In short
Mafia history in New York (and earlier Italian/Irish immigration and anti-Italian violence), focusing on extortion gangs, Prohibition-era bootlegging, and Lucky Luciano’s reorganization of the Mafia into the “five families” and a national syndicate.
Guests
Horatio Gould (co-host/guest). Backgrounds mentioned: none specific beyond being a film/food-obsessed conversational partner; the episode is framed as “Finn vs. History” with Gould joining the host.
Key claims
Mussolini/fascists previously smashed organized crime in Sicily, then gangs re-emerged in America. New Orleans’ “Black Hand” extortion led to extreme anti-Italian backlash, including a March 1891 jail mob lynching 11 of 17 Italians. Prohibition created massive black-market profits and empowered organized crime. Luciano and Meyer Lansky professionalized Mafia operations, ending turf wars via a commission and creating the five New York crime families.
Notable examples
Giuseppe Esposito (kidnapping/extortion; deported to Palermo; later returns to New Orleans); Giuseppe Masseria vs. Salvatore Maranzano (“Calamari War”); Valentine’s Day Massacre (mentioned as possibly Capone-linked); Luciano’s assassination of Maranzano (gunmen at a table; later hitmen posing as tax investigators).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOMafia Films and Cultural References
2:01 to 4:24
Hosts discuss their favorite mafia films and cultural tropes surrounding them.
“That's actually, Gangs of New York is when the Irish people who establish themselves attack the Italians.”
Italian Immigration to America
4:24 to 5:48
A discussion on the waves of Italian immigration to the U.S. and its implications.
“I would make a racist bop it called wop it.”
Cultural Stereotypes and Food
5:48 to 8:13
Exploration of cultural stereotypes related to Italian food and sandwiches.
“I think this has been covered by cinema quite a lot, right?”
The Black Hand Tactics
8:13 to 11:41
An overview of the Black Hand gang's extortion methods and historical context.
“I think they're actually a bit stuck up their own arms.”
Giuseppe Esposito and the Rise of Gang Culture
11:41 to 14:00
The story of Giuseppe Esposito and the emergence of organized crime in New Orleans.
“Now, New Orleans, he starts extorting Italian shopkeepers and restaurant owners.”
Daniel Craig's Bond and Style Choices
14:00 to 15:10
Discussion on the evolving portrayal of James Bond and his style choices.
“It feels like he was like Bond was holding him back almost.”
The Rise of the Black Hand
15:10 to 16:40
Overview of the Black Hand gang's formation and violent activities.
“Brothers David and Mike Hennessy because a lot of the racial tensions, the Irish had arrived and they'd gone into politics and police.”
Lynching and Racial Tensions in New Orleans
16:40 to 18:10
Exploration of the lynching of Italians in New Orleans and its historical context.
“British individuals were lynched in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.”
Prohibition's Impact on Crime
18:10 to 19:52
How Prohibition created a surge in crime and organized gang activity.
“But 13 years after this, Prohibition begins.”
The Origins of Prohibition
19:52 to 22:20
Discussion on the societal factors leading to the enactment of Prohibition.
“to stop me crying by my Presbyterian grandfather yeah I guess so shut that kid up Yeah, that's a classic thing, but surely there's not crates and crates of whiskey just for that.”
Show all 24 chapters
Alcohol, Domestic Violence, and Prohibition
22:20 to 23:40
The relationship between alcohol, domestic violence, and the temperance movement.
Al Capone and His Mythology
23:40 to 24:50
An examination of Al Capone's legacy and the misconceptions about him.
Sicilian Mafia and Trade Unions
24:50 to 28:00
How the Sicilian Mafia infiltrated trade unions during Prohibition.
“right really yeah and it makes sense carbonara being an american was baking an egg isn't it Yeah.”
Infiltration and Goons
28:00 to 32:35
Discussion on the role of gangs in labor unions and the concept of 'gooning'.
“lookalikes who have their whole life yeah but you yeah but these are long sections of a four-hour film you can't just have you can't have a robert de niro lookalike and just hope robert de niro Robert the Neary.”
Lucky Luciano's Rise
32:35 to 39:30
Exploration of Lucky Luciano's impact on the Mafia's evolution and the Prohibition era.
Murder and Betrayal
40:07 to 42:03
Detailing the power struggle within the Mafia and Luciano's strategic moves.
“Hey, I'm running out to drop off a stack of letters and packages.”
Maranzano's Ambitions and Luciano's Rise
42:03 to 43:25
Learn about Maranzano's declaration and how Luciano navigates mafia power struggles.
“But basically, the big problem that Luciano solves is that people always try and be the boss of the boss.”
Luciano's Mafia Restructuring
43:25 to 45:27
Discover how Luciano reorganized the Mafia into a structured organization to prevent turf wars.
“Like, I feel the Mafia's, the influence in New York's minimal now, surely?”
Murder Incorporated: A Corporate Approach to Crime
45:27 to 47:28
Explore how Murder Inc. operated as a corporate entity for contract killings.
Luciano's Criminal Business Ventures
47:28 to 49:45
Learn about Luciano’s ventures into narcotics and the business side of the Mafia.
“You flirt with them so much that they're desperate for your dick.”
Luciano's Imprisonment and Strategic Alliances
49:45 to 52:05
Understand how Luciano negotiated his influence while imprisoned during WWII.
“yeah but again she can't go out at night because she's scared about people shoving acid in her face so it's like do you know what I mean you know is she?”
Mafia's Role in WWII and Aftermath
52:05 to 56:00
Examine the Mafia's strategic alliance with the U.S. during the war and its implications post-war.
“But I think he had a massive like ding dong with one of the legislators called...”
Reinstatement of the Mafia Post-WWII
56:00 to 1:00:10
Learn how the Mafia was reinstated in Sicily after World War II and its impact.
“He'd fled to Italy in 37 to avoid murder charges, became close to Mussolini.”
Current State of the Mafia
1:00:10 to 1:01:00
Explore the current influence and operations of the Mafia in southern Italy.
“because that's all fucking crazy and there's car bombs and there's so many good stuff.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This episode is brought to you by ChatGPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons Podcast. Have you guys heard about ChatGPT work? It's the new way to use ChatGPT for bigger multi-step projects. And when you need more than just answers, give ChatGPT work access to your apps and files, and it can create real work documents like spreadsheets, slides, and structured reports. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting work mode available on Plus and Pro plans. Hey, I'm running out to drop off a stack of letters and packages. Need anything shipped while I'm gone? Save the gas. Stamps.com lets you print postage and schedule pickups right from your desk.
0:41Sync your contacts into the address book, get detailed accounting insights, and get notified the moment your certified mail is delivered. All from my desk? All from your desk. Join the 4 million businesses using Stamps.com right now with code podcast and get your free welcome gift. Stamps.com code podcast. Taxes and fees apply.
