Podcast
Gangland Wire
Hosted by Gary Jenkins: Mafia Detective · EN
Gangland Wire Crime Stories is a unique true crime podcast. The host, Gary Jenkins, is a former Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit Detective. Gary uses his experience to give insigtful twists on famous organized characters across the United States. He tells crime stories from his own career and invites former FBI agents, police officers and criminals to educate and entertain listeners.
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Bobby Boriello
Jan 8, 202500:12:18Tap to summarizeIn this episode, retired intelligence unit detective Gary Jenkins examines the life of Bobby Boriello, a key figure in the Gambino crime family and closely associated with John Gotti. I explore Boriello’s beginnings in South Brooklyn and his ascent as an enforcer for the Gallo gang, detailing his numerous criminal activities and connections that allowed him to evade serious consequences. This show covers his involvement in significant events, such as the assassination of Paul Castellano and the tensions with the Genovese family. I reflect on the violent and tumultuous nature of his life, culminating in his murder in 1991, which highlights the inherent dangers of organized crime. As Borrello’s story unfolds, I delve into the themes of loyalty, betrayal, and power dynamics within the Mafia, offering personal insights and humor. This will be the last episode until February. The next episode will host Mark Black, who tells about his life in the Federal prison hospital in Springfield and his care of John Gotti as he battled cancer and other mobster’s plots. Subscribe to get new gangster stories every week. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation, click here To rent Ballto Theft: Burglary Murder Coverup, click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes, click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast. Donate to the podcast. Click here! [0:00] A little story about Bobby Boriello, who was a Gambino soldier and a big moneymaker [0:05] for the Gotti family and the Gambino family. You want to call it the Gotti family or the Gambino family? It never did become the Gotti family, did it? Much to John Gotti’s chagrin, I’m sure. Anyhow, this is going to be the last one for the month of January. I’m going to take some time off. I’m going to take a little vacation. And I’ve been working pretty hard at doing my books. And I’ve done a couple of books, a New York book and the Chicago book. And I’m getting set for the next year, doing some other things this next year. So I’ll get back to putting one out at least every week at the last of January. I know the one I’ve already got it set that we’re going to come back into like, I think the last Monday or Sunday in January is going to be a guy named Mark Black, who was in the penitentiary in Springfield, the hospital, federal hospital down there. With John Gotti and some other guys. And he got all embroiled in some. [1:02] Some mafia drama, carrying messages from one person to the other. And, and so anyhow, it’s a really interesting story. It’ll be a great one to come back to. So I hope you guys all had a Merry Christmas and a happy new year. I’m not very good at wishing people all that kind of stuff before I forget about it. I just put out podcasts. That’s all I do. You know, me, I’m just a plain guys. Guys, come on back in February. Hey, all you wiretappers out there. Glad to be back here in the studio. Glad to have you in the studio with me. This is Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Detective and now podcasters. Most of y’all know. If you don’t, why keep listening. You’ll learn who I am [1:43] and what I’m about. I have a lot of fun doing this. Going back to New York today, guys, going to Bobby Borrello. [1:50] Bobby Boriello was a gaudy guy, if you remember right. He probably is one of the trigger men on the Castellano hit. Now, going way on back, he grew up in South Brooklyn, and he grew up in a neighborhood that was dominated by several mob families, Gambino, Genovese, and the Columbo crime families. He was surrounded by mobsters from, you know, from the time he was a little kid. His younger brother, Stevie, was close to Crazy Joe Gallo and Albert Gallo and Frank Ileano. Um steve played a role in getting gallows crew uh really ensconced in south brooklyn and and their rackets down there and he brought bobby in and he was really he was a big kid and he got a reputation pretty quick as an enforcer within the gallow gang but he moved on beyond that Now, between 1967, 1972. [2:49] His rap sheet grew considerably. He was arrested six times from weapons possession to assault, larceny, gambling, the usual stuff, you know. No matter what, he didn’t go to jail, and his criminal career advanced. Didn’t go to jail. Bobby Boriello didn’t go to jail because he became important to different mafia guys, and they got those political connections. By the 1980s, he will become a made man in the Gambino family. [3:18] And what’s interesting is Mikey Scars DiLeonardo will talk about being inducted by Sammy the Bull Gravano with Junior Gotti, and because John Gotti did not want it to look bad, did not want him, he to make his own son, he didn’t think it looked good, Bobby Borrello will be inducted in that same ceremony with Mikey Scars and Junior Gotti. He really will have strong ties with all these guys, John Gotti, Sammy the Bull, Nicholas and Jojo Carrozzo. Borrello will be seen with Gotti quite a little bit. They were like friends. They’ll spend weekends on Long Island gambling and partying and going to performances and just, you know, general social things as well as the business. Bobby Borrello conducted most of his business as he got, you know, after he became a made guy at the one over a golf club. It was in Carroll Gardens in New York. It was a social club. It was operated by a paraplegic gangster named Joe Pitts. It’s Joe Pitts Corneliaro. This dude was involved in loan sharking and gambling. He’ll eventually be killed. These guys, there’s constant danger surrounding them. Constantly, they’re in danger. During his early years in the Gambino family, and even before, he was suspected of being involved in more than one murder. That gives him a hell of a reputation out there. [4:44] Uh, other criminal activities are