Kingpins

Today’s quote is from Sam Giancana, the mafia boss who controlled the Chicago Outfit from the 1940s to the 1960s. As one of the most powerful mafiosos in the nation, Giancana was a prime target of Attorney General Robert Kennedy’s crusade against organized crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from Meyer Lansky, otherwise known as the “Mafia’s Banker.” An associate of famed mobster Lucky Luciano, Lansky established a sprawling gambling empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from American businessman and gangster, Al Capone. During prohibition in the 1920s and ‘30s, Capone was more than just a criminal—he was a celebrity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote comes from one of the most influential gangsters ever: Arnold “the Brain” Rothstein. A notorious gambler who allegedly fixed the 1919 World Series and helped build a bootlegging empire at the dawn of Prohibition, Rothstein wasn’t known to kill men to get ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from Carlo Gambino, the leader of the Gambino crime family. Though he was deeply involved with the mob for more than five decades, Gambino only faced a total of 22 months in prison. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After meeting in a Connecticut prison in 1974, George Jung and Carlos Lehder Rivas began to build what was to become a moderate cocaine operation, smuggling drug shipments from Columbia into the U.S. However, after a few nail biting trial runs, the duo realized they were on the brink of creating an empire that would make them rich. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from American Prohibition agent Eliot Ness. His dedicated service defending the 18th Amendment earned him a reputation as an incorruptible man—living in extraordinarily corrupt times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote comes from a 1930s and 40s Jewish crime boss Meyer “Mickey” Cohen, who worked for Al Capone and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel before making a West Coast empire of his own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we’re going back to the formative years of New York’s most ruthless crime boss, John Gotti. Growing up poor in blue-collar Brooklyn, Gotti quickly learned the only currency he had was fear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from Giovanni “John” Stanfa, the Sicilian-born mobster who served as the boss of the Philadelphia crime family during the early ‘90s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from none other than the beloved crooner Frank Sinatra. Throughout his life, Sinatra remained friends with many prominent gangsters. He is also suspected of using his mafia connections to give JFK a leg-up in the 1960 election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from gangster Guarino “Willie” Moretti. Though he was known as Frank Costello’s “muscle” he had a sharp sense of humor. And when he testified in the Senate’s Kefauver Hearings in 1950, Willie brought that humor with him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the late 1970s, George Jung and Carlos Lehder Rivas would team up to become one of the most infamous trafficking duos in the history of American cocaine. Before they could become professionals though, both men would start from humble origins, padding their resumes out with marajuana trafficking and forays into organized crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from bank robber Willie Sutton, known for his gentlemanly manner and for escaping jail multiple times. His crimes eventually earned him a spot on the FBI’s most wanted list. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we return to a saying you’ve likely heard once or twice before. What you might not know is who coined it: New York math whiz turned mafia accountant, Otto “Abbadabba” Berman. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from 1920s and 30s underworld boss, Stephanie St. Clair. During that time, she was engaged in a fierce rivalry with Arthur Simon Flegenheimer, more commonly known as mobster Dutch Schultz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we’re recalling an odd moment in the life of Colombia’s “King of Cocaine,” Pablo Escobar. According to his son, when the family was once holed up in one of Escobar’s hideouts in the mountains of Medellin, his father resorted to drastic measures to keep the family warm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from mafioso-turned-informant Henry Hill, an associate of the Lucchese crime “family,” as many Italian mafia outfits are called. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our first quote is not actually by a criminal—it’s from The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, written in 1513. But the book’s principles lie at the heart of every mobster’s philosophy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the 1960s, Charlie Richardson had London's criminal underbelly in the palm of his hand. This was all thanks to his acumen as a shady businessman and his “Torture Court,” where he judged and punished his enemies. And just as he was ready to go straight, his enemies would have something to say. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices