All language subtitles for America in Color S02E03 Organized Crime

Narrator:
This is the story of america...

Seen in color
for the first time.

In the 1920s, america is rising.

The country puts on a show,

But there's a dark side
to the boom--

Organized crime.

For 40 years,
legendary gangsters

Like al capone,

Lucky luciano

And frank costello...

Build illicit empires of vice.

While crusaders push back...

Man: Alright, boys, let's go!

Narrator: The racketeers
can't be stopped...

And the body count rises.

Americans must confront
the true scale of mob power.

Man: It's a much bigger,
more sinister

And a larger operation
than we had ever suspected.

Narrator: This is the rise
of the american underworld

As you have never
seen it before.

♪

♪

♪

Cincinnati, ohio.

Redland field.

It's October 1st:

The opening game
of the 1919 world series.

[crowd cheering]

The reds take on
the chicago white sox

In the first ever
best-of-9 series.

[crowd cheering]

[bugle playing]

[crowd roars]

Sox manager kid gleason
is confident.

He calls on knuckleballer
eddie cicotte,

Who led the league in wins,
to start game one.

Cicotte and other stars,

Like left fielder
shoeless joe jackson,

Are expected to power the sox
to the title.

Gambling is illegal,

But bookies have the sox
as 7 to 5 favorites.

Just hours
before the first pitch,

Money pours in,
picking the reds to win.

[bat cracks]

[crowd cheers]

Crowds in new york's
times square

Follow the game
on a mechanical scoreboard...

Updated live by telegraph.

White sox fans are stunned

As cicotte gives up five runs
in the 4th,

Including a triple
to the reds' pitcher.

[cheering]

Cincinnati takes the game
in a laugher, 9 to 1.

[crack]

[cheering]

In a stunning upset,

They go on to win the series
5 games to 3.

[cheering]

Sportswriter hugh fullerton
smells a rat.

He suggests
in the new york evening world

That white sox players
were fixing the world series...

A claim that casts a deep shadow
on the national pastime.

Shoeless joe jackson
and seven other white sox

Are accused of taking
$5,000 each to throw the series.

This chicago grand jury--
the first ever filmed--

Takes statements
in September 1920

From the eight players.

Three of them confess
to throwing the series.

All eight are charged

With conspiring
to defraud the public.

Here, star pitcher
claude "lefty" williams--

A surprising 0-3 in the series--

Arrives at the trial.

The players get
a mysterious break

When the confessions go missing.

The jury finds them not guilty.

Baseball commissioner
kennesaw mountain landis

Is not so lenient.

He punishes all eight
with a lifetime ban.

Baseball's shame
is an ominous sign.

Nothing in america is safe from
its new generation of criminals.

Men like arnold rothstein,

Widely suspected of being
involved in the fix.

His bet clears him a profit
of $350,000.

But he's never prosecuted.

Rothstein is a new kind
of criminal:

Organized, sophisticated.

He's based in new york...

And operates an illegal casino

In manhattan's
luxury hotel metropole.

From the plush bar,

He finances bold schemes
like a wall street banker...

But in the shadow world
of criminals...

That runs from broadway

To the slums
of the lower east side.

♪

This is stanton street, where
immigrants live packed together.

Its markets teem with young men
looking to make it in america.

For some, the quickest way
to the american dream is crime.

Two who fall into gang life
are italian immigrants

Charles "lucky" luciano

And frank costello.

They will make new york the
center of a criminal underworld

That operates in parallel
with respectable society.

America in 1920 is a land
of criminal opportunity.

With alcohol prohibited,
independent racketeers

Are supplying americans
of all classes

With the bootleg booze
they crave.

It's shipped in
through a global network

That spans the oceans.

This is the only known
home movie shot of a rum runner.

Canadian richard reed
films a smuggling trip

On his boat, the hickey.

It's traveling
down the west coast from canada

To the waters off mexico.

Its crew relaxes
on the 18-day voyage--

The hard work won't start
until they've loaded the booze.