extorted, the usual extortion, loan sharking and drug trafficking. And, you know, he really had a good solid status within the Gambino family. He could take care of business. He could make money. He could do what needed to be done. And, you know, the Gambino’s under Gotti, they didn’t mind dealing. [5:02] They didn’t mind taking that drug money. You know, he was also part of junior Gotti’s crew when John Gotti promoted his son to Capo and Sammy, the bull wanted that done for some reason this crew had some guys jackie cavallo charlie cornelia tommy twits cassia polly and dominic fat dom borghese he was involved you know all over new york city and particularly south brooklyn worked with anthony toto anastasio and some other guys like that you know he was involved with the eventually become involved with the trucking construction loan sharking because that’s what gambinos do they were in trucking construction and loan sharking as well as gambling and hijacking and all the usual things late 1980s he got into the world of strip clubs like i noticed in kansas city they did the same thing later on they started getting into strip clubs there’s a guy named steve kaplan who was paying tribute to him and junior gotti for different strip clubs all up down the east coast so he really and And, and, and Michael. [6:09] Mikey scars was involved in that one down in, uh, extorting money from that one down in, uh, uh, Atlanta, Georgia. [6:16] So these guys, you know, really reached out with their strip clubs as he rose up in the ranks, his most powerful ally was junior Gotti. [6:24] And, and he was actually junior Gotti named him a boss over some other guys and his crew and December, 1990, after John Gotti senior was indicted, he created a five man ruling panel over the Gambino family and Junior is part of that. Bobby Borelli, you know, is operating alongside of him and operating his rackets out of his Brooklyn Social Club. John Gotti. [6:48] Ordered Borelli to eliminate a guy named Louis De Bono, who was a Gambino soldier who had gotten a really lucrative contract to install fireproofing foam in the Twin ...
Transcribe →36 Rules of Mafia Bosses
Jan 6, 202500:58:23Tap to summarizeIn this Gangland Wire episode, host Gary Jenkins sits down with RJ Roger, Host of No Excuses with Michael DiLeonardo podcast, to delve into his fascinating book, The Don: 36 Rules of the Bosses. In this book, RJ outlines 36 leadership rules derived from effective leaders’ behaviors in organized crime and corporate America. These rules, rooted in extensive historical research on the five New York mafia families, highlight universal power dynamics in all hierarchical structures, offering actionable insights for anyone striving to succeed—whether as a business executive or an everyday worker. RJ challenges the romanticized portrayal of mob life, focusing instead on the stark realities of leadership within the mafia. Together, Gary and RJ draw parallels between the underworld and legitimate organizations. For example, RJ discusses the principle of “using skilled men to your benefit,” a lesson that applies across industries—including Gary’s experience in law enforcement. Both mafia bosses, police commanders, and corporate leaders face the challenge of navigating human dynamics, where the rules of engagement can make or break their success. Throughout the conversation, RJ shares captivating stories of mob bosses and their relationships with underlings, shedding light on the nuances of leadership. The discussion touches on the importance of appearances, with RJ explaining how a leader’s presentation can shape perception and loyalty among followers. He emphasizes the delicate balance of being approachable and authoritative to maintain command—an insight that resonates across fields. Please tune in to this thought-provoking episode to uncover the leadership lessons from the mafia that can inspire and guide us in our endeavors. Subscribe to get new gangster stories every week. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation, click here To rent Ballto Theft: Burglary Murder Coverup, click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes, click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast. Donate to the podcast. Click here! Transcript Speaker1: [0:00] Well, hey, all you wiretappers out there. Good to be back here in studio of Gangland Wire. This is Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective and later sergeant. I’m back here with another guest, an author and a fellow mob podcaster, RJ Roger. Welcome, RJ. Speaker0: [0:17] Thank you for having me, Gary. And I mean that this is not just camera stuff. I always wanted to have a discussion with you. I remember reaching out to you on Twitter once over before I even started working with Michael. And I just, as a respecter of what you do, because you have an elegant, classy podcast and in what we do, it ain’t the norm. So I’m a major respecter. Speaker1: [0:41] Well thank you thank you i i kind of back i didn’t understand that twitter thing back there but i have some vague memory that i don’t know anyhow well finally we meet and we just had a nice little discussion about mutual mutual woes in the podcast industry and personal uh personal things to get to know each other a little bit and guys uh i assure you rj knows what he’s talking about and he’s a true gentleman and he has a great podcast you know uh you know i’m the one i have to take credit for this, RJ. I’m the one that got Mikey scars or Michael D. Leonardo on the air the very first time by happenstance and luck in a way I find out, but then I knew it was, it was just a lucky just somehow he just felt a certain way one day and he said, yeah, I’ll come on your podcast. And now RJ has Mikey scars or Michael D. Leonardo on his podcast regularly. So you want to check that podcast out. Uh, tell us just a little bit about your podcast, RJ, so guys can find it Speaker0: [1:40] But you are right i always get i always take the credit i brought michael scars out of the shadows yeah and i got that line from um coast of notion news that was like his headline he said rj roger brings michael de leonardo from the shadows and but the truth is you were the first guy to have to do a discussion with him i just so you took the Speaker0: [2:03] the ball up the field and i took it over the you. Speaker1: [2:06] Took it over the goal line Speaker0: [2:07] Um so as far as the show with michael and i i was a original was doing a solo mob podcast and i made a production i made a show on michael and it made its way to him through his son he liked it he reached out to me we became friends so that’s a fast forward very fast way of how we met and for the first several months We were just friends. I met him in person. I flew out to see him. We spent some time together. And we were kind of… Talking about some different things. And eventually we came together and made an agreement on working together. Took him a while to want to come out and do like a long form show. But, but again, it wasn’t our relationships, not a business relate. It wasn’t a business relationship. We were friends that started a show. We wasn’t business guys that became friends. We were friends first and then started the show. So we’re at, we’re on YouTube. Speaker0: [3:07] You can search Mikey Scars Find our show Our YouTube show We’re primarily on Patreon now Same name, Mikey Scars We do 8 shows a month on Patreon And it’s been We’ve done a lot of really good stuff We talk about a lot of things in his life And he goes back In my opinion, the last live and made, Major Five family figure that’s out there His name goes back to Sicily over 100 years He has a long, long history He’s three, four generations deep inside of Cosa Nostra. So it’s been fun to talk with a guy who has so much understanding of the life in a more nuanced way. Speaker1: [3:47] Yeah, he really does. And he’s articulate enough that he can really, as you say, a nuanced way, he can tell the story. And so, you know, now you’ve done this book here, The Don, 36 Rules of the Boss. Speaker1: [4:03] R.J. Roger. Now, is this your first book? I’m not sure. I can’t remember. Speaker0: [4:08] Yes, it’s my first official book. That’s a major release book, traditional published book, first one. Speaker1: [4:16] Didn’t you tell me that you also used some stuff from Michael in your book to help explain some of these rules of the boss? Because he’s got firsthand knowledge of that. That’s not like just reading it from somebody else who got it from somebody else. He’s got firsthand knowledge of working with a boss. Speaker0: [4:35] Now, the first, the 30, so what I had done, I wrote the 36 rules before I even met Michael, years and years before I met Michael. That was really, I had this theory on 36 rules of a mafia don, of a boss, just a boss, not a captain or underboss. I looked at, you know, the history of the American mob bosses in the five families. And I’ve researched their whole life, like the social behavior study, essentially. And I didn’t look at the mafia for what they claim to be. We’re honored society. We only kill our own. We don’t deal in drugs. We don’t touch a boss. You’re untouchable. You can’t kill without permission. All the stuff that they claim to be, that’s not these 36 rules because a lot of that is. Speaker0: [5:22] Fluff. It’s not real. So I looked at their actual behaviors. Like what did they actually do? How did they actually treat people? Were they truly an honored society? So I looked at their history and what I found is 36 common things that you could find among the leaders of the five families. So I wrote that theory. Th...
Transcribe →The Mafia Opens Its Books
Jan 1, 2025Tap to summarizeIn this bonus episode, retired police intelligence unit detective Gary Jenkins looks into a fascinating New York Times article from March 21, 1976, that sheds light on a pivotal moment in the Mafia’s history—reopening their membership rosters after nearly two decades. This marked a significant turning point for the five Mafia families, where they were again allowed to induct new members into their ranks. I discuss how this decision was made cautiously, with each family permitted to initiate only ten new members, ensuring that those chosen were proven loyal and financially savvy operatives who could withstand the challenges of Mafia life. As I analyze the shifts in power dynamics and the emergence of new figures, I point to key players such as Carmine Galante, whose ambitions peaked when he returned to the scene following a lengthy prison sentence. I provide insights into how the old guard of Mafia leadership began to decline, making way for fresh ambition and new strategies, particularly in narcotics. The interplay of rivalry, loyalty, and the ever-present financial machinations within the families illustrates the complexity of Mafia politics as they sought to adapt and thrive amid evolving criminal enterprises. Subscribe to get new gangster stories every week. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast. Donate to the podcast. Click here! Transcript [0:00] Well, hey, all you wiretappers out there, glad to be back here in Studio Gangland Wire. I’ve got a little bonus episode, I think. I don’t know how long it’s going to be, but not too long. Steve Popkin, the fan of the podcast, sent me a link to a New York Times article. Actually, it was out of the New York Times archives. They have an archive that you can access. It was dated March 21st, 1976, and the title was Five Mafia Families Opened Rosters to New Members. Well, this is back when they opened the books, finally. We hear a lot about that. The books were closed. The books were opened. They opened the books in 1976. There’s a lot of guys who were made right after that. [0:43] It’s hard to figure out who they all are. It’ll take a lot of time, but you all know who was made in 1976, 1977, during those years would have been right after the books were opened back up. They had to get the commission to approve of that, and there was five families [1:02] on the commission at the time. I assume Chicago probably was, but since it was a New York deal, they probably just kept it within New York mob bosses to vote on whether they would open up the books again. Now, in this article, I bet when they read this, some of these guys read this article, they were about to shit because here’s their business right down on the street. And I know they read those articles. I’ve got a wiretap where Nick Savella is reading an article or actually Tuffy DeLuna is reading an article to him where the, I believe it was the Wall Street Journal, was saying that Iupa was moving out west and moving into Las Vegas. And