Legally Brunette: The Mafia in Las Vegas

Summary

Podcast Summary: Legally Brunette – "The Mafia in Las Vegas"

Two Ts In A Pod with Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge (Legally Brunette Takeover)
Date: November 15, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this special episode of "Legally Brunette," Emily Simpson and her husband Shane, podcasting from Las Vegas during BravoCon, delve into the fascinating, shadowy history of organized crime in Las Vegas and the recent NBA gambling scandal that has rocked the sports and legal worlds. With their signature banter and sharp wit, the duo explore how the mob built Vegas, the evolution of their schemes, and the ongoing relevance of criminal syndicates in modern society.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. How the Mob Built Las Vegas

• Mob Origins in Vegas: Emily opens by tracing Las Vegas’ transformation from a dusty Nevada stop to a casino metropolis, crediting figures like Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, and Midwest syndicates for using casinos both as cash cows and money-laundering front operations.

  "Organized crime played a foundational role in shaping early Las Vegas. Beginning in the 40s, mobsters from cities like Chicago, New York, Cleveland, and Kansas City invested heavily in building casinos along the strip." – Emily Simpson (02:35)

• Regulation Loopholes: The state allowed people previously banned from gambling in other jurisdictions to start over in Vegas—literally writing organized crime into its roots.

  "So all those people that got banned from other jurisdictions get to come to Vegas and start over." – Emily Simpson (05:00)

2. Emily & Shane's Mob Movie Fandom

• The pair reminisce about visiting the Mob Museum and their love for mob films, including Emily’s infamous accidental backwards viewing of "The Godfather," spawning much laughter.

  "Emily watched the Godfather backwards... She can't read Roman numerals. She watched it backwards." – Shane (04:32)
  "I watched the second half of Godfather... and then I watched the beginning, and I was so confused." – Emily Simpson (05:10)

3. 2025 NBA Mafia Gambling Scandal

• Scandal Scope: In October 2025, authorities unsealed indictments against mafia members, current/former NBA figures, and high-stakes poker organizers across Las Vegas, Manhattan, Miami, and the Hamptons.
  • Crimes involved:
    • A rigged underground poker ring
    • Illegal sports betting leveraging NBA insider information
• Key Individuals Named:
  • Chauncey Billups: Portland Trailblazers head coach; charged in poker scheme
  • Damon Jones: Former NBA player/coach; implicated
  • Terry Rozier: Current Miami Heat player; accused of providing insider info
  • Four New York Mafia families: Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese
• How the Crimes Worked:
  • Sophisticated cheating technologies used—altered shuffling machines, x-ray tables, hidden cameras, and even contact lenses that reveal marked cards.

    "Some of the tech reportedly used was altered shuffling machines that secretly read the cards... X ray poker tables, hidden cameras and chip trays, and even contact lenses or glasses that could detect marked cards." – Emily Simpson (10:18–11:22)

  • NBA stars were used to lure in high-roller victims to these rigged games.

4. The Mechanics of the Scam

• Shane explains how cheating tech can predetermine hands and outcomes, boosting the house’s advantage.

  "The shuffling machines would shuffle, but it would also read the card... And then it would know, so you would insert in the machine five players, for example... and it would know player one is going to win." – Shane (10:39–11:22)

• When players lost and refused to pay, the mob threatened or intimidated them.

  "When players lost and refused to pay, prosecutors say the mob used intimidation or threats to collect the debt. I mean that's, that's a win win. Like you lose and then you have the mob that comes after you." – Emily Simpson (15:38)

• Profits laundered through shell companies, cash, and cryptocurrency.

• Authorities say the case is a stark reminder that La Cosa Nostra is still very much active, even as it adapts with technology.

5. Impact on NBA Integrity

• Emily and Shane ponder how fans can trust the sport after revelations about extensive game manipulation.

  "How can you watch a game and not think... that people are, there's, you know, like they're playing a certain way or losing or missing shots?... There's no integrity in the game when you know things like this." – Emily Simpson (16:37)

6. Mob Hierarchy and Modern Day Activity

• The pair riff on mob family organization, from bosses to "interns," and the glamorization of mafia life versus the grim reality.