♪

Finally, they reach
the canadian schooner malahat,

A notorious
floating liquor store

Anchored
in international waters.

The u.S. Coast guard is here,
too, but won't have jurisdiction

Until the alcohol
reaches american waters.

♪

Richard reed and his crew
load 1,600 cases of booze

Right under
the coast guard's nose...

While other smugglers
wait their turn.

$65 for a case of whiskey at sea
will bring you 400 on land.

Fully loaded, the hickey
makes a break for it...

With a coast guard cutter
in hot pursuit.

♪

Reed's crew outruns it...

And heads for the u.S. Mainland

To help quench america's
inexhaustible thirst.

♪

Announcer: Barrel after barrel
of prized whiskeys

Destroyed by government agents!

Narrator:
Trying to stem the tide

Is the federal bureau
of prohibition--

But it's chronically
understaffed.

It has only 1,500 agents to stop
the flow of alcohol in america.

♪

Raids, like this one
on a park avenue bar,

Are filmed for propaganda,

But americans know they can
easily get around the law.

Prohibition has turned millions
of citizens who want to drink

Into criminals.

Law-breaking becomes normalized.

The adams family
of brattleboro, vermont,

Film themselves on a trip
to canada in 1930.

A bottle of scotch takes
center stage at a picnic.

It's a luxury the adams
can't enjoy legally in the u.S.

Some americans don't want
to part with their whiskey

When they head home.

[splash]

This unknown american bootlegger
has crossed the peace bridge

From canada
into buffalo, new york.

♪

The agents rip his chevy
to pieces

And find what they're
looking for.

They're just scratching
the surface.

Hundreds of others
cross america's borders

Without incident every month.

[ship horn blows]

By the mid-1920s,
in new york alone

There are over 30,000
speakeasies.

Bootlegging is big business.

To control it,
the american underworld

Will organize and expand
like never before...

But its violence
will bring it infamy.

♪

It's 1925.

Raucous city nightclubs
are fueled by illegal booze.

People openly flaunt the law
across the country...

Nowhere more than new york city.

It's election season.

Dashing state senator and
former tin pan alley songwriter

Jimmy walker
is running for mayor.

♪

His easy-going attitude
is captured in a photo op

With the governor of california.

Governor: Well, if there's
anything you want in california,

All you have to do
is to ring the bell

Or press the button, that's all.

Walker: I do want something
in california,

And I have it
right alongside of me.

[laughter]

Governor: Well, you're
a great character

And you've been
a great friend, too,

All these years.

Walker: Can we have the rest
of the day to ourselves?

[laughter]

Narrator: Walker is strongly
against prohibition--

Just the kind of politician that
the gangsters want in charge.

In November 1925,
he sweeps to victory.

The stuffy surroundings
of city hall don't suit a man

Who will come to be known
as the "night mayor."

He uses public funds to renovate
a nightclub in central park

Named the casino.

This is where walker's
new york is run...

To the sound of an illegal
champagne cork popping.

On his many days off,

He can be found on 52nd street
in the 21 club.

An elaborate mechanism conceals

The speakeasy's
illegal wine cellar,

Stocked with booze, financed
by gangster arnold rothstein.

♪

Jimmy walker embodies
the connection

Between the underworld's
public and private faces.

During his time as mayor,

Crime becomes organized
and increasingly mainstream.

Gangsters become
front page news...

Never more so than when
kingpin arnold rothstein is shot

On November 4, 1928,
in the park central hotel...

Over an unpaid bet.

He honors the gangland
code of silence

And refuses to name
the gunman...

Before dying two days later.

The only person prepared
to talk openly

Is irish chambermaid
bridget farry.

Reporter:: Who do you think
killed rothstein?

Farry: I don't know
who killed him.

He had been killed
on the street,

Getting into the hotel.

He was in the hotel.

Reporter: You don't think
he was killed in the hotel?

Farry: No, he was shot
as he was entering the hotel,

He was carried
through the kitchen

To the servants entrance.

Narrator:
With no willing witnesses,

The accused shooter,
george "the hump" mcmanus,

Gets off.

It's this code of silence

That will let the mob thrive
for decades to come.

The rising notoriety of the mob
spawns a new genre in hollywood,

Seen in this 1927 silent film,
"underworld."

A smooth boss named bull weed

And his girlfriend
feathers mccoy

Hang out in illegal bars...

And go to war with the cops.

The wealth, style and excitement
of celluloid gangsters

Make them appealing.

The mobster mystique is enhanced
by punchy nicknames,

Like jake "greasy thumb" guzik,

Abe "kid twist" reles

And tony "joe batters" accardo.

The gangsters' notoriety
is amplified

By their weapon of choice:

The tommy gun.

This film shows
the michigan state police

Training to fight back in kind.

Announcer: Gangsters war
with machine guns.

So, when the emergency arises,

The state trooper
must fight fire with fire.

He learns the technique
of the fire-spitting tommy gun.

Here again, the rain of lead
must be directed effectively.

Narrator: The rapid-firing
submachine gun

Becomes the gangster's
best friend...

[gunfire]

And can be purchased legally
over the counter until 1934.

Armed with their tommy guns...

Mobsters expand their reach
and their fame.

During the 1920s, brooklyn-born
al "scarface" capone

Takes over the rackets
in chicago.

He buys his first three
tommy guns

From a hardware store.

[machine gun fire]

It's used so prolifically
in the windy city

It becomes known
as the "chicago typewriter."

[gunfire]

Upstanding citizens
like the wealthy birch family

See little
of the city's dark side,

But there are two sides
to chicago.

In 1928, it has the nation's
top homicide rate.

As they film themselves
on superior street,

They are in the heart
of capone's territory...

And when they relax
in lincoln park

They are near the site of the
gangster's most infamous hit.

In 1929 capone's gang
murders seven men

In the st. Valentine's day
massacre,

Bringing gang warfare
to national attention.

Americans increasingly see
crime and corruption

As a threat
to their everyday lives.

In new york,

A 5-foot 2-inch congressman
named fiorello la guardia

Runs against mayor walker
in 1929,

Vowing to clean up the city.

La guardia: New york city,
with its 6 million people

And its annual budget
of over $600 million

Is entitled to honest, clean
municipal government.

Narrator: He rages against
the city's biggest problem...

La guardia: Graft!
In every department of the city.

Narrator: Jimmy walker responds
like the entertainer he is.

Walker: My love for this city,
my devotion to it,

I couldn't tell you about.

It's so deep-seated in my heart,

I feel it
with every breath I draw.

I feel it in my every emotion.

[telephones ringing]

♪

Narrator: And when the votes
are tallied...

Woman: Walker 14,849,
la guardia 3,635,

Thomas 1,727,
enright 48.

Narrator: An electorate drunk
on the excesses of the twenties

Responds.

Man: Mayor walker re-elected!

[cheering]

Narrator: Walker's win
appears to mark a victory

For corruption.

But the tide is turning
against gangster glamour.

August 1, 1931.

Newsreels film thousands

As they throng new york's
italian harlem

For the funeral
of 5-year-old michael vengalli.

Michael is killed by crossfire

As he plays
on east 107th street,

Outside a gang hangout
named the helmar social club.

Four other children are wounded.

The killer, gang leader
vincent "mad dog" coll,

Is widely known...

But no one will testify.

As michael's distraught parents
lay him to rest,

Another child points out
bullet holes in the wall.

It's a signature
tommy gun pattern.

Michael's murder coincides
with a turning point

In the public perception
of the underworld.

Organized crime is thriving
in cities across america.

Murder rates are
at an all-time high.

Gangsters, once romanticized,
play a new role: Public enemies.

It's 1931.

Florida has become
a popular vacation spot

For wealthy americans.

The norman family from summit,
new jersey, film themselves

At miami's roman pools resort
on south beach.

♪

The sunshine state
is the perfect getaway

From the north's cold winters.

