Gangland Wire

Most Wanted and The Trial of Alain Olivier Most Wanted, starring Josh Hartnett and Jim Gaffigan, is the real-life story of a French Canadian drug addict named Alain Olivier and how the Royal Canadian Mounted Police intimidated him into setting up an undercover narcotics operation. This plan went horribly wrong and ended with a Mountie getting killed under suspicious circumstances. In this second i...

Alain Olivier Most Wanted Recently Gary watched an Amazon Prime movie titled Most Wanted . The film starred Josh Hartnett ,  Jim Gaffigan , and Antoine Olivier Pilon .  This film was about a Royal Canadian Mounted Police operation that went horribly wrong. The Mounties needed a big drug dealer that was importing China White heroin from the Southeast Asian Golden Triangle. Listen while a recovering...

Lennie Patrick Flips Gary and Cam discuss an Outfit gangster named Lennie Patrick with Chicago mob historian and attorney Paul Whitcombe. Paul and Camillus Robinson are associated with John Touhy and the Killers Kings and Clowns You Tube Mob channel and the Mafia Facebook group, Killers Kings and Clowns. In 1992, Paul was a law clerk for the trial Judge Patrick Alesia when 78-year-old Lennie Patri...

Dustin Marks is a Magician Dustin Marks tells listeners how he was drawn to perform magic tricks as a child. He notices that all the good magicians are based in Las Vegas. As a young adult, he moved to Vegas after a series of dead-end jobs. After a few months, he discovers that all the good magicians met on Wednesday nights at Gary Darwin’s Magic Club.  He had to ask questions and search for a few...

Jeffrey Sussman Gary interviews Jeffrey Sussman who is the author of 15 non-fiction books. Mr. Sussman’s most recent book, Big Apple Gangsters: The Rise and Decline of the Mob in New York, is the subject. He has also written extensively about professional boxing as well as the subject of Marketing. with books like Boxing and the Mob: The Notorious History of the Sweet Science; Rocky Graziano: Fist...

Chris Paciello – The early days Chris Paciello was born Christian Ludwigsen in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn to an Italian mother and non-Italian father who was an addict and a petty thief. Chris’s father was a street guy who rarely took care of his family. His mother moved Chris to an Italian neighborhood in Brooklyn and they began using her maiden name, Paciello. Chris started as a petty...

Ron Fino- Undercover Contractor This is the audio from a Zoom call in which the Gangland Wire Supporters and I talk with Mr. Undercover, Ron Fino. Ron started as a Union business manager in the Buffalo New York area. His father was a member of the Buffalo Family under Stephano Maggadino. He saw how the mob abused their power and harmed union employees. Ron has always looked out for the folks with...

Joe Pistone Podcast In this episode, Gary interviews the famous retired FBI Agent Joe Pistone aka Donnie Brasko, and his podcasting partner Leo Rossi. Joe Pistone has started his own true-crime podcast based on stories from his 6-year undercover assignment. Agent Joe Pistone infiltrated the Bonanno Crime Family. He tells about working with Lefty Ruggerio and other stories. This podcast is titled D...

Jack Garcia – the early days Joaquin “Jack” Garcia was actually born in pre-Castro Cuba. His family immigrated to the U.S. in the early days of Castro because his father was going to be arrested by the new regime. As a child, Jack was often the target of bullies because he did not speak English. His size and demeanor quickly put an end to the bullying. He grew into a 6′ 4″ 250-pound college footba...

Frankie Carbo- the early years Paul John Carbo (born Paolo Giovanni Carbo; AKA Frankie Carbo was a New York City Mafia soldier in the Lucchese crime family. He was a gunman and assassin for “Lepke” Louis Buchalter in the Murder Inc. organization. Authorities arrested Carbo seventeen times for murder.  He will gravitate to California and continue his murderous habits. In 1939, he was a suspect in t...

Larry Newman Committed Murder in McHenry County Paul Scharff learned who murdered his father years before from his former babysitter. Paul’s father, Ron Scharff, was closing his neighborhood tavern on June 2, 1981. A man walks in that Ron knew. What he did not know was that this man was carrying a grudge because Ron had thrown the guy’s ex-wife out of the bar, and she complained that he had disres...

Diamond Jim Moran and New Orleans Bobby Brocato Jr, nephew of the famous Diamond Jim Moran, aka James Brocato, has published a New Orleans history/Mafia history/New Orleans cuisine cookbook/family history book titled Food for Kings: A New Orleans Legend. In this episode, I interview Mr. Brocato about his famous grandfather. Diamond Jim Moran, the Boxer Diamond Jim Moran started life as an Italian...

William Kirkpatrick – Big Trenchcoat Robber This is the story of the trenchcoat robbers, one of the most successful bank robbery teams in all history. In the 1970s, William Kirkpatrick was often followed by the KC Police Intelligence Unit because he was a well-known booster or shoplifter connected to the Mob. I remember we once got information from a small town in Illinois where he had been caught...

The Massacre on St. Valentine’s Day Gary investigates follows the journey of the bullet-riddled bricks for the wall where four assailants lined up seven members of the Bugs Moran gang and shot them down. This podcast includes an interview with Geoff Shumacher, Director of the Mob Museum, about how they obtained the bricks and about their current display. On St. Valentine’s Day morning in 1929 four...

The Grave Avron Goldbogen or Michael Todd started in the construction business and then got his start in the film industry when he worked on soundproofing stage sets when the pictures changed from silent to talking films. He would go bankrupt during the depression but soon rebounded first ventures into the construction business. After WW II, Michael Todd worked on a new big-screen film process cal...

Jerry Catena the early years Gerardo Jerry Catena was born in 1902 in South Orange, NJ. He made early connections to Jewish gangster “Longy” Zwillman working as a bodyguard and chauffeur. Later, he worked for racketeer Willie Moretti—the inspiration for Luca Brasi.  Through Moretti, Catena made connections with Luciano, Costello, Adonis, and Genovese, and took part in the Castelamarese War. Catena...

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 S...

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...

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...

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 dre...

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 form...

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, a...

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...

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. Ma ster Freight Agreement Many people view the Pension as t...

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 earl...