The Underworld Podcast

Frank Matthews went from a poor boy in North Carolina stealing chickens to running one of the biggest heroin rings America has ever seen before disappearing without a trace after getting arrested with a rumored 20 million dollars he had stashed away, never to be seen again. Along the way he took on the Italian mafia and the Black Mafia, importing kilos of heroin from Venezuela with the help of the French Connection and setting up shop in Brooklyn. He still hasn't been caught. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1990, the tiny Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago saw the only attempted Islamic militant overthrow of a government in the Western Hemisphere. The coup led by Abu Bakr and his Jamaat Al Muslimeem followers failed, but many on the island see it as a turning point that has led the murder rate to increase by 400% over the last few decades. Now, a raging war between the Rasta City gang and the Muslims gang doesn't show sings of stopping as they battle over lucrative government contracts and the street drug trade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The "Mafia Shqiptare" was forged during communism, exploded into life during