Kingpins

After two Melbourne constables were gunned down in 1988, police identified the Pettingills as prime suspects. The case against the notorious crime family grew, but changing testimonies, family betrayals, and the idea of a police vendetta complicated the trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

She was a young barmaid who rose to be the ruthless matriarch of a Melbourne crime family in the 1980s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After the 1988 bust of his Mountain View LSD lab, William Pickard turned to academics and convinced his colleagues he was done cooking acid. In truth, he set up a new lab in a retrofitted Cold War silo and started making LSD by the kilo — becoming the drug’s largest producer in the history of the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What happens when a chemistry genius meets 1960s counterculture? After wunderkind William Pickard began taking psychedelics, he became convinced it was his duty to share his experience with the masses… and he started cooking acid. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Racketeering, gun running, contract killing… For two decades, “Whitey” Bulger was the crime king of Boston. But when the walls started to close in around him in the 1990s, he fled — leading to one of the longest manhunts in FBI history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the brutal streets of South Boston, James "Whitey" Bulger knew that survival meant leaving nothing off the table. After doing time for bank robbery in 1956, Whitey didn't plan on rejoining the underworld. But a bloody Irish gang war put Whitey on the path to Boston gangland supremacy. And he would do anything to hold onto that power... even ratting to the FBI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the end of the 1990s, Bout’s fingerprints were on almost every conflict in Africa. After 9/11, he saw an opportunity to capitalize on the turmoil in the Middle East—and earned another nickname: The Lord of War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s, there was a surplus of weapons and cargo planes collecting dust. One Russian government worker, Viktor Bout, saw the potential of all that discarded equipment. Within a few short years, Bout became one of the most infamous arms dealers in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