  "They still maintain traditional... hierarchical structures, boss... underboss, captains, soldiers, junior associates. And associates. Yeah, no, it's associate and then junior associate." – Emily Simpson (19:17–19:37)

• Despite FBI crackdowns (especially via RICO), the mob persists in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Philly, and even smaller regions—but with lower membership and waning political influence.

7. Pop Culture: The Mafia in Movies & TV

• Mob life as depicted in films (The Godfather, Casino) and reality shows ("Growing Up Gotti") is debated.
• Shane critiques the glamorization and points out the real violence behind the myth.

  "He's a killer. You can't do that." – Shane, on getting a tattoo of John Gotti (21:40)

• Emily recalls the Godfather horse-head-in-the-bed moment as the moral line for her mob fascination.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Emily on Mob History (02:33):
  "If you know anything about Vegas, you have to know that Vegas was built by Bugsy. The Mob. I don't know. So organized crime played a foundational role in shaping early Las Vegas."

• Shane’s Deadpan on Casino Expertise (06:06):
  "Yeah, and how to cheat."

• Emily on Mob Glamour (09:13):
  "Why wasn't I born into a mafia family?"

• Shane on Mob Hierarchy (19:28):
  "Yeah...Interns. They have interns in the mob."

• Emily on Watching The Godfather (05:10):
  "Yes. I watched the second half of Godfather...And then I watched the beginning, and I was so confused."

• Shane, Critiquing Mob Reality Shows (21:41):
  "I just remember an episode where he got his grandfather tattooed on his arm or something... I'm sorry. He's a murderer and you're... You're trying to, like, and he's dead and gone and you're tattooing him on your shoulder..."

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Important Timestamps

| Segment | Time | |-------------------------------------- |-----------| | Mob built Las Vegas, loopholes | 02:33–06:10 | | Emily’s Godfather viewing mishap | 04:32–05:16 | | NBA mafia scandal overview | 06:29–07:55 | | Breakdown of criminal schemes | 07:27–08:32 | | How the cheating tech worked | 10:18–12:05 | | Intimidation, laundering, aftermath | 15:28–16:43 | | Mob hierarchy discussion | 19:17–19:51 | | Reality check on mob glamorization | 21:03–21:58 | | Pop culture & the godfather’s horse | 23:47–24:10 |

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Tone & Banter

Emily and Shane blend legal-minded analysis, humor, and pop culture references for a lively, accessible exploration of dark subject matter. They oscillate between genuine fascination, skepticism, and tongue-in-cheek asides (“Interns. They have interns in the mob.”) that keep even the heaviest moments engaging.

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Summary for New Listeners

This episode delivers a whirlwind tour of:

• The rise of the mob in Vegas,
• A breakdown of a headline-making NBA gambling scandal,
• Insights on how sophisticated tech enables age-old scams,
• Reflections on organized crime’s shifting place in American culture,
• And plenty of laughs, tangents, and personal storytelling.

Recommended if you enjoy true crime, pop culture, and witty banter.

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End of summary.

Transcript

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[Kal Penn]

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[Emily Simpson]

Hi guys. Welcome to another episode of Legally Brunette. I will be your host. Emily Simpson and Shane okay we are recording this podcast from Vegas, and we are here at Bravo Con. So we thought it would be appropriate to do an episode on the mob and the new NBA scandal that's come out, because if you know anything about Vegas, you have to know that Vegas was built by Bugsy. The Mob. I don't know. So organized crime played a foundational role in shaping early Las Vegas. Beginning in the 40s, mobsters from cities like Chicago, New York, Cleveland, and Kansas City invested heavily in building casinos along the strip. Figures such as Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, and later Midwest crime syndicates help finance and operate major resorts, using them both as profit centers and as fronts for laundering money. So Jeff Shoemaker, who is the vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, says organized crime in New York, Chicago, Miami. They saw that Vegas was an opportunity to pretend to go legit. There had been illegal gambling clubs all over the country for years. The mob would pay off the local sheriff and judges, but still they'd raid the place every so often and shut it down to give the appearance of law and order. Rather than that every couple months, the mob decided to immigrate to Las Vegas to get involved with the casino industry. You know, we've been to the mall. I think I've been to the mall museum twice, actually.

