Gangland Wire Blog

In the below clip, Nick Civella discusses political donations in Nevada with Carl “Tuffy” DeLuna. A lot of these conversations were recorded inside the law office of James Patrick Quinn. Civella and his upper echelon mobsters often gathered at this law office to discuss their skimming and other business activities in Las Vegas. They believed […]

As most folks know, the Midwest La Cosa Nostra Families influenced the Teamster’s Central States Pension Fund to loan money to unqualified persons to buy casinos. Below is a clip from Gangland Wire that tells exactly how that worked. The Battle For Las Vegas by Denny Griffin tells this story as well as anybody.  

Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal was the victim of an attempted homicide by bombing his Cadillac in October of 1982. Gangland Wire contains an interview with an eyewitness. Many persons have speculated who was responsible. A popular theory is Anthony “Tony” Spilotro because of a love triangle with Rosenthal’s wife, Jerri. That is crap, Mob guys don’t

Bill Norton, KC Star reporter, and the Star paper became a thorn in the side of the La Cosa Nostra in Kansas City. As you can see from Gangland Wire, Nick Civella paid a lot of attention to press coverage. He knew the press would create community pressure on law enforcement to take action. More

The F.B.I. spent thousands to install a decent microphone in the visitors area of the Federal Prison at Leavenworth. This is bad, but it is the best they could do under the circumstances. Bugging is not easy. Nick Civella continued to run his organization out of the Pen.  In this audio clip he is talking

In the below audio, Tuffy DeLuna discusses with Joe Agosto the problem of employees stealing from the casino. They are talking about the Tropicana. Carl Thomas had been allowed to hire his friend Donald Shepard and place him inside the count room. They discuss how much authority Shepherd should have if he finds others are

As I have done talks about the Italian Mafia, I often get questions about Mafia organizations in the African-American community in Kansas City and how that connects to the Civella family’s La Cosa Nostra Outfit. I have learned that most large cities had a similar “Black Mafia” organization during the 1960s and 1970s. In Kansas

When I was looking for people to interview for Gangland Wire, I was directed by my friend Denny Griffin to Frank Culotta. Frank was a former Mob enforcer and part of Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro’s “Hole In The Wall” gang. I was directed to a retired F.B.I. agent, Dennis Arnoldy, who had turned Frank

Nick Civella was one of the most astute organized crime leaders in the United States. Like the fictional Vito Corleone, he challenged the established old time Black Hand organization and fled for his life to Chicago. He was protected by the Al Capone mob until he could negotiate his way back to Kansas City. I

My friend and author of Mafia Romance Novels, Alexandra Forry asked to write a guest blog post about the Mob and Las Vegas for her blog. Click here to see what I wrote and to look at other guest posts. I know she had Mob true crime writer Denny Griffin post something. I used some