Nick Civella says, oh, boy. [1:49] And anyhow, so, you know, I know they read this stuff and they pay attention to it. And to see this out on Front Street like this, I don’t know. Anyhow, the article said that each family had been given permission to initiate 10 new members. [2:04] And they were instructed that they had to get these, take these guys from proven moneymakers within their own family, people that they knew. because, you know, they know that they can be infiltrated. So they want to make sure that people that didn’t have any legal problems faced them at that time. Now, you know, you’re going to get some legal problems eventually. So you just have to, you know, people whose family members you know or maybe you’re an extended relative of your own, if you’re a maid guy or you’re a boss, you want somebody that’s proven their loyalty. Somebody’s gone to the joint and kept their mouth shut before. I mean, a guy that goes in, does a tray or five years or whatever. Somebody does 10 years. I know a guy here in Kansas City, my friend, Steve St. John, he did 10 years. Now, he wasn’t involved in a mafia crime, but he didn’t talk. And he’s the kind of guy that, you know, people will look out to, you know, to hold up to this higher standard, to higher and high esteem in that world. And, you know, he does not commit any more crimes. Would he be a guy that you would want to commit a crime with? Bright guy, and he didn’t talk, and he could have. Believe me, he knew stuff, and he could have talked, and he wouldn’t do it. The books were closed in 1957 after Joe Valacci started testifying in 1962. [3:27] He talked about the different—he described the ceremony for the first time, the whole pricking of the finger, burning of the hand, the loyalty oath, which has been reported by other people that have come in angelo uh leonardo reported it i found that one he really did it in detail and they even taped one in boston area in the patriarchy family here in the last several years so they shut down the books they were so scared of infiltration and. [3:57] Finally, the heads of the fine families met and they opened them up, given these kind of certain restrictions, if you will. Each guy can get 10 people, select proven moneymakers and that kind of thing. They still take the oath of silence. [4:15] And there’s no doubt that it was going to be tightly controlled by these mob families. As the FBI at the time said, they reported in this article says they’ve been holding initiation ceremonies in New York for the past month. My boss reads that. He said, come on, what’s up with this? This agent said that these ceremonies have been held in the homes of underbosses and selected family captains, not in the homes of the bosses because they think they have too much surveillance on them. Apparently, he said, the initiation ceremony they were using at that time was still really close to what Bellacci had described. The guns, knives laying there, the oaths of silence, the whole thing. And some of them that were initiated at the time, and I’d be curious, you know, get a hold of me or comment on the Facebook or on the YouTube. Who all was made during this time? This report indicates a guy named John Russo, who was a driver and a bodyguard for Frank Thierry, who was supposedly the boss of the Vito Genovese family at the time. He would have been kind of a new boss. It’s another thing. There were some new bosses at the time. I think that’s one reason they got this through. Benaro Magano. He was the guy known as Benny eggs. I’ve heard of him. He’s a very successful bookmaker and loan shark Salvatore franchise. He was, uh, He ran all the gambling operations for Sonny Franchise, who was a captain in the Colombo family. [5:38] Kind of the article surmised, and probably they got this from an agent, this kind of shows the decline of Carlo Gambino, his lessening of his influence in some of the newer mob, like I said, some of the newer mob bosses were coming in at the time. [5:55] It also kind of showed the emergence of Carmine Galante. He had come back out of jail and he had like assumed he was going to be the boss of the Bonanno family uh just spent 15 years in jail kept his mouth shut you know he felt like he was owed and he was owed and of course we had time Rusty Rustelli was inside at the time and and he was supposedly the heir apparent I believe but he really led the fight to open the books now if you remember he was trying to bring in the zips he was bringing these Sicilians to pump up his family and get into narcotics. He knew those guys, you know, first of all, they didn’t really speak the language. And if he brought them over, they would be so loyal to him that he could trust them to be loyal to him. And he wanted to be able to make those guys, you know, at the time they had a pretty new boss, the Lucchese family and Tony Duck, Tony Ducks, Anthony Corral...
Transcribe →The Infamous Vinnie Teresa
Dec 23, 202400:46:35Tap to summarizeIn this last interview with our good friend and contributor, Camillus “Cam” Robinson, Gary and Cam discuss the infamous government informant Vincent “Vinnie” Teresa. Cam died recently and I will feel this loss for a long time. His gentle nature and prodigious work effort was always a great benfit to the podcast and to everybody around him. Rest in Peace to my friend and collaborator in this crazy world of mafia history. Camillus was a great historian and an excellent writer. Check out his book by clicking on the title, Chicago Swan Song: A Mob Wife’s Story. Lisa Swan became the wife of Frank Calabrese, Jr., a collector for his father, the notorious and brutal Frank “Frankie the Breeze” Calabrese, a high-ranking member of the infamous Chinatown Crew. It’s all here. The money, the violence, the drugs, the greed, and the murders that surrounded her, as well as her deep passion to break free from a lifestyle that could change with the flash of a single bullet. Swan’s firsthand, intimate look inside the insular and secretive Chicago Outfit details her life inside the Calabrese Clan, one of the First Families of the Chicago Mob. She describes, with clarity and occasional humor, her discovery of the dark side of the Mafia and her battle to save herself, her children, and eventually her husband from the gritty realities of the Mob. In this episode, we learn that Vinnie Teresa was an early mobster in the FBI’s vaunted Top Echelon Informant program. In the end, Vinne Teresa was caught in an act of perjury when he tried to implicate Meyer Lansky in a criminal conspiracy. Subscribe to get new gangster stories every week. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast. Donate to the podcast. Click here! Transcript [0:00] Well, hey, all you wiretappers, good to be back here in the studio, Gangland Wire. This is Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Detective and now podcaster, documentary filmmaker. And I am here with my good friend and periodic co-host, if you will, Amulus, Camillus Robinson. Cam, thanks a lot for coming on the show. Gary, I always have a blast. I mean, you and I, you got me started in this and anytime I can come on, we just love to. We have a good time getting together, don’t we? Yeah, we do. So oh you know a little aside i was just researching some old stuff on chicago or newspaper clip and i saw there was a grand jury about gambling in gary indiana see cam used to live up by gary indiana and we did a show about the gary indiana family that’s right. [0:49] Ran by chicago of course hell chicago ran everything some people even say they ran kansas city they didn’t really but they had a lot of influence down here kansas city next savella did not do much if he thought iupa wouldn’t approve he wouldn’t do it he he got iupa’s approval on any major things outside of kansas city for sure they had a swung a big stick didn’t they absolutely savella wasn’t the kind of guy who answered to people but i think he was smart enough to know who were the big fish in the pond yeah he was smart anyhow we’re going to talk about Vinnie Teresa. Vinnie Teresa is one of the earliest mob books I ever read. I’ll never forget, Kim. I was in a library in the junior college. I must have been taking a class and I was just poking around. I found this book about the mafia. I wasn’t into organized crime at the time. I started reading this book about this Vinnie Teresa and all the stuff that he talked about, which is pretty controversial. That first one was My Life in the Mafia in 1973, which he wrote with another guy. Do you remember that book? I know you’ve referred to his testimony in his books. [1:56] Absolutely. I learned a lot about what you can pick up from a lot of what Vinnie Teresa is just the inner workings and the day-to-day sort of scumbaggery that these guys, the scams and the cons and the, and ripping people off and how they lean on people. It really, it being so early, people didn’t have a friend reference except the Godfather. And yeah, that book really, really opened my eyes to a lot of things. [2:21] Interesting. You know, his, his second book, he documents his life during his time in witness protection. And that was in 1975. Then later on, 1978, he wrote actually a fictional novel called wise guys. And I don’t, I don’t, I’ve never read it. I’ve never heard anybody talk about it. So I don’t know what that’s about. Um, My mother told me when his stuff first came out, people didn’t believe it could possibly be true. It was like we just said, it being so early, people just didn’t have a frame of reference on what the mob was and certainly nobody coming in from the cold. And she said, I remember people talking, oh, he can’t, none of that can be true, can it? Can that be really how these guys operate? Now, he was, his grandfather came from Sicily, who was a mafia member in Sicily and bootlegger during Prohibition. So he comes by it, honestly, being in the mob, shall we say. [3:18] I gave him a lot of gravitas with some of the old foot in the door. You know, every one of these guys we’ve ever done anything about their whole life, that would start out, you know, they get caught by burglar doing burglaries and robbing stuff as teenagers. And he got expelled from school for violence against the teachers and all that kind of stuff. He was in, according to what I read, he was an inveterate gambler, he was a degenerate gambler. Total degenerate. Early age. He goes in the Navy for, everybody had to go in the service back then. I’m talking like right after World War II, if you were of a certain age, even all the way up till, I don’t know, 1970s till the end of Vietnam. Everybody did two years. If you didn’t go to college and get married and have a kid, you went in. And he went in the Navy, but that didn’t last very long. Bad conduct discharge. So. Roly poly fellow too. So I can’t imagine him doing his PT too effectively. I don’t imagine he was real gung ho on doing those pull-ups and running the obstacle course. Let alone all this just runs. Yeah. [4:31] So of course he gets married and as they all do and start getting jobs and he gets caught stealing from his employers i mean it’s a usual deal but you know he’s got mob connections so with the patriarchy family so now he you know guy a good thief like this what’s he gonna do they’re gonna see him and they’re gonna pick him up and he’ll start getting involved with them Remember much about his early days with Patriarcha family? You know, I know that, you know, as I said, because of his family connections that entered him in with a Patriarcha, the guy, one of the guys who predated Patriarcha, Joe Lombardo was sort of like the old man, sort of like the, some of the older guys who would be around Kansas City that, that Civella would go and, and, and pay his respects to and seek their counsel. Joe Lombardo was that kind of guy in Rhode Island that patriarch would always go and seek his counsel and sit with him as an equal in a way. And because Teresa had those, he worked for Joe Lombardo in some limited capacities early on as a youth, sort of cartage theft and trucks and different things. But he really, because he had that pedigree, that was what really gave him, he got to skip a couple of steps when it came to getting in with the big names. And he was a sharp guy, really was a good earner, just like you said, he just degenerate gambler. [5:55] Yeah, it’s an interesting life. These guys, they’ve got this history and this background. They take a man, he starts making connections with him. He was kind of a white collar crime guy from early on because he was a big gambler. Gamblers are always going to be white collar crime guys. One of his early things he did was insurance jobs, getting a...
