When he first met the Kennedys, Joey put on a show. At the hearings broadcast live the public got its first glimpse into the dark underworld of the Gallo brothers. ibid.
The West Side of Manhattan. May 1977 ... No-one could touch Jimmy Coonan. Mobsters s2e3: The Westies
In the 1960s Hell’s Kitchen was ruled by Mickey Spillane. ibid.
By challenging the Mafia, Spillane was taking a big risk. ibid.
The Westies managed to terrify the entire West Side. Coonan’s gang didn’t operate like the Italian Mafia with ceremonies and strict rules – the Irish crew killed anyone at any time. ibid.
Coonan took over Spillane’s loan-sharking business. ibid.
Paul Castellano ... The Westies now worked with one of the most powerful crime families of America. ibid.
Harlem: July 1976 ... Nicky Barnes wasn’t worried about the Italian mob. Barnes felt invincible as the most powerful drug dealer in New York City. Mobsters s2e4: Nicky Barnes
By 1959 27-year-old Nicky Barnes was no longer just a street hustler but a highly successful heroin dealer, making more money than ever before. But success came with a price: he was a heroin addict. ibid.
He was in with la Cosa Nostra. ibid.
Nicky thought Gallo could help him expand his business. But Gallo gave Nicky much more than contacts. He gave him insider’s advice ... The Italians began to rely on black dealers to sell their product all over New York City. ibid.
Soon users were asking for it by name. ibid.
From 1971 to 1974 the use of heroin soared to unprecedented levels in New York City. Nicky Barnes and his crew were at the forefront of this new drug culture. Nicky Barnes’ heroin seemed to be everywhere. The Council had carved up Harlem and parts of Brooklyn into territories; each Council member controlled his own turf, and so-called heroin marketplaces sprung up. The money rolled in. ibid.
In total eighteen people had been arrested along with Nicky. ibid.
But Nicky didn’t stop talking. For the next year he helped set up undercover drug deals with DEA agents and informants so the government could collect evidence against the Council. On 10th March 1983 arrest warrants were issued for Guy Fisher and four other Council members. ibid.
66-year-old Nicky Barnes was released into the police protection program. ibid.
November 6th 1990: the two detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, men sworn to protect and serve, were in fact hired guns for the Mafia. And possibly the most corrupt cops in NYPD history. Mobsters s3e1: Mafia Cops
Gambling was a key racket for the Eppolitos. ibid.
Stephen Caracappa – a tight-lipped cop with a killer instinct. ibid.
As partners in Brooklyn’s robbery squad Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa were a winning combination. Together they were also dangerous. ibid.
Using their badges to lure a man into a Mafia hit – performing this service for mobster Bert Kaplan. ibid.
Eppolito and Caracappa funnelled secret police intelligence to their bosses back in the Mob. ibid.
Guilty on all counts. ibid.
Anastasia got away with the murder [Arnold Schuster] just as he had for decades. Mobsters s3e3: Albert Anastasia
[Joe] Masseria was alone: enter Albert Anastasia and three others. ibid.
Anastasia’s muscle would also be valuable to a group of Mafia leaders called the Commission … Murder Incorporated. ibid.
Anastasia had risen through the Mob ranks. ibid.
The tax trial of Albert Anastasia … Anastasia walked out of prison and right into a power grab. ibid.
June 1990 Staten Island, New York ... The woods were home to a mobster’s dumping ground. After three days of digging they found what they were looking for. Buried in shallow graves, dismembered and stuffed inside suitcases were the remains of those unfortunate to have crossed mobster Tommy Pitera. Mobsters s3e4: Tommy Karate Pitera
All the victims were neatly cut up into six pieces. ibid.
In the late ’70s heroin and cocaine were the Family’s big money makers. ibid.
One of his closest allies Frank Gangi had turned. ibid.
‘Anthony Casso was the single most treacherous organised crime figure in New York.’ Mobsters s3e5: Anthony Gaspipe Casso
Exclusive audio tapes and his only television interview take us deep inside the twisted world of a viscous Mob boss and career killer. ibid.
Casso decided to go with … the Lucchesi family. ibid.
The hit propelled Casso to the next level in his crime family. ibid.
In the mid-1970s Anthony Gaspipe Casso was raking in millions from his burglary ring known as the Bypass Gang. ibid.
In the spring of 1990 the heat came down on the kings of the Lucchese crime family. ibid.
May 5th 1981: a quiet night on the streets of south Brooklyn, New York. Inside a vacant social club a Bonanno crime family captain watched and waited. He’d invited three couples for a meeting. Word on the street was the three were planning a revolt. They wanted to overthrow the family’s new boss Phil Rastelli. Massino had told the three: come to the club ... Four men jumped out of a supply cupboard with guns blazing. Mobsters s3e6: Big Joey Massino
As his numbers and loan-sharking operations flourished, he expanded into a new mob racket: lorry hijackings. ibid.
He would take on a new job – murder for hire. ibid.
That July Sonny found out that one of his closest Mob associates Donnie Brasco was actually an undercover FBI agent named Joe Pistone. ibid.
Joe Massino was determined to restore the family name. ibid.
Joe Massino not only won the battle of the bug, he was defeating the FBI at its own game. ibid.
In 1992 after six years behind bars Massino was released. He returned home to a Bonanno family in total disarray. Massino got to work rebuilding the organisation. ibid.
By the mid-90s Joe Massino was something of a rarity in New York; all the other major Dons ... were behind bars. Big Joey Massino was the last boss standing. ibid.
Facing murder charges Vitale turned on his brother-in-law Big Joey and agreed to cooperate. It was nothing short of devastating. ibid.
Facing a possible execution Massino became the thing he always said he despised the most: he became a rat. ibid.
Over the next few years Joe bounced from one reform school to another. It was brutal. Mobsters s4e1: Mad Dog Sullivan
When he was nineteen, after six years in juvenile detention, Joe was released. He returned to Queens to live with his family ... After a couple of weeks he took off hitchhiking with a friend but they quickly ran out of money and to get by they began mugging people. ibid.
At the age of twenty-six Joe was paroled. ibid.
Returned to New York and convicted of manslaughter for the bar shooting. This time he got up to thirty years and was sent to one of America’s toughest prisons – Attica. ibid.
A massive search was launched for the one man who’d escaped Attica. ibid.
Sullivan was seized in Greenwich Village and returned to prison. Four years later in 1975 Sullivan was paroled. He was thirty-six years old. ibid.
The killing marked the beginning of Joe’s double life. ibid.
Mad Dog was beginning to tire of his profession. ibid.
Joe went into hiding but the heat was on. ibid.
22nd February 1982 Sullivan was arrested. ibid.
The act of betrayal against his former ally [Gallo] earned Persico his nickname: the Snake. Mobsters s4e6: Carmine the Snake Persico: Snake Eyes
The street gangs of Brooklyn battled for neighbourhood turf. ibid.
One by one the rebels snatched five top Profaci lieutenants, including underboss Joe Magliocco and Capo Joseph Colombo. ibid.
By March 1963 nine Gallo soldiers had been killed. ibid.
Once again the Colombo family was set on a war path and Carmine Persico would be the last man standing. ibid.