♪

The normans are not alone
in choosing miami for some r&r.

Just over a mile away
on palm island,

Far more private gatherings
take place at a luxury villa...

Owned by al capone.

These never-before-broadcast
images

Are believed to capture
lucky luciano with capone,

Alongside new york gangster

Ciro "the artichoke king"
terranova.

Photographed on the diving board
is frank costello,

Now a mob kingpin
dubbed the "prime minister."

Four guys from new york
who've made it big,

While the rest of the country

Suffers through
the great depression.

[cheering]

In 1932, presidential candidate
franklin d. Roosevelt

Promises help
and an end to prohibition.

Roosevelt:
Your candidate wants repeal.

[cheering]

And I am confident that
the united states of america

Wants repeal.

[cheering]

Narrator: Roosevelt senses
the public's appetite

To take on organized crime
and political corruption.

In September 1930, while
still governor of new york,

He creates a committee to
examine graft in new york city.

Mayor jimmy walker is accused of
profiting from city contracts.

[crowd murmurs]

Walker: Don't push!

Narrator: In 1932
he resigns in disgrace

And heads to europe
for three years

With his ziegfeld girl mistress,
betty compton.

The feds target
chicago's underworld

As crime spills
over state lines.

In 1928, while capone is boss,
498 murders are committed--

More than any other city.

But he answers for none.

That year he's suspected
of earning $105 million--

Around $1.4 billion today.

But it's all tax-free
because it's undeclared.

In 1931, the feds
sense an opening

And capone is hauled into court.

Bureau of revenue investigator
frank wilson

Uncovers a secret ledger
showing huge cash payments

To the mobster.

It proves capone has been
cheating the government.

Reporter: Well, here he comes,
and there he goes.

It took two years to get him,

But uncle sam
has lots of patience.

Narrator: In may 1932, he's sent
to prison for 11 years,

First to atlanta
and then alcatraz.

Capone's confiscated cadillac
is displayed to the public.

Man: I will demonstrate to you.
First...

Narrator: It reveals
how he evaded capture

On chicago's streets.

Man: The fact that this car
is equipped

With a regulation police siren.

The siren in this car
would enable capone

To get away at any time.

[siren wails]

Narrator:
The state-of-the-art vehicle

Allowed capone to monitor
police communications.

Man: Capone had equipped
in this car

One of the first regulation
police pickup radios

That's ever been installed
in an automobile.

I'll see if we can demonstrate

By picking up a little
of the music from hereabouts.

[beeping, music playing]

Narrator: And the car can
withstand attacks from rivals.

Man: Another feature
about this car

Is that it is equipped with
bulletproof glass throughout.

Narrator:
It's an example of capone's

Brazen disrespect for the law.

Man: ...On the doors,
it is one inch thick.

♪

Narrator: In November 1932,
roosevelt is elected president

And delivers on his promise
to repeal prohibition.

♪

Organized crime adapts
to the loss

Of its precious income stream
by doubling down on gambling.

In harlem,
african-american gangsters

Run the numbers racket...

Man: What you want?
Man: Give me 500, will you?

Man: You want 500?
Man: 3-0-9.

Narrator: An affordable
but illegal daily lottery

Played by people
from all walks of life.

A 1935 reconstruction tells the
public what it already knows.

Players choose three numbers.

The winning combination is
pulled randomly from newspapers.

The odds are 999 to 1
in the gangsters' favor.

Illegal street lotteries
in harlem

Bring in up to $20 million
a year,

And open criminality is still
a fixture of day-to-day life.

♪

Fiorello la guardia is convinced

He's the man to clean up
new york city.

He charges
into the 1933 mayoral race.

La guardia:
This is a fight against

A cruel, vicious, greedy
political machine.

Narrator: The voters now agree,
and he sweeps to victory.

City hall will now fight back
against the underworld.

La guardia immediately launches
a crusade against gambling,

The city's most visible symbol
of rampant crime.

An illegal slot machine business

Run by frank costello
and lucky luciano

Is his prime target.

