In the upcoming film By Any Means, actor Mark Wahlberg wears facial prosthetics to transform into the spitting image of Colombo crime family capo Gregory Scarpa Sr. Paramount Pictures

Mark Wahlberg portrays Mafia killer Gregory Scarpa Sr. in ‘By Any Means’

During the summer of 1964, New York City mobster Gregory Scarpa Sr. traveled south to rural Mississippi and, using violent scare…


Chicago Outfit mobster Tony Spilotro and brother Michael murdered 40 years ago this month

Forty years ago, Tony Spilotro’s neon excesses gave way to the cold reality of Midwestern soil. In June 1986, a…


Since World War II, Russian mobsters have traded prison cells for battlefields

“I like watching historical films,” said the Wolf, a middle-aged ex-convict who wished to remain anonymous. “I don’t watch all…


The Mob, Hulu’s upcoming reality show, stars actor Parker Posey as the host of a competition in which celebrities go head-to-head in Mafia-themed challenges. Hulu

Celebrities to compete for cash, get ‘whacked’ in Mob-inspired reality show

A Mob-themed competition show is set to air soon on Hulu and Disney+, featuring celebrity contestants at a luxury Italian…


Men in a police lineup display their “mobster chic,” including Lucky Luciano (3) and Meyer Lansky (4). The John Binder Collection

Mob fashion at its finest: The top 5 best-dressed mobsters

Adjectives that come to mind when people think of the most infamous organized crime figures may include ruthless, intimidating, or…


Robert Blakey, architect of the RICO Act that crippled the Mob, dies at age 90

No one made life more difficult for the Mob than Robert Blakey. In 1969, Blakey, a Notre Dame Law School…


Leslie “Ike” Atkinson, right, is escorted from court following his sentencing on June 5, 1976. Courtesy of Cipollini Collection

Myth busted: Vietnam War-era drug traffickers did not smuggle heroin in soldiers’ coffins

Fifty years after U.S. officials brought down Leslie “Ike” Atkinson, the claim that heroin was smuggled into the United States…


Geraldo Rivera poses on the stairs heading down to the Lexington Hotel’s basement, where Al Capone supposedly kept a hidden vault. Forty years ago, millions of Americans tuned in to watch Rivera’s two-hour live television special revealing the contents of the “vault.” Steve Kagan / Getty Images

Geraldo Rivera uncovered ‘The Mystery of Al Capone’s Vaults’ on live television 40 years ago

On April 21, 1986, television reporter Geraldo Rivera completed his final on-air shot in a live broadcast from the Chicago…


Leonardo “Leo the Lawyer” Rizzuto, the current boss of the Montreal Mafia, leaves court in 2008

Embattled Montreal Mafia clings to underworld power amid setbacks

After nearly two decades of intermittent unrest in the Montreal Mafia, the Rizzuto dynasty is once again on the ropes….


Colombia approves plan to euthanize ‘cocaine hippos’ introduced by Pablo Escobar

More than 30 years after his death, Colombia is still struggling with the consequences of Pablo Escobar’s reign. This week,…