Louis “Lepke” Buchalter was a 1930s New York City racketeer. Authorities believed Albert Anastasia appointed him to run his Murder, Inc., enforcement squad. Crime buster Thomas Dewey will set his sights in Lepke as an example of Mob violence and will eventually prosecute him for murder and obtain a death sentence. Eventually, Lepke will appeal […]
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Holleeder challenges the Hells Angels In Part 2, David Amoruso continues the story of Dutch master criminal Willem Holleeder and how he became the leader of a major Dutch motorcycle gang called the No Surrender. and eventually challenged the American based Hells Angels. It will be during this time he starts extorting money from a
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Willem Holleeder In this story about Willem Holleeder, I interview a Netherlands based crime writer David Amaruso about the John Gotti of the Netherlands. He was a young guy from the middle class with all the advantages of a nice family until his father’s alcoholism caused the Heineken Brewery to fire him. Holleeder gets back
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Scarpelli made several attempts to “go legitimate,” first by investing several thousand into a jewelry boutique, and when that failed, he worked at a shipping company owned by his brother. He ultimately wanted to own an auto salvage yard, but as a felon, licensing would have been difficult to obtain in Illinois. To make ends
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Don’t forget to buy me a coffee on Venmo at ganglandwire. This week, Chicago writer and Outfit historian, Camillius “Cam” Robinson and I talk about Butch Petrocelli and the Wild Bunch. As a special bonus in the sho0w notes, Cam has written a short piece with additional facts and stories about Butch and this feared
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In this special bonus episode, I thank our generous contributors with an extra episode in which our most faithful fan, Chicago resident and mob historian Ben Ellickson does a dramatic read of an in-depth article about the upper echelon of the Chicago Outfit published on August 18, 1963, and written by one of their best
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How did Roy DeMeo get into a Life of Crime Roy Albert DeMeo was born into the Mafia neighborhood of Bath Beach Brooklyn. As a teenager, he starts loansharking while enrolled in James Madison High School. It would be during this time he is noticed by a Gambino crime family soldier named Nino Gaggi who
When researching organized crime murders, sometimes there are clues that tip us off to what may have really happened. We recently discussed the Wild Bunch, a crew of Chicago Outfit hitmen in the 1970s, and that touched back to an earlier series on Wild Bunch member and notorious killer Harry “The Hook” Aleman. Let’s look
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As Anthony Casso progressed in his mob career, he became more suspicious and violent. One of the many interesting stories about Gaspipe is his interactions with the Russian Mafia of Brighton Beach. Gaspipe Casso was a very prolific thief during his life. He was not choosy who he worked with as long he could make
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Gaspipe Casso – the early years Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso was born May 21, 1940. Before his career ended with the U. S. Marshal’s office and Witness Security, mob bosses would promote him to the formal position of Underboss of the Lucchese crime family. Gaspipe Casso will gain the reputation of being a “homicidal maniac.” Anthony
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