La guardia: These machines
have been the source

Of enormous revenue
running into millions of dollars

To the pockets
of the criminal element.

Narrator:
Costello has 25,000 machines

Placed in speakeasies
and neighborhood stores.

In 1931 this mechanical empire
alone brings him $25 million.

La guardia is determined to rid
the city of one-armed bandits.

He publicly swings
a sledgehammer

At hundreds
of seized machines...

La guardia:
Alright, boys, let's go!

Narrator: Before dumping them
into the east river.

♪

La guardia: This is routine work
of the police department,

Confiscated property taken

From crooks, gangsters
and racketeers.

We're giving them no quarter.

Narrator: A huge cache
of seized weapons

Follows them into the water.

♪

Pollution is not yet
on the political radar.

♪

The display reveals
the astonishing scale

Of luciano and costello's
operations.

But seizing their equipment
is not enough.

The mayor wants the mobsters.

The state appoints
ace prosecutor thomas dewey

To bring them down.

Dewey's problem

Is that no gang members
will snitch on luciano.

So he convinces
several prostitutes

At brothels run by luciano

To turn on him
in return for immunity.

In February 1936
luciano's luck runs out

When he's arrested
on prostitution charges.

This newsreel footage
is a rare glimpse

Of the underworld's leadership.

During the trial,

Luciano's claims of a modest
$22,500 income are shredded.

It's more like $10 million from
prostitution and other rackets.

The courts slap lucky luciano
with a 30- to 50-year sentence.

Dewey: For two years now
I have been prosecuting rackets.

Every chieftain of
the underworld we have indicted

Is in jail or is a fugitive
from justice.

The underworld is afraid
for the first time in 20 years.

Narrator: Mayor la guardia even
hammers his anti-crime message

Into people's homes

When the comic lover reads
"dick tracy" over the radio

To new york's kids.

La guardia: The next picture
we see dick tracy,

You know the fine type
of dick tracy.

He's been a detective so long

And he still has
that slender form.

Lew valentine, why do our
detectives get fat, I wonder?

And say, children,
what does it all mean?

It means that dirty money
never brings any luck.

Narrator: But to the mob,
la guardia's crackdown

Is far from a fatal blow.

Even though arrests mount up
in new york city...

America is a nation
of boundless opportunity...

And far away from the spotlight
of the east coast,

Crime will enter
a new golden age.

[screaming]

June 1938.

A speedboat enters
international waters

Three miles offshore
from santa monica, california.

Its passengers board
a former fishing barge

Named the ss rex...

Now transformed
into a floating casino.

♪

It's commanded
by former rum runner

Anthony "tony the hat" cornero,
also known as "the admiral."

He's found a gap
in the market...

And spent $200,000 to create
a tax-free betting haven,

A 12-minute speedboat ride away

From california's
anti-gambling laws.

The rex accommodates
2,000 guests and 350 staff.

♪

Roulette tables and card games

Are surrounded
by rows of slot machines.

♪

Gamblers can even bet on which
hole a mouse will run through.

♪

The casino is open 24 hours,

And rich californians flock
to take advantage.

Cornero openly boasts
about his business,

Declaring the rex is
"operated by courageous,

Open-minded, fearless
american citizens."

He takes in
over $100,000 a month.

Cornero's in business for a year

When california redefines
the three-mile limit.

It brings him
within range of the law.

Cornero plays cat and mouse,

But needs to be close to shore
for his customers.

Cameras film
the coast guard pouncing.

♪

The ship's gambling equipment

Is sent to the bottom
of the pacific ocean.

♪

But cornero's operation proves
there's money to be made

In crime outside
the east coast--

In cities like new orleans.

By the mid-1940s, in louisiana,

Gangsters have established
a firm grip.

They got their start

With corrupt senator
huey "kingfish" long,

Who harbored
presidential ambitions.

Long: We've got to have
a candidate

Away from the republican party

And away from
the democratic party,

And I for one
am perfectly willing

To see that there is
another choice

In the united states in 1936,

Or a chance to have a choice.

