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Organized Crime and Punishment

Organized crime has been a part of human society for centuries, and Organized Crime and Punishment: A History and Crime Podcast takes a deep dive into its roots, evolution, and impact on different cultures and countries. In Organized Crime and Punishment: A History and Crime Podcast, we explore the rise of organized crime in various regions of the world. Throughout different seasons of the show, we will examine the different types of organized crime, from the American Mafia to modern-day cartels, and how they have adapted to changes in society and law enforcement. We also delve into the lives of notorious gangsters and their criminal empires, revealing the inner workings of these secretive organizations. We will explore the political, economic, and social factors that have fueled the growth of organized crime, as well as the efforts of governments and law enforcement agencies to combat it. Join us as we take a journey through the shadowy world of organized crime, exploring its history, impact, and ongoing influence on our societies today. Whether you're a history buff, true crime aficionado, or simply curious about this fascinating topic, Organized Crime and Punishment: A History and Crime Podcast is sure to entertain and inform.

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The Kevlar Gangster: Jack 'Legs' Diamond and Murder Incorporated

July 5, 2023 - 44 min

Title: The Kevlar Gangster: Jack 'Legs' Diamond and Murder Incorporated Original Publication Date: 7/5/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/v9MXHPNM2rW Description: In this episode Steve and Mustache Chris delve into the captivating life of Jack "Legs" Diamond, one of the most notorious gangsters of the Prohibition era. From his humble beginnings to his rise to power, we explore Diamond's journey through the criminal underworld. Known for his involvement in bootlegging, gambling, and other illicit activities, Diamond quickly gained notoriety and influential connections. However, his rise to power was marred by violent gangland conflicts with rivals such as Dutch Schultz. Ultimately, we unravel the decline of Diamond's criminal activities and the mysteries surrounding his unsolved murder in 1931. Join us as we delve into the enigmatic life of Jack "Legs" Diamond and reflect on his enduring legacy as a symbol of the Prohibition era and the fascination with gangsters in American popular culture. #TrueCrimeStories #OrganizedCrime #MurderInc #Mobsters #CriminalUnderworld #Assassins #CrimeSyndicate #Hitmen #InfamousKillings #GanglandHistory #CrimeFamily #MafiaChronicles #ContractKillers #Crime You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime. With your hosts, Steve and Mustache, Chris. We are very deep into the contract killing startup enterprise of the Mafia Murder, Inc. We have seen that Murder Inc. Wasn't just a add-on or a side project of the American Mafia and organized crime. It was central to the formation of the mafia itself. And we're building that story as we go along. We've met a lot of really quote unquote, interesting characters so far in the development of Murder Incorporated.[00:01:00] Today we're going to take some time to zoom into the life of one of the more fascinating stories and characters. Jack Legs, diamond Mustache. Chris, why should we take a closer look at Jack Diamond? Yeah. Researching the, like our deep dive into Murder Inc. I came across Jack Li's Diamond and um, The, uh, labor Sluggers Warrior was, uh, little Augie's bodyguard, or on and off bodyguard. And it was, honestly, it was his nickname that kind of caught my attention. Jack Legs Diamond, it's just such an odd nickname for him upstairs. So I just kind of went down a little rabbit hole and. Soon as I kind of got into his story, I'm like, this guy is, this guy is an insane story. Like, how about, how am I, no, sorry. How haven't I heard about him? Like, he's like trips around the world, you know? He was like dating the equivalent of movie stars at the time and like, He had multiple attempts on his life and he was able to survive most of [00:02:00] 'em, you know, uh, and just researching it, like kind of, Jack doesn't even really kind of, he doesn't even come across as like a real person in a lot of ways. He almost seems like a, kind of like a evil cartoon character, if that makes sense. Like you'll, I think you guys will agree once we start getting into his life story. Yeah, I really ag I agree with that, that there's so many people and sometimes somebody like Jack's legs diamond, he just rises to the top. Let's start off with it right in the beginning. Can you tell us, uh, a little bit about his background and early life? Jack Diamond was born on, uh, July 10th, 19, uh, sorry, 1897 to Sarah and John, uh, Moran. Sarah and John. Sarah and John would leave, uh, Ireland for Pennsylvania in, uh, uh, 1891 and a few years later, his brother, uh, Eddie was born. And like many, uh, Irish immigrants co

