Robert De Niro and Al Pacino finally shared a scene together in Michael Mann’s 1995 crime epic *Heat*. Sitting across from each other in a dimly lit Beverly Hills restaurant, two of the greatest actors of their generation traded philosophical lines over coffee, acknowledging that circumstances might one day force one to kill the other. … Read more
The FBI once described Russell Bufalino as one of the most ruthless and powerful leaders of the Mafia in the United States. For 40 years, he ran one of the most quietly influential crime families in America from northeastern Pennsylvania, and almost nobody outside law enforcement knew his name. Bufalino was born in 1903 in … Read more
I almost didn’t go to my own retirement party. That sounds strange, I know. It was my party. My colleagues had booked the private dining room at Sycamore Grill three weeks in advance. My wife had driven forty minutes into the city that morning to pick up the cake herself. Lemon with cream cheese frosting, … Read more
A series of historic congressional hearings brought some of the most powerful figures in the American Mafia face-to-face with government investigators, producing a mix of stonewalling, defiance, and occasional cooperation. Philadelphia crime family boss Nicodemo “Nicky” Scarfo appeared before a panel to discuss a 1980 murder trial in which he was acquitted. Scarfo confirmed he … Read more
On March 15, 1962, Bumpy Johnson walked alone into Romano’s restaurant in Little Italy, where eight armed men were waiting to kill him. No shots were fired, and 90 seconds later, the balance of power in New York shifted. Johnson walked out free, and his would-be executioners were led away in handcuffs. The meeting at … Read more
For three years in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a college dropout named Dwayne Farmer and a small group of physicists beat roulette in Las Vegas using a computer hidden in the sole of a shoe. They cracked a game that casinos had declared unbeatable for 200 years. Then, in a single catastrophic night … Read more
A photograph taken in October 1918 shows two young American soldiers sitting on rubble in a French village, filthy, exhausted, and laughing together. One is white, the other Black. In the segregated American army of World War I, such a scene was officially impossible. Dr. Robert Hayes, a military historian from Georgetown University, discovered the … Read more
On the evening of February 17, 1949, Ellsworth Johnson arrived at a testimonial dinner in a Manhattan hotel ballroom, an occasion that would quietly upend the course of his life. He was 43 years old, a compact man with a stillness about him, known throughout Harlem by a childhood nickname and downtown by his full … Read more
The most brutal figures in American drug history are often remembered for their empires, their money, and their power. But a small group of kingpins crossed lines that even the streets considered sacred: they ordered hits on women, children, and even their own families. Court records verify the details of five such men, whose crimes … Read more
In February 1935, a Harlem numbers runner who had stolen $12,000 from his boss sat down to a dinner he was not sure he would finish. Within hours, one man had been erased from the streets and the other had walked free. The man who controlled the outcome never raised his voice, let alone his … Read more