1:42Welcome back to Finn vs. History. I'm joined by Horatio Gould. I'm walking in. I'm podcasting here. Say hello to my little friend. That's what you say when take your trousers down. No, say hello to my normal friend. Say hello to my slightly below average friend. Say hello to my slightly below average friend. Doesn't really work as well. Doesn't really work. Say hello to my friend. He's tall. He's tall. My tall friend. Do you like mafia films? You love mafia films. Which ones do you like? Goodfellas. Goodfellas, yeah. Godfather. There's Mean Streets. What is it called? Blue Streak? That's not really mafia.
2:16I haven't seen that. Oh, Mickey Blue Eyes. That's great film. I haven't seen that. Haven't you seen it? Mickey Blue. Hugh Grant in a mafia film. Oh, really? Yeah. Gangs of New York's not really. That's actually, Gangs of New York is when the Irish people who establish themselves attack the Italians. Mickey Blue Eyes is a lot of fun. Great film. 5.9 on IMDb. Get fucked. That was a fun film. It looks dreadful. No, it's good. Say hello to my little friend. Don, I'm the Don. Yeah, it's... You come to me on the... Sorry, it's my daughter's wedding. You've just come to me on the day. Roy Stewart. It's Hugh Grant on the day.
2:51I think your Hugh Grant is quite Roy Stewart. it well no alistair alistair um well you've alistair you've actually come to me on the day of my daughter's wedding so the thing about mafios really really interesting really fascinating the mafia words out alistair campbell is really he's really kind of like he looks like a dad his ipad dad yeah his glasses like this yeah he's almost like he needs a hawking pillow at some point i see the clips of the rest of politics and campbell's just like this
3:24Roy Stewart Roy's very awake Campbell's just gonna anyway sorry we're talking about the Mafia this is part two it's quite a sloppy opening for us we are in America in our last episode we were in Sicily I believe in America the shit streak on the porcelain of the toilet of Italy and now the poo has floated across the ocean to the eastern seaboard. And we are in New York. New York. So what we learned in the last episode, so Mussolini had smashed, the fascists had smashed the organised crime. We're going to smash the gangs. We'll smash the fascists. No, we're the fascists. We'll smash the gangs. And there was a burgeoning scene of WAPs, Spicks and Dagos.
4:14Yeah, burgeoning scene implies a sort of music. It's like Greenwich Village in the 60s. Yeah. But instead it's people fucking chucking fat wops off of buildings. Chucking a fat wop off a building. Wop is such a great word. It is. Why don't we bring it back? Wop. Wop. Bada bing. Bada boom. Yeah, because wop it. I would make a racist bop it called wop it. Yeah. Speaking. You greasy guinea. Dago. Guinea. Oh, right. Wop it. Well, just with all slurs, it's pretty good. Yeah. No, not wop. Not wet ass pussy. Yeah. Wet horrible pussy. some wet horrible pussy yeah that's what what means now that's a British cover version some wet horrible pussy yeah what that is is a closeted gay geezer from the east end oh get that wet horrible pussy away from me disgusting wet I love the idea that someone hating pussy because it's wet give me a lovely dry cock dry ass please horrible I want a dry sandy bar I'm not some wet horrible puss anyway that's sorry we're not talking about wet horrible pussy we're talking about wops sounds like something in the East End Cav yeah can I have ash browns baked beans and I'll have a wet horrible pussy please thank you lovely yeah a bit of brown sauce yeah lovely yeah yeah yeah spick on the side please oh yeah can we get a couple of wops for the table yeah yeah side portion of Dago yeah we're talking about the Italian invasion of America America in the 20th century.
5:50So this is Ellis Island. I think this has been covered by cinema quite a lot, right? So this is where there was a big call for immigration. Yeah. Why was that? Do you know? Because the Irish had arrived. They go and we fucked this up. They're drinking everything. We need some new people. Yeah. And then the Italians are on the boat. It's like the golden age of immigration in a way. It's the most it's glorified. Something like in between 1890 and 1910 or 20, four million Italians arrive in New York. So it's start the boats. It's the ultimate start the boats. Yeah, but as they go past the Statue of Liberty, Italian men are trying to grope her tits.
6:28Oh, my mama, my mama. Oh, my mama. Hey, me God, my mama. They're sexually harassing the Statue of Liberty as they arrive. Well, what happens is they see the ass first and they're trying to grab it. And when it comes around, they see the face and they think it's the mama. So it's like, it's the two sides. Oh, look, cheeky, cheeky, cheeky. Oh, mama. And then they're slapping each other for going, how dare you oh my god pig dog pig dog pig cow what could possibly go wrong yeah letting four million make four million eye ties into a protestant city and well I mean New York New York's never been the same since no it's been downhill it's been downhill what's that Charlie just a really striking pig that is a striking pig it's a dark charisma prosciutto prosciutto warning my god that pig's eyes that's got the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen well there's a sadness there Is that a pig who knows what prosciutto is?
7:20Wow. Fucking hell, that's a pig who... I didn't know they could look like that. That's an amazing pig. God, I would love some salami. I really do want some prosciutto. I saw a video the other day of Italian old people making prosciutto from scratch. Amazing. Incredible. Just fucking insult. Now, would you agree, as a man who loves food, would you agree that, though Italian cuisine's great, would you say? Probably the best in Europe, would you say? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'd say so. I do think the Italian sandwich is overrated. What do you think? No. No? No. You're not following me there? Wash your mouth out and kiss your mother with it.
7:51Oh, mama mia, please give me a kissy. Yeah. No, I think that the bread's too thick and the fillings, it's too thin. It's like thin ham, wet cheese with a huge amount of bread. Yeah, but when you open a sandwich up, that Italian sandwich, that is a wet, horrible person. Yeah, I just think that they, and they're always commenting on how Americans don't do it right, but I think Americans know how to make a sandwich far better than the Italians. I think they're actually a bit stuck up their own arms. What I do think they need, I think they need a lot of the deli meats to catch them so they're not overwhelmed by the flavour of like pickles and stuff.
8:23Yeah. So you need a whole fucking pack of ham. I just think they're quite, they think that they make the best sandwiches and I actually think if you took away from the Italian-ness of it. I'm eating the marinara. That's pretty good. But is that Italian? That's probably an American twist. Well, Americans reinvent, you know, like the hamburger is German if you want to be a dick about it. Oh, we're not going to be a dick about it. No, we're not. it's american um all that stuff yeah no i like an italian i know i know what you mean and that they can i think it's overrated and people people i think you say people start thinking about it's like oh yeah i guess this isn't that great it's just a fuckload of bread i think with a tiny thin bit i prefer just sort of just cold cuts on the plate yes exactly or you have ciabatta dip it in oil yeah i think it's the wrong way to serve italian dip it in honest pum yeah some wet horrible
9:10so wop it spick it dago i don't know what they could be i just want i've racist bop it wop it i'm into it um wop is a great word let's bring it back yeah anyway make america great again make america make wops acceptable again now we start in in cis uh in new orleans the black hand right So there's a gang called the Black Hand who come up with this tactic called the Black Hand Tactics. Right. Form of extortion. They send threatening letters demanding money with punishments like violence, arsenal, kidnapping for non-payment. So it's sort of like the license fee if it wasn't woke. Yes, they are the Black Hand.
9:50Yeah, the Black Hand of Keir Starmer. Keir Starmer's Black Hand is telling me to pay my license fee. Telling me to even just tell them that I'm not watching. Fuck off. Yeah. Go and catch an actual criminal. Yeah. Not to sound like a 50-year-old man from the Cotswolds, but you know. part of me is like I think just enforce it more I think they're just yeah I got 15 letters and it's like no one's we're coming around you've never come around you're not you're fucking not mate I think you should come around and actually bat your door in and get people to pay their license fee but you can't be this weak hand like you know we BBC were about this big collective it's like you gotta have some fucking they've got some muscle because this is black hand Starmer's got like a beetle hand what is very funny is all TV license letters they're all addressed from Romford yeah because I think they're trying to make it seem like there's a hard guy we're hard yeah Yeah, they're based in Romford.
10:34Because of the imagery. Yeah. No, it's some fucking nerd. There's one nerd in a cardigan who's sending out all these letters. Wait, are you watching BBC? Are you listening to the radio? And also they turn up, you watch BBC, you go, no, it's blasting on. Yeah. What's that? I don't know. Can I have a warrant? Show me a warrant, please. Oh, fuck. We should have thought of this. Anyway, the letters, the black hand letters are often decorated with symbols like a smoking gun or a bloody hand. Yeah. Oh, that's nice. Now, in 1880 in Sicily, an English clergyman was kidnapped by a bandit called Leonie.
11:04Authorities delay. So they asked for a ransom, I presume. So Leonie Lewis. Not Leonie Lewis. Although, I guess he does keep bleeding. Bleeding out my ears. They keep cutting off his ears. So I guess he does keep bleeding. He cuts off one ear and the negotiations drag on so he cuts off the other ear. And now the British pay. The clergyman, who has no ears, gets released. How does he hear? It doesn't work, that joke. How does he smell? No, no, his ear's been cut off. He can smell fine. Anyway, the British forced the Italian government to send troops after Leone, who gets killed along with most of his gang.
11:38But one survivor, Giuseppe Esposito. Mmm, delicious. Esposito. Escapes to New Orleans. Now, New Orleans, he starts extorting Italian shopkeepers and restaurant owners. So a lot of Mamma Mia's. Oh, a lot of Mamma Mia's. A lot of Mamma Papas. Mamma Papas. A lot of mama and papa Mia. A lot of mama and papa Mia. Is papa Mia a phrase? Can I be a papa Mia? I don't think so. I don't know. Papa Mia. Papa Mia. Mama Mia. Papa Mia.
12:14Anyway. This episode is brought to you by ChatGPT. Hey, it's Bill Simmons from the Bill Simmons Podcast. Have you guys heard about ChatGPT work? It's the new way to use ChatGPT for bigger multi-step projects. And when you need more than just answers, give ChatGPT work access to your apps and files and it can create real work documents like spreadsheets, slides, and structured reports. Get started at ChatGPT.com by selecting work mode available on Plus and Pro plans. Hey, I'm running out to drop off a stack of letters and packages. Need anything shipped while I'm gone? Save the gas. Stamps.com lets you print postage and schedule pickups right from your desk.
12:58Sync your contacts into the address book, get detailed accounting insights, and get notified the moment your certified mail is delivered. All from my desk? All from your desk. Join the 4 million businesses using Stamps.com right now with code podcast and get your free welcome gift. Stamps.com, code podcast. Taxes and fees apply. Star Wars, The Mandalorian and Grogu is now streaming on Disney+. What are you waiting for? hop on the must-see galactic adventure comes home on disney plus this is the way our only chance is to work together i like this kid always wear your seat belt star wars the mandalorian and grogu now streaming on disney plus raid pg-13 it's sort of anyway that's my musical version papamia set on a gay cruise you don't know which yeah what would be the version of that i've not i've not seen mamma mia i'm straight i'm straight so i've got no idea what it is i know i know there's a video of pierce broson singing right that's funny supposedly but i won't watch it because i don't want to see james bond in a musical i don't want to you're worried you might turn gay if you watch it james bond in the musical if i watch pierce broson singing i will turn gay yeah and then i'll write a musical called papamia we're just sat on the gay cruise god he was a fucking smoke show but young young brosman absolute smoke show even old brosman to be fair yeah he could pull it off yeah craig daniel craig's gone a bit weird yeah he dresses a bit weird for a bond fan you're like daniel can you stop ruining bonds by dressing in a fucking v-neck yeah he's going like very like kind of like clown school league you know alt comics i don't like it I don't like it.
14:42It feels like he was like Bond was holding him back almost. It feels like for him, he was like, I'm so glad I can finally be myself now. No, you shouldn't be yourself. Put a tux back on. Anyway, Giuseppe Esposito begins extorting Mamma Mia and Papamia and makes them invest in small boats. He forms a gang called the Black Hand and he clashes with another Italian involved in protection, Tony Labruzzo, who informs on him. So the police arrest Esposito. He gets deported to Palermo and give them a life sentence. Brothers David and Mike Hennessy because a lot of the racial tensions, the Irish had arrived and they'd gone into politics and police.
15:21So a lot of the more legitimate sides of the American dream. And then Germans had arrived and they'd gone into business. So it's sort of like Italians who'd arrived last. It was like, what was left? Restaurants. Drop kicking a fat guy off a building. Yeah. Wobbling a what? Wobbling a what? Wobble what? The new game. It's like swing ball, but with a fat Italian man.
15:45Labruzzo, with the informant, he gets assassinated before Esposito's trial. And then two brothers, Charles and Tony Matranga, take over the black hand. So they had a monopoly on fruit ship unloading. That's not when the gay club in Soho spill out. Those fruit ships are being unloaded. They attack grocery stores and the violence breaks out. basically the black hand gets so bad that newspaper ads call citizens to a mass meeting in March 1891 guns are distributed a mob storms the New Orleans jail and lynches 11 out of 17 Italians fuck so 9 men are shot or clubbed to death inside the prison 2 victims are hauled outside the prison hanged from a lamppost and a tree 1 was reportedly hanged 4 times I guess that's how fat he was but did it sort of work?
16:34what do you mean work? I mean the mafia activity in New Orleans went down after this well yeah yeah so you know they quieted down to 1907 so 10 years apiece but yeah they basically i didn't realize that new orleans was such a hotbed of um italian lynching um and italians must be the only europeans to have been lynched in america can you google that charlie was then irish do they get any were the irish ever hanging from lampposts having been put there by someone else not because they just got too drunk yeah the irish were lynched in america uh were were But the British lynched in America. Never.
17:10Surely. Seems like, well, yeah. British individuals were lynched in America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wow. Okay, well, it seems like everyone's getting lynched. That's an absolute disgrace, though. Lynching a Brit in America. It's just a public murder, isn't it? Yeah. That's what it is. It's not like a method. Yeah, it's just a public murder, mate. It's just a bit of fun. It's just hanging, you know, it's decorating a Christmas tree and everyone chill out. it's an ancient tradition so i do i lynch my christmas tree every year i don't hang tinsel i lynch it anyway anyway come on so new orleans a hotbed of anti-italian sentiment because of the black hand uh had been involved at some point a grocer italian american grocer was his son was kidnapped an eight-year-old son held for six thousand dollars ransom a lot i imagine at the time yeah and then his body is discovered in june 1907 having been beheaded which does strike the question how annoying was this boy that they went fuck it i don't want six thousand dollars i'm gonna chop his head off yeah but this stirs new orleans intensely but it's interesting mafias still has that romance to it yeah it's just i guess it's the the still beheaded an eight-year-old yeah yeah it's their weird code of conduct and the culture that just makes it seem fucking cool it's very toxic yeah yeah it's problematic if you're beheading an eight-year-old I think at one point you go, am I hanging out with the wrong friends?
18:38But 13 years after this, Prohibition begins. President Calvin Coolidge, probably the best-named president has ever been. Yeah, that's a good name. He enacts Prohibition on January. That's a good comedian's name, Calvin Coolidge. Yeah, January 17th, 1920. Now, obviously, everyone carries on drinking because it's the biggest dry January ever. Of course. And it's a fucking mad policy to give. But as I've said before, this is a sort of power struggle between Protestant America and the Catholic WAPs that had taken over the Eastern Seaboard. Lock it up, let it all hang out. A battle is anxious time.
19:14As anxious time. The whole of history can be framed as Catholic, be Protestant. Yeah, in more ways than one. So there are obviously loopholes for religious alcohol, medicine. WAP holes. WAP holes, sorry to give me a proper name. Ordinary citizens carry on drinking, which empowers rum runners again lovely name for a slur that I think you were a bit of a rum runner yeah that does sound yeah there's something going on there Charlie runs rum across the border yeah I guess so so almost immediately crime surges an hour after prohibition begins armed men in Chicago steal large quantities of whiskey destined for medicinal use now what's medicinal use of whiskey well I had it rubbed on my gums as a child to stop me crying by my Presbyterian grandfather yeah I guess so shut that kid up Yeah, that's a classic thing, but surely there's not crates and crates of whiskey just for that.
20:04I guess so. Yeah, I don't really understand what medicinal use it could possibly... They're probably knocking people out on this anaesthetic in the old days. Just getting absolutely fucked. Yeah. I'd hate to be operated on really, really drunk. Really, really drunk. Why more so than... Well, what, than now? Oh, you mean as opposed to having any sort of like... Anaesthetic. Anaesthetic. Yes. Just pissed. Just pissed. Fucking awful. Be so horrible. I want a kebab, not my leg cut off. Well, you probably think your leg was a kebab. Imagine being like that, so drunk when you're dizzy. Yeah. So there's lots of, I mean, one thing that the New York Mafia do much better than Sicilians is the nicknames.
20:42Yes. Everyone's got fucking stupid names. Big Jim, Big Bill. Lucky Luciano is the big one. That's the big guy. He's the big guy. But basically, Prohibition, I think something like$4 billion gets put into the black market in 13 years. because it never has a policy been so wildly out of step right with people yeah i actually don't know much about prohibition we'll do a whole series on it but yeah but but essentially what was the kind of what was the the night out that led to prohibition like what was the right because it's always like sometimes i'm never drinking again but what was that for the whole nation well well a lot of it is that women can't vote right and the um their their husbands are drinking all the time to get through uh how horrible their job is right and they come home and they hit them and i think i've said this before but legally that wasn't domestic violence didn't exist sure so you could hit it's like hitting your swing ball it's like hitting your fridge yeah so you know a man could hit his wife just the same way he could punch a wall it doesn't matter yeah uh so just going down to the net yeah driving range yeah yeah it's before driving ranges so there's domestic driving range where you play um 18 holes on your wife anyway so the temperance movement is largely protestant women uh who are also threatened it's it's the first carol they're threatened by they're threatened by the husband the husband's drunk husband smacking them every night the drug husband bringing a four iron into the wedding room into their bedroom it'd be funny to have a domestic abuse caddy a little guy in a bib who's like uh who's just looking at looking at his wife sleeping three wood i reckon i'm using real damage through anyway it's the original karens it's the original white women white women are threatened by uh south european immigration people who do they prohibition yeah it's right it's it's women stopping the boys from having a good time right for 13 years yeah it's crazy and then it ends as hitler comes to power i don't think that's a coincidence right fuck me let's have a drink right this guy doing sure anyway al capone doesn't really i mean he is technically he's like the big star of prohibition but he's known to scarface because he gets slashed in slashing the face but we might do him on a different episode yeah but he's also he's not actually that interesting a guy yeah he's always he's upheld as such a mythic figure but he was the only one who actually talked to the press he he tried to become front and center like the it's because they couldn't catch him that was the whole thing and that's part of the weird thing about the american legal system is like yeah when you with someone who's so clearly a mafia boss but you've got nothing on them yeah they could just be your local crime i think they had stuff on him but he was paying them all off as well right so he supposedly orchestrates the valentine's day massacre in 1929 but there's actually no evidence do you know what we haven't placed any of this right people are going to be absolutely livid what date shall we place should we place prohibition coming in because that's kind of the height of the mafia in america okay so that's the 1920s right 1920 1920 it comes in prohibition right so do it with italian foods italian foods okay so that's um that is after putinesca after whorish pasta i believe yeah and before carbonara exists as far back as the 19th century and it is before I'm going to say it's before can what the Sicilian little cakey things called cannolis no you're joking you're absolutely joking no no no the 9th century I mean it's not Arabs yeah but I mean it's not the most complicated thing is it it's cream and a bit of pastry Arabs are doing that that's an Arab delicacy Christ Finn on 9-11 arabs doing that what that was arab doing that what that's an arab delicacy it's a place it what do you say it's after the puttinesk is before carbonara when's carbonara carbonara was made by the us gi joe's oh was it yeah it's before the americano yeah look at that oh you're right really yeah and it makes sense carbonara being an american was baking an egg isn't it Yeah.
24:59Yeah. It's just fucking crap. Oh, you mean pasta that's made of eggs? How about you put another egg in there? Yeah. It's just pasta covered in pasta, really. Well, it's British. It's a fry up, but it's pasta. Yeah. Carbonara. God, I'd love to murder a carbonara. But that... So fucking good. Do you know, I just think it makes sense that Italians invented fascism when you... If you put cream in a carbonara and see how they react. Yeah. Okay, right, right. Have you seen the guy... They are cuisine fascist, for sure. They are tablecloth fascists. Have you seen the guy who trolls Italians in Italy?
