In the 1990's, a new group of criminals started making their presence known on the streets of New York City: the Albanian mafia. Soon, they earned a reputation that even scared the Italian mafias that had dominated the city for decades. Muscling in on Gambino and Lucchese rackets, they pulled guns on made men and people began referring to the Rudaj Organizat ... Show More
Apr 7
Boston's Irish Mob Gang War: The Winter Hill Gang
In 1960s Boston, Buddy McLean ignited a savage gang war after tensions with the McLaughlin brothers boiled over into open bloodshed. What started as neighborhood beef turned into a cycle of ambushes, barroom executions, and street hits that terrorized Boston. McLean’s Winter Hill ... Show More
52m 15s
Mar 31
The Trillion Dollar Scam King Gangster Taking Over
When fleets of young Chinese men arrived in the tiny, Pacific nation of Palau in 2018, authorities wondered why they’d eschewed the archipelago’s pristine shores and coral reefs for a handful of tumbledown buildings on the edge of Koror, its biggest town. It wouldn’t take long fo ... Show More
1h 17m
Jul 2023
The Italian Squad: A Group of 1920s NYPD Immigrant Detectives Who Fought the Rise of the Mafia
The story begins in Sicily, on Friday, March 12th, 1909. Three gunshots thundered in the night, and then a fourth. Two men fled, and investigators soon discovered who they had killed: Giuseppe Petrosino, the legendary American detective whose exploits in New York were celebrated ... Show More
28m 5s
May 2022
Mafia Pt. 1: The Rise of La Cosa Nostra
When mafiosos rose to power in 20th century America, they were untouchable criminals with an unbreakable code. Their origins in Sicily left them with a taste for extreme loyalty, secrecy, and violence. And even before notorious gangster “Lucky” Luciano remade them into an organiz ... Show More
47m 57s
Jan 2021
Italy’s secretive ‘Ndrangheta Mafia on trial
More than 350 people currently face trial for their alleged connections with one of Italy’s most powerful Mafia syndicates, the ‘Ndrangheta. The crime group is known for its secrecy. Bosses, accused of murder, money laundering, and drug trafficking, often hide in bunkers in Calab ... Show More
23m 34s
Sep 2019
E163: The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
On February 14th, 1929, Chicago was shocked by the most violent crime the city had ever seen, when 7 gang affiliated men were gunned down simultaneously. The attack was the culmination of a gang war that had lasted for 9 years, and had a marked effect on organized crime in the ci ... Show More
58m 7s