The Gangland History Podcast: An Organized Crime & Mafia History Podcast

In this episode, I sit down with former federal organized-crime prosecutor Edward A. McDonald, whose career placed him at the center of some of the most famous Mafia cases of the late twentieth century—and eventually led to him playing himself in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas.McDonald joined the federal Organized Crime Strike Force in Brooklyn in 1977 and later became chief of its Eastern District office. His work brought him into investigations involving the New York Mafia, including the 1978 Lufthansa robbery at JFK Airport, the Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal, and the cooperation of Lucchese associate Henry Hill.In our conversation, Ed takes us back to his childhood in Brooklyn, his years at Boston College, and his path from law school to the courtroom before explaining what it was actually like to investigate organized crime during an era when New York’s Mafia families remained enormously powerful.We get into the real people behind Goodfellas—Paul Vario, Jimmy Burke, Tommy DeSimone, and Henry Hill—and discuss the Lufthansa heist, what happened in its bloody aftermath, why Burke was never successfully prosecuted for the robbery itself, and what decades of books and movies have gotten wrong about the case.Ed also tells the remarkable story of the Boston College point-shaving scandal, how Henry Hill became a government witness, the challenges of determining when a cooperating criminal is telling the truth, and his own complicated relationship with Hill, which continued for decades.And, of course, we talk Goodfellas.Ed explains how his real-life involvement with Henry Hill ultimately led to Martin Scorsese casting him as himself in the film, what it was like working with Scorsese, Ray Liotta, and Lorraine Bracco, and how accurately Goodfellas portrayed the people and Mafia world he actually knew.We also discuss Ed’s new memoir, Chasing Goodfellas: Lufthansa, Henry Hill, Point Shaving, and Making Movies, written with Jake Brown. The book chronicles his firsthand experiences with Lufthansa, the Boston College case, Henry Hill, and the unlikely journey that eventually put a federal prosecutor in one of the most celebrated organized-crime films ever made.If you know the story of Goodfellas, this is an opportunity to hear it from someone who wasn’t portraying that world.He was actually there.Order Ed's Book:https://www.chasinggoodfellasbook.com/https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Chasing-Goodfellas/Edward-McDonald/9798895655504https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0GVZ6SYMDhttps://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/chasing-goodfellas-edward-mcdonald/1149827357?ean=9798895655504https://www.target.com/p/chasing-goodfellas-by-edward-mcdonald-paperback/-/A-1011260566

In this episode, we continue our History of the Pittsburgh Mob series with the Monastero-Pangallo War—a bloody struggle that begins with Stefano and Sam Monastero at the height of their power and ends with nearly every major figure at the center of Pittsburgh’s underworld dead.By the mid-1920s, the Monastero brothers have built one of the most powerful criminal organizations in western Pennsylvania. Behind the legitimate Pittsburgh Fruit Exchange stands a sprawling bootlegging operation supported by associates, gunmen, and Mafia members. Among the most important are two very different racketeers: flamboyant Sicilian bootlegger Luigi “The Big Gorilla” Lamendola and the quieter Calabrian Giuseppe “Joe” Pangallo.Exactly how these men fit together remains one of the mysteries at the heart of the story. Some accounts describe Lamendola and Pangallo as Monastero lieutenants; others suggest Pangallo was an independent power increasingly at odds with both men. When Lamendola is murdered outside his Chatham Street headquarters in 1927, an even larger question emerges: does his death cause the break between Pangallo and the Monasteros—or is Lamendola himself a casualty of a feud already underway?Whatever the answer, Pangallo soon becomes one of Pittsburgh’s most hunted gangsters.Someone plants dynamite beneath his automobile. Gunmen apparently hunt for him at his shoe-repair shop. Four men ambush him in the Hill District with shotguns and a rifle, hitting Pangallo multiple times as he returns fire. Then they try again. Somehow, Joe Pangallo keeps surviving.Meanwhile, the Monastero organization comes under attack from another direction. The massive federal Pittsburgh Rum Ring investigation sweeps Steve into a conspiracy case involving 167 defendants, more than 1,100 grand-jury witnesses, bootleggers, politicians, and members of the Pittsburgh Police Department.Then the violence begins cutting into Steve’s organization. His longtime business partner and alleged Mafia underboss Nicasio “Nick” Landolina is murdered outside his Mayflower Street home. Two months later, his relative Tony Landolina is attacked on Penn Avenue. The episode also follows the extraordinary bombing of Pittsburgh attorney Morris Curran as violence surrounds the Rum Ring prosecution.By 1929, the federal case is beginning to unravel and Steve Monastero returns to Pittsburgh. But outside St. John’s Hospital, armed men are already waiting inside a curtained sedan.When Steve and Sam arrive, the trap is sprung.Big Steve Monastero is murdered.Police immediately focus on Pangallo. The investigation finally brings his feud with Steve into the open. Pangallo admits they had once been allies—but when detectives ask why their friendship ended, he dismisses years of dynamite, gunfire, and murder with an extraordinary answer:“Oh, for nothing.”Despite police confidence, they cannot prove Pangallo killed Steve. No witness places him at the scene. No physical evidence connects him to the murder. Pangallo produces an alibi, and once again, Joe “The Ghost” Pangallo walks away.Then, after surviving dynamite, shotguns, rifles, repeated assassination attempts, and years of gangland warfare, Pangallo meets an ending almost nobody could have predicted:He dies peacefully at home from pneumonia.But the story still isn’t over.Only weeks later, on March 18, 1930, Sam Monastero—now leading what remains of the organization he built with his brother—is murdered.In less than three years, Lamendola, Pangallo, Nicasio Landolina, Steve Monastero, and Sam Monastero are all dead. Yet the Pittsburgh Mafia survives. Their deaths simply create a vacuum—and Giuseppe Siragusa, John Bazzano, and the Volpe brothers are already waiting to fill it.This is the story of the Monastero-Pangallo War, the collapse of the Monastero organization, and the end of an era in the history of the Pittsburgh Mafia.

In this episode of The Gangland History Podcast’s ongoing History of the Pittsburgh Mob series, we explore the rise of the Monastero brothers—Stefano “Big Steve” Monastero, Salvatore “Sam” Monastero, and their older brother Loreto—as Pittsburgh’s underworld transforms during the violent early years of Prohibition.At the center of the story are Stefano and Sam Monastero, two brothers who rise from immigrant beginnings to become the dominant force in Pittsburgh’s bootlegging empire during the 1920s. While Pittsburgh’s underworld fractures after the deaths of early leaders like Gregorio Conti and Martin M. Burke, Stefano and Sam quietly build something far more organized, powerful, and dangerous—an expanding criminal network rooted in bootlegging, extortion, violence, and control of the city’s illicit liquor trade.But before the Monasteros become Pittsburgh’s closest equivalent to Al Capone, their story begins decades earlier in Sicily and New Orleans. This episode traces the family’s origins in Caccamo, Sicily, the infamous assassination of New Orleans Police Chief David C. Hennessy in 1890, and the shocking lynching of Stefano and Sam’s father, Pietro Monastero, during the Parish Prison mob violence of 1891—one of the largest mass lynchings in American history.From there, we follow the Monastero family’s journey to Pittsburgh, where the brothers become deeply connected to the city’s growing Mafia networks through the fruit and produce trade, the Pittsburgh Fruit Exchange, and the rapidly expanding underground economy created by Prohibition.This episode also explores:The collapse of Pittsburgh’s early Mafia leadership after Gregorio Conti’s murderThe rise of Pittsburgh’s Prohibition bootlegging economyThe Monasteros’ connections to figures like Salvatore Catanzaro, Nicola Gentile, Salvatore Calderone, and Nicasio LandolinaThe growth of the Pittsburgh Fruit Exchange and the brothers’ warehouse operations in the Strip DistrictThe mysterious 1920 bombing near the Monastero organizationLoreto Monastero’s shocking murder case, asylum commitment, and escapeThe emergence of early Mafia hierarchy and initiation rituals in PittsburghThe rise of Stefano Monastero as Pittsburgh’s dominant bootlegging bossThe violent murder of Luigi “The Big Gorilla” Lamendola and the growing underworld war surrounding the MonasterosBy the mid-1920s, Stefano and Sam Monastero are no longer simply participating in Pittsburgh’s underworld—they are reshaping it. What emerges during this period is the foundation of the modern Pittsburgh Mafia.This episode is based on extensive research using immigration records, newspapers, census documents, court records, FBI files, historical archives, and firsthand family accounts to reconstruct one of the most important—and least understood—chapters in organized crime history.Subscribe to The Gangland History Podcast for more deep dives into Prohibition, La Cosa Nostra, Mafia history, and the forgotten underworld history of Pittsburgh.