Transcribe →Vincent “The Chin” Gigante Admits the Truth
Dec 16, 202400:49:42Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Gary sits down with former FBI agent Mike Campi, a key figure in the investigation that led to the downfall of Vincent “Chin” Gigante and the Genovese crime family. Mike takes us inside the complex world of organized crime, explaining how Gigante, infamous for his feigned insanity, managed to evade law enforcement for years while secretly running the family’s operations from the shadows. Mike shares the critical role of informants like Cookie D’Urso, whose cooperation provided the FBI with essential insights that brought them closer to Gigante. Together, we explore the meticulous surveillance and wiretapping methods used in the investigation, uncovering the challenges of gathering evidence against individuals skilled at evading law enforcement. The conversation covers the evolution of the case from labor racketeering to a full-scale investigation into the Genovese family’s activities. Mike recounts the internal tensions and bureaucratic obstacles within the FBI and local law enforcement during this high-stakes operation. We also dive into the theme of loyalty and betrayal within the mob. Mike tells stories of brutal retributions, betrayal, and hypocrisy in mob culture, where ambition and greed often overtake family loyalty. He highlights how figures like Cookie D’Urso and George Barone went from mob insiders to crucial witnesses, with their testimonies and recorded conversations playing a decisive role in bringing Gigante to justice—ultimately resulting in Gigante’s admission in court that he had faked insanity for years. The episode wraps up with Mike’s reflections on the current state of organized crime, exploring how some tactics have evolved, yet the underlying nature of organized crime remains largely unchanged. This episode offers a gripping look into the strategy, patience, and grit it takes to tackle organized crime from the inside out. Click here to get Mike’s book, Mafia Takedown: The Incredible True Story of the FBI Agent Who Devastated the New York Mob Subscribe to get new gangster stories every week. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast. Donate to the podcast. Click here! Transcript 0:00] Well, hey, all you wiretappers. Welcome back here in the studio of Gangland [0:03] Wires. Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City police detective from the intelligence unit. And I have a FBI agent today named Mike Camp. And Mike Campy was a case agent of a huge investigation on a Genovese family. This is the case that they turned a guy named Cookie Durso. And that guy ended up talking about Vincent the Chin Gigante. And in the end, that squad that Mike was attached to figured out how to get enough information to get Vincent Gigante to admit in open court that he had been put on an act all those years. You know, if you’re not familiar with their story of Vincent the Chin Gigante, he was a boss of the Genovese family and he had put on an act and he was crazy. Wandered around Little Italy and Greenwich Village, wherever he lived, [0:50] somewhere there in Manhattan, in a bath robe and talking to himself and all that. And he did it for years and years and really avoided a lot of a lot of heat when he was actually the boss of the genovese family and they put uh fat tony salerno out as the boss and everybody thought he was a boss and and so this is a guy that really ends up exposing that and he does this huge long investigation on the entire family so just sit back and listen to mike campy so uh we’re gonna talk about vincent the chin gigante today when When I was investigating, when my squad changed from labor racketeering. [1:27] Eventually became a focus on. [1:30] The Genovese organized crime family. Rather than being assigned, I wanted to open my own investigation. And we have control files that have historic information from cooperating witnesses and informants that stores the… So I went back and I reviewed the files from volume one up to the last volume [1:51] to focus on who I wanted to open investigation on. And I opened on… The reason I opened the investigation on nicky the blonde frustaci was because he was well liked by many people both chin gigante because nicky was involved in boxing as was chin yeah but also uptown with fat tony salerno and nicky’s neighborhood was over by historic where lucky luciano over on first avenue on the east side with 11th street and so he was my focus and originally. [2:26] But I had him, according to information, being placed by chin with Jimmy Ida, who was the acting consigliere, eventually became official consigliere. So the surveillance and all other topics, you know, tapped into Jimmy Ida being a focus with Nikki DeBlanc and others. And so it took a bunch of years because we had a bunch of problems with the title three reinstallations. They got caught a number of times, both PD and the FBI. But at some point right now, Jimmy Ida is doing life in prison as a result of that investigation because of his role as the consigliere in coordinating murders of various individuals. [3:14] Sanctioned murders from the Genovese family. And I thought focusing on Jimmy Ida and Nikki the Blonde, because Chin was pretending to be crazy for all those years, that the likelihood of somebody maybe wanting to cooperate because they’re taking a hit for a guy who’s wearing a bathrobe, living the life, you know, as bizarre as it seems. [3:38] I thought that that was a good possibility of getting cooperation. And that investigation resulted in the arrest and conviction pleas of the acting administration for the Genovese family to include Laborio Belomo, Barney Belomo, who’s the current boss. [3:56] He was the acting boss. Mickey D’Amino Generoso, who was the underboss, old timer, never gone. I don’t think he ever went to prison, but for this case, and Jimmy Ida and a whole bunch of other people. But that said, we didn’t get the cooperation, but the investigation facilitated the cooperation of Mike, future cooperation of Mike Durso actually reaching out in coordination with his defense attorney to meet with me to facilitate his cooperation. And, This was all supposed to be just a six-month investigation. This was in 1998, June of 98. And we were trying to get to December to arrest the people that shot him in the head, killed his cousin, his best friend, at their social club. And these guys were involved. The one guy, Carmine Pizza, Carmine Pulido, I had involved with previous bank robberies. And so the whole thing was going to address that type of criminal conduct. But because of the recordings we made right from Jump Street, you can clearly see that Durso had a unique reputation with his mentors. He was proposed for induction. He couldn’t retaliate and kill the people that shot him in the head. [5:25] Because, you know, there was so many different people cooperating between Al D’Arco, Sammy the Bull Gravano. They were like, you’d have to kill five of them. If you don’t kill five of them, somebody may cooperate. So this all, though, facilitated with recordings about Chin, his role in continuing to… [5:47] Manage and be the boss of the Genovese family, even when he was in prison. I mean, we made recordings with Tommy Cafaro, who was Vincent Fish Cafaro’s son, and this uptown crew of guys that were with Barney Belomo, who was also in prison. And these recordings were just so specific and detailed over a three-year period that it caused other problems for the Genovese family, to include a historic figure, George Barone, cooperating. And George Barone was somebody that went back to Vito Genovese days. [6:25] That he was the guy that the Genovese family utilized to really facilitate the [6:32] control of the ILA, the Longshoremen’s Union, on a national level. And that’s during the process of when it went from manually loading ships to...