During the 1930s, Albert Anastasia was the leader of Murder Inc., the mafia’s crew of contract killers. But after World War II, he shot his way to the top to become the boss of one of New York’s Five Families. Unfortunately for him, the Feds were more determined than ever to keep the notorious killer in prison for good. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the time he immigrated to America just after World War I, Albert Anastasia knew that if he wanted to climb the ranks of New York's underworld, he would have to get his hands dirty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Forced out of Thailand by his Thai benefactors and the Americans, Khun Sa retreated back to Burma. Once again, he wasted no time in rebuilding his empire and making deals with the Burmese military dictatorship. But in the early 1990s, the various Southeast Asian countries decided that they had had enough of Khun Sa, forcing him to make one final deal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Suddenly under arrest, Khun Sa was forced to rebuild his empire from behind prison walls in Manderlay. He solidified his position as one of the leading drug lords in the Golden Triangle with a daring escape, rebranding himself in the process as a Shan nationalist fighting for separation from Burma. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the early 1950s, the teenaged Khun Sa was already a militia leader in war-torn northeast Burma (present-day Myanmar). Over the next decade, his power as a warlord only increased. When the Burmese government came to him with an offer of allyship, he set himself up to become the “Opium King” of the Golden Triangle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1993, Warren handily beat a drug trafficking charge brought against him by British authorities. He spent the next three years rebuilding—and expanding—his empire, importing and exporting drugs all over the world, until Dutch authorities helped bring him down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a five-year stint in prison, Curtis Warren emerged stronger, sharper, and more connected. By 1989, he was selling cocaine and ecstasy in Liverpool, and building a network that included the biggest names in the Turkish mafia, Moroccan cartel, even the Triads… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With the Federation dissolved, his son murdered, and law enforcement closing in, El Chapo fled to where he knew he’d be protected: the mountains of Sinaloa. When he finally decided to re-enter society, a special forces unit was ready. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From inside prison, with his partners on the outside running logistics, El Chapo turned the Sinaloa Cartel into one of the most successful drug cartels of the 1990s and 2000s. And when he made a daring escape, he only added to his growing folklore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before he became the most powerful drug cartel leader in the world, building tunnels to evade authorities and growing his power even from inside prison, Joaquín Guzmán Loera was a small-town marijuana farmer in Sinaloa, Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now a made man, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano believed he was destined for success. But as the 1980s rolled around, he became disenchanted with the leadership of the Gambino crime family. And after throwing his support toward the more media-happy John Gotti, he had a crisis of faith that led him to make the ultimate betrayal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A fierce fighter, Salvatore Gravano proved to members of the Colombo family and the Gambino family throughout the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s that if there was ever someone fully dedicated to La Cosa Nostra, it was him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He saw himself as an enigmatic spy and went so far as to try to play both sides of the FBI and the CIA. Richard Cain’s later career in international espionage in the 1960s nearly crossed paths with Fidel Castro before once again returning to the mayhem of Chicago—and the mob. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He was an infamous Chicago police officer and mobster in the 1950s and 60s. The mean streets of Chicago shaped a young Richard Cain during the Great Depression, and landed him on the radar of mob boss Sam Giancana. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At the start of the 1980s, Barry Mills wanted to turn the Aryan Brotherhood into more than just a prison gang; he envisioned a nation-wide criminal syndicate that trafficked in drugs. Little did he realize that as his empire was booming, the Federal government was monitoring his every move. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the mid-1960s, as prisons throughout Southern California were in the midst of desegregation, prison gangs began to form as means for protection across racial lines. One of the gangs was the white nationalist Aryan Brotherhood. And it would go on to be co-lead by a man who very few people knew named Barry Mills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we’re taking a look at a quote from Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. The once-leader of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, Guzmán used his crime syndicate to sell billions of dollars worth of drugs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote comes from Karen Gravano, daughter of gangster Sammy “The Bull” Gravano. Gravano was an underboss in the Gambino crime family, helping John Gotti consolidate power in mid-1980s New York City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Greed and ambition would end up getting the better of both George Jung and Carlos Lehder Rivas, turning them from brothers into enemies. Despite their perceived invincibility, it was this rivalry that would ultimately bring them down in 1987. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote comes from Salvatore Profaci, an influential captain in the famous Colombo crime family, based in New York City. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from union organizer Jimmy Hoffa. When mafia hitman Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran was looking for work, an associate arranged a phone call with the infamous union man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from notorious bank robber John Dillinger. Dillinger had no illusions of righteousness. He knew that robbing banks was not only a crime, but a very public one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero. Ruggiero was a notorious thug, and is thought to have murdered 26 people during his 30 years working for the New York Mafia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote comes from Charles “Lucky” Luciano, the father of the American Mafia. After Prohibition, and a bloody gang war that turned New York City into the Wild West, Luciano seized control of the underworld. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we’re remembering the words of Italian judge Giovanni Falcone. He spent most of his professional life trying to overthrow the dangerous Sicilian Mafia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 1987, Carlos Lehder Rivas and George Jung had scraped together a cocaine smuggling empire fit for kings. Yet as profits grew, the two partners found themselves at odds—diverging away from each other to fulfill their own desires for power and prosperity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from hitman Jhon Jairo “Popeye” Velásquez, of the Medellín drug cartel. Velásquez was Pablo Escobar’s right hand man throughout the ‘80s, until his arrest in 1989. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from Sam Giancana, the mafia boss who controlled the Chicago Outfit from the 1940s to the 1960s. As one of the most powerful mafiosos in the nation, Giancana was a prime target of Attorney General Robert Kennedy’s crusade against organized crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from Meyer Lansky, otherwise known as the “Mafia’s Banker.” An associate of famed mobster Lucky Luciano, Lansky established a sprawling gambling empire. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from American businessman and gangster, Al Capone. During prohibition in the 1920s and ‘30s, Capone was more than just a criminal—he was a celebrity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote comes from one of the most influential gangsters ever: Arnold “the Brain” Rothstein. A notorious gambler who allegedly fixed the 1919 World Series and helped build a bootlegging empire at the dawn of Prohibition, Rothstein wasn’t known to kill men to get ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from Carlo Gambino, the leader of the Gambino crime family. Though he was deeply involved with the mob for more than five decades, Gambino only faced a total of 22 months in prison. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After meeting in a Connecticut prison in 1974, George Jung and Carlos Lehder Rivas began to build what was to become a moderate cocaine operation, smuggling drug shipments from Columbia into the U.S. However, after a few nail biting trial runs, the duo realized they were on the brink of creating an empire that would make them rich. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from American Prohibition agent Eliot Ness. His dedicated service defending the 18th Amendment earned him a reputation as an incorruptible man—living in extraordinarily corrupt times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote comes from a 1930s and 40s Jewish crime boss Meyer “Mickey” Cohen, who worked for Al Capone and Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel before making a West Coast empire of his own. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today, we’re going back to the formative years of New York’s most ruthless crime boss, John Gotti. Growing up poor in blue-collar Brooklyn, Gotti quickly learned the only currency he had was fear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s quote is from Giovanni “John” Stanfa, the Sicilian-born mobster who served as the boss of the Philadelphia crime family during the early ‘90s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices