Gangland Wire Blog

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Jesus Ruiz Henao Gary interviews the well-known true crime author Ron Chepesiuk and Jesus Ruiz Henao (aka Mr. Big).  Gary gets the inside story of the largest single cocaine supplier to Great Britain during the 1990s. The famous English law enforcement organization known as MI-5 reported to British newspapers that when they took down the […]

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Madam Polly Adler Non-fiction author Debby Applegate discusses the famous New York madam Polly Adler. We learn how Ms. Adler came to America as a Russian Immigrant Jew and how she rose to prominence and achieved a certain amount of fame in New York Society in the same manner as other Jewish emigrants like Meyer

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Giovanni Rocco Giovanni Rocco tells Gary his experiences as he infiltrated the DeCavalcante crime family AKA The Real Sopranos. Rocco was able to gain the confidence of the DeCavalcante hierarchy. He tells about the problems and rewards of working undercover on extended investigations that took years. He uses the tough guy characters he saw as

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William Jahoda William Jahoda was an Outfit gambler connected to Rocco Infelise, the ruthless consigliere of the Chicago mob. He and others run the most profitable gambling house in Chicago. The entire operation is dubbed the Good Ship Lollipop. At first, under Solly DeLaurentis, the Lake County crew are making money and not making any

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Vincent Rizza Vincent Rizza was a former Chicago cop who was a tipster to Outfit members, a gambler, a sports bookie, and a cocaine addict. His claim to fame later in life is that his daughter Pia Rizza was on a Mob Housewives TV show. Show notes by Gary Jenkins To go to the store

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Ken Eto and Vince Solano An American-born man of Japanese extraction left the internment camps after World War II and landed in Chicago. Ken Eto was a professional gambler who received notice from the Outfit. By the 1970s, Vince Solano, boss of the Rush Street crew took over all Bolita action and he placed Ken

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  Mario Rainone Mario John “the Arm” Rainone saw a couple of guys tailing him and thought he was being set up for a hit. Rainone was preparing to take out a building inspector after his boss ordered the hit. As he followed his intended victim, he noticed a couple of other Outfit men named

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Paul Panczko Gary, Camillus Robinson, and Paul Whitcolmbe discuss the chain of events that started with Paul “Peanuts” Panczko and ended with the FBI making informants and government witnesses out of Duke Baisle and Gerald Scarpelli. These two men were long-time Outfit thieves, armed robbers, burglars, hitmen, and enforcers. First, we go back to Paul

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Betty Tocco Outfit wife Gary, Camillus Robinson, and Paul Whitcombe take a look at Betty Tocco, the wife of Al Tocco who was the boss of what was called the South Side Crew. He had married a beautiful brunette but she should have gotten a clue. She claimed their first date was a visit to

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Robert Cooley Outfit Stool Pigeon Robert Cooley and his impact on the Chicago Outfit is examined in this first of seven short episodes on the year 1989 which became known as the Year of the Stool Pigeon. Outfit historians Camilius Robinson and Paul Whitcombe discuss the importance of  Robert Cooley. He was a former Chicago