Turf Wars and Cold Blood: The Rise of Murder Incorporated

July 4, 2023 - 47 min

Original Publication Date: 7/5/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/0Mqs6rsMMYv Description: In today's episode, Mustache Chris and Steve delve into the formation of one of the most notorious criminal organizations in American history, Murder Inc. We explore the key players involved, including Albert Anastasia, Abe Reles, and their deadly conflict with the Shapiro Gang. We discuss how Albert Anastasia and Abe Reles, along with other notorious gangsters of the era, came together to establish a criminal enterprise that specialized in contract killings, extortion, and other illicit activities. One of the most significant conflicts Murder Inc faced was the war with the Shapiro Gang, a rival criminal outfit. We explore the escalating violence between the two groups, the motivations behind the conflict, and the high-profile assassinations that characterized this bloody turf war. #truecrime #truecrimecommunity #truecrimepodcast #crime #murder #mafia #hitman #serialkiller You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime. With your hosts, Steve and Mustache Chris. Hey guys. Welcome back to Organized Crime and Punishment on today's episode, mustache, Chris and I are going to be diving even deeper into Murder, Inc. By exploring some of the key characters who are really the street level guys. The muscle you might say of the organization. In the previous episode, we explored Jacob Shapiro Le and Le Leke Holter, who made up sort of a higher under the management of Murder Inc. And their rise to [00:01:00] power and the labor, Slugger, wars, Abe Reiss, Harry Strauss, and many more are going to get explored in this episode, and we're going to see how basically three separate gangs. Came together as a marriage of convenience informed what was the most ruthless killing machine that organized crime ever produced in North America. Each of these stories on Murder Inc. Are really interesting on their own, and they're even more awesome when you put 'em all together. So I highly suggest if people like what they hear today. Go back and listen to episode one and two and then keep out. Uh, keep your eyes out because we'll have a couple of more episodes on Murder Inc. And also check out all of our other episodes as well too, because I think you'll see that a lot of the things that we're talking about with Murder Inc. You'll get a lot more out of it if you listen to uh, uh, some of our earlier episodes on the five families, et cetera. [00:02:00] So where do you think we should start off today? Uh, Chris, how about Abe Reis, one of, uh, Brownsville's Finest. Uh, can you tell us about Abe and then maybe how he fits in with some of the other pieces of the Murder Inc. Puzzle. Yeah, a Ellis is, uh, I'm not sure if he's like really, uh, at the average person would know who a Ellis is. I'm sure people who've studied a bit of mob history would probably know who Abelli is. Um, he's, I mean, I'm not giving anything away. He ends up becoming a. Uh, probably one of the greatest informants in, in history, but at this point, uh, he's not, uh, yeah. A res was born to, uh, Austrian Jewish immigrants in Brownsville on May 10th, 1906. Uh, his father, like, he worked in the, uh, garment industry, but, uh, when the depression hits, um, it, when the depression hit, he lost his job, obviously, and I, right. Apparently he was selling like, [00:03:00] uh, On the streets. What, what is kisha? Exactly? Again, it's like a potato kind of ball. Uh, what I'm thinking is that it's probably, it shows you that working in the

