December 1985 · New York
Six Weeks Before the Trial
Paul Castellano was killed on a midtown pavement at rush hour without the Commission's approval, eleven months before the Commission itself went on trial. Both facts belong to the same story.
Long reads
Stories
Single episodes told in order, drawn from the court record. The files say who a man was; these say what happened.
September 1983 · Las Vegas and Kansas City
The Counting Room
Four crime families held a hidden interest in casinos they could not legally own, and took cash out of them for nine years. The arrangement was undone not by Las Vegas but by a telephone in Kansas City.
Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal · Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro · The Chicago Outfit
September 1976 · New York and Florida
Six Years as Donnie Brasco
An FBI agent spent six years inside the Bonanno family as a jewel thief. The operation ended because the family tried to make him a member, and the men who had vouched for him paid for it.
Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero · Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano · The Bonanno Family
June 1971 · New York
The Boss Who Held Rallies
Joseph Colombo ran a crime family and a civil rights movement at the same time, drew tens of thousands to Columbus Circle, and was shot in the head at his own rally in front of the cameras he had invited.