25:28by eating it wrong. Right. Oh, it's so funny. Charlie, get YouTube video or it's shorts, whatever. Guy who chops spaghetti with scissors. Right, right. He downs a pizza with ketchup and he records all the reactions of the waiters. It's so fucking good. So if you're listening, a guy is chopping spaghetti with scissors in a restaurant. Far away in the kitchen. The kitchen staff are running and they're confiscating the scissors and they're kicking him out. they kick him out of the restaurant and he's asking for his scissors back and the kitchen staff are screaming at him there's one where he puts ketchup on a pizza and yeah very funny so it makes sense that the Italians invent fascism given how much they go on about their food so the Valentine's Day massacre is supposedly Capone eliminates an entire rival gang they all pretend to be police and they get in a garage and then they shoot them all but it's not really to do with the mafia mafia which is particularly Sicilians yes in Italy and they have like that's why in the Godfather they have strict rules and only Sicilians can be part of the gang you can only be a made man if you're 100 % Italian if you're a bit like Sicilian maybe I think it might only be Sicilian the old country exactly as they say so the Sicilians get access to New York City's docks so they manage importation and distribution which is very important during prohibition because that's where all the imports of alcohol from Europe come from yeah they basically infiltrate trade unions and then they can organized strikes as a threat.
26:59Yeah. Well, that's where the Teamsters and like, because there's all the different forms of the Mafia, which are all covered by different films. And in The Irishman, that's about like the Mafia through the Teamsters, which is a union, right? Right. So there's a lot of like mixed between the Mafia and the unions. Do you know what a Teamster is? No. What's a Teamster? I think a Teamster is like a transport union or something. It's a lorry driver. Yeah. So it's the Teamsters union. or it's a driver of a team of animals um I was an Italian yeah but yeah that was a had a lot of mafia links that's what have you seen the Irishman no no too long right fair enough and CGI yeah they did some weird stuff to De Niro's face I mean it's funny that they spent like so much money on it like 200 million for that technology which I feel if they'd waited two years would have been so much easier just get it for an actor yeah I know and it's funny he's playing a 20 year old but he's got the posture of an 80 year old man yeah so there's like him he's cgi'd and there's one one thing where he chucks uh his gun off and it's so clearly an old bloke yeah this 22 year old bloke it's also surely there are like robert de niro lookalikes who have their whole life yeah but you yeah but these are long sections of a four-hour film you can't just have you can't have a robert de niro lookalike and just hope robert de niro Robert the Neary.
28:15That's good. That's pretty good. So they infiltrate the trade unions and they employ us counter with strike breakers or hired goons to intimidate workers. But basically gangs are essential to both sides of the union strategy. Something I'm envious of, I would love goons. Yes, I'd like some goons. Like sort of two-dimensional thugs who don't really have any sort of character development. Gooning is a sexual slang term that refers to the act of masturbation. You know what gooning is, right? What do you mean you know what gooning is? Of course you do. If I'm masturbating, it's very quickly into the sink and then I'm back out.
28:54Well, you've got an alter ego when you masturbate now. So Charlie, because he has to get past Keir Starmer's draconian measures, you have, what's your email called that you use? Lemononsticks at gmail.com. So does it kind of abstain you from the shame? It just means that there's no way. Only lemon on sticks is the one masturbating. Are you doing sort of severance, but with masturbation? I've not seen. I've seen the Polar Express.
29:22But you know the concept of severance? No. Where you're two different people. One's at work, one's at home, and you sever completely. I guess so. You could do that with masturbation, where you only resever. So one guy's entire life. It's my porn alter ego. One guy's whole life is only masturbating. So you're waking up going, bloody hell, that guy's a fucking pervert. the one guy is just non-stop it's literally he's never not wanking well part of the issue of this podcast is that i think you've left your other half who's not a wank not a wanking sex pest at home what gooning is so charlie though you can't see at home but charlie's got three different screens in front of and he's bussing that's what gooning is is when you have multiple screens oh like security guards nasa control center you're porn maxing right porn maxing yeah so it's kind of like it's for the brain rotted generation where you can't one video you can't have it so you just got them all over the place maybe vr heads around town yeah dolby sound system well like like in the matrix and the thousands of screens oh oh what the when the thx
30:28and that's how you know it's in yeah 3d glasses yeah wow that must have sounded lovely for the this is the noise I just made. I didn't know that. Gooning. Yeah. Christ. No, I don't. You learn a lot from us. I don't think I've ever gooned. I don't think I've ever, I don't think I've ever had more than one porn video playing at the same time. You ever live, son. Different generation. I've got iPad. iPad phone. Really? Harry Bow. Lappy. Lappy? Multimedia. He's sometimes eating sweets while he's masturbating. I know, it's disgraceful. Starmies. I mean, I've, I mean, you know, back in the day you'd have like gq nuts zoo you'd make yourself a sort of like analog goon yeah i guess that's yeah analog goon spread yeah that's my autobiography the analog goon spread or do you think it's in the way that like vinyl became hipster right because it was like going back to a more analog age yes there's going to be sort of hipster gooners who are like it's only nudie mags right or it's like really really old school like artisanal port like cherubs oh right okay fair trade yeah yeah well i've always thought that cherubs i never understood why everyone was so shocked to the whole catholic pedo thing when they're out their temples are cased in stone naked babies do you know what i mean it's like what like let's immortalize this boy as his best form yeah it's this is one child who will never grow old yeah exactly these are like you know it's the same it's the equivalent of having like a hard drive full of it is having a church just full of babies and they're like even more tempting because they can fly away let's cover their dicks up they can fly away from you oh you know the child you can never touch yeah you could even have them cross-legged no no get them out get it out I want to see it and obviously you're walking and going Christ what are all these massive hogs on the roof God I'm surprised there's enough marbles to fill that Jesus Christ how much marble would it cost to fucking give this guy such a big fucking schlong God how old is he four bloody hell he's got a naturally big dick for a four year old that that cherub anyway christ let's get to lucky luciano please lucky luciano is the guy who basically turns the mafia into what it is today because there's so many fictional uh characters in mafia films don corleone but lucky luciano is the the main guy real life person right yeah he's the kind of story in a way so he's born in sicily and then he emigrates age kind of seven or uh like don corleone does in the godfather films yeah corleone is a town in sicily yeah which al pacino is from really a bit of trivia so by the time by the time that uh luciano is a sort of grown man prohibition's underway so he meets a guy called maya lansky uh who is a jew from poland don't slag him off no sorry he's a lovely guy um originally named maya susanowski i can't even i can't begin to say that so they move into bootlegging uh lansky and luciano uh and prohibition in new york there's a jewish gang so these are these are tough tough hard-nosed jews yeah and uh italian gang and they come unthinkable yeah so there's a lot of there's irish gangs there's jewish gangs there's uh italian gangs it's the partnership that the john lennon and mccartney style partnership between lansky and Luciano that is the kind of most successful in the sort of constant fighting of all these different racial they formed the young Turks right which is the group of they're the first people to put