Coming Soon: The Numbers Racket Now and Then

July 3, 2023 - 2 min

Murder Incorporated – The Faces of Murder

June 28, 2023 - 41 min

Title: Murder Incorporated – The Faces of Murder Original Publication Date: 6/28/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/x0pe5BivSoK Description: In this episode of Organized Crime and Punishment, Mustache Chris and Steve will continue to delve into the history and background of Murder Incorporated. We look at how organized crime outfits in New York City became to dip their toes into organized labor unions and labor-management relations issues during the early 20th Century. This will lead to a series of conflicts referred to as the Labor Slugger Wars. We will also begin to introduce some of the key players involved in forming Murder Inc, including Abe Reles, Meyer Lanksy, Bugsy Seigel and more. #TrueCrimeStories #OrganizedCrime #MurderInc #Mobsters #CriminalUnderworld #Assassins #CrimeSyndicate #Hitmen #InfamousKillings #GanglandHistory #DarkSideofthe1930s #CrimeFamily #MafiaChronicles #ContractKillers #GangsterCulture You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page www.atozhistorypage.com email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime. With your hosts, Steve and Mustache, Chris. Here we are again and we're gonna talk some more about Murder Inc. Before we get in too far, let's recapitulate a little bit about what we've talked about previously with Murder Inc. It all starts off with this bugs in Meyer Gang, Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky, and then we fold in some more characters. Joe Adonis, all of this in this stew of these. Immigrant neighborhoods of Brownsville and the lower East [00:01:00] side of Manhattan and its conditions that really made America and what maybe made America great of the immigrants and working hard and working hard to make a better life, but it also created some of the conditions for the very worst crime that America has ever seen. So as we're moving forward, keep all of that in mind as we learn new players and we learn about new people, who are new people, who are getting involved in new events, in this whole idea of Murder Inc. That it's all happening in this really fascinating. Petri Dish of American History. Now, Chris, get us started today with Leke Buck Halter and Jacob Shapiro. How do they fit into this next part of the story of Murder Inc? Yeah. The way we kind of planned it out was like the next two episodes are just gonna introduce like, all the major players in Murder [00:02:00] Inc. Like I th the previous episode I pointed out, like when we came up with the idea, I didn't, you know, I thought going into it, You know, this would be kind of relatively easy to do, and then once you start doing the research, it's, it's really kind of complicated. There's a lot of moving parts. So, uh, we've kind of broken it up. So I, I believe it's gonna be pretty easy to follow for anyone really. Like you won't have to have any background really in, on the subject matter to walk away from. And, yeah, I understand what Murder Inc is. It's a lot of people too, and it's, I know that I don't like getting bombarded with a lot of people and biographies, but it really is important for this story to see how all of these different characters fit together. So definitely hang in there with us as we introduce new characters. Some characters will exit the stage, some will fly off of the stage, as you'll see. Let's start off with Leke and Jacob Shapiro and how [00:03:00] they fit into this whole. Criminal underworld that we're, we're slowly setting up here. And, uh, Jacob Shapiro were both, uh, Jewish immigrants, like, uh, from poor Jewish immigrant

