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Gangland Wire Mafia Stories

Gary Jenkins is a former police officer who is best known for his work as a detective in the organized crime division of the Kansas City Police Department. During his career, Jenkins made a name for himself by investigating and prosecuting members of the Mafia and other criminal organizations. Jenkins began his career with the Kansas City Police Department in 1971, and he quickly became interested in organized crime. In 1976, Jenkins was promoted to the rank of detective, and he was assigned to the organized crime division.

As a detective, Jenkins focused on investigating the Kansas City Mafia, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the United States at the time. He worked tirelessly with the local FBI  to gather evidence and build cases against members of the organization. Their efforts paid off in the 1980s when Jenkins helped to convict several high-ranking members of the Mafia on charges of racketeering, extortion, and murder. Jenkins’ work as a detective in the organized crime division of the Kansas City Police Department earned him national recognition, and he became known as one of the most skilled and dedicated Mafia investigators in the country.

After retiring from the police department in 1996, Jenkins went to the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law. He passed the bar and commenced a solo law practice in 2000. He has also worked as a consultant and lecturer on organized crime. Jenkins authored several books about the Civil War in Missouri and his experiences investigating the Mafia. These titles include John Brown and the Last Train, The Immortal Ten: Stories From the Western Underground Railroad and Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How the FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos.

Gary Jenkins produced five documentary films. The only titles available are listed with links below.

Gangland Wire: Las Vegas and the Mob

Brothers against Brothers: The Civella Spero War

Ballot Theft: Burglary, Muder, Coverup

Jenkins’ work as a Mafia detective has had a lasting impact on law enforcement in the United States. His dedication to rooting out organized crime has helped to make communities safer and has sent a message to criminals that they will be held accountable for their actions. Jenkins’ legacy serves as a reminder that the fight against organized crime is ongoing. Currently Jenkins produces and hosts a true-crime podcast, titled Gangland Wire Crime Stories. In this popular true-crime podcast Gary Jenkins tells many stories about the Kansas City mafia, interviews experts on mafia families in many other cities, and has found many former mafia members to tell their stories. Click the below player to hear a short podcast about the Chicago Outfit.

Kansas City Mafia Documentary Films

In Gary’s first mob documentary, Gangland Wire, former F.B.I. agents, cops, reporters, and casino employees tell insider stories about a Kansas City mob war that escalated into several murders and bombings. The police and FBI investigation into the local crimes led to the installation of hidden microphones and wiretaps in Kansas City mob offices, bars, and homes. In Gary’s most recent documentary film released in 2019, he tells the inside story of the war between the Nick Civella Family and the Spero brothers. In Brothers against Brothers: The Civella Spero War, Gary takes the viewers inside the lives of surveillance cops who have to avoid being caught in a crossfire, being mistaken for a hitman, or being too close to a hidden unexploded bomb.

Kansas City Mafia books by Gary Jenkins

Show podcast host
Gary Jenkins podcast host

Gary wrote the book Leaving Vegas: How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. If the reader can handle Kindle books and remember, Amazon makes a downloadable file available free for any laptop or tablet to read Kindle books. Gary suggests the reader purchase the Kindle format because he linked wiretap audio clips to the Kindle book.

In both the documentary film Gangland Wire and the companion book, Leaving Vegas, Gary Jenkins tells the story of the Kansas City F.B.I. and the Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit, investigating how the midwest la Cosa Nostra families used Teamster’s pension fund money to finance the straw owner of Las Vegas casinos. The price for casino owners to obtain loan approvals was high. Chicago, Cleveland, Chicago, and Kansas City mob bosses ordered “strawman” casino owner Allan Glick to give casino jobs to mob pawns. These mob underlings skimmed cash from the counting rooms and sent it back to the midwest mob bosses. Jenkins was able to obtain hours of the recordings used as evidence to convict the la Cosa Nostra bosses in Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Kansas City of conspiracy to skim money from casinos. He extensively used the audio clips in Gangland Wire and Leaving Vegas. In the film, the viewer will hear out of the mouths of the mobsters how they conducted their business. For example, the viewer will hear Kansas City Mob bosses discussing problems with Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal. In his great film, Casino, Martin Scorsese based Robert DeNiro’s Ace Rothstein character on “Lefty” Rosenthal.

Show Gangland Wire DVD cover
Gangland Wire DVD cover

For the documentary and book, Gary obtained copies of ledger notes kept by Tuffy DeLuna. DeLuna kept detailed notes about the Mob’s Las Vegas activities in that ledger.  In the book Leaving Vegas: How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos, Gary created video clips with the actual wiretap audio with captions. The book contains many links to these audio clips.

Gangland Wire and Leaving Vegas document the investigation and fall of the four Midwest Mob families. Those families have never fully recovered from that fall.  They lost control of the billion-dollar Central States Teamster Pension Fund and a steady flow of millions in cash from Las Vegas casinos.

Other works by Gary Jenkins

Gary Jenkins independently produced, Negroes To Hire: Slave Life and Culture on Antebellum Missouri Farms which won the Jackson County Historical Society award for the best historical documentary film of the year in 2011. In 2012, he produced Freedom Seekers: Stories From the Western Underground Railroad.  Both films are used in many educational history and African American Study programs.

Gary authored two companion books for these films. The first is titled John Brown and The Last Train.

The second book is titled The Immortal 10: A Story from the Western Underground Railroad.

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To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. 

To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here

To subscribe on iTunes click here, please give me a review and help others find the podcast

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