Mobsters blamed for Election Day violence in New York City 90 years ago
Before a hotly contested battle for the New York mayor’s office culminated in a big win for a “law and…
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Defiance of Kefauver Committee put Frank Costello behind bars for 14 months
When New York underworld boss Frank Costello famously walked out while being questioned by the Kefauver Committee in 1951, he…
The fall of Salvatore Maranzano, and the rise of the new Mafia
The autocratic reign of self-proclaimed boss of all bosses Salvatore Maranzano came to a bloody end 92 years ago this…
Ten years ago this month, Whitey Bulger was found guilty on 31 counts, including 11 murders
Whitey Bulger is depicted at the defense table during his 2013 trial in this courtroom sketch by Jane Flavell Collins. The Mob Museum Collection
DEA marks 50th anniversary of fighting drug traffickers at home and abroad
On June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon explained a special message sent to Congress asking for an extra $155 million for a new program to combat drug abuse. He labeled drug abuse “a national emergency” and said the money would be used to “tighten the noose around the necks of drug peddlers and thereby loosen the noose around the necks of drug users.” Nixon’s efforts eventually led to creation of the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1973. At left is Egil Krogh, deputy director of the Domestic Council. At right is Dr. Jerome Jaffe, recruited by Nixon to lead a new drug strategy. AP Photo/Harvey Georges
Tentacles of organized crime once had firm grip on Japanese politics
The yakuza, Japan’s premier organized crime group, is becoming more visible in modern pop culture. From HBO’s Tokyo Vice to…
The Kansas City Massacre prompted legal reforms that bolstered federal law enforcement
On June 17, 1933, an ambush at Kansas City’s Union Station railroad depot left five men dead and two wounded….
The airport shootout and El Chapo’s big arrest
Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka “El Chapo,” is presented to the news media at Altiplano prison in Villa de Almoloya de Juarez on June 10, 1993. Courtesy of Cipollini Collection
Body farms unravel mysteries of human decomposition
The University of Tennessee’s Forensic Anthropology Center is one of seven taphonomic research facilities, or body farms, in the United States. Remains are laid out for researchers to observe the natural decomposition process. Getty Images
Meyer Lansky’s 1953 jail stint
Seventy years ago, Meyer Lansky took a legal hit in an upstate New York gambling rackets crackdown that concluded with…