In this episode, featuring myself and Australian lawyer Tony Taouk, we discuss the life and times of George Remus who was famously dubbed, "The King of the Bootleggers" in the 1920's.

George Remus, born in 1878, was a German-born American lawyer who was probably most famously well-known as a bootlegger during the early days of Prohibition, and who later became even more infamous for the murder his wife Imogene, for which he was acquitted.

In popular culture, many believed that George Remus served as the inspiration for The Great Gatsby, and he was even famously portrayed on the HBO series, Boardwalk Empire.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Remus birth in Landsberg, Germany in the 1870's and his arrival in the United States in the 1880's

• The Remus family's beginnings in Chicago, Illinois

• Remus' early experience working at his uncle's pharmacy, as well as his attendance of the Chicago College of Pharmacy, where he became a certified pharmacist

• George Remus' collegiate attendance of the Illinois College of Law in which he gained admittance to the Illinois Bar, specializing as a defense attorney

• Remus' involvement in the 1914 murder trial of William Cheny Ellis, and the first successful use of the "transitory insanity" defense in the history of the United States

• Remus' beginnings as a bootlegger after he was able to exploit a loophole in the Volstead Act, allowing him to grow his bootlegging business on a technicality

• Remus' move from Chicago, Illinois to Cincinnati, Ohio and the growth of his bootlegging empire in the 1920's, run from his sprawling property on the west side of Cincinnati, dubbed "Death Valley"

• Remus' divorce from his first wife, and marriage to socialite Imogene Holmes (later Remus), as well as the extravagant mansion, "The Marble Palace"

• The eventual arrest of Remus for violations of the Volstead Act and his prison sentence

• The collapse of Remus' marriage to Imogene after a cheating scandal with a Bureau of Investigation agent, Franklin Dodge

• The murder of his wife Imogene in October of 1927, the subsequent trial in which Remus again pleaded "temporary insanity," and his acquittal after just 19 minutes of jury deliberations

• The remainder of Remus' life and his ultimate legacy in the annals of the underworld

• The truth of Remus' peculiar tendency to talk about himself in the third-person

• Remus' death in 1952 of natural causes in Covington, Kentucky

In this episode, we again discuss Joseph Barbara Sr., the mobster who famously hosted the ill-fated Apalachin Mob Meeting in Apalachin, New York. Part Three covers the events leading up to the disastrous Apalachin meeting in 1957 and the fallout. Part One: https://youtu.be/NGHgoGlYOgw Part Two: https://youtu.be/2h1ERPB0sCU In this final installment of a three-part series, we discuss: 00:00 Start 01:27 Opening Remarks 05:38 Events directly preceding the Apalachin meeting 13:12 Who ordered the Apalachin meeting 13:58 The Apalachin meeting gets raided by police 19:27 Law enforcement's previous suspicions of Barbara 26:32 The history behind Edgar Croswell's initial interest in Barbara 34:09 The "sick friend" excuse and real reasons for the meeting 38:18 Barbara's ill health and becoming a recluse 40:12 The law catches up with Barbara and his company 41:15 Barbara sells Canada Dry Bottling Company 41:55 Barbara sells famous estate 42:50 Barbara subpoenaed to testify in front of grand jury 43:40 Barbara indicted for tax evasion 44:34 Barbara's last public appearance 45:32 Barbara's death and funeral 51:10 Joseph Barbara's mob legacy 54:27 Closing remarks

We sat down to talk with Gary Jenkins, who is a retired Kansas City Police Detective, lawyer, as well as the host of the extremely popular mob podcast, Gangland Wire. In this episode, we discuss the following topics:

• His early years, family, and upbringing
• What made him want to join the Kansas City Police Department
• His promotion to Detective within the KCPD
• The composition of the Kansas City Mafia in the 1970's
• The key players in the Kansas City Mafia including Nick Civella, Carl "Cork" Civella, and Carl "Tuffy" De Luna
• His many stories of surveilling the Kansas City Cosa Nostra family
• Kansas City's involvement in the Las Vegas skim
• His work surveilling and the wiretaps related to the Las Vegas skim
• Comparisons of real life versus the movie Casino
• Bringing down the Kansas City mob
• The Spero-Civella war in the late 1970's and early 1980's
• Retiring and becoming a lawyer for 20 years
• Starting and running his popular podcast, Gangland Wire

Links to Gary's documentaries, podcast, website, and YouTube channel:

In this episode, we again discuss Joseph Barbara Sr., the mobster who famously hosted the ill-fated Apalachin Mob Meeting in Apalachin, New York.

In this second of a three-part series, we discuss:

• Barbara's move towards legitimate business and establishment of several bottling companies including the Endicott Beverage Company, the Mission Beverage Company, and the Canada Dry Bottling Company
• Barbara's ascension within the Northeaster Pennsylvania and Southern New York mob
• The changes in leadership of what would become the Bufalino Crime Family
• Barbara's relationship to top Pittston mob leaders Santo Volpe, Russell Bufalino, Anthony F. Guarnieri, Emanuel Zicari, as well Pat and Sam Monachino
• Barbara's issues with the State Liquor Authority (SLA) that nearly drove him out of business in the early 1950's
• The 1956 meeting between Barbara, Joe Bonanno, Frank Garofolo, John Bonventre, and Carmine Galante in Binghamton, New York

• Part Three will cover the events leading up to the disastrous Apalachin meeting in 1957 and the fallout.

  Part One: https://youtu.be/NGHgoGlYOgw

In this episode, we discuss Roy Marcus Cohn (1927-1986) with professional attorney, Tony Taouk of Magna Carta Lawyers in Sydney, Australia. Tony and I walk through Roy Cohn's history, and Tony brings an attorney's perspective to some of Cohn's vicious tactics, personal life, as well as areas where he displayed both pure brilliance and borderline diabolical evil. We cover:

• Cohn's upbringing and early life
• Cohn's involvement in the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg trial in the early 1950's
• Cohn's involvement in the McCarthy investigations of the 1950's during the Cold War and Communism scares
• Cohn's eventual fall from grace after his misconduct was discovered and re-emergence as a private practice attorney
• Cohn's legal representation of various mobsters including John Gotti, Tony Salerno, and Carmine Galante
• Cohn's representation of various celebrities including Donald Trump
• Some of Cohn's brilliant and vicious tactics
• We debate Cohn's legacy and a top mob lawyer

In this episode, we discuss Joseph Barbara Sr., the mobster who famously hosted the ill-fated Apalachin Mob Meeting in Apalachin, New York. In this first of a two-part series, we discuss the beginning of Barbara's mob career including:

• His birth in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, Italy
• His immigration to the United States in 1921
• His first jobs in and around Endicott, New York as well as Old Forge, Pennsylvania
• His introduction to the Pittston mob of Northeastern Pennsylvania (more famously called the Bufalino Crime Family)
• How we gets started in the rackets during the 1920s
• His relationship to top Pittston mob leaders Santo Volpe, Charles Bufalino (the uncle of Russell Bufalino), Angelo Polizzi, and more
• His involvement in up to four murders in the Northeastern Pennsylvania area in the early 1930s

Join me as a make a significant announcement about the future of this show and discuss my plans for 2024 and beyond.

In this episode, we finish the series on the Cerrito Crime Family of the American Cosa Nostra who operated in and around San Jose, California, and who were a significant entity controlling organized crime in the San Jose area for many decades beginning around the 1940’s and were in existence until at least the 1990’s or early 2000’s.

While we covered the family's first two bosses, Onofrio Sciortino and Joe Cerrito in Part One, in this episode we'll focus the majority of our time on the man who allegedly became Boss after Joseph Cerrito's death in 1978, that being Angelo Marino.

We discuss:

• Recap of Cerrito era
• Angelo Marino's early years
• Salvatore Marino, Angelo's father
• The Marino's connection to the Pittsburgh LCN (John LaRocca)
• The Marino's connection to the Philadelphia LCN (The Maggio family)
• Angelo Marino's entry into the LCN and rise to Capo
• The founding of the California Cheese Company
• Angelo Marino's dissatisfaction with Joe Cerrito's leadership
• Angelo Marino's supposed rise to Boss
• The Marino vs. Figlia as Boss theory
• The 1977 Murder of Peter Catelli and the fallout
• Salvatore Marino Jr.'s involvement in the Catelli murder
• Angelo Marino's death in the early 1980's
• The decline of the Cerrito Crime Family

Part One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMtMn1NTK3A