Narrator:
Until he's shot dead in 1935.

♪

The big easy's
underworld top contact

Is former bootlegger turned
restaurateur diamond jim moran.

His nickname is no mystery--
jim moran loves diamonds.

He often wears a quarter million
dollars' worth.

These never-before-broadcast
home movies show moran

Entertaining friends at his
lake pontchartrain guest house

And yacht...

Including crime boss
frank costello.

♪

Moran offers
the underworld a chance

To get away from it all
in welcoming surroundings.

♪

His guests arrive on speedboats
up the mississippi.

A mob vacation in louisiana
means shooting fish...

[gunshot]

And dining...

Far from prying eyes.

The underworld booms
in the big easy,

With everybody,
including diamond jim,

Getting a cut.

The good times are rolling.

No one realizes
they'll soon end.

Missing the party
is charles "lucky" luciano...

Who's still running
criminal operations

From new york's
dannemora prison.

In 1946 he's
mysteriously released.

He has served just 10 years
of his 50-year sentence.

There are whispers that
the sicilian-born luciano

Supplied information
to the u.S. Military

During its invasion of Italy.

♪

His release requires him
to be deported...

And cameras film the famous
mobster's arrival in rome.

But lucky is not willing to
relinquish his criminal empire.

In 1947, he attempts
to return to the u.S.

But is captured in cuba

And deported once again.

Newsreels hound him in Italy...

And his crime partners
in america

Are now also feeling the heat...

As the u.S. Senate

Puts frank costello
and the underworld

Onto the tv screens of millions.

Man: Well, how could you be
going into such details

If you weren't
personally familiar

With that slot machine operation
in new orleans?

Man: Well, I wouldn't remember
the details.

Narrator: And the mob's
illegal dealings

Begin to unravel.

Spring 1950.

President harry truman's
popularity is sinking

In the face
of a post-war recession.

Things get worse
when two gangsters

Named charles binaggio
and charles "mad dog" gargotta

Are found murdered
in a democratic party clubhouse

In kansas city, missouri...

Underneath a portrait of truman,
the state's favorite son.

The widely seen images
suggest an unholy alliance

Between politicians
and the underworld.

The outcry leads
to a senate investigation--

The first of its kind--
into american organized crime.

Ambitious tennessee senator
estes kefauver

Plans to take it national.

The hearings become america's
first great television event.

In March 1951, some 30 million
are watching.

Senator kefauver subpoenas
hundreds of people

With possible connections
to the mob.

Americans are gripped--

They have never seen
anything like it before.

Man: What was your business
prior to being convicted?

Narrator: Mobsters
like cleveland's

Alfred "the owl" polizzi

Are quizzed about their
underworld connections.

Polizzi: They've accused me
of being

In the mayfield road gang,

And I absolutely deny it,
it's not true!

Narrator: The star attraction

Is frank
"the prime minister" costello,

Ordered to appear by subpoena.

His business interests
range across the nation

From illegal gambling
to legitimate real estate,

And he even has investments
in two tv companies.

Man: You are frank costello?
Costello: Yes, sir.

Narrator: His net worth
is a mystery.

Man: ...The testimony
you give this committee

Shall be the truth,
the whole truth

And nothing but the truth,
so help you god?

Costello: Yes, sir.

Narrator:
Costello is tight-lipped.

Finally, the committee asks him
to justify himself.

Man: You must have in your mind

Some things you've done
that you can speak of

To your credit
as an american citizen.

If so, what are they?

Costello: Paid my tax.

[laughter]

Narrator:
But costello's wisecrack

Can't hide his fear
of the investigation.

He draws a line in the sand.

Costello: Mr. Halley,
all due respect to the senate,

Which I have an awful lot
of respect for,

I'm not going to answer
another question.

Narrator: Twice he leaves
the witness table.

Man: Just a minute,
mr. Costello.

Man: You don't mean that, uh...

Narrator: He becomes
the arrogant face

Of american gangsterism.