Greek Gods and Gangsters

June 26, 2023 - 1 min

Murder Incorporated – The Birth of Death

June 21, 2023 - 38 min

Title: Murder Incorporated – The Birth of Death Original Publication Date: 6/21/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/4BUbAtAxXfe Description: In this episode, Mustache Chris and Steve will begin to peel back the layers of the notorious mafia organization, Murder Incorporated. We will look at the very beginnings of this group of murderers for hire. You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page www.atozhistorypage.com email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime. With your hosts, Steve and Mustache, Chris. All right guys. We have something really special on hand for you in this episode. And then for a couple of future episodes, we are going to really delve deeply into Murder Inc. And The Murder Inc. Is just an, a fascinating subject and a fascinating piece of the, the early, early modern you might say. Iteration of the Mafia and it really stretched over the, the early [00:01:00] formation of the mafia and then into the mafia that we know today, the commission-based system. Chris, maybe you can just start us off today and tell us a little bit about Overall Murder, Inc. Yeah, just to kind of like quickly break it down, like Murder Inc. Was the enforcement wing, the murder wing, to put it bluntly, of the, uh, national crime syndicate and ran from, uh, 19, uh, 29 to 1941. Um, It's up to a debate like how many murders the Murder Inc. Was actually responsible for. Some people put in the thousands, some people put in the hundreds. You know, one thing we do know for sure though, that like the murders spanned across the entire United States. Um, yeah, murder Inc was like, mainly, it was like mainly kind of composed of like Italian, um, street hoods, Jewish, uh, street hoods. There were some Irish people in there, but it was mainly Italians and it was like a joint effort between like, [00:02:00] Jewish gang, like Jewish gangsters and Italian gangsters really? And um, you know, from my research, like they called this thing like the National Crime Syndicate, which was apparently was like, the way they described it was like a loose alliance of like Irish and Italian and Jewish gangs. And even like some black gangs were part of the syndicate. And then the idea was like they would all. Work out their differences between each other, like within the syndicate and, you know, all kind of, you know, work out their problems and try to work towards the same goal. I don't know. I personally, I think they just didn't really, at the time, they didn't really understand how the commission worked. And like the National Crime syndicate was kind of like a fill-in for, I could be wrong about this, but like the Italian, like the commission worked with other gangs too. But the Italians were at the top. You know, there was no disputing that it's not like they were equals, um, and the commission would moderate disputes between, uh, other, other gangs too, especially [00:03:00] like if it affected their business. But, you know, for, from the research I've done, they called it the National Crime Syndicate. So that's what we're gonna call it. I really get from, from the discussions that we've had and that the re the research that I've looked into that it definitely was that either the National Crime Syndicate was, like you said, a misunderstanding of what the commission was really about, or maybe it was a proto version of the commission and that that it would eventually, I guess you might say it's slowly turned into the commission, but I, I get the sense that this w

Living in a Violent Society

June 19, 2023 - 2 min

Valachi's Papers - Joe Valachi and the End of Silence

June 14, 2023 - 49 min

Title: Valachi's Papers - Joe Valachi and the End of Silence Original Publication Date: 6/14/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/5XUpe5gBiMk Description: Welcome back to Organized Crime and Punishment! In this episode, Mustache Chris and Steve dive deep into the captivating history and background of Joseph Valachi, a notorious figure in the world of organized crime. Join us as we explore his fascinating life, from his early days as a low-level enforcer to his unprecedented decision to become a government informant. We start by examining the infamous "Valachi Papers" – both the groundbreaking memoir and the subsequent movie adaptation. We discuss how Valachi's firsthand account provided unprecedented insights into the inner workings of the Italian-American Mafia, exposing its hierarchy, rituals, and codes of conduct. We delve into the impact of the Valachi Papers on law enforcement, public perception, and popular culture, as the revelations shook the criminal underworld to its core. Moving on, we explore the extensive literature surrounding Joe Valachi. From investigative journalism to biographies and historical accounts. Throughout this episode, we unravel the layers of secrecy and intrigue surrounding Joe Valachi, shedding light on his enigmatic persona and the profound impact he had on the world of organized crime. Join us as we examine the legacy of a man who dared to break the code of silence and redefine the landscape of law enforcement's battle against the mob. #JoeValachi #ValachiPapers #MafiaInformant #OrganizedCrime #TrueCrime #MobHistory You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page www.atozhistorypage.com email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime. With your hosts, Steve and Mustache, Chris. I'd like to welcome you back to the show today and I'd also like to, as always, welcome back mustache, Chris. Today we're going to discuss the fascinating story of Joe Valachi, and this is where we really start to do some deep. Dives into mafia history and looking at our sources. Today we're going to talk about Joe Valachi and really what became the canonical story of how the early mafia developed and then how it [00:01:00] later began to collapse with one of its very first informants. What we could also refer to as rats. We're also going to, as a part of that, discuss the movie and the book, the Velo Papers, which was a mixture of myth and legend in history altogether. Joe's story through the book, the movie, and what we know from history is the basis really for how we study and understand the mafia. For better or for worse. One of the things with the mafia is it's, it really is a gift that keeps on giving, especially for a history that's so new. I mean, we're talking about events here that are less than a hundred years old and they're learning new information all the time about it. It really is. It's a great. Bit of American history on a lot for a lot of reasons, but I think we'll, we'll start to get into some of those reasons as we, as we go along. And [00:02:00] just to give a little bit of a background on Joe Valachi. Joe Valachi was the first major rat, you might call him, but he was the first person in the mafia to turn government witness. Uh, and maybe what was so important about that, Well, he was the, one of the, I mean there had been previous guys, I'm trying to remember his name right now. He was a guy in Murder Incorporated. He, he, he turned Rat two, but he never actually got to spell the

