Was the legendary crimebuster J Edgar Hoover part of an FBI conspiracy to put an innocent man [Joseph Salvati] in prison for 30 and let a guilty man go free? 60 Minutes: The FBI’s Dirty Little Secret, CBS 2002
Did J Edgar Hoover himself, head of the FBI for almost 50 years, sit on evidence that would have freed the man? ibid.
Falsely and maliciously accused of murder by this man – Joseph ‘the animal’ Barboza, a contract killer for the Mob who became an unliely star witness in the FBI’s war against the Mob. ibid.
It’s been almost 20 years since one of the most infamous crime bosses of all time, Joseph Bonanno, who died a week ago age 97, agreed to sit down with us for the first and only time in front of a television camera, talked about himself and the other real-life godfathers who inhabited his world. 60 Minutes: Joe Bonano, CBS 2002, cited 60 Minutes: Mafia Stories Marathon (edited in date order), Youtube 2.36.35 2025
‘You protect yourself with anything.’ ibid. Joe Bonanno
Marazano himself became a victim of the Mob. He was stabbed six times and shot four times. ibid. narrator
‘Al Capone was a very jolly guy.’ ibid. Joe
Philadelphia – where a former cop turned mobster turned government witness has helped send more than 50 made members of his family and their associates to prison. ibid. 60 Minutes: The Last Gangster: Ron Previte, CBS 2004
‘Most of the people I worked with were crooks.’ ibid. Ron
Over the years we have done our share of stories about police corruption, but none more outrageous … Two New York police officers stand accused of being hired killers for the Mafia. Steven Caracappa and Lewis Eppolito, two highly decorated former detectives, are set to go on trial next month charged with the murders of 10 people. ibid. 60 Minutes: Mafia Cops? CBS 2006
There are a few men alive today with the underworld credentials of John Martorano, and even fewer who are out of prison and walking the streets. For more than a decade, Martorano ewas the chief executioner for Boston’s Winter Hill Gang, a loose federation of Irish and Italian-American gangsters run by James Whitey Bulger. ibid. 60 Minutes: The Executioner, CBS 2008
Martorano: best known as the government witness who helped expose a web of corruption and collusion involving the Mob and the Boston office of the FBI. ibid.
Lin DeVecchio was a highly decorated FBI agent who helped put some of the Mafia’s most notorious leaders behind bars. He’s also one of the few FBI agents ever charged with murder [charges dropped]. It was his relationship with a violent Mob informant known as the Grim Reaper that got him and the FBI in trouble. ibid. 60 Minutes: The FBI & the Grim Reaper, CBS 2011
John Veasey was a man with an unusual occupation. He killed people. Veasey was a hitman in the Philadelphia Mafia and found himself smack in the middle of the bloodiest Mob war in the city’s history. ibid. 60 Minutes: Hitman, CBS 2013
In the early 90s the Philadelphia Mob was at war. Blood and body bags routine. ibid.
‘You know what? I was pretty evil.’ ibid. John
Michael Blutrich is not a name you’ll recognise but the Feds consider him to be one of the best civilian informants they ever had against the Mob, as well as one of the unlikeliest. ibid. 60 Minutes: An Unlikely Informant, CBS 2015
[Legs McNeil] Welcome to Pusherman: The story of Frank Lucas, the most notorious drug dealer in America. Our story starts in 1976, when Mark Jacobson came to the Punk Magazine offices, where I was the resident punk … In 2000 he wrote a very famous piece called, Return of Superfly. Mark’s article turned Frank Lucas into an international superstar when Denzel Washington played him in the film, American Gangster. Pusherman: Frank Lucas & the True Story of American Gangster, Amazon 2025
The guy who supposedly smuggled heroin in the coffins of dead US soldiers was Frank Lucas, a legendary Harlem dop dealer. ibid.
‘Over 30% of the US GIs that come back from fighting in Vietnam … are addicted to heroin.’ ibid. comment
He got the attention of Bumpy Johnson ... a crime boss. ibid.
‘1960s: The empowerment of the black businessman.’ ibid. comment
‘He only hired people he knew.’ ibid.
‘When it came to the product, Lucas went around the Italians and straight to south-east Asia, where the Vietnam War was raging.’ ibid.
‘Lucas purchased 132 kilos at $4,200 per unit, compared to the $50,000 the Mafia were charging stateside competitors.’ ibid.
‘He couldn’t read a written word.’ ibid.
Three years later [from release] he was busted for trying to trade an ounce of heroin for a kilogram of cocaine. Frank Lucas went back to prison till 1991. ibid.
It wasn’t long before Hollywood came calling. ibid.
American Gangster premiered on 20th October 2007 at the Apollo theatre in Harlem. ibid.
‘Frank Lucas really snitched on everybody.’ ibid. comment