Episodes

  • THE MAFIA AND DRUG TRAFFICKING PART 1°

    THE MAFIA AND DRUG TRAFFICKING PART 1°
    Nov 9 2025
    Before the rise of the Cosa Nostra, illegal drug trafficking in New York was mainly controlled by Jewish criminal organizations. Arnold Rothstein emerged as the leading Jewish crime boss in New York in the 1920s. Historical sources describe him as the head of drug trafficking in New York at that time, before he was murdered in 1928, but they also point out that he was a powerful gangster involved in various other criminal activities, including gambling and smuggling. His death created a power vacuum in the New York criminal world, which allowed the Cosa Nostra to gradually establish itself in the drug trade

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    9 mins
  • SAM TEETS BATTAGLIA

    SAM TEETS BATTAGLIA
    Oct 20 2025
    Salvatore Joseph Battaglia, known as “Sam,” was born on November 5, 1908, in Chicago and was a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit mafia organization. Sam Battaglia began his criminal career at a young age, first becoming involved in street gangs and later joining a more structured criminal organization. In the 1920s, Sam Battaglia joined the “42nd Street Gang,” founded by his brother Augie. Sam Battaglia's relationship with his brothers, Paul, Augie, and Frank, was decisive in his life and criminal career. The Battaglia brothers were all involved in the Chicago underworld, albeit with different roles and destinies.

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    11 mins
  • TONI ACCARDO

    TONI ACCARDO
    Oct 5 2025
    Tony Accardo, nicknamed "Joe Batters" and "Big Tuna," is considered one of the longest-serving and most successful mob bosses in American history. His intelligence, prudence, and ruthlessness allowed him to rule the Chicago Outfit for decades, amassing a fortune and maintaining almost unchallenged power.

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    11 mins
  • Frank Nitti

    Frank Nitti
    Jun 29 2025
    His official name in the United States was Frank Ralph Nitto, but after his birth in Italy on 27 January 1886, he was registered at the registry office in Angri, in the province of Salerno, as Francesco Raffaele Nitto. Frank Nitti was a central figure in Italian-American organised crime based in Chicago.

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    11 mins
  • PAUL RICCA PART 2

    PAUL RICCA PART 2
    May 28 2025
    In the early 1940s, Nitti convinced Ricca and the rest of the Outfit's management to extort money from film studios in Los Angeles, California . Chicago gangster John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli controlled the film industry workers' union Projectors Union and threatened the studios with strikes and other union problems. To avoid labour unrest, RKO, Paramount, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and 20th Century Fox paid several hundred thousand dollars to the Outfit. However, two Chicago Mafia men, Willie Bioff and George Browne, were arrested for extortion and agreed to testify against the Outfit's management. In March 1943, Ricca, Nitti and other Mafia leaders were indicted for extortion.
    Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

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    6 mins
  • PAUL RICCA PART 1

    PAUL RICCA PART 1
    Apr 29 2025
    Paul Ricca whose real name was Felice De Lucia, of Italian descent, was born on November 14, 1897 in Naples , Campania, to Antonio and Maria Annunziata De Lucia. He was considered an Italian-American mobster with increasing roles within the Cosa Nostra for 40 years, until he became its godfather within the Chicago mafia family, also known as de Outfit. In 1958 according to a Senate crime investigation subcommittee Ricca was called “the most important criminal in the country.”


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    8 mins
  • JOE VALACHI REVEALS THE SECRETS OF COSA NOSTRA PART 2°

    JOE VALACHI REVEALS THE SECRETS OF COSA NOSTRA PART 2°
    Feb 19 2025
    Joe Valachi was the first “pentito” in the history of the Italian-American mafia, he was the first to reveal the name of Cosa Nostra to the world. His collaboration can be considered a turning point for the Department of Justice led by Robert Kennedy. In October 1963 his deposition on live TV was seen by tens of millions of American television viewers. It was a media event that we can define as historic for the activity of the federal government in the fight against organized crime. For the first time, during television broadcasts the American public heard a mafioso talk about commissions and godfathers.

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    10 mins
  • JOE VALACHI REVEALS THE SECRETS OF COSA NOSTRA PART 1°

    JOE VALACHI REVEALS THE SECRETS OF COSA NOSTRA PART 1°
    Feb 16 2025
    Joe Valachi was the first “pentito” in the history of the Italian-American mafia, he was the first to reveal the name of Cosa Nostra to the world. His collaboration can be considered a turning point for the Department of Justice led by Robert Kennedy. In October 1963 his deposition on live TV was seen by tens of millions of American television viewers. It was a media event that we can define as historic for the activity of the federal government in the fight against organized crime. For the first time, during television broadcasts the American public heard a mafioso talk about commissions and godfathers.

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-the-american-mafia--4722947/support.
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    16 mins