Not Management Material

June 12, 2023 - 2 min

Meet the Families – The Genovese Family

June 7, 2023 - 51 min

Title: Meet the Families – The Genovese Family Original Publication Date: 6/7/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/eTZcBjMKbEs Description: In this episode, Mustache Chris and Steve will delve into the captivating world of organized crime as we explore the history and operations of the Genovese Crime Family. Named after its founder, Vito Genovese, this notorious Italian-American mafia syndicate has left an indelible mark on the annals of organized crime. Join us as we unravel the origins, key players, and lasting influence of the Genovese Crime Family, shedding light on its illicit activities and impact on American society. Join us as we explore the pivotal role of Charlie "Lucky" Luciano and Frank Costello in the family's ascendancy during the Prohibition and beyond, the beginnings of The Commission, and the family's wide-ranging criminal enterprises, including gambling, labor racketeering, narcotics, and extortion. #organizedcrime #GenoveseFamily #mafiahistory #truecrime #underworldtales You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page www.atozhistorypage.com email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime with your hosts, Steve and Mustache, Chris. Steve here mustache. Chris and I are back at it with another installment of five families in five episodes just to set the stage. These episodes are meant to lay some of the groundwork and provide us with the a reference to the five PO most powerful mafia families in New York City and in the American Mafia. These overview episodes of the Pivotal families that form the golden age of the Italian-American Mafia in the United States will lead us in so many different directions and future episodes. We'll dig into the stories of all of these families and mafia organizations all [00:01:00] around the UN United States and even into Canada. We will also dig into the dark distance past of the Pre five family era. In the five families, we get an important anchor point for any study of the American mob before or after. We highly encourage you to revisit these episodes and tell your friends about them so they can become friends of ours. Now, today we have the Genovese. Family or the Genovese say family. I'm sure we'll switch around how we say that for you. Um, mustache, why don't you start us right at the beginning. What is sort of the pre-history and early history of the Genovese family? Yeah, so like the Genevieve's family can like literally trace its origins back to Amer the American mafia in New York. Really its roots are in the, the Morelo Gang, which was one of the first major, um, Mafia's and uh, I would say actually it was probably the first mafia in [00:02:00] New York. Really? Yeah. And there was another guy at that, uh, there was a, a guy at the time, uh, Ignasio, the Wolf Loop ball. He was the boss of, uh, little Italy and he married one of morale who was the in charge of the Morre gang. He married one of his, uh, half sisters and then kind of united these two gangs together to kind of create like the, I dunno, the. Super mafia New York at the time. Right. Uh, he was in charge of, uh, little, little Italy or, and, uh, they ran like a giant counterfeiting like, uh, scheme. I think they were printing off like $5 bills, like fake $5 bills. And they were working with the mafia. So like back in the homeland in Sicily and. Eventually they, they got caught. Uh, we're gonna probably end up talking about this detective. He, uh, down the road, Joe, uh, Joseph Petino. He's kind

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Meet Your Hosts

Steve Guerra is a historian and podcaster who hosts three different shows. He started with the History of the Papacy Podcast in 2013. In 2017, Steve began Beyond the Big Screen, a podcast that delves into the fascinating stories behind films through lively interviews. His newest show, Organized Crime and Punishment, takes a deep dive into the roots, evolution, and impact of organized crime across different cultures and countries.

Mustache Chris is the co-host of Organized Crime and Punishment. He is from the True North, born and bred in Toronto, Canada. Some say he bears a striking resemblance to Gambino Crime Family associate Chris Rosenberg, but we'll leave that up to you.