They cut so much dope in the Ponderosa so that when the police raided it they found a half kilo in residue just left on the floor. ibid.
The indictment alleged that Matthews and his organisation imported heroin and cocaine into the US from 1968 to 1975. His lieutenants continued to operate even after Matthews fled. ibid.
They were two very different godfathers separated by 4,000 miles of ocean. John Gotti was the Teflon don, a New York mobster who adored public attention and defied lawmen to get him. Toto Riina was a peasant from rural Sicily, a boss who operated in the shadows. In the late ’80s and early ’90s it required two very different approaches to bring them to justice. Inside the Mafia: The Godfathers, National Geographic 2005
Gotti would have to eliminate Costellano to become boss. But Gotti was not the only one who wanted him out of the way. ibid.
Gotti: Each time the Gambino boss got off. Bribery and intimidation of witnesses saw to that. The nickname the Teflon Don was born. ibid.
Gravano would be the final nail in Gotti’s coffin. ibid.
In the 1960s the history of the Mafia changed for ever when the Sicilian Mob began flooding the United States with … heroin: heroin would turn the Mafia into a global organisation and make them more money than they had ever made before; but it would also sow the seeds of their own destruction. Inside the Mafia: Going Global
Shutting down the French Connection was indirectly opening the door to … the Sicilian Mafia. ibid.
Galante: a heroin man … multi-billion-dollar profits and unparalleled violence. In the ’70s the Bonanno family was known as … the heroin family. ibid.
The Sicilians set up a sophisticated smuggling system … Toto Riina … his factories were producing ton after ton of pure heroin. ibid.
The Sicilians had turned on Galante. ibid.
Henry Hill regularly used Pizza restaurants for his heroin drop-offs. ibid.
Upstate New York, November 1957: In the sleepy town of Appalachia an extraordinary meeting was taking place … A summit meeting of the entire leadership of the American Mafia. In fact until that moment many denied the Mafia even existed. Inside the Mafia: Mafia? What Mafia?
In Sicily all Mafiosi had to take a sacred blood oath that they would never betray the organisation … the novice was sworn in through a quasi-religious ceremony and became a so-called man of honour. The American Mafia followed exactly the same initiation ceremony. ibid.
The Commission: a Mafia board of directors made up of the bosses of the five New York families plus those of Chicago and Buffalo. ibid.
Hoover had almost no Italian American agents who would infiltrate the Mob. ibid.
In American the subject of drugs continued to dominate Mafia discussions. ibid.
It was perhaps the most lucrative criminal racket in history. Between 1979 and 1984 the Sicilian Mafia smuggled nearly two billion dollars’ worth of heroin into the US. It made mobsters on both sides of the Atlantic rich. It also led to war. In Sicily rival bosses fought for control of the heroin-trafficking empire. The terror this war unleashed drove on godfather to break omerta, the Mafia’s sacred code of silence. His act of betrayal would lead to a transatlantic assault on the Mafia and make the first serious dent in their worldwide power. Heroin was flooding into the United States in the late 1970s. Smuggled inside Italian food products and distributed through Pizzarias owned by the Sicilian Mafia. It was known as the Pizza Connection. The US faced an epidemic of heroin addiction. But for American gangstas heroin meant money. And lots of it. Inside the Mafia: The Great Betrayal
John Gotti is the most ruthless kingpin ever to rule the American Mafia. Kingpin: John Gotti, History 2018
In 1980s New York one of the most brazen and daring mobsters in American history captivates the entire country, uses brutal force to take what he wants and rises to control the Mafia’s most powerful crime family. ibid.
Dellacroce is prepared to take control of the Family but Carlo Gambino’s plan of succession bypasses his loyal lieutenant and instead crowns a white-collar capo as the new boss – his name is Paul Castellano. ibid.
The Gambino crime family is headed to war. ibid.
John Gotti is more determined than ever to take out the boss. ibid.
‘I ain’t never found the right track since, I don’t think.’ Drug Lords s1e7: Frank Lucas & The Country Boys: Heroin Kings of New York, Lucas, 2018
‘I wanted to be the richest black man in the world.’ ibid.
New York 1971: Addicts and prostitutes roam Times Square. But American Gangster Frank Lucas is at the top of his game … the king of Harlem heroin. ibid.
‘I was doing the most dope of anybody in the world.’ ibid. Lucas
‘I’m good at cutting.’ ibid.
As Frank’s reputation grows, so does his list of enemies. ibid.
Demand is so high than Frank can hardly keep up. ibid.
The Country boys are out of business. ibid.
Owney Madden was buried on the evening of April 24th 1965 in a cemetery near his home in Hot Springs, Arkansas … A man they used to call Owney ‘Killer’ Madden, Duke of the Westside. The Irish Mob s1e1, Netflix 2008
Madden’s sentence consisted of a minimum of ten years and a maximum of twenty years in Sing Sing prison: he would return to the street eight years later a new man. ibid.
Owney gained control of the biggest illegal alcohol business in America. ibid.
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