all your ethnicities aside right they're like united colors of Benetton right for crime we're like we'll have Jews we'll have Italians that's it that's it is that it there's more Irish Germans anyway prohibition in particular in New York was an absolute farce by 1922 the city had at least 5 000 speakeasies by 27 had more than 30 000 which was twice as many drinking establishments before prohibition right had a massive police force but they were so corrupt by the money from bootlegging and speakeasies because obviously obviously the police love drinking yeah of course it's like banning don't irish most of the police are irish yeah it's like if they ban donuts and then the police are obviously going to just keep it open so there were basically no major prosecutions um the mayor until offered no support for enforcing prohibition until 1929 nine years after it was open women are allowed to speak easy so is that a big change speak difficult more like speaking story love christ no i don't know who that is you know her we we met her once for lunch she's one of my other boring friends christ yeah women run speak difficult um and cocktails become popular because women are allowed in yeah so that's where we get cocktails from is this era right but it's also to mask uh shitty liquor yes shitty liquor and shitty anecdotes by your wife who was suddenly there now so they're like can we just put gin and whiskey in one glass so that i can fast forward whatever the fuck's coming out of her face i think that's why booze gets harder right is because women start drinking with right right right yeah uh anyway gender laws get softer yes now i'm pretty sure you could plot a graph everywhere in the world as as gender gender equality increases strength of alcohol also increases man alone at the bar increases because saudi arabia don't drink right and gender equality bad right interesting that cannot be a coincidence i you heard it here first i've cracked another world theory wide open that's got to be a thing yeah because where where is the most the what the most equal place in the world scandinavia yeah they're drinking all sorts yeah big boozers up there big boozers the fins yeah yeah there you go so the more gender equality there is the stronger the alcohol anyway uh bootleggers are becoming romanticized and defying the law kind of becomes fashionable for middle class people i suppose it's a bit like cannabis now yeah cocaine in the 80s maybe right right so the mafia essentially is like just got so much money at this point because it's the black market's never been bigger ever in american history right no it's never been more culturally relevant or anything and so the the uh the mafia expands its operations into unions construction gambling prostitution and narcotics which in the godfather there's that uh clash between the old and new world where don coglione who's come from sicily has a lot of respect for old values doesn't want to go into drugs because it's a dirty business yeah that's a huge part of the mafia right the kind of newer goodfellas sopranos the new jersey sort of things what this idea of this kind of loss of traditional values a lot of the mafias had that weird code of conduct but they thought drugs was dirty business that they wouldn't get involved with yeah but then the next generation of people born in america that those sort of uh so you can see the sort of degradation of the yeah because it started with lemons yeah and now it's cocaine yeah so uh my lansky devises a plan to unify new york's warring gangs right because the main threat to all the bootlegging comes from these rival gangs who are hijacking trucks and shipments and then raiding to those territories and it's not organized um and this breaks out into the castor amarese right which is a delicious uh squid pasta Oh, I got the Maserilla.
37:48Calamari. So the Calamari Wars. The Calamari War of 1929. People are throwing squids at each other. Yeah. So these are two dominant Sicilian bosses. Giuseppe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. So he's a tomato. Yeah, they don't sound scary to you. They don't sound scary at all. Manzano tomatoes and then Masseria sounds like... Sheep's cheese. Sheep's cheese. Yeah. So it's mozzarella, but it's mozzarella tomato. Ding dong. Starting or growing your own business can be intimidating and lonely at times. Your to-do list may feel endless with new tasks, and lists can easily begin to overrun your life.
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40:27All from my desk? All from your desk. Join the 4 million businesses using Stamps.com right now with code podcast and get your free welcome gift. Stamps.com code podcast. Taxes and fees apply. Now, Luciano is one of Masseria's boys, but he gets captured by the tomato cunt. Mananzano. Mananzano. And he is suspended by his thumbs, tortured and slashed across the face, requiring 55 stitches. Charlie would absolutely love that. Fuck. He would absolutely love that. I'm very squeamish. Suscended by your thumbs. What does that mean? Like Jesus? Like Italian Jesus? No, it's more like, are you having a nice time?
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41:01Yeah. Yeah, it's like being tickled. He would possibly... Yeah. who wants to be tortured and slashed across the face 55 times this guy um so he gets released only after agreeing to arrange masseria's murder in exchange for switching sides and becoming maranzano's second in command right right so what he then does is he so masseria he he that's joe masseria who was called joe the boss masseria right he was the first one to kind of say i'm like the boss of bosses right right right capo i capi okay boss of the bosses he was a fucking sloppy eater a fat guy who loved food okay right he's italian right uh anyway lucky luciano takes him out for dinner at a restaurant uh and he's like stuffing his face with he's got like tomato sauce all over his face car bloating for a race he'll never run yeah um uh car bloating for his nap really and luciano goes to the toilet and then four of his goons come inside and gun him down at the table right which is what that scene the godfather is um yes oh right it's based off uh so maranzano he then declares himself capo di tutti capi um a caper salad right caper onion salad yeah he declares himself a starter and everyone's like you can't do that the fucking capo di tutti capi oh it's so delicious the scariest man in new york the capo di tutti to the fruity, fruity.
42:24The fruity, lutey, no. But basically, the big problem that Luciano solves is that people always try and be the boss of the boss. Right. There's always a bigger boss. I want to be a mega boss. So Luciano, about four months later, he gets four of their men. He hires Jewish men to be assassins. Because him and Lansky are collaborating. So they think that, ironically, they think that hiring four Jewish hitmen will be less suspicious. Right. Because at this point, the Jews don't run everything. The Italians run everything. Yes. Because at this point, the Italians are the Jews of Europe. Interesting.
42:56Anyway. Slight leave there. Yeah. Four Jewish hitmen enter Maranzano's office posing as tax investigators and they just shoot him in a cupboard. Right. Yeah. Job done. Get in the cupboard. Bang. And so Luciano, what he does is he breaks with the tradition of then saying, well, I'm going to be boss of the bosses. he says uh him and lansky create the five new york families right which lasts to this yeah this lasts to this day and they basically yeah there are still five families in new york are they crime families yeah now what we part of is like we know about them why why don't we put them in prison no because what we call them they wouldn't call that themselves and if the it's so decentralized is that they they would just say we say oh you're part of the genovese crime family they say no i work for poly okay because all they know is like their little crew sure so like in goodfellas but I don't know how much power do they have?
43:51Like, I feel the Mafia's, the influence in New York's minimal now, surely? Probably. I mean, I don't know. So you think about who are the crime gangs, even in England, like the modern equivalent is like Albanian gangs, right? It feels like it's all shifted. Yeah, it's all sex trafficking. It's all a bit much for me. Yeah. Game's gone. Game's gone. It's gone woke. Come on. 150 years ago, we were importing lemons from Sicily. Yeah, exactly. And now we're importing... There's definitely a lack of class. Now we're importing 11-year-old teenagers from Albany to have sex with. It's definitely gone. The game is gone.