[Shane]

Well, once with me. I don't know. Another time you went.

[Emily Simpson]

Must have been with some other man.

[Shane]

Probably.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes, but I've been. I think I've been more than one times.

[Shane]

You love that place.

[Emily Simpson]

I. I do. I know I do. I.

[Shane]

First of all, I. I loves the mob.

[Emily Simpson]

I do. And I love mob movies, like Casino. Great movie, the Godfather. Remember when.

[Shane]

Yes. Emily watched the Godfather backwards.

[Emily Simpson]

I did.

[Shane]

She can't read Roman numerals. She watched it backwards.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay. This is 2006. I was living in Sacramento alone, and.

[Shane]

Emily was very confused.

[Emily Simpson]

Shane and I work together. This is pre. Like, I had no. This is like pre streaming services. So the only way I could watch TV was I had to go to Blockbuster and I had to rent movies, and so I rented the Godfather. And because the Godfather father is so long, it came with two discs, and I think someone put the discs in backwards.

[Shane]

So I thought you watched Godfather 2 and then you watched one. No, I watched disc two of Godfather 1.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes. I watched the second half of Godfather.

[Shane]

This is why you shouldn't live alone.

[Emily Simpson]

And then. And then I watched the beginning, and I was so confused.

[Kal Penn]

Yeah.

[Shane]

Yes.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay. Anyway.

[Shane]

And you've loved the Mob ever since.

[Emily Simpson]

I was still entertained. I loved It. So I love mob movies. The mob quickly demonstrated that it knew how to operate casinos efficiently, and its presence helped accelerate Las Vegas's transformation from a small desert stopover into a major urban center. As Shoemaker notes. Remember, he's the vice president of programming at the Mob Museum. He noted that the city needed people with real gambling industry experience. So the state's gaming regulations included a grandfather clause that permitted gaming applicants who had been involved in illegal gambling in other jurisdictions to work in Vegas. So all those people that got banned from other jurisdictions get to come to Vegas and start over.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Emily Simpson]

And then they have all this experience. Yeah. And how to cheat.

[Shane]

And here we are.

[Emily Simpson]

And here we are. All right, so what happened?

[Shane]

That was. Yeah, so it was Bugsy.

[Emily Simpson]

I thought his name was Bugsy Malone.

[Shane]

No, that's a tv. That's a movie.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh.

[Shane]

With Scott Baio and Jody Foster.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh, yes.

[Shane]

Great movie. Musical.

[Emily Simpson]

So it's Bugsy Siegel.

[Fitness/iFit Promoter]

Yes.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay, got it. So let's talk about this recent NBA scandal that has gone on that the mob is involved in. So in October of 2025, which is now. No, it's November. It was last month, federal authorities unsealed indictments in a major gambling operation involving mafia members, former and current NBA figures, and high stakes poker games.

[Shane]

What state is this in these poker.

[Emily Simpson]

Games and all the scandals going on in Las Vegas, Manhattan, Miami and the Hamptons.

[Shane]

Multiple jurisdictions.

[Emily Simpson]

I feel like that's like different crowds.

[Shane]

The Hamptons?

[Emily Simpson]

Well, yeah. Like, you have your Las Vegas crowd, then you have, like, your Hamptons crowd.

[Shane]

Well, I don't know if there's any boundaries to be drawn for crime, but.

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know, it just seems like different people.

[Shane]

But it's also people. Sports betting. Well, no, it wasn't sports betting. It was truly just gambling with cards. Right. Yeah. I'm telling you. I'm not asking.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay.

[Shane]

The look on your face was so. I'm telling you.

[Emily Simpson]

So there's two related criminal schemes that are at the heart of the case. A rigged underground poker ring and an illegal sports betting using insider NBA information.

