A bootlegger, enforcer, dopeman and erstwhile folk hero, Jack “Legs” Diamond was like a charming archvillain in a lurid detective novel or serialized crime drama, with death-defying, law-evading cliffhangers closing each episode. Unfortunately for Diamond, the years of partying hard, seducing showgirls and dodging bullets finally came to an end on December 18, 1931, in Albany, New York. Today, he is not a particularly well-known gangster. Which is ironic, considering his pivotal role in the larger landscape of a burgeoning new underworld structure and economy during the 1920s. No good reason t ..read more

When the movie Analyze This premiered in theaters 25 years ago, it portrayed a Mob boss far different from the previous tough guys typical of gangster films. The Mafia don in Analyze This, Paul Vitti, played by Robert De Niro, is an unstable gangster prone to panic attacks and uncontrolled sobbing. He is being treated by a psychiatrist, Dr. Ben Sobel (Billy Crystal). Paul Vitti was a departure from cinematic figures such as Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), a Marine combat veteran who becomes head of a New York crime family in The Godfather movies. Directed by Harold Ramis (Caddyshack, Groundhog D ..read more

What’s a Mob movie without guns? Prop guns have been a part of this movie genre since the first silent gangster film in 1906, The Black Hand. In the prop master’s armory, you’ll find everything from real guns and blank-fire guns to toy guns and hard rubber casts. The Mob Museum has preserved some of these prop guns in its collections. The Sopranos blank-fire prop pistol In the final episode of Season 2 of The Sopranos, Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero (Vincent Pastore) joins his boss, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), and fellow mafiosi “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) and Silvio Dante ..read more

Eighty years ago, Sing Sing’s electric chair, “Old Sparky,” delivered its sinister, life-ending jolts in succession to the trio of Louis Capone, Emanuel “Mendy” Weiss and Louis “Lepke” Buchalter. The executions on March 4, 1944, marked the climactic close to a particularly bizarre chapter in the Mob’s history. The sensational trials and revelations of the Mob’s violent enforcement arm, better known as Murder Inc., were brought to an electrifying end. Many defendants were tried across several counties beginning in 1940. Some turned state’s witness, others received lengthy prison terms and seven ..read more

The Netflix limited series Griselda, inspired by the true story of the Colombian “Godmother of Cocaine,” tells the story of her muscling her way into the male-dominated underworld of drug trafficking. Starring Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara as Griselda Blanco, the six-part crime drama chronicles Blanco’s rise to power during the 1970s in establishing drug routes into the United States. Along the way she encounters betrayal, violence, drug abuse and paranoia, and, finally, after establishing a lavish, decadent lifestyle, imprisonment.  A parallel plot line follows Miami policewoman June Haw ..read more

From The Godfather to Griselda, the Mob is firmly embedded in pop culture, which comes with a few drawbacks. In a medium that prioritizes entertainment over education, misconceptions are bound to spread, often becoming promoted to conventional wisdom. Budding mobsters have even been influenced by film and television in the way they see and conduct themselves. Myths propagated by pop culture have built the image of the Mob into a powerful, yet honorable, organization, detached from its real-world counterpart. Hidden behind these false premises are kernels of truth, however, so let’s dive into t ..read more

On July 13, 1863, during the Civil War, New York City burst into flames when the federal government started a draft. Residents, especially poor immigrants, were inflamed at the possibility of serving. The city’s police force became the target of their anger. Reports of the situation rang out around the country. The Daily State Gazette of Trenton, New Jersey, reported, “Two o’clock – The riot is said to have assumed vast proportions … the police have been handled terribly severe. It is reported that Police Superintendent Kennedy and some 15 of the police were killed and many wounded.” As the ri ..read more

“PRISON: IS WARE I AM AT,” reads an entry in the handmade dictionary of Frank Calabrese Sr., former boss of the Chicago Outfit’s 26th Street/Chinatown crew. Calabrese was serving a life sentence at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina. He had been placed in a strict form of solitary confinement, called Special Administrative Measures (SAMs), usually reserved for terrorists to prevent any communication with the outside world. “Your mind can start playing games,” said his son Frank Calabrese Jr., “so he wanted to keep his mind crisp.” Frank Sr. was not resigned to spending t ..read more

When the groundbreaking HBO series The Sopranos debuted in 1999, it was an instant hit and a critical success. It continues to influence popular culture 25 years later. The crime series is centered on psychologically troubled Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey mobster overseeing an organized crime family while attempting to hold his home life together with a wife and two children. Throughout the series, Soprano attends regular therapy sessions with a psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). His anxiety stems in part from problems involving both families — the crime family ..read more

Innocent victims of Mob violence are one of the most underreported aspects of organized crime. This is due in part to the persistent belief that mobsters only kill each other. Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel is credited with advancing this narrative to soothe a business associate. Building contractor Del Webb took over construction of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas in 1946 and found himself employed by Siegel, a mobster reputed to have killed more than a dozen people. In an oft-repeated anecdote, Siegel boasted to Webb about how he had personally killed 12 men who went against him. After noticing the ..read more