Transcribe →Red Hook: Brooklyn Mafia
Dec 9, 202400:36:19Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Gangland Wire, Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City police Intelligence Detective, is joined by Frank DiMatteo, a man deeply rooted in the Brooklyn mob scene, and his co-author, Michael Benson, a seasoned true crime writer. Frank brings a unique perspective, shaped by his years growing up under the mentorship of mob legends like the Gallo brothers. Together, we dive into the evolution of organized crime in New York, focusing on the rivalry between the Irish and Italian communities as they vied for control of Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood. Frank recounts his early days in the mob, from running simple errands to taking on more significant operational roles. We discuss their latest book, Red Hook: Brooklyn Mafia Ground Zero. This is a look at the iconic neighborhood, treating Red Hook as a character in the story. The book highlights longstanding rivalries, including how the Irish initially ruled the docks until Italian immigrants arrived and tipped the scales—ultimately leading Frank to conclude that the Irish “lost because they drank too much.” As we unpack Red Hook’s rich criminal history, Frank and Michael reveal how this area became a breeding ground for notorious figures like Al Capone and Machine Gun Jack McGurn. Through personal anecdotes and broader historical insights, they paint a vivid picture of life in a community that served as both a battleground and home for the mob. Join us as we explore Frank and Michael’s fascinating work, shedding light on the intricate layers of mob life and the neighborhoods that shaped these stories. This episode offers an unfiltered look at the history of organized crime in Brooklyn, revealing the tension between power, loyalty, and survival in a world in the shadows. To get this book, click here for Red Hook: Brooklyn Mafia Ground Zero. Subscribe to get new gangster stories every week. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast. Donate to the podcast. Click here! Transcript [0:00] Welcome, wiretappers out there. I’m glad to be back here in the studio of Gangland Wire. This is a retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective, Gary Jenkins. Gangland Wire is the show, and I know a lot of you guys already knew who I am, but I get some new people every once in a while, so I have a great show for you today. One of these guys, Frank DiMatteo, grew up in the New York families in Brooklyn and around the Joey Gallo gang. He’s got several books out, and Michael Benson is his co-author on this, and Michael Benson, prolific author. And between them, they’ve got books about the mob. I’ve got most of them already. I’ve got The Cigar. We’ve got The Buffy Hitman about Carmine DeBasse. He’s one of the killers of Joy Gallo. A more recent one by Michael Benson and somebody else about moguls in Hollywood. And there’ll be some mob connections. Oops, didn’t have the mob connections to Hollywood. So I want to get Michael on to sometime in the future to talk about that book and Hollywood and the mob, which we know a lot about in Kansas City because we’re so close to Chicago and Chicago are the guys out there in Hollywood and extorted the shit out of them. Anyhow, so welcome guys. Tell us a little bit. Maybe we start with Frank. Frank has this kind of colorful [1:16] mob history and the way he was raised. Frank, tell the guys a little bit about yourself. [1:22] Well i was born in my father you know got involved in this life about 1960 i grew up under the under the watch eye of larry gallo joey gallo and alba gallo my godfather is bobby bon Giovanni which is bobby darrow hit guy for the gallo family and my uncle’s joe chapani which was originally with Luciano and Costello and Adonis. These are the mentors and these are the guys that I knew and followed and listened to and picked up everything I had to pick up until I was old enough to move around with them. And when I was old enough to move around with them, I became the driver. I just grew from being a driver for my father and these guys to be more active in the life. Yeah. And I stood there with my life until about 20 years ago. We walked away after it was a big pinch with the last crew we were with. Everybody got arrested. We got some subpoenas. We wound up walking away. And I wound up making a magazine and then now writing with Michael. [2:33] The magazine is called Mob Can’t Depot. Well, I am a freelance writer. I went to college to learn to be a writer. I was also born in 1956, probably one of the reasons Frank and I get along so well. I started out as a sports writer, wasn’t terribly good at it. I was a pretty good boxing writer. Turns out I was a much better fan than I was a writer when it came to sports. I switched to true crime. I wrote a bunch of books about psycho killers and innocent victims and became a little bit of a TV star doing evil twins and evil kin on the ID network. The market for true crime books softened largely because there were a lot of TV shows, whole networks dedicated to the subject. Books didn’t sell as well. Our editor, Gary Goldstein, found a book that Frank had written called Lion in the Basement. Frank wrote it all by his lonesome. It’s a little bit like a clockwork orange. It’s not quite written in English. It’s written in Frank. [3:31] So Gary’s idea was to have me take a whack at it and add some new material. I talked to his mom and other people. We put some new things in there and fixed up the English, made the spelling uniform. The result was President Street Boys. And that started a whole thing. We did a bunch of mob bosses. We did a hitman. And then Frank had the idea of, hey, let’s do a book where the hero is the neighborhood instead of one particular mobster. [3:59] So we start this book, Red Hook, back when the Europeans first arrived. It starts with the slaughter