Next up is the glamorous
alabama native

Virginia "the flamingo" hill.

She rises from waiting tables in
one of al capone's favorite bars

To become the brains behind
a drug trafficking ring

Linking mexico and chicago.

Wearing a $5,000 mink coat,
she credits her wealth

To her good luck
at the racetrack.

Hill: Sometimes I bet
a hundreds,

Two hundreds, five hundred.

It depends on the horse.

Man: Do you still bet
the horse races?

Hill: That's the only thing...
Now?

Man: Uh-huh.

Hill: I don't bet anything now.

I'm afraid I'll win,

And then they'll say I made
more money than I did.

[laughter]

Narrator: She avoids
incriminating herself...

But doesn't enjoy the attention.

She flees to europe
under pressure from the irs

And dies in austria in 1965.

Gangland figures like
frank erickson and joe adonis

Invoke their
constitutional right

To avoid self-incrimination.

The fifth amendment becomes
the mob's escape hatch.

Man: Can you state
any legitimate occupation

In which you ever participated?

Erickson: I refuse to answer
on the grounds

That it might intend
to incriminate me.

Adonis: I decline to answer
on the same grounds.

Man: Or with any other person?

Adonis: I decline to answer
on the same grounds.

Narrator:
The phrase "taking the fifth"

Enters the american lexicon.

After interviewing 600 people
over nearly two years,

Senator kefauver draws
a frightening conclusion.

Kefauver: Our committee
has found that organized crime

Does operate
on a syndicated basis

Across state lines
in the united states,

That it's a much bigger,
more sinister

And a larger operation
than we had ever suspected

That is having very devastating
and bad influences

Upon our economy,
upon the morals of our people

And upon politics
and government.

Narrator: Costello's reign
as prime minister

Soon comes to an end.

He's convicted
on contempt charges

For walking out
of the kefauver hearing

And spends five years
in and out of jail.

On may 2, 1957,
he's shot in the head

In an attempted assassination...

But survives.

Reporter: Would you tell us
about your health now?

We've heard reports
that it isn't good.

Costello: I'm making
no comments right at present.

Narrator: The would-be killer

Is a man named
vincent "the chin" gigante,

Who's working for costello's
long-time rival,

Vito "don vitone" genovese.

Gigante gets off
when costello remains true

To the underworld
code of silence

And refuses to testify.

In January 1962, lucky luciano
dies of a heart attack.

His funeral in naples
is a grand affair...

Covered by cameras
from all over the world...

And attended by a host of men
in trademark gangster attire.

Luciano takes his secrets
to the grave.

But the following year
the code of silence

Is sensationally broken.

A low-level mobster
under vito genovese

Named joseph "joe cargo" valachi

Murders a man in prison.

He faces the electric chair.

To save himself, he strikes
an unprecedented deal.

In return for a life sentence,

He will break
the mob's vow of silence.

Man: We have as
our first witness today

Joseph valachi.

Narrator: For the first time,

The secret name
of america's crime syndicate

Is publicly revealed.

Valachi:
Cosa nostra, in italian.

Man: Cosa nostra, in italian.

Valachi: "our thing"
and "our family" in english.

Narrator: The truth about
organized crime is laid bare.

Valachi: As you all understand,
once you're in, you're in.

You can't get out.

You try, but that don't mean
that you're going to stay out.

Man: You don't get out and live?
Valachi: They'll hunt you.

Man: I see.
Valachi: Okay?

Narrator: The mob puts a price
of $100,000 on valachi's head,

But it's never collected.

In 1971, he dies in prison
of natural causes...

Followed two years later
by frank costello,

Who's buried in queens,
in new york city.

[people shouting]

Valachi's testimony kicks off
a 40-year war by law enforcement

Against the american mafia.

Big names like carlos
"the little man" marcello,

Joseph "joe" colombo

And john "the teflon don" gotti

Are marched into courtrooms.

♪

By the end of the century,

The fbi has broken the back
of the american mob...

And the underworld's golden age
finally comes to an end.

♪