o2005 On August 27, 1979, at Chino State Prison in California, Robert "Robot" Salas was walking the yard with a cup of instant coffee when three men came up behind him. There were no words and no warning. The first shank went into his kidney, the second hit a lung, and the third punctured the side … Read more
In January 1979, a young man in Queens dressed in his best suit, combed his hair, and climbed into a car he believed was taking him to the most important night of his life. He had been told he was finally getting made, earning full membership in the Lucchese crime family. He never arrived. His … Read more
On July 30, 1975, at 2:30 in the afternoon, Jimmy Hoffa stood by a payphone outside the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. He wore a blue golf shirt and was sweating through the Detroit summer. He had called his wife twenty minutes earlier and said the words that would haunt the FBI … Read more
On the evening of November 10, 2010, in the Cartierville neighborhood of Montreal, an 86-year-old man named Nicolo Rizzuto sat down to dinner with his wife Libertina and his daughter Maria. The table held soup, bread, and a glass of red wine. Outside, behind a row of cedar trees, a sniper waited with a rifle … Read more
Frank Peter Balistrieri died the way he lived: quietly, privately, and on his own terms. On February 7, 1993, the 74-year-old collapsed from a heart attack in his living room on Milwaukee's east side. There were no bullets, no handcuffs, and no federal agents kicking in the door. After three decades running one of the … Read more
La pioggia cadeva fitta quella notte, di quella fitta che trasforma le strade della città in specchi neri e penetra in ogni cosa tranne che nella pietra. Dentro la hall dell’ospedale privato Meridian, la struttura medica più costosa della città, le luci erano di un bianco accecante, i pavimenti lucidissimi, ogni superficie odorava di denaro … Read more
On September 18, 1980, at 12:15 in the afternoon, a black Chrysler Imperial was traveling south on Interstate 55, just past the Reavis Barracks exit in St. Louis. Ten sticks of dynamite detonated beneath the floorboard. The blast lifted the car four feet off the pavement. It tore through the chassis and through the driver. … Read more
On June 23, 1986, a farmer named Michael Kins was walking his soybean rows outside Enos, Indiana, when his foot sank into soft earth. He assumed he had found a dead deer. He kept digging. What he pulled from the dirt was far worse: two human bodies, stripped to their underwear, faces beaten beyond recognition, … Read more
On the morning of January 16, 2023, a thin man in a brown leather jacket and a baseball cap pulled low walked through the front entrance of the La Maddalena Clinic in Palermo, Sicily. He carried a small bag and had an appointment for a routine oncology visit under the name Andrea Bonafede. He smiled … Read more
On the night of October 24, 1928, Arnold Rothstein was slumped against the service staircase of Room 349 at the Park Central Hotel in Manhattan. A .38 caliber bullet was lodged in his abdomen, and his tuxedo was soaked through with blood. The most powerful gangster in America had just been shot over a card … Read more