As an adult and as a true-crime author, he became friends with mob guys Gene Borrello and John Alight. He was able to write books about both these men. His first was Mafia International with John Alite. His second was Born in the Life: Gene Borrello Lous has a whole list of fictional works based on real-life mob experiences. One title is Besa and thanks to the informa...
May 09, 2022
Venmo me @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 Gary interviews retired Leavenworth Correctional Officer Ken Lemaster. We hear great stories like the time he asked Bufalino, “Hey what did you do with Hoffa’s body?” How about the time the Kansas City Underboss Carl “Tuffy” DeLuna was watching the Defenbaugh trash company pick up the dumpsters and he told Ken, “I’m glad to see a company I...
May 02, 2022
Gary tells about Giancana's Villa Venice. In the Chicago suburb of Northbrook, Sam Giancana opened a fancy supper club called the Villa Venice. This club opened to great reviews at Christmas time, 1962. The club sold out for a week because Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Frank Sinatra put on a floor show. The Villa Venice was a beautiful place with an illegal gambling casino nearby. Outfit mobsters took gamblers back and forth to the Villa Venice. During the show, Dean Martin made jokes about ...
Apr 26, 2022•18 min
Venmo me @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee”Rick Porrello discusses Cleveland’s infamous Jewish mobster, Shonder Birns. Besides Bombs, Bullets, & Bribes: The True Story of Shonder Birns, Rick Porrello wrote and produced the movie about the life and death of Danny Greene in Kill the Irishman. Birns was a prohibition-era mobster that remained out of the Mafia’s control because he focused on running the Policy game and partnered with African-Americans. Birns had to lean on the ...
Apr 25, 2022
Sammy Gravano tells a story he heard from some FBI agents about how Steven Seagal cried like a baby and wanted to be hugged after he testified. Here is the whole story about why Seagal ever testified against the Mob in the first place. Venmo me @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 go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup click here To rent ...
Apr 20, 2022
Gary talks with Sandra “S.J.” Peddie about her series of interviews and subsequent book on John Franzese aka Sonny Franzese. This is the story of a Colombo crime family underboss John “Sonny” Franzese. Franzese gave Ms. Peddie, an award-winning author, unprecedented access to his life in interviews both before and after his release from federal prison at age 102. FBI Director Herbert Hoover had once ordered an all-out assault to put Sonny Franzese in prison. Franzese was feared, loved, and most ...
Apr 18, 2022
Venmo me @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 Ray Ryan was a wealthy developer, casino owner, and Texas oil Man. He beat Nick the Greek Dandolos out of a lot of money in a poker game. Later, the Chicago Outfit’s man in Vegas, Marshall Caifano, went to Ryan and threatened to expose him as a cheat in this game unless Ryan paid him off to keep his mouth shut. Ryan refused and ended up te...
Apr 14, 2022
Venmo me @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 This episode is for our Pittsburgh supporter and Wiretapper Robb Starr. Rob is a talented artist and sometimes bruised up skateboarder. I found a story about a Pittsburgh long-time mob member named Sam Mannarino on The American Mafia website. Sam Mannarino was a prominent La Cosa Nostra figure in Western Pennsylvania, and he and his brothe...
Apr 11, 2022
Gary and Camillius “Cam” Robinson examine the entire life of Crazy Joe Gallo from the perspective of his henchman Pete the Greek Diapoulos. This is Part 2. Pete the Greek was a childhood pal of Crazy Joey Gallo who remained a part of his crew and was actually sitting with Crazy Joey Gallo that fateful night at Umberto’s Clam House when unidentified gunmen entered and walked directly to their table firing their guns. Pete the Greek had a handgun and he was wounded as he returned fire. the governm...
Apr 11, 2022
Gary and Camillius “Cam” Robinson examine the entire life of Crazy Joe Gallo from the perspective of his henchman Pete the Greek Diapoulos. Pete the Greek was a childhood pal of Crazy Joey Gallo who remained a part of his crew and was actually sitting with Crazy Joey Gallo that fateful night at Umberto’s Clam House when unidentified gunmen entered and walked directly to their table firing their guns. Pet the Greek had a handgun and he was wounded as he returned fire. the government will charge P...
Apr 04, 2022
Venmo me @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 Gary interviews The Sit Down Guy You Tube host Jeff Nadu. the Jeff tells the early history of the Camorra. We learn it started in Naples and was an unofficial government. The early Camorra families protected the people from the central authorities. By the 1970s and 1980s, Raffaele Cutolo made an unsuccessful attempt to unify the Camorra fa...
Mar 28, 2022
Gary interviews Charlie Spillers, a former Marine, undercover agent, federal prosecutor, and Justice Attaché for Iraq. Charlie shares storied from his book, Confessions of an Undercover Agent: Adventures, Close Calls, and the Toll of a Double Life, an Amazon #1 New Release nationwide in law enforcement memoirs. Charlie Spillers describes some of his most harrowing experiences during 10 years of undercover police work and his many narrow escapes. Best-selling author Ace Atkins stated, “Charlie Sp...
Mar 21, 2022
Gary interviews former Western Massachusetts Wiseguy David (Chicky) Cecchetelli. He was the biggest bookie in Springfield, Mass. In the early 2000s Genovese associate, Chicky operated a multi-million-dollar sports gambling business. In 2005, he pled out and admitted to taking in over $3,000,000 worth of bets. The court sentenced him to a year in federal prison. In the 2000s, Chicky worked for Springfield mob capo Anthony (Bingy) Arillotta. Both men came up in the mob under Springfield crime boss...
