Inside the Life

In the final episode of Season 3, Giovanni and Dutch sit down with former Drug Enforcement Administration Associate Special Agent in Charge Bob Palombo. In a rare media appearance, Palombo details his impressive four-decade-long career with the DEA. From New York City street cases to multi-agency investigations like Operation Banshee, Palombo explains how relentless surveillance helped piece toget...

In this week’s episode of Inside the Life, Giovanni and Dutch are joined by Pete Chin, the former leader of the Ghost Shadows street gang. In this gripping conversation, Pete recounts his journey from a troubled childhood as a young Chinese immigrant in an abusive home to his violent rise as the leader of the most feared street gang in New York City’s Chinatown. Pete reflects on the brutal turf wa...

Undercover FBI agent Terry Rankhorn returns to Inside the Life to reveal the harrowing details of his three-year infiltration into one of the most dangerous al-Qaida cells operating after 9/11. In this episode, Terry recounts the moment a routine three-day assignment turned into a life-altering mission that demanded a new identity, a new religion and constant proximity to violent extremists. Terry...

This week on Inside the Life, Giovanni and Dutch face corruption in law enforcement head-on as they sit down with disgraced former NYPD officer Michael Dowd. An officer for the now notorious 75th precinct in Brooklyn, New York, Dowd owns up to his crimes and mistakes and shares how he went from a motivated young officer to a narcotics dealer during an era of scandal for the NYPD. Through a tense e...

For the first time on Inside the Life, Giovanni and Dutch speak with a member of the news media, investigative journalist Jake Adelstein. Living and working in Japan for more than 30 years, including on the crime beat for Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, Adelstein details the unique relationship he fostered with law enforcement and the many yakuza syndicates he covered as a journalist. Depicted...

This week on Inside the Life, Anthony Arillotta, former boss of the Genovese crime family’s Springfield, Massachusetts crew, reveals how he rose through the ranks of one of America’s most powerful Mob organizations. Surrounded by Mob figures from an early age, Arillotta’s path to illicit power began after a prison stint led to key underworld connections and a profitable marijuana business. His und...

This week on Inside the Life, Tonesa Welch, known as the First Lady of the Black Mafia Family, shares her journey and opens up about her pivotal role in Detroit’s illegal drug trade and the lasting legacy of BMF. As a key figure who helped connect Terry “Southwest Tee” and Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory with major suppliers, Tonesa served 30 months in prison for her involvement. Today, she has tran...

Welcoming their former colleague to the show, Giovanni and Dutch sit down with ex-FBI undercover agent Scott “Big Country” Payne on this episode of Inside the Life. After publishing his 2025 book “Code Name: Pale Horse,” Scott joins the podcast to share more about his most prolific case, the 2019 investigation and infiltration of a Georgia-based cell of The Base, a white nationalist accelerationis...

In the first episode of Inside the Life’s third season, Giovanni and Dutch welcome former Mongols Motorcycle Club Oregon and Missouri chapter president Justin “Mooch” DeLoretto. As the first patched outlaw motorcycle club member on Inside the Life, Justin shares how he went from a teen in the hardcore music scene to chapter president of for one of the most well-known one-percenter clubs in motorcy...

Terry Rankhorn is a legend in the world of undercover work. In his over 20-year career with the FBI, Rankhorn was one of the first FBI undercover operatives to infiltrate major computer hacking groups, including organizations such as Global Hell and The Keebler Elves. The pioneering work he did investigating cybercrime established precedent that is still used today. In this episode of Inside the L...

On a pioneering task force, Bob Delaney went from New Jersey State Trooper to undercover in some of the biggest east coast Mob families. In this episode, Delaney spoke to Giovanni and Dutch about how he was recruited to work undercover, the innerworkings of how he infiltrated the Genovese and Bruno Crime Families and his transition to high-profile NBA referee. Tune in for an incredibly insightful...

Myron Sugerman’s 60-year career as an international mobster in the business of slot machines and casinos took him all over the world, learning from notorious Mob figures such as Abner “Longie” Zwillman and Meyer Lansky. In this episode of Inside the Life, Sugerman takes us through his journey from following in his father’s footsteps to carving his own path in the illegal gaming business and gives...