of the Lenape Indians by the Dutch. So, I mean, from the very beginning, the red in Red Hook is for blood. [4:12] So that’s how Red Hook got its name. I think it has to do with the color of the soil, but it could have been named after the blood that was spilled there. Yeah. I just interviewed an Atlanta-based FBI agent about a case that he did on the Gambino Connected Club called the Gold Club in Atlanta. Michael DiLeonardo took a case, and the owner, Steve Kaplan, had a warehouse in Red Hook. He said, they told me it was in Red Hook. I said, where is Red Hook? I’ve never heard of Red Hook. It couldn’t be more out of the way. [4:46] It’s one of the reasons it is the way it is because that’s where the docks are. So it’s always been mobbed up, but it’s also geographically isolated more now than ever with the Gowanus Canal, the Atlantic Ocean, the now the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. It’s a hard place to get in and out of. Interesting. And that’s what I noticed in the book, that Red Hook is the protagonist of this story. It is a character in this story. And you take the readers on a really colorful tour of Red Hook and white hand and black hand gangs, as you said, from the Indians and the white hand, black hand gangs. And those wars between the Irish and the Italians clear up the gas pipe, Casso and got his pal Shorty Masioco, Masioco. I can never get that name pronounced right. But anyhow, you bring them in. You know what? It evokes in me, one of the first mob movies I ever saw when I didn’t realize it was a mob movie was on the waterfront. I think that’s probably where that was set. I would imagine. And that was, that’s what it evokes in me. So yeah. [5:52] Let’s, maybe we start talking about a little bit about this battle between the Irish and white hand gangs and the black hand gangs and Al Capone is what I’...
Transcribe →Working with DEA Agents Bonus epsiode
Aug 22, 2023Tap to summarizeRetired Intelligence Detective Gary Jenkins brings you the best in mob history with his unique perception of the mafia. In this short bonus episode, Gary tells about his experiences working with the agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Listen to the end and hear a short trailer from a new podcast series titled Betrayal on the Bayou. Gary encourages you to check this new series out and listen by clicking here in BETRAYAL ON THE BAYOU. Support the Podcast Venmo @ganglandwire Donate at Gangland Wire
Transcribe →Lefty Ruggerio and Joe Pistone
Aug 3, 2022Tap to summarizeRetired Kansas City Police Intelligence detective Gary Jenkins interviews Joe Pistone, Retired FBI agent Doug Fencl and a former cellmate of Lefty Ruggerio and friend of Gary’s Steve St. John. We learn that Lefty Ruggerio was difficult to be around and as Joe once stated, “I would hate to be locked up with Lefty.” Lefty Ruggerio was a lifetime made-guy in the Bonanno Crime Family of New York City. He was a key figure in the undercover assignment of FBI agent Joe Pistone who adopted the name of Donnie Brasco when he infiltrated the Bonanno crew under Capo Sonny Black Napolitano. Al Pachino played Lefty in the well-known movie titled Donnie Brosco. Johnnie Depp portrayed agent Pistone. Joe Pistone tells how Lefty hated air conditioning and fresh air. They were in Florida together and lefty refused to allow Joe to turn on the car air conditioning or lower the windows on a hot Florida day. During this time in the car, LEfty chained smoked his favorite cigarettes, English ovals. Joe remembers that Lefty always wanted more and more whenever he did anything for Lefty. Steve St. John, former cellie of Lefty, tells how he was incarcerated in the Federal hospital facility in the Springfield Missouri Federal Correctional Institution with Lefty Ruggerio. Steve remembered making a cake for Lefty’s birthday and upon presentation, Lefty replied, “Well what else ya got for me?” The FBI assigned now-retired agent Doug Fencl to the Bonanno squad and one of his jobs was to make contact with Ruggerio. Doug tells us that he went to see Lefty Ruggerio and tell him that Donnie Brosco was Agent Joe Pistone. He said he caught Lefty alone in his social club when he approached him with this explosive piece of information, Lefty lost his cool and started screaming incoherently. Lefty was so upset that he stormed out of the club into the street leaving agent Fencl alone inside the club. Doug also tells the story of how he broke this news to Sonny Black Napolitano. He hoped to turn Sonny Black because this situation would cause Sonny Black to become a pariah among his Bonanno Family peers. He said Sonny Black never blinked an eye and showed no visible emotion. Doug said that Sonny Black asked Doug to wait up a minute and he explained, “You know that I can’t do that (meaning turning witness).” Doug said he replied, “I understand.” Of course, someone murdered Sonny Black not long after. Support the Podcast Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwireClick here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here, please give me a review and help others find the podcast.
Transcribe →Joe Pistone and Deep Cover
Dec 14, 2020Tap to summarizeJoe 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 Deep Cover and you can find it on all podcast apps. Click here to find their website Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos This week on December 16th, Amazon will allow free downloads of my book, Leaving Vegas. This is the second of a limited duration Christmas present for listeners and their friends. Be sure and tell everybody and share on your social media outlets. Show Notes by Gary Jenkins Support the Podcast Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire To go to the store or make a donation Click Here. To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To subscribe on iTunes click here, please give me a review and help others find the podcast
Transcribe →