Mafia Pt. 1: The Rise of La Cosa Nostra

Chuck Barris created game show classics like The Dating Game and The Gong Show. However, his memoir claims his prolific career was all a cover for his classified missions as a CIA assassin. The agency says his claim is 100% false, but as Barris notes, "Have you ever heard the CIA ...  Show more

1981, Skidmore, Missouri. Ken McElroy, the “bully of Nodaway County,” is gunned down in the street – in broad daylight, and in front of his wife and an untold number of witnesses. Despite multiple investigations and grand juries, nobody has ever been indicted in the case, thanks ...  Show more

In the mid-1800s, criminal gangs sprang up in Sicily, using violence to extort farmers in the island's lucrative citrus trade. By the end of the century, the gangs organized into the Cosa Nostra: the all-powerful Sicilian mafia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoi ...  Show more

By the 1960s, organized crime gangs were well and truly already becoming a presence across the north of the United States, as underworld figures fought for sole control over highly lucrative gambling, illegal alcohol, and prostitution rings. Down south, things were done a slightl ...  Show more

You're probably familiar with the American mafia, at least through its portrayal in popular culture. But how did this infamous secret society come to be?Louis Ferrante traces its origins in the first volume of his slated trilogy on the subject, entitled Borgata: Rise of Empire: A ...  Show more

Launching February 7th is a new podcast that explores the underworld of American organized crime and the stories behind the rise and fall of the most notorious mobsters in history.