[Shane]

So those are the two sports betting and cards.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. So let's talk about who is involved in this. So Chauncey Billups is the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers and a former NBA all star star. He is charged in the poker scheme.

[Shane]

Was he. Okay, go ahead. Yeah.

[Emily Simpson]

Damon Jones, a former NBA player and coach, is also implicated. Terry Rosier. Rosier? Rosier.

[Shane]

I don't know. Keep going.

[Emily Simpson]

Current Miami Heat player. You can clearly tell. I don't Follow Sports is accused in the sports betting part of the case allegedly providing insider information to betters. What. What is the insider information? Like who's hurt, who's playing, like that kind of thing?

[Shane]

Well, I don't know. But it also might be pulling people out. Like, hey, and so is not going to be starting up on this game.

[Emily Simpson]

You know, or idea.

[Shane]

Yeah, I mean, that's an example of some things. Yeah.

[Emily Simpson]

Like who's in the lineup, who's hurt.

[Shane]

In fact, I think, if I remember correctly, assuming this is the correct one, they would do things like that. So they would actually pull. Like the coaches might pull players from the court. So that way they have less chance of winning. Or whether it be maybe, maybe there's bets on points from certain players, like.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh, so they would like pull them out of a game because they're going.

[Shane]

To score too much. But there's a lot of different ways to bet. It's not just win or lose. It could be by how many points and things like that or what player gets so many points. And so then if this coach is in on it and he pulls, you know, so and so out, and then now they win the bets.

[Emily Simpson]

So prosecutors, Prosecutors say Associates from 4 New York Mafia families. I don't. Why wasn't I born into a mafia family?

[Shane]

Why do mobs families have associates? Like, is there a junior associate, a senior associate?

[Emily Simpson]

I. Well, there's a hierarchy, clearly.

[Shane]

Did you make partner after seven years?

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah, I just want to know why I wasn't born into a mafia family. There's the. There's four New York Mafia families. The Bonanno family, the Gambinos, the Genovese, and the Lucchesis.

[Shane]

You don't want to be in a mob family.

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know. It sounds.

[Kal Penn]

No.

[Emily Simpson]

Eccentric.

[Kal Penn]

No, no, no.

[Emily Simpson]

So these four families, these New York Mafia families, helped run this ring. A. This, this is my favorite part. A Las Vegas figure named Shane Sugar Hennin is among those arrested. And he is alleged to have. He is alleged to have ties to betting networks. Oh, Sugar, Shane. All right, so how did this scam work? So the poker games were not ordinary. Prosecutors alleged that the participants use sophisticated cheating technologies.

[Shane]

And sophisticated it was.

[Emily Simpson]

Some of the tech reportedly used was altered shuffling machines that secretly read the cards. See, this is crazy. This is when you get to the point where there is so much tech. Tech like how do you. How do you play these games anymore in a legit way without there just being something?

[Shane]

Well, clearly these people didn't know that they're Being duped. But they put the cards in the miss shuffling machines. And the shuffling machines would shuffle, but it would also read the card. And then it didn't just read the cards to know like what card is where, but it would know. So you would insert in the machine five players, for example. And then you shuffle, shuffle the cards. And then it would know player one has, is going to win or player two is going to win because of the way the cards, because it could read the cards so fast. And then, you know, I don't know how, but there's obviously communications and things like that. So then I would know, you know, player number two is going to win. So maybe I would fold or maybe I would bet hard or I don't know because I don't know if they're playing Texas hold' em or what kind of cards they were playing. But you would determine the outcome before the, before anyone even looked at their cards.

[Emily Simpson]

So there were also used X ray poker tables, hidden cameras and chip trays, and even contact lenses or glasses that could detect marked cars.