44:22The crime is lost a touch of class. Yeah. Anyway, Luciano's great genius is he essentially is like a mafia court management consultant in that he restructures the mafia into an organisation that stops all the turf wars. Okay. Because he says, these are the five families, you have that territory. He gets an Excel spreadsheet. Basically. He's the first spreadsheet cunt to get into the mafia. And they make a board of directors called a commission and they will oversee any like disputes yeah and they call it all the national crime syndicate do you think at any point it's like are we the bad guys sort of thing national crime syndicate you all decide in the name but also the enforcement you're telling on yourself brother the enforcement arm is called murder incorporated yeah i feel like murder inc not monsters inc murdering it should be more subtle they should be implying it right big fat italian criminals yeah or like sleeping with the fishes incorporated something there's a bit of charm to it not just fucking murdering so they allocated territories in new york they approved or vetoed murders of other underworld figures so they sort of settle gang disputes and they oversee the racketeering and the construction uh corruption and they sort of coordinate nationally with people in chicago whatever and this is also why italians apart from cuomo and the cuomo it's very hard for italians to get anywhere in politics still i feel like what we think of it big italian politicians well in America yeah there's not really been big names who have made up higher up in the it's true actually they're all kind of who's the one who does the rest is politics US oh Scaramucci Scaramucci and even just the name it's like I think he's a crook I think the brand the brand of Italians is permanently smeared by the mafia you're right actually where you don't want them anywhere near politics because you just assume that they're praying their cousins yeah if they're called Scaramucci Bada Bing you can't have you can't have a president called Tony Bada Bing ragatoni you can't have a president badabing no so murder inc is a criminal organization roughly between 29 and 41 and it's largely composed of jewish american italian american gangsters they carry out contract killings people estimate maybe a thousand over those 11 years on behalf of the syndicates different bosses of the five families so they're like a corporate murder for hire business and the variety in terms of the methods they use to kill people uh ice pick stabbings so they're doing a corporate gig yeah i'm doing a corporate getting paid a lot what are you doing i'm fucking chopping chopping a guy's head off putting a freezer yeah right okay at least the money's good money's good i guess tough gig they often used common everyday items to avoid carrying weapons right so ice picks uh strangulation garrotte what is a garrotte what do you how do you grow like right right wire around the neck yes nice uh it's probably a sex thing it's probably like gooning can you self grow auto auto garrot auto garrotic asphyxiation i guess so yeah uh meat cleavers yep uh live burial live live and it's live live fuck it we'll do it live uh cement shoes is my favorite that's a good one yeah tying bodies to weights and just um plopping them into the water are you alive when they do that they're probably knocked out all right right so lucky luciano sorts out the mafia right he stops the sort of disputes for a long time but basically and there's a guy called arnold rothstein right who um is as jewish as he sounds right and is jewish by nature as well he's the money guy okay uh apparently doesn't drink at all his only vice is um cake loves cake okay uh and he's the one that gets the mafia into casinos eventually yes and so they all kind of learn business from him right so luciano moves the mafia into narcotics he also is a bit he loves he loves pimping right pimping ain't easy now what do you think pimping is what would you say pimping is it's selling well horrible pussy it's selling it's selling horrible well i had a guy who um i think a strange comedian uh who i won't actually name but uh he he was telling me about his pimping uh and he said pimping how he described he's from atlanta he said pimping uh for him was getting women to buy him stuff right that's what they describe as pimping so you basically you you flirt with the girls so much they're so desperate for for your dick that they will get you gifts.
48:43That's quite a big fuss. I've never had that. I don't know why I've ever had that. I mean, he was a pathological liar. You flirt with them so much that they're desperate for your dick. Yeah, pimp. And they buy you stuff. So he calls nerves a pimp, but what that means is women buy him stuff. I think, he's not even calling himself a pimp. I think it's called pimping. But the reality is so grim. You're doing a bad thing, but the big fur coat, the little pimp cane, and the little... Well, again, that's a stereotype. I think there's a lot of people just wearing cap attractions. no I don't think so jeans no I think you I think most of them are big fur coats and they have this sort of like this like limp that they affect to just give them a bit more swagger swag anyway Luciano loves pimping and he gets imprisoned in 1936 for 50 years because they're trying to send a message because they can't get him and all the other stuff he's basically he's staying like the Waldorf Astoria he's got big fur coats he is sort of like dressing up like a pimp he's they think that maybe he might be he might have been the richest man of the time but because it was all undeclared and all cash you couldn't spend it easily but it's like he was making millions a month so he's probably a billionaire by the 30 standards so it's like Bonnie Blue yes yeah but again she can't go out at night because she's scared about people shoving acid in her face so it's like do you know what I mean you know is she?
49:52yeah you've not watched the documentary no no she's scared about people aciding her yeah really heartbroken well sweet that would be a disaster she passed the pic with Bevo do you see that? they've been shagging have they? yeah I've seen it yeah they have done yeah but it makes sense it's kind of like power couple yeah Christ that's depressing isn't it the Clintons of our age Bevo and Bonnie Blue fuck me let's all just fucking set it on fire and start again Bevo and Bonnie Blue we have a TV show Meet the Bevos has he he's got his mum on fucking porn now oh my god have you seen this yeah I have have we not talked about this I think we talked about this it's crazy we must have talked she looks 12 but there is something about her there is something about her no there's not right Right.
50:36Come on. Now, Luciano gets sent away for a long time. He goes to Sing Sing, which is a notorious prison, 500 miles north of New York. Right. And he there engineers the most significant coup of his career, where because the US entered the Second World War, suddenly America is explicitly at war with Italy. Right, of course. So Italian immigrants are a security risk. And I think there's a ship that maybe is set on fire in the New York docks or something up the Hudson. Right. And suddenly everyone's like, oh, this is sabotage. This is Nazis. And so the US government, they go to Luciano. They're like, can you, you basically control the docks because they're all Italians.
51:17Right. Can you tell them to chill out and let us, be on our side, yeah. And give us some spy on the Italians and the Nazis, whatever, the Axis. So he agrees. Sabotage then stops. And Luciano offers further assistance. he sends messages back to the old country, asks them to help the Americans by providing intelligence on landing sites. But what's interesting is, obviously, Mussolini was very anti-mafia. Yeah, so again... So it's like within Italy, it's not necessarily... Even though they're both fucking bad guys, they're both chucking people off buildings, but in different styles. Well, come on.
51:53Sorry. No, come on. Mussolini founded fascism. Right, right, right, right. On the Mount Fashmore, he's there. He is there. With the Fuhrer. he is there who's on mount fashmore who's on mount fashmore yeah uh well my mount fashmore yeah mussolini hitler uh mugabe yeah and um who's another uh pinochet pinochet right yeah that's nice if you're a poet i'm going to electrocute your balls okay yeah that's nice um now five months before the allies invade sicily luciano appeals for release on grounds of services rendered. So he does eventually... Or invoices. Basically invoices. And the expenses you need to release.