Mike Moy was only 16 years old when he joined the Brooklyn faction of the Fuk Ching gang. In this episode of Inside the Life, Moy shares stories of his upbringing and the events that led him to change his trajectory and join the NYPD. Having had the unique experience of operating on both sides of the law, Moy gives us a first-hand look into the secretive underworld of New York’s Chinatown. About M...

A native of Quebec, Canada, Pete Charette tells his story of becoming the Drug Enforcement Administration’s go-to French speaking agent, traveling across the globe for DEA undercover operations. In this episode, Pete, often known as “Frenchy,” unfolds how he posed as a Corsican mobster and infiltrated the international narcotics trafficking network now known as “the French Connection.” About Pete...

Michael Corleone Blanco didn’t have a typical childhood. As the youngest son of “Cocaine Godmother” Griselda Blanco, his earliest memories of his life include stories of family love and loyalty, opulence and violence. In this gripping episode, Corleone Blanco tells his story of growing up amongst the Medellín Cartel and the operations of his mother’s own cocaine distribution business and reflects...

In this rare appearance from a former Central Intelligence Agency operative, Michele Rigby Assad details how she, as a young woman from small town America, went on to work in one of the world’s most misunderstood and dangerous geopolitical climates — the Middle East. Working across a handful of undisclosed locations throughout the Arab world, Rigby Assad shares the difficulties she faced while suc...

In this episode, Anthony Ruggiano Jr. details his life as son of Gambino enforcer and hitman Anthony “Fat Andy” Ruggiano. From a teen partying at the Copacabana, to his severe struggle with drug addiction and years in witness protection, this episode is an honest look at Ruggiano Jr.’s journey through a life of money, power, greed and redemption. Now decades out of the Mob life, he has found purpo...

Sitting down with Giovanni and Dutch, Steve Murphy shares his journey from being a police officer in a town of fewer than 20,000 people to becoming one of the DEA agents most synonymous with the takedown of narco-terrorist and Medellín Cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar. A story best known for its depiction in Netflix’s hit series Narcos, Murphy provides intimate insights into life in Colombia during it...

In this episode, retired Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agent Jay Dobyns sits down with Giovanni and Dutch to share how he went from getting shot on his fourth day on the job to successfully infiltrating the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club under the alias Jaybird Davis, the gunrunner. Having previously worked on outlaw motorcycle club cases themselves, Giovanni and Dutch share their own insights...

Long inspired by his father, a Harlem NYPD detective, and confronted by the 1970s heroin epidemic in New York City which affected many of his young-adult peers returning from the Vietnam War, Lew Rice found his calling with the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1974. In this episode, Rice describes his journey with the DEA, highlighting his undercover experiences and how he worked his way through...

Best known for his role as Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on HBO’s hit series “The Sopranos,” Giovanni and Dutch welcome actor Vincent Pastore to Inside the Life. In this episode, Vincent, Giovanni and Dutch chop it up, discussing everything from Pastore’s career in the music and nightlife industry, his experience living and working around New York Mob-types, how he landed his role on “The Sopr...

One of the DEA’s first female undercover agents, Patricia Naughton sits down with Giovanni and Dutch to talk about her experience inside the life. While bonding over the risks they were all willing to take, Naughton describes how she went from small narcotics buys as a city police officer to infiltrating outlaw motorcycle clubs and the Detroit Mafia as a woman in the 1980s. During an incredibly vi...

In a rare interview, John Gleeson, the former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, shares his experiences as a prosecutor in the government’s 1986 and 1992 cases against Gambino crime family boss John Gotti. Sitting down with co-hosts Dutch and Giovanni, Gleeson gives listeners a behind-the-scenes look into how he and the government crafted the case against Gotti and his c...

Power, money, greed and image – Sal Polisi’s firsthand experience as a Colombo associate during the Mafia’s height in 1970s New York City is a testament to the Mob’s violence and disregard for public safety. In this episode, Polisi tells host Giovanni Rocco how after years of committing crimes with the Colombo and Gambino crime families, he became disillusioned during a stint in the Lewisburg Peni...

In this episode, co-hosts Dutch McAlpin and Giovanni Rocco speak with television and film creator, writer and producer Chris Brancato. As the showrunner of organized crime television dramas “Narcos” and “Godfather of Harlem,” Brancato explores the unique influence of organized crime on popular culture. In this episode, Brancato shares how he strategically combines real events with his own creative...