[Shane]

And they had them, they had some technology where you could shuffle like one deck without a machine. You shuffle the deck and stack the deck right, and just put it on the felt table. And then you'd have your, the dealer, for example, or someone would have their phone on the table face down or whatever, just looking like that's where they're placing their phone. But it's not a real phone. Their phone would have a camera or some type of scanning device and it would scan the side of the deck that's stacked and it's like a barcode and it would read and it would know right then and there who's going to have what card and who's going to win.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay. So I feel like the only way that you could legitimately play poker is if everybody just shows up naked and with a card table. And that's it.

[Shane]

That's kind of, that's my kind of card game.

[Emily Simpson]

Like that's, that's it. That's all you're allowed to have in the room is like a card table, a plastic fold out card table.

[Shane]

Wow. You should net, you know, phones, no.

[Emily Simpson]

Clothes, no glasses, no contact lenses.

[Shane]

Sounds like fun. But anyway, that, that, but, but you may be getting into this when you're looking into it further, but they would use NBA stars also to attract big.

[Emily Simpson]

Players because they get to play with them.

[Shane]

Yeah, yeah. So it's like, hey, we're having a card game. So and so, so and so. And all these people are going to be there. And you know, I don't know what NBA players and I don't want to like, claim, but they're saying all these people are going to be there. So then you're thinking, sweet, I'm going to go be with some high rollers, some, some athletes. If you're an NBA fan, this is a big deal. You're going to bet big, you're going to, you know you're going to play, and then you're going to lose all your money.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Kal Penn]

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[Sports Announcer]

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[Emily Simpson]

Interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit.

[Sports Announcer]

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[Fitness/iFit Promoter]

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[Sports Announcer]

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[Emily Simpson]

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[Shane]

Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Season 2.

[Sports Announcer]

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[Emily Simpson]

So there was an organized system. Information from the rigged machines would be passed to co conspirators who then signaled winning hands to other players to exploit the rig.

[Shane]

There you go.

[Emily Simpson]

When players lost and refused to pay, prosecutors say the mob used intimidation or threats to collect the debt. I mean that's, that's a win win. Like you lose and then you have the mob that comes after you. The profits were laundered through shell companies, cash exchanges and even cryptocurrency. According to officials, the scheme defrauded victims of tens of millions of dollars. This case is being seen as a stark reminder that organized crime, La Cosa Nostra, is still operating and adapting, even using modern technology to pull off fraud. For the NBA, the scandal raises serious questions about integrity, given that active and former players, coaches are implicated in both gambling and rigged poker. That's like, like, how can you watch a game and not think that now that people are, there's, you know, like they're playing a certain way or losing or missing shots or. I mean, there's no integrity in the game when you know things like this.

[Shane]

That's why it's a crime.

[Emily Simpson]

Like, how do you restore. But I'm saying, but I'm saying how do you restore integrity to a game now?

[Shane]

Well, you know, because they came in and they cleaned house. So you kind of hope it's, you know, they'll probably regulate a little bit more. I don't know. I don't know.

[Emily Simpson]

For.

[Shane]

Ask your mob family.

[Emily Simpson]

I don't have a mob family. I was not born into the mob. I was born in Midwest Ohio.

[Shane]

Well, ask your mom why she wasn't part of a mob family.

[Emily Simpson]

A separate related indictment also accused Damon Jones and others of being part of a sports betting scheme that utilized insider information about player injuries or intentions to influence bets on NBA games. How did, here's my question. How did they, how did it get to the point that the FBI was investigating? Did someone, Was there a. Was there a leak? Was there a.

[Shane]

Started it? Yeah, I don't know.

[Emily Simpson]

But someone had to come forward, don't you think?

[Shane]

Yeah, something, Some hint. Some, some whistleblower. Something.

[Emily Simpson]

Some whistleblower. Right.

[Shane]

But I, I did, I think they were investigating as far as back as like 10 years. Right. So I mean it's, it's been ongoing.

[Emily Simpson]

So they just allow this to go on for a decade?

[Shane]

Well, I, I don't know if it's Quite a day. Yeah. Well, no, you have to investigate.

[Emily Simpson]

You have to do.

[Shane]

What are you gonna do, just walk into the Mob and say, let me see your card shuffling machines?

