The History of the American Mafia: How the Mob Built Its Empire in the US, with Former Gambino Crime Family Associate, Louis Ferrante.

In this episode, Mark sits down with former Mob associate Louis Ferrante to discuss his book, Borgata: The Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia.

The history of the American Mafia, known as La Cosa Nostra or simply "The Mob," is well known. Prohibition in the United States during the Roaring Twenties saw the rise of characters who have since been mythologized in Hollywood: Charles "Lucky" Luciano and his close confidant Meyer Lansky, Al "Scarface" Capone, Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein, Dutch Schultz, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria, and Salvatore Maranzano.

What makes Borgata different is that it was written by someone who lived "The Life," providing a unique perspective. Lou discusses the formation of The Commission, an underworld ruling council that controlled the Five Families of New York (now known as the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno, and Colombo), The Outfit in Chicago, and the Philadelphia Mafia.

Lou talks about the rules, the use of violence, and how the US government looked to tackle the growing power of organized crime, spearheaded by the likes of prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey.

We also hear about Lou's own life in La Cosa Nostra and how he and his crew committed some of the most successful heists in US history, which ultimately landed him in prison.

In prison, he began to read everything he could get his hands on, including history, philosophy, and the great classics of literature. He never turned on his former associates, but when he left prison, he also left "The Life." Now he speaks about his experiences with the Mob and has become a successful author (Unlocked: A Journey from Prison to Proust), including his new a huge three-part history of the American Mafia.

In this episode, Mark and Lou discuss the first book, Borgata: The Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia.

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Louis Ferrante's book 'Borgata: The Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia' is available here: https://a.co/d/cDcxOQ2

Audible version: https://a.co/d/2VHu3Ht

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Welcome to Underworlds with Mark Shaw.

Organized Crime is everywhere, hidden in plain sight. The stories from this world have been mythologised by Hollywood. But the reality can be even stranger and more exciting than fiction.

From the golden age of the American mafia (La Cosa Nostra), to the modern-day cocaine empires, and from the shadowy links between organized crime and terrorism, to the twilight of the Yakuza.

In this series Mark Shaw, the Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime delves into non-fiction books about organized crime and the illicit economy with the authors themselves. He asks questions about their background and investigations, but also the challenges associated in writing about this murky world.

It's been a while since our previous episode of The Impact. But in that time the Global Initiative has continued to track the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on organized crime around the world.

As the rest of the world shut down, the adaptability and agility of criminal networks has been clear to see – they have found new routes for illegal commodities, from drugs to people.

In this special episode Jack introduces Lindy Mtongana and her interview with the Director of the Global Initiative, Mark Shaw, and the Deputy Director, Tuesday Reitano to discuss their new book - Criminal Contagion: How Mafias, Gangsters and Scammers Profit from a Pandemic.

You can also watch the interview here.

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Brazil is a vast country of some 211 million people. A nation full of energy but also plagued by crime; powerful criminal networks like the PCC and Red Commando battle over international and domestic drug trafficking routes. Then there is illegal logging, gold mining, land invasion, human trafficking, high levels of violence, highly militarised law enforcement and a huge corruption scandal that rocked the Brazilian political class.

And now COVID-19 has struck and Brazil has the second highest number of cases in the world.

Presenter(s)

Ana Paula Oliveira / Jack Meegan-Vickers

Guests

Antonio Sampaio, a research fellow at the International institute for Strategic Studies, the host of the Sounds Strategic Podcast and a member of the GI Network of Experts

Christian Vianna De Azevedo, an academic researcher, and law enforcement officer who specialises in transnational organised crime and terrorism. Christian is also a member of the GI Network of experts

Gabriel de Santis Feltran, a Professor at the Federal University of Sao Carlos in Sao Paulo state and member of the GI Network of experts

Adriana Erthal Abdenur, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Plataforma CIPÓ and a member of the GI Network of experts.

Additional Reading

‘Illicit order: The militarized logic of organized crime and urban security in Rio de Janeiro’

In this bonus episode of The Impact: Coronavirus and Organized Crime, Jack sits down with author and former NPR foreign correspondent, Sarah Chayes.

In this extended version of the interview which was part of the COVID and Corruption episode, Sarah talks about her experience of studying corruption around the world and how kleptocratic networks capture state institutions, even in the United States.

Sarah Chayes is the author of Thieves of State and the upcoming book On Corruption in America.

A different sounding episode as Jack sits down with a collection of organized crime experts to discuss what we have seen over the past few months and what might happen next.

Guests:

Tuesday Reitano, Deputy Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Nirmal Ghosh, US Bureau Chief for The Straits Times and member of the GI Network of experts

Joyce Kimani, the Observatory Coordinator for East and Horn of Africa at the GI

Guillermo Vazquez, Senior Analyst at the GI

Lyes Tagziria, Analyst at the GI

Ana Paula, Analyst at the GI

Faces of Assassination

This Pandemic is causing huge economic impacts. The World Bank has forecast a contraction of 5.3% in global GDP in 2020 – that is the deepest global recession in decades leaving lasting scars on the lives of people living all over the world.

And this could manifest itself in many ways - a rush to push government policy through to help combat the immediate effects of COVID means that the usual stringent checks may be ignored.

And organized criminal networks are positioning themselves to capture state institutions and contracts – enriching themselves at the expense of the public.

Guests

Andy Guth - adjunct professor and an expert on anti-corruption and how it works with transnational organized crime groups.

Professor Adriano Nuvunga - Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development in Mozambique and a leading civil society activist.

Vanda Felbab-Brown - Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and also a member of the GI Network of experts.

Ambassador Ugi Zvekic - Senior Adviser at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime.

Faces of Assassination

It’s clear that throughout the recorded history of humanity, corruption has been present – and in a modern context Transparency International define corruption as the “abuse of entrusted power for private gain”.

In this time of unprecedented economic recession due to the COVID health crisis, organized corruption networks, are in a perfect position to bleed the system and organized criminal groups will be in line to slice off their share.

When huge economic stimuli are injected into the system, it causes unintended consequences. As one of our guests today wrote that "an emergency offers unparalleled opportunities for the coordinated looting of public coffers that feeds such networks. Life is upended; emotions run high. In the scramble, tested procedures are ignored and structures are disorganized. Exhausted decision makers, pressured to “do something,” miss crucial details, even as quantities of cash are injected into the chaos.”

Guests

Sarah Steingrüber - Independent Global Health Consultant/U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre

Innocent Chukwuma - Director, West Africa at the Ford Foundation

Sarah Chayes - Journalist and Author, Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security AND the upcoming book On Corruption in America.

Ana Castro - Coordinator for Central America at Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime

Faces of Assassination

Global Initiative Podcasts