This video is Part Three of my History of the Pittsburgh Mob series, focusing on Prohibition and the rise of Pittsburgh’s early bootleg kings—men like Martin M. Burke who transformed decades of political influence, saloon ownership, and neighborhood control into large-scale criminal enterprises. Picking up in the aftermath of Gregorio Conti’s 1919 assassination, this episode explores how the vacuum he left behind becomes the foundation for a far more violent and organized underworld.The episode opens with a chaotic, real-life gun battle on Pittsburgh’s streets. Rogue bootleggers, posing as Prohibition agents, attempt to move liquor under the cover of authority—until they are confronted by federal agent Andrew Carciere. What follows is a high-speed chase, gunfire, and arrests, capturing the instability of the early Prohibition years. The rules are unclear, enforcement is inconsistent, and in that confusion, opportunity thrives.From there, the episode examines both sides of the equation—the criminals building a new underground economy and the men attempting to stop them. Enforcement efforts are shaped by figures like Prohibition Director John D. Pennington and Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon, but even with federal attention, authorities struggle to keep pace with rapidly evolving bootlegging networks.At the same time, the episode revisits the leadership vacuum created by Conti’s death. With no clear successor, attention turns to figures like Giuseppe “Peppino” Cusumano, Nicola “Nick” Gentile, and Salvatore Calderone. None immediately consolidate control, contributing to a fragmented and competitive early Prohibition landscape.As alcohol is driven underground, Pittsburgh’s existing infrastructure adapts quickly. Saloons become speakeasies, political relationships remain intact, and distribution networks evolve rather than disappear. Demand never fades—it simply becomes illicit.In this environment, bootlegging is scattered and competitive. Crews clash over territory and supply, while schemes involving forged federal permits reveal how operators exploit the system itself. Even when exposed, these operations prove difficult to dismantle, underscoring the limits of enforcement.Within this shifting landscape, Martin M. Burke rises to prominence. Born in 1871 and shaped by decades in the saloon trade, Burke enters Prohibition prepared. Alongside his brothers, he builds a network of saloons, properties, and entertainment venues in the Hill District, centered around Wylie Avenue and Fullerton Street.When alcohol goes underground, Burke converts what already exists. His saloons become speakeasies, his properties serve as distribution hubs, and his political connections provide insulation. In a city filled with small operators, he stands out for his ability to organize and scale, emerging as one of Pittsburgh’s first true bootleg kings.But as profits grow, so does competition. Shipments are hijacked, armed guards protect deliveries, and disputes escalate into violence that spreads beyond the city into surrounding towns. Bootlegging becomes a capital-intensive, interconnected underground industry.And within that system, the men who survive begin to evolve. They learn that structure is more profitable than chaos, refining their operations and building networks that move toward greater organization. Prohibition becomes a proving ground for the next phase of organized crime.Martin Burke represents a critical step in that evolution—a bridge between the old world of saloons and ward politics and the emerging world of large-scale bootlegging. But his removal creates yet another vacuum, and like the one before it, it will not remain empty.Because by the late 1920s, chaos begins to give way to consolidation. And among the figures positioned to take advantage of that shift is a man whose rise has been building in the background.Stefano Monastero.His story—and the next phase of Pittsburgh’s underworld—is just beginning.