[Emily Simpson]

No, no, no, no, no. You have to. I've seen this in Mob movies. You have to. When they're. You find out where they meet, like at what restaurant, and then you have to put surveillance in, but you have to wait until they're all gone. And then you have to sneak in, and you have to put surveillance cameras in. And then you sit in the van and you listen.

[Shane]

Is that what you saw in disc two of Godfather?

[Emily Simpson]

Yes, it is.

[Shane]

Okay, good.

[Emily Simpson]

The indictments name members.

[Shane]

That's, like, old. Like, in a panel van out in the street.

[Emily Simpson]

I've seen it.

[Shane]

Bug man or something.

[Emily Simpson]

And then they're. Yes, they're listening. That's a Terminator. Termites.

[Shane]

Terminator.

[Emily Simpson]

It's not Termite. Termite inspection. Whatever.

[Shane]

Yeah, that's. That's very comical. Like school. Like old school.

[Emily Simpson]

So it's more. You're saying it's more sophisticated now?

[Shane]

I would think so.

[Emily Simpson]

I would think so. The indictments name members and associates of the Gambino, Genovese, Banana and Lucci. I don't know if I'm saying that right, but I like to say it sounds like families. Luchi. Mafia families are being. As being involved. Lucisi.

[Shane]

There you go.

[Emily Simpson]

As being involved in organizing the games, collecting debts, and using threats and violence to enforce payments. So the question is, is the Mob still as active as it once was?

[Shane]

Apparently so.

[Emily Simpson]

Federal agencies consistently confirmed that La Cosa Nostra, the Italian American Mafia and Sicilian Mafia, remains active with families in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Chicago.

[Shane]

Absolutely.

[Emily Simpson]

And a few smaller regions.

[Shane]

I believe it.

[Emily Simpson]

They still maintain traditional. High. Higher. Hierarchical. Hierarchical structures, boss. Oh, see, here's your structure. You ready, boss?

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Emily Simpson]

Underboss, captains, soldiers, junior associates. And associates. Yeah, no, it's associate and then junior associate.

[Shane]

Interns. They have interns in the market.

[Emily Simpson]

I'm gonna. I'm gonna reach out.

[Shane]

Okay.

[Emily Simpson]

However, FBI cracked crackdowns throughout the 80s and 90s, especially RICO prosecutions. Well, we know why RICO was enacted. Why was RICO enacted?

[Shane]

Because of the Mob.

[Emily Simpson]

Exactly. Yeah, because that was their way to get.

[Shane]

What's a RICO stand for?

[Emily Simpson]

Oh, man.

[Shane]

Not RICO Suave.

[Emily Simpson]

No, it's not. RICO Suave.

[Shane]

Corrupt organization.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes, that's it. However, FBI crackdowns throughout the 80s and 90s, especially RICO, crippled many families. Membership numbers are. The membership numbers are down.

[Shane]

Recruitment is low.

[Emily Simpson]

It's really. It's low.

[Shane]

And the Morale. The mob morale.

[Emily Simpson]

It's a little low right now. Yeah. They got to get their numbers up. And their political influence is nowhere near what it once was.

[Shane]

With their what?

[Emily Simpson]

Their political influence? Yeah.

[Shane]

What's that mean? Like, do they campaign?

[Emily Simpson]

No, I think they were able to bribe politicians. Yes. I don't know. I don't know. Did you ever watch Growing up Gaudy?

[Shane]

I've seen. I remember seeing it, like here and there. Yes. I thought it was ridiculous because I don't like glamorizing that stuff. I remember an episode where he got his grandfather tattooed on his arm or something.

[Emily Simpson]

I'm like the grand. The grandsons.

[Shane]

That's why I said his grandfather.

[Emily Simpson]

Right? Yeah.

[Shane]

Yeah. Thank you.

[Emily Simpson]

So it's Victoria Gotti was the mother and she was the daughter of John Gotti.

[Shane]

Correct.

[Emily Simpson]

And then they. There was a reality show about their family, and then she had the two boys. Right.

[Shane]

I don't know if it was two multiple boys.

