A trail of corpses were found coast to coast. Scores of murders but always the same scenario. No suspects, no leads. Eventually the killings were linked to a group of thugs whose reach was much further than the Law could have imagined: a gang of executioners who became known as Murder Incorporated. Mobsters s1e18: Murder Inc, Bio 2008
The Brownsville Boys took their name from the community in which they lived. ibid.
Ade Reles was strong, which may have led to his nickname – Kid Twist. Reles rose to power by wiping out his main gangsta rivals in Brownsville. He aligned himself with an Italian gang from Brooklyn. ibid.
The driving force behind the Syndicate was Sicilian mobster from Manhattan – Lucky Luciano. ibid.
One powerful Jewish mobster left off the Board was Jewish bootlegger and shakedown artist Dutch Schultz. The Board feared that Schultz, known as a hothead and loose cannon, would bring trouble to the Syndicate. ibid.
This enforcement arm became known as the Combination. ibid.
The governor sent in a new crime fighter to clean up – Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey. ibid.
[Louis] Lepke [Buchalter] was making millions in the garment, truck and Labour rackets. ibid.
Lepke issued orders to take out any witnesses, confirmed or suspected. ibid.
Still prosecutors were baffled as to why Reles had come forward ... Reles began to sing. And he sang like no other canary had sung before. He talked about bosses and rackets coast to coast ... He didn’t stop for twelve days in a row. ibid.
Weakened by seven executions and a life sentence Murder Incorporated faded away. But Albert Anastasia – dubbed Murder Incorporated’s High Executioner – successfully evaded all efforts to capture him. ibid.
As a teenager Tommy ran with a band of young criminals – they called themselves the 107th Street Gang. Mobsters s1e19: Tommy Lucchese, H2 2013
He used his brain to develop rackets for his gang. ibid.
Lucchese preyed on the district with so-called knock-down loans. ibid.
He infiltrated the clothes-cutters’ union. ibid.
Roy DeMeo had made a name for himself as the enforcer for Gambino boss Paul Castellano. Mobsters s1e20: Paul Castellano
Gambino had established himself as a business-savvy earner ... When he was promoted to Captain, he brought young Paul Castellano in under his wing. ibid.
On his deathbed Gambino shocked everyone by choosing Paul Castellano as his successor. ibid.
December 16th 1985 ... Inside the car Castellano and Bilotti had no time to react. The boss of the Gambino crime family lay dead on the sidewalk. John Gotti had orchestrated his own rise to the head of the Gambino crime family. Mobsters s1e21: John Gotti
The Mob made Gotti an enforcer. ibid.
In his spare time Gotti gambled recklessly. ibid.
By the 1970s the Mafia had opened its books again, and in 1977 John Gotti finally became a member of the Gambino crime family. ibid.
Gotti’s crew faced scrutiny from inside the family. Gambino boss Paul Castellano had a no-tolerance policy to drug dealing ... Gotti ignored the boss. ibid.
A new nickname: the Dapper Don. ibid.
Harlem 1965: Frank Lucas had been working the streets of this unsavoury district of New York for almost twenty years. Mobsters s1e23: Frank Lucas
Throughout his life Frank Lucas pursued a burning need for power and respect. ibid.
A chance meeting with Harlem’s most notorious gangster: Bumpy Johnson. ibid.
Frank started running drugs. ibid.
By purchasing directly from the supplier, Frank got a higher quality product at a lower price. Business boomed. ibid.
Lucas employed a team of women to do the processing. ibid.
Lucas and his henchmen were about to unleash a heroin epidemic. ibid.
According to law enforcement agencies, Lucas provided enough evidence to lead to the conviction of over one hundred narcotics violators and four corrupt lawyers. ibid.
Mob ladies like Virginia Hill, Arlyne Brickman and Karen Hill have no qualms in talking a man down. No-one crosses a mob lady. Mobsters s1e27: Mob Ladies aka Gangstas: Lady Gangstas
Virginia Hill was born into a turbulent home in a small rural town of Lipscomb Alabama in 1916. Her father was a drinker. ibid.
Virginia Hill was shuffling money all over town. ibid.
With Epstein’s guidance, Hill was bringing in thousands of dollars. ibid.
Virginia was running with the New York mob. ibid.
It didn’t take long with Bugsy and Virginia to rekindle their affair. ibid.
Within two weeks Bugsy Siegel was dead. ibid.
Her body was found near a stream. ibid.
She [Arlyne] rang the cops and made them an offer ... Arlyne would have to infiltrate the Gambinos while wearing a wire. ibid.
The Feds used information from the sting to bring down Scarpati, Manzo and nine other top members of the Colombo family. ibid.
Karen Friedman was living a quiet life ... The 18-year-old met and fell in love with Henry Hill, bricklayer by day, mobster by night. ibid.
He would testify against members of the Lucchese crime family. ibid.
Roy kept lending money to friends, and started to hang around with some questionable characters. Mobsters s2e1: Roy DeMeo
DeMeo went on to assemble one of the deadliest teams of professional killers in the history of organised crime. ibid.
Castellano didn’t trust DeMeo, so he issued an order: DeMeo had to go. ibid.
New York City. The 28th June 1971 ... A celebration of ethnic pride ... It was led by Mafia don Joe Colombo ... As Colombo approached the podium to speak shots rang out. Colombo collapsed to the ground. Mobsters s2e2: Joey Gallo
It was in his teens that Joey took his first steps towards a life of crime. He and his brother Larry became numbers runners and enforcers for the Profaci family. ibid.
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.