Expedition Underworld

In 1876, nearly a century before Joe Valachi became one of the most famous Mafia informants in American history, a young Sicilian named Salvatore D’Amico began revealing the secrets of a Mafia organization known as the Stuppagghieri. His story begins with a killing at seventeen, continues through prison, a bloody initiation ceremony, a Mafia war, and a bizarre encounter in a Monreale alley where a...

Before the Teflon Don, before the headlines, John Gotti was a young street gangster trying to earn his place in the Gambino crime family. From hijackings and prison time to the McBratney murder and the Bergin Hunt & Fish Club, this is the story of how John Gotti climbed the underworld ladder and finally became a made man.

This is the story of the dramatic deportation of Carlos Marcello, the boss of the New Orleans Family. It was done under the orders of the Robert Kennedy justice department and is what some believe led to the JFK assassination.

Don Calogero Vizzini is one of the most controversial figures in Mafia history. To some, he was a ruthless Mafia boss who dominated rural Sicily through fear and political influence. To others, he was a powerful intermediary who thrived where the Italian state was too weak to maintain order. In this video, we trace Vizzini's rise from the small Sicilian town of Villalba to becoming one of the...

Long before New York’s Five Families dominated organized crime, men like Charles Matranga, Joseph Macheca, and the Stuppagghieri of Monreale were building power in the streets of New Orleans. From the assassination of Police Chief David Hennessy to the 1891 New Orleans lynchings—the largest mass lynching in American history—this podcast follows the people, violence, and political corruption that s...