[Emily Simpson]

What year do you think that was? I think it was pre Emily. So it was pre Emily. Definitely pre Emily. So it was prior to 2000, probably 20 years ago.

[Shane]

But I remember thinking, like, okay, that's fine. You can. You probably had. He probably had experiences with his grandfather as a grandson and grandfather. That's fine. I don't want to take away from that, but I'm sorry. He's a murderer and you're. You're trying to, like, and he's dead and gone and you're tattooing him on your shoulder to look like. I don't know, it's just like, he's a killer. You can't do that.

[Emily Simpson]

I know, but.

[Shane]

You can't. But I mean, that's like. Like, is that what you want to do? Is that kind of person you want to be? You want to glamorize your grandfather? Like, I'm telling you, he's murdered many people. Maybe not with his hands, but at his instruction. Right?

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah. He's dead now. John Gotti's dead. Right? Did he die in prison?

[Shane]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He died in a cell. 23 hour lockdown.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, I think the mob and mafia is glamorized in all the movies. Even though it shows all the murders and the corruption, it's still. I don't know.

[Shane]

I know. I just. I just remember thinking that it's about the family. Yeah. It's family values.

[Emily Simpson]

It's about the family.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Emily Simpson]

Wait, did the Mafia. The Mafia be. Came into existence because of prohibition, is that correct? That's where it came from. Right.

[Shane]

In the twenties. I Think it grew there. I think it goes back to Italy, though. It truly does.

[Emily Simpson]

And then.

[Shane]

But then, I mean, it could actually go back thousands of years, biblically, but go ahead.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh, well, that was very profound.

[Shane]

Yeah. But I'll say that for another conversation. That's a different podcast.

[Emily Simpson]

But it became. The Mafia became. I don't want to say popular, but it. During the twenties, during Prohibition. Right. Because they. It was the underground of the. The right.

[Shane]

Alcoh was illegal. And so. Yeah. But I mean, they do all kinds of things, and they have, like, garbage trucks and stuff, and, you know, that's probably how they hide the bodies. They go pick up.

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know. But you know what? I started watching the other day, and I watched, I think, like, the first three episodes, it was the Sopranos. I've never watched that before.

[Shane]

Okay.

[Emily Simpson]

Because I read an article about the ending of the Sopranos, so how so many people don't know how to interpret it. And it was like this bizarre ending in the very last episode, in the finale.

[Shane]

So then I watch that one in order or backwards?

[Emily Simpson]

No, I'm gonna. I'm gonna try to start at the beginning and. And go in order.

[Shane]

Okay.

[Emily Simpson]

That's my plan.

[Shane]

If you need help.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay.

[Shane]

Let me know.

[Emily Simpson]

Thank you. So the Mafia is not as powerful or visible as it once was during the mid-1900s, but it is still active, organized, and profitable in several regions. It's just evolved into a quieter, more financially driven version of itself, and they are recruiting more members currently. Okay. Because membership numbers are down.

[Shane]

I hope they file bankruptcies. That would be better. They need to go away. They're killers. Mafia is killing. You say you want to be born in a family of killers?

[Emily Simpson]

No.

[Shane]

Murderers?

[Emily Simpson]

No. Well, you know, I did see in the Godfather, they killed the horse, and that. That just did it.

[Shane]

That's where you draw the line.

[Emily Simpson]

I draw the line at that. When he woke up with the horse head in the bed, I was like, I'm out. I don't want to be a part of horse killers.

[Shane]

We got a problem.

[Emily Simpson]

I have serious problem with that.

[Shane]

Okay.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay.

[Shane]

Well, if it was a pony, would that be even worse?

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah. I can't even go there. Thank you, everyone, for listening to this episode of Legally Brunette. As always, you can follow us on our own feed. So please make sure to do that. That's where all our episodes will be. And also, please leave us a review, and if you have any cases that you would like us to discuss or argue about or banter about, we would love to hear from you so please DM me on Instagram. And thank you so much for listening.

[Shane]

Thank you.

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