The Sit Down: A Crime History Podcast

Jeff is joined on today's episode by Chief from Barstool Chicago. They delve into Chicago Outfit boss James Marcello. Marcello rose into prominence after he allegedly wacked the man who killed his father. He would then become a driver for a famous Chicago mobster, make a lot of money and be involved in some very high profile hits. He now sits in the most secure federal prison in America. Thanks fo...

Today on a special Christmas week episode of the show we welcome on two very interesting men. Pat and Mike were longtime NYPD officers with very distinguished careers. They then retired and created a security company. Now they protect people like Dave Portnoy and the Barstool offices. We discussed their careers, what life is like now and even some of the interesting people and cases they came acro...

Jeff is welcomed today by former FBI Agent Bobby Chacon. Bobby is an extremely well polished agent who worked on major organized crime cases surrounding the Lucchese crime family, Jamaican Posse, terrorist organizations and more. He has also worked dozens of death investigations and serial killers and joins me to discuss his career as well as the recent murders in Idaho. We go in depth to some of...

Jeff is joined today by former ICE Agent Victor Avila. Victor began his career in law enforcement as a special agent at the US Southern border. He rose his way through the different agencies eventually making his way into Mexico to Mexico City bringing in cases against human smugglers, money launderers and drug traffickers. Ultimately though he would be asked by overseers to make a trip on ICE bus...

Jeff is joined today by his old co host Blackjack Fletcher. John Gotti had five brothers and four of them followed him into the mob and one would even become boss of the family at one point. For the most part though they were largely embarrassing and were more of a headache than anything. We also talked a little about the forgotten Gotti brother who went a different way in his life. We hope you en...

Jeff is joined today by renowned mafia author Scott Deitche. They delve into the legend of the East Harlem Purple Gang. The gang began as a drug dealing farm team for the Mafia as the sons, nephews and other family members of made Mafia members roamed the streets of Harlem. Ultimately they would graduate to become a large scale drug trafficking network and cold hearted killers many of which would...

Jeff begins the show with a listener Q/A and gets to the bottom of some of your crime questions. Around the 30 min mark of the show, he delves into the life of Lucchese mob associate Tommy Desimone. Played By Joe Pesci in the film Goodfellas, Tommy was born into the Mafia and as a young kid befriended Jimmy Burke. He would commit many murders, make a ton of money and make a lot of enemies. In the...

Jeff is welcomed today by former Gambino underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano. Sammy highlighted his life from the beginning, told some incredible stories, clarified some things and even waxed poetic on his life in the Mafia. We got into his time connected to the Colombo Family, his transfer to the Gambinos, meeting John Gotti, the hit on Big Paul, his cooperation and much more. As you can...

Jeff is joined today by DEA Agent Leo Silva. For nearly 20 years, Leo worked on the Southern border in Texas building cases and ultimately arresting some of the most powerful cartel syndicates in Mexican history. He told the story of his career eventually becoming a supervisor in Monterrey Mexico and together we discussed the Gulf Cartel and subsequently the violent reign of terror of Los Zetas al...

Jeff and special guest Barstool Chief delve into the life of one of the most powerful gangsters in the history of this country, Tampa boss Santo Trafficante Sr. They got into his early life following the footsteps of his boss father, to his foray into the drug trade and Cuba all while making hundreds of millions of dollars. Plus his involvement in the plot to kill Cuban leader FIdel Castro, JFK an...

Jeff delves into the life of Colombo underboss Wild Bill Cutolo and is joined by Bill's son Bill Jr. They tell the story of Bill Sr and Bill Jr details his own grappling with life associated with the Mob, becoming his father's number two and the death of his dad by members of his family. A truly fascinating interview. Check out Bill Cutolo's Youtube show 11th Ave Podcast We hope you enjoy the show...

Jeff pivots a bit in the newest episode of the show and is joined by Barstool cohost Large as they delve into the bizarre life and criminal case of a man in Germany named Armin Meiwes. Meiwes had a deranged and harrowing sexual fetish which ultimately lead to some very dark desires and ultimately murder and cannibalism. Truly one of the more disturbing stories I've ever researched. To get some gre...