Mar 14, 2022
Venmo me @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 Gary interviews retired ATF Agent David True about his book Gangsters, Outlaws, and Mobsters: A Missouri History of Twentieth-Century Crimes and Criminals. Agent True was assigned to the Kansas City area for the majority of his career. In this episode, Gary and David recount the first organized “sting” operation in the United States. In 19...
Mar 07, 2022
Venmo me @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 A short bonus podcast of an interview I conducted with Mob author Scott Deitche while we had drinks and smoked cigars at the King Corona Cigar Bar . Scott Deitche and Gary discuss the history of the Tampa Mafia. Scott Deitche is a skilled mob historian and has written eight books on subjects from the Tampa Mafia and other Ybor City history...
Mar 05, 2022
Chad Marks Crime Chad Marks tells how a court gave him a forty-year forty sentence in the Federal Prison System. At age 24, Chad Mark was facing most if not all of his life in prison for a non-violent drug crime. To make matters worse, if that is possible, the Bureau of Prisons sent him one of the worst and toughest federal prisons in the system. Chad Marks survived 17 years in places where beatings, stabbings, and death were part of every day. After he was able to obtain an early release he wro...
Feb 28, 2022
Venmo me @ganglandwire or 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 Gary interviews Jake Halpern about his interviews with Ned Timmons and Bob Cooley. Jake hosts Deep Cover: Mob Land which is a new podcast in its second season. Deep Cover takes a single subject and situation and develops it out to its conclusion. For example, in the first season, Jake starts interviewing a retired FBI agent named Ned Ti...
Feb 21, 2022
Venmo me @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 Gary interviews Red Wemette about Chicago attorney Bob Cooley and Red’s time as a contract agent for the FBI during the late 1970s and 1980s. Red Wemette owned a porn store making him a target for extortion from the Chicago Outfit. The FBI installed a hidden camera and microphone in Red’s office and taped many incriminating conversations b...
Feb 07, 2022
Venmo me @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 Gary interviews retired FBI agent Michael McGowan about working long-term undercover projects in the New England and Philadelphia area during the 1990s. In his book Ghost: My 30 Years as an Undercover Agent, Michael McGowan takes the reader on a thrilling ride through the Boston, Philadelphia, and Rhode Island crime families. In his first ...
Jan 31, 2022
Venmo me @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 Gary interviews retired New York City Chief of Investigations Thomas F. Comiskey. Over his career, Tom Comiskey exposed and prosecuted corruption in New York City’s anti-poverty programs and public schools. In his non-fiction account of the Mob in lower Manhattan, Mr. Comiskey cuts through the myths and legends surrounding the East Village...
Jan 24, 2022
Your host Gary Jenkins tells the little-known story about the time when Nick Civella ordered a moratorium on all skimming activities from the Tropicana casino. During the fall of 1978, Nick Kansas City Mob boss Civella became obsessed that one of his inside men at the Tropicana was stealing from the skim. A Sicilian immigrant named Joe Agosto had infiltrated the Tropicana and obtained the confidence of the owners and was managing the famous Folies Bergère floor show. Agosto had placed another we...
Jan 17, 2022
The .22 Caliber Killings: Inside the Mafia’s Infiltration of Two FBI Field Offices During the post War period to 1968, the FBI and a few local police department Intelligence Units made liberal use of extrajudicial hidden microphones and wiretaps. In 1968, Congress passed the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. This statute authorized the first legal use of audio surveillance by law enforcement. The FBI created a large list of confidential informants. Many of them were street-leve...
Jan 03, 2022
Gangland Wire 2021 I wish all you guys a Happy and Prosperous 2022. Like everybody else, I feel like I just lost a year and more. The podcast kept me going and all of your emails, comments on the Gangland Wire Facebook page and the website, your emails, and every other way you sent me good wishes made my work worthwhile. I was able to finish my third documentary film, Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup. I especially thank every wiretapper who invested their time and money into making this a...
Jan 01, 2022
Gary interviews Steve St. John about an interesting character Steve met in prison. Stephen Blumberg once lived off a $72,000 annual family trust fund. But, he helped a dark secret compulsion that will send him to prison more than once. Blumberg started as a child removing doorknobs and stained glass windows from the old houses that were slated for destruction in his childhood home of St. Paul. MN. His interest in Victorian architecture started his fascination with rare books. he found in college...
Dec 27, 2021
Witness Protection Failed The story of John T. Ambrose Merry Christmas Wiretappers. I am here in the studio alone today, and while noodling around, I found an interesting Chicago Outfit story that I had never heard. A U.S. Marshall named John Ambrose was assigned to help protect a government witness named Nick Calabrese. He revealed the location of this important witness in the Family Secrets trial. Venmo me @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” U.S. Marshall’s Office The well-res...
Dec 25, 2021
Dominic Taddeo and the Rochester Crime Family Venmo me @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 Gary and his regular contributor Mob author and historian Camillius Robison discuss this obscure but important mob figure, Dominic Taddeo. The Rochester New York crime family was thought of as a major crew under Stefano Magaddino, the boss of the Buffalo New York Family. He asserted ownership a...
Dec 20, 2021
Jeffrey Sussman and the Holocaust Boxers This episode is a little different because we don’t deal with organized crime but with our friend Jeffrey Sussman on boxers who fought for the Auschwitz Concentration Camp guards and other Jewish fighters and the Nazis. One more thing, I am experimenting with placing a transcript of the show in the show notes. Let me know if you like or dislike this in the show note. Gary Jenkins 1:33 Welcome, all you Wiretappers Gangland Wire is back here in the studio. ...
Dec 13, 2021