This episode is Part Two of The Gangland History Podcast’s History of the Pittsburgh Mob, focusing on Gregorio Conti, widely regarded as Pittsburgh’s second Mafia boss. Conti matters because he emerges at a turning point, when loose Black Hand extortion and ethnic feuding begin giving way to something more centralized, disciplined, and dangerous. Quiet, calculating, and outwardly respectable, Conti helped shape that transition—and then became one of its earliest casualties.The story opens on September 24, 1919, in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. It’s a mild fall morning, coal smoke hanging low as streetcars rattle over cobblestones. Somewhere along Smallman Street, Conti sits behind the wheel of his automobile, sweating under pressure. He’s in his mid-forties, round-faced, heavyset, horn-rimmed glasses slipping down his nose—the kind of man who could pass for a schoolteacher. But Conti isn’t teaching today. He’s trying to leave Pittsburgh for good.His wife and children are already packed for the 10:10 p.m. train to New York, with plans to sail for Italy on October 15, 1919. He should already be gone. Instead, he delays for one last, unnecessary errand: selling his automobile. The buyers arrive—men Conti knows. Hands are shaken. Pleasantries exchanged. Then they climb inside. As the car rolls down Smallman Street, the conversation fades. A revolver clicks. Four shots tear through the enclosed space. Conti collapses over the steering wheel and dies minutes later. The coroner records the cause as shock and hemorrhage from gunshot wounds to the heart, with the time of death listed as 11:20 a.m.At first, police default to the familiar explanation: the Black Hand. But the killing feels too precise and controlled. There’s no extortion letter, no public threat, no warning meant to terrorize a neighborhood. This looks less like chaotic revenge and more like business.From there, the episode rewinds to trace Conti’s rise. Born in Comitini, Sicily, in 1873, he grows up in a world where authority is local and protection comes from men rather than the state. He immigrates to the United States in 1907, becomes a naturalized citizen in 1910, and settles in Pittsburgh with relatives and trusted associates. He builds a wine and liquor operation that appears legitimate but quietly functions as a hub for influence, credit, and enforcement, eventually anchoring at 801 Wylie Avenue as the Pittsburgh Wine and Liquor Company.The episode explores Conti’s inner circle, including his nephew Giuseppe “Peppino” Cusumano, a trained chemist and pharmacist, and Nicola “Nick” Gentile, a relative and underworld diplomat physically present in Pittsburgh between 1910 and 1920. Family tension, shifting alliances, and questions of respect begin to fracture Conti’s control from within.All of this unfolds under the shadow of Prohibition. The Eighteenth Amendment is ratified in January 1919, Pennsylvania follows weeks later, and the Volstead Act is passed that fall. For a man positioned at the center of alcohol distribution, it should have been an opportunity. Instead, Conti liquidates assets, winds down his business, and prepares to leave the country.After the murder, detectives pursue competing theories, including an alleged $5,500 whiskey swindle and a feud rooted in a clerical error on a $4,000 federal bond involving produce merchants J.C. and Philip Catalano. Arrests come quickly, explanations pile up, but certainty never does.On November 12, 1919, a coroner’s jury exonerates the men held in connection with the killing. No shooter is officially identified. Gregorio Conti’s murder remains unsolved. His funeral is quiet, with burial believed to have taken place at Cavalry Cemetery.Conti’s death doesn’t slow Pittsburgh’s underworld—it clears the way. Into that vacuum steps Stefano “Big Steve” Monastero, ushering in the city’s most violent and profitable Mafia era.But that… is a story for another day.