Kingpins

Here’s one of our listeners’ most requested episodes of 2019: In the 1970s, cocaine was seen as a “rich man’s drug” — reserved for the wealthy elites in the Hollywood Hills. That is, until 1979, when 19-year-old Rick Ross found a way to market it to the masses in South Central LA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To surveil the seedy underworld of organized crime in the 1940s and 50s, a special undercover unit of the LAPD was created to track the city's most notorious gangsters, including Mickey Cohen and Jack Dragna. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

He ruled his family with an iron fist. But among his peers, Carlo Gambino was considered so fair that when he became head of the Commission, he earned the title “Boss of All Bosses.” Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, no criminal decision passed without his say. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After growing up surrounded by the Sicilian mafia in the early 1900s, Carlo Gambino immigrated to America and put the knowledge to use. In an endless hail of bullets, Gambino solidified his status and reputation in the underworld. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1940, after the charges against Siegel were dismissed for the murder of Harry Greenberg, he reinvented himself in the deserts of Las Vegas and began his sordid affair with Virginia Hill. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No man was feared in New York during the 20s and 30s more than Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. After teaming up with Meyer Lansky, Bugsy made his bones carrying out vicious murders for the mob.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Even while he was on the run, Dawood Ibrahim continued to rule Mumbai's underworld with an iron fist. But as his riches increased, so did his appetite for violence. And in 1992, his operations expanded into terrorism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Dawood Ibrahim, a young Muslim-born Indian would rise from a small time street thief to gang leader, bringing a more businesss-like—and ruthless—approach. And in the process, he would become one of the richest kingpins in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the 90s approached, it was time for El Patron’s last stand. Many innocent Colombians would die in Pablo Escobar’s war against extradition before he finally reached a compromise with the government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From multi-millionaire Colombian Congressman to political pariah—once Pablo Escobar’s criminal history was exposed, all bets were off. As his facade of legitimacy in the early 80s washed away, he vowed to take back control using the weapons he knew best: coercion, bribery and violence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With a violent childhood and mantra of “smuggling, bribery and murder,” witness the beginnings of Pablo Escobar’s cocaine empire in Medellín in the 1970s, and how he expanded it exponentially by joining forces with other Colombian drug traffickers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before becoming “El Patron” and trafficking 80% of the world’s cocaine market, Pablo Escobar was nothing more than a petty criminal on the streets of Medellin.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By 2013, the DEA, FBI, DOJ, and Homeland Security were all after Ross Ulbricht, aka "The Dread Pirate Roberts." His drug website, The Silk Road, trafficked millions worth of drugs every week. So far, Ulbricht remained anonymous, thanks to Tor and the cloak of the Dark Web. Little did he know, the users he thought were his friends were federal agents in disguise.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2011, Ross Ulbricht created The Silk Road, aka "The Amazon of Drugs." Hosted on the dark web and financed by Bitcoin, it was an anonymous marketplace where anyone could buy or sell anything without leaving a trace. Drugs, guns, hacking software, human organs -- the free market utopia quickly made Ulbricht a millionaire. And made him a top target for the DEA. Sponsors! Bombas - Get 20% off your first purchase at Bombas.com/KINGPINS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thank you for being a loyal listener! We’re excited to announce all Parcast Network episodes older than 6 months are now available for free on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After being able to hide on the lam for years, Howard Marks was finally caught and forced to answer for his crimes. However, a convincing lie about his supposed involvement with MI6 ensured Marks’ release and allowed him to continue smuggling cannabis well into the 1980s. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

During the 1970s, Howard Marks became one of the biggest cannabis smugglers in Europe. Through a series of networks, which included contacts in the IRA and the Mafia, he was able to bring in upwards of 30 tons of cannabis into the UK and the United States. But after years of anonymity, a single bust in Las Vegas would put him on the DEA’s radar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mafia life came with plenty of rules, and Anthony Casso loved that. He was a criminal, but an honorable criminal, and his dedication to the Mafia lifestyle took him to the top of the Lucchese family hierarchy. In the mid 1990s, as he faced threats from inside and outside the family, the pressure got to him, and he started to make mistakes. He was taking his violence too far.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anthony Casso was born in Mafia territory in South Brooklyn, and the money-making, wily intelligence, and violence that the "the life" demanded came naturally to him. It was no surprise that he started to climb the ranks of the Lucchese Family as they hit the height of their power in the 1980s.  Parcasters - Watergate forever changed the way Americans look at the presidency, but could there be more to the story? Find out today on Conspiracy Theories! Subscribe to Conspiracy Theories on Spotify to listen now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By the 1970s, the Black Tuna Gang, led by Robert Platshorn, was running the marijuana game out of Miami. But, as internal strife grew out of control and the feds closed in around them, Platshorn's life was headed for a downfall.  Sponsors! Bombas - Visit Bombas.com/KINGPINS and get 20% off your first purchase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices