On the evening of May 13 1977 two men waited in a car outside the home of Mickey Spillane. They were there to deliver a message to the head of the Irish Mob. The death of Mickey Spillane marked the end of an era. The day of the gentleman gangsta was over. And the reign of terror was about to begin. The Irish Mob s1e2
Mulligan was involved in loan sharking and gambling but he wasn’t as such a very greedy man … [Spillane] soon came to the attention of Hughie Mulligan. ibid.
‘My dad’s way of life was becoming a dinosaur. ibid. Spillane’s son
Drugs were sweeping through Hell’s Kitchen. ibid.
Now Jimmy Coonan and his crew had complete control of the west side in New York. A reign of terror was about to begin – the reign of the Westies. ibid.
Coonan made an alliance with the Gambino family. ibid.
On December 11th 1978 the biggest robbery in US history took place, the Lufthansa Heist. It was the perfect robbery and the mastermind behind it was the Irish gangster Jimmy the Gent Burke. The Irish Mob s1e3
The basis for Robert De Niro’s character in the film Goodfellas. ibid.
Jimmy Burke was one of the richest and most powerful gangstas in New York. ibid.
Burke was sentenced to life in prison where he died on April of 1996 at the age of 64. ibid.
‘Going to his father and telling his father I’m done with the life, I’m out of it, is an irrelevant requirement – you don’t leave the mob; it doesn’t happen.’ Gotti: Godfather & Son: Kid Christmas, dude, History 2019
John Gotti without question was the most flamboyant, most colourful, most powerful, most public gangster in the second half of the century in the United States. ibid. Murray Weiss, author
He lived his life. ibid. defense attorney
It’s the charisma, the charm, the walking into the place. ibid. lady
He was on the lam for years. ibid. son
Every time I come here, guys give me money. Gotti: Godfather & Son II: A Made Man, John junior re Saturdays with the Mob
It was intoxicating. My father was very easy to idolise. ibid.
Drugs were taboo. Obviously ratting was taboo. Sleeping with somebody’s wife was taboo. But as the years went on our crew got into drugs. ibid. Larry Mazza, author
By the ’80s the boss of the Gambino family was basically the boss of the Mafia in the United States. Gotti: Godfather & Son III: Fathers & Sons
I didn’t want the fanfare … My father was having none of that. ibid. Gotti junior
When Sammy flipped, I think that was the biggest surprise to so many people. ibid. baddie
How The Feds Got Gotti. Gotti: Godfather & Son IV: Sins of the Father, New York magazine front cover
I believe that the last visit that John [junior] had he knew that that was the last time he was going to see his father alive. ibid. brother
John died a Cosa Nostra man’s man. He did not give in. ibid. Larry Mazza, author
John Gotti junior tonight is facing a new federal indictment. ibid. television news Lynda Baquero 22 July 2004
I came home December 1 2009. ibid.
Brooklyn 1986: A violent explosion rocks a Brooklyn neighbourhood. In the wreckage is the body of gangster Frank DeCicco. DeCicco is the right hand man of the most notorious mob boss in New York – John Gotti. Who would dare cross such a dangerous man? The Mob and the Feds are mystified … Suspicion settles on a wave of younger gangsters recently arrived from the old country … Was the bomb really meant for Gotti himself? And if so, who would dare murder a Mafia boss? Mafia Killers with Colin McLaren s1e1: John Gotti: The Teflon Don, History 2019
Gotti grew up poor and tough; he was always in trouble at school. ibid.
Gotti had been arrested a number of times for minor crimes but at 28 he is caught red-handed stealing a shipment of women’s clothing from the airport cargo area. Gotti gets three years in prison. ibid.
He always needs money to pay his gambling debts. ibid.
Gotti has got to the top. The problem now is how to save him. His love of the limelight makes him an easy target for the law. ibid.
‘Sammy’s philosophy was Betray or be Betrayed.’ Mafia Killers s1e2: Sammy the Bull Gravano, Selwyn Rabb
Gravano left a trail of blood on the streets of New York. ibid.
Sammy stays in the army for two years; unfortunately, it does nothing to improve his behaviour. ibid.
In 1987 Gotti promotes Sammy Gravano to Underboss. ibid.
He accepts Gotti’s orders without question. ibid.
He does less than a year. Gravano then enters the Witness Protection Programme. ibid.
Brooklyn 1961: Mobsters Carmine Persico and Larry Gallo meet in secret to plan a rebellion. Persico and Gallo refuse to pay the stiff kickbacks demanded by their boss Joe Prefaci. Rebelling against a Mafia boss is suicidal. Mafia Killers s1e3: Carmine The Snake Persico
The Snake’s ruthless ambition would then practically destroy one of New York’s most powerful Mafia families. ibid.
He’s been behind bars since 1987 serving a sentence of 139 years. ibid.
Persico and his leadership were indicted on multiple charges of racketeering. ibid.
Brooklyn 1992: This [Patrick Testa] is the latest in a wave of recent killings that remain unsolved: but this murder holds a vital clue that will lead investigators into the murky underworld of the New York Mafia. Mafia Killers s1e4: Anthony Gaspipe Casso
One of the Mob’s most vicious killers: Anthony Gaspipe Casso. ibid.
The drug business is now too risky so he gets out while he can. ibid.
Federal prosecutors serve up indictments to all the top mobsters involved in running the windows racket. ibid.
New York 1957: One of the strangest careers in Mob history. Mafia Killers s1e5: Vicent Gigante The Oddfather
‘He would mumble, look crazy, and look totally unaware of what was going on.’ ibid. Selwyn Rabb
Vincent Gigante was born in 1928 in Manhattan’s lower east side; he grew up in Greenwich Village in an almost exclusively American-Italian community. ibid.
He was mad, bad, but very clever and extremely dangerous. ibid.
He drifts into the crosshairs of the FBI … playing the Crazy Man with the Feds. ibid.
Lombardo retires due to ill health and anoints the Chin as his successor. ibid.
The FBI has arrested minor monster Henry Hill for drug trafficking … Drug dealing is against Mob rules … He refuses to talk so the Feds play him another tape … Henry has to go: Henry is shocked. Mafia Killers s1e6: Henry Hill the Godfather
‘Henry was an associate with the Lucchese family.’ ibid. historian
Henry Hill had a huge thirst for money. He could never be a real Mafioso so he helped others … Henry Hill was never a mobster, never a Goodfella, yet he was behind two of the biggest Mob heists pulled off in America at the time. ibid.
The Mafia had become his new family. ibid.
Henry had now crossed the line – he was an accessory to murder. ibid.
He smuggled the drugs into prison and the scam took off. ibid.
On Memorial Day weekend Henry, Karen and their children enter the witness protection program. ibid.
Henry’s Hill’s testimony leads to fifty convictions. ibid.
Henry keeps blowing his cover … Surprisingly, no-one came after him … He died a simple death of heart failure at the age of 69. ibid.