52:35But I think he had a massive like ding dong with one of the legislators called... Bada bing bong. A bada ding dong, sorry. A bada bing bada dong. A prosecutor called Thomas E. Dewey. And I think he was like the guy that banged him up eventually. You know those stories where like a mafia guy is always one step ahead of the prosecutor. Yeah, yeah. like catch me if you can yeah sure eventually dewey catches luciano bangs him up for 50 years then after like however many years luciano helps the u.s government prepare for an invasion of sicily and then when he gets released it's the same prosecutor who is now mayor of new york that has to let him out right it's particularly bittersweet because he spent all that time is this partly why he's called lucky luciano no one knows why it's called that but but he just seemed to be quite quite lucky no one knows well the research i did no one knew that's interesting oh yeah he survived a brutal 1929 gangland assassination attempt where his throat was slit right other possible reasons include reputation for being lucky at gambling in 1943 with operation husky this is when the american forces landed in sicily obviously yes um this is the first ever um allied invasion of an axis thing in the war of course right 43 so four years into the war especially from the british perspective it was much bloodier than is often documented Well, this is the interesting thing.
53:53So basically, the Mafia and the US government are talking all the time. And the theory goes that because the US took the western side of the island very easily, and then the Brits took the east and had a really tough time. We had a real tough go at it. We had a real tough go at it. It was a sticky wicket. Sticky wicket for the Brits. And everyone basically thinks that's because the Americans had a dialogue with the Sicilian Mafia. yeah because a lot of american soldiers were sicilian and apparently on their uh trucks and stuff they'd have an an l flag yeah luciana yeah so it was like they were going home they're like great we'll take over sicily and then we can go and kiss our nonna on the mouth we can honk on nonna's horrible wet horrible pussy um nonna's wet horrible pussy um anyway 10 days anyway we anyway um after honking on their nonna's wet horrible pussy just like a nonna used to make it's so funny about people who are coming to say like this podcast has really got me through such a tough time you know this is such an important yeah it's just yeah honking on their nonna's wet horrible pussy man i needed this god i'm so glad i found this podcast yeah people commenting are i'm going through really i'm going through a breakup at the moment and this series really really?
55:14Christ anyway the soldiers this is where they invent the Americano because they add some water to espresso is it actually Americano Carbonaro yeah before this it was just espresso right interesting and then the Americans didn't have enough to go around so they would add hot water and make a when I hear about that I always think I would have thought about it yeah earlier I always think that yeah obviously oh there's not enough what do we do yeah well yeah but now there is enough now there's loads there's too much coffee actually too much coffee oh no don't talk to me to have a morning coffee um it's the beginning of that really it's the bit yeah it is beginning of coffee memes yeah anyway 10 days after the landing the sicilians have have gone and honked their nonnas uh behind uh don calo vicini is made an honorary u.s army colonel known to the troops as general mafia right so the mafia having been violently suppressed by mussolini now present itself to the americans as anti-fascist kind of awesome because to be fair the mafia are constantly never they only get involved in politics when it's when it's expedient to their ends sure yeah so if it means they're anti-socialist anti-fashion whatever they need so uh at don uh general mafios request several imprisoned mafiosi are released and they get placed in municipal positions under the allied administration so basically the mafia is reinstated after world war ii because the americans are clearing these villages in operation husky and they need someone and then they basically write someone you look after it right and then the guy's like yeah i can do that yeah brilliant and everyone's like oh fuck it's that guy again yeah so that they basically reinstate the mafia on the island yeah so yeah with mafia assistance the u.s took central and western sicily in seven days with minimal casualties montgomery's british forces up the east coast took five weeks and suffered heavy losses yeah because we didn't make friends with any mafia no when the allies moved to mainland italy vito genovese emerged as a delicious cut of veal, breadcrumbs, tomato sauce.
57:11He emerges as another mafia liaison. He'd fled to Italy in 37 to avoid murder charges, became close to Mussolini. He allegedly provides cocaine to Mussolini's son. What an honour. And he repositioned himself as the Allies advanced. Oh, it'd be great to do cocaine with Mussolini's son. Because Mussolini's one thing, but imagine the brat that Mussolini was raising. Fuck me. On coke. Yeah. That's like sort of Saudi rich kid. that's coke coke coke coke coke yeah is that him bruno yeah mussolini's already coke mussolini is coke yeah so this guy can't be yeah fuck me him and the boys is that him look scroll i gotta get that get up look at that god he looks good yeah that's that's powerful it's the original black roll neck yeah it's dapper laughs well i don't think he's apologised for being cancelled no he's not i can't wait to do a series of mussolini he's so fucking good uh Yeah.
58:0360 % of all the allied food supplies unloaded in Naples gets diverted to Genovese's corrupt soldiers, the Camorra members. The network around all this, Luciano inherits when he gets deported back to Italy in 1948. So he gets deported after he's released from jail and he reestablishes the old mafia networks. And so I think he maybe starts all the heroin stuff with the Corsicans and the French. the french connection heroin but we'll probably have to leave that for another time there's a lot of we should probably talk about what the mafia is like now I mean the mafia in southern Italy yeah the mafia is still a huge part of what goes on oh we won't be able to go there now yeah we've done this yeah of course and the amount of times we've said Porco Dio we'll be blacklisted I mean my mum was in Sicily recently and there's this this beautiful old theatre that can't program any anything any music acts anything because if they do the amount of people have to pay off they would lose all the money immediately really because just to put something on the amount of hands they have to do it means that literally you can't do anything and there's so many things like that where it's just that you have to pay off so many people it becomes there's like bridges that are half finished there obviously really so many people are skimming off the top that the money that they're given for the bridge it's just half a bridge all are just asleep yeah pick your poison that's the Italian they've got to be paid to who's this He's the most recent boss of bosses.
59:31Really? Matteo Messina Donaro. He died in 2023. R.I.P. Basically, by the time World War II ends, the mafia, having been smashed under Mussolini, is fully operational again, controls pretty much all the ports in Sicily, infiltrated politics. So in short, World War II just rebuilt it. I mean, Gaddafi would say, real mafia in American government. Yeah, of course. Number one mafia, Ronald Reagan. Number one terrorist of the Mafia of America. But basically, it's whenever there's a power vacuum, the Mafia fill in. Yeah. So that's the end of the story. I think we'll have to do a series on like the post-war Mafia because that's all fucking crazy and there's car bombs and there's so many good stuff.
1:00:13Maradona in Naples. Maradona in Naples. We've got to do a series of Maradona. Of course. Anyway, thank you very much for listening. If you'd like more... More! ...then on our Patreon, we will be doing a film club about Mafia films. I watched Goodfellas last night. You watched The Godfather. We'll be talking about... They are based on real stuff as well, which is great. Yeah, bloke films. Straight guy films. Yeah. So bonus episodes for the blokes. Boner episodes for the blokes. Boner episodes for the blokes. That's on the Patreon. If not, we will see you next week for a brand new topic. Arrivederci!
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From the publisher
The Mafia (part 2) | W.O.P.
Having been smashed by Mussolini, the Mafia rebuild in Prohibiton America, but not before they’ve given the Statue of Liberty a good goosing
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