Jeff and special co-host Barstool Chief delve into the life of mysterious Chicago Outfit member Johnny Roselli. Roselli came up under Al Capone and Johnny Torrio as a bootlegger and enforcer before moving to LA and overseeing big time rackets ans getting involved with the motion picture business. Along the way, he made connections as a fixer and would ultimately be called on by the CIA in a big pi...

Jeff welcomes former Bonanno associate Gene Borello to the podcast. Gene tells his story from the beginning, born into a family with ties to the Mafia from Ozone Park and Howard Beach in Queens. We talked about his teenage years getting into petty crime and ultimately becoming a bookmaker, loan shark, debt collector, home invader and earner/enforcer for the Bonanno Crime Family under capos like Vi...

Jeff delves into one of the most violent demented group of killers the Mafia has ever seen. The group run by Roy Demeo and Nino Gaggi killed dozens and possibly hundreds of people by various methods but ultimately through a process they used in the Gemini Lounge. Eventually though through paranoia and deceitful behavior the world came crashing down. In this episode I discuss how they were formed,...

Jeff returns back from a short break under the Barstool Sports Podcast Network with a brand new season of the show. In this episode, we delve into the life of the most prolific drug trafficker in the history of the civilized world, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. We tell his story from the beginning all the way to his rise in the cartel world, to creating the Sinaloa Cartel, escaping from prison multip...

On Episode 72, Jeff and Blackjack delve into the life of Genovese capo Alphonse Malangone. Allie Shades was a huge earner and overseer of one of the most lucrative rackets in the history of the Mafia. He was powerful, knew all the right people and even allegedly at one point with John Gotti moved to hopefully take over the family. In the first 30 minutes or so, we answer some of your questions abo...

On Episode 71, Jeff delves into the life of Colombo heavyweight and lunatic Joel Cacace. Cacace rose through the ranks after owning a flower shop and surviving an assassination attempt. He ultimately would be involved allegedly in several high profile murders. In 1997, after an NYPD officer was killed, Waverly became someone the FBI believed ordered it. A wild story. Before we got into the bio, we...

On Episode 70, Jeff delves into the life of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Bout began his life as a soldier ultimately starting an air transport business and then began moving guns and weapons to foreign rebels and governments. In the end he was arrested by the DEA in an elaborate scheme and got a long prison sentence. He was been in the news recently as a pawn and bargaining chip to get WNBA pl...

On Episode 69, Jeff delves into the life of Salvatore Romano. Romano grew up in Brooklyn and then Staten Island. His father was an accountant for the mob and ultimately Sal began working in the stock business making millions fairly quickly. He would get jammed and head to prison and learned how to make real money connecting to the mob making millions for them in pump and dump stock schemes. I also...

On Episode 68, Jeff delves into the life of Ron Previte. Previte would serve 12 years in the Philadelphia Police Department, ultimately leaving due to an anti corruption sweep. He worked in security connecting himself to the Philly Mob. After being caught up in a theft ring at his security job he began cooperating with authorities and this would start a wild next ten years that brought him to beco...

On Episode 67, Jeff delves into the wild life of Colombian drug trafficker Griselda Blanco. Blanco was a trailblazer in the cocaine scene of Miami in the early 80's and was credited in basically creating the modern day drug cartel. Blanco was a ruthless woman who ruled with an iron first and killed anyone she didn't like, didn't want to pay or deal with. In the end she faced prosecution but had a...

On Episode 66, Jeff delves into the life of Genovese Family consigliere Bobby Manna. Manna came from a lineage of a powerful bootlegger ultimately becoming made in his 20's and becoming an extremely good earner and very powerful under Vincent Gigante. In the end, he made an alleged move against John Gotti and is still paying for it today. Before we got into Manna, I answered your questions in a li...

On Episode 65, Jeff delves into the life of New Orleans mafia boss Carlos Marcello. Marcello was a man of small stature with very little education who ascended to the top of the Mafia in America. He amassed an unbelievable fortune, and literally controlled the state of Louisiana. He had tremendous power and in my belief, the mastermind of the assasination of JFK and possibly others. A long episode...

On Episode 64, Jeff interviews corrupt NYPD police officer Ken Eurell. Ken was featured in the documentary "The Seven Five" and he tells his story as he descended into stealing from citizens, protecting drug dealers then ultimately selling drugs as a sworn New York City police officer with his partner Michael Dowd. A wild story that must be heard. Please go buy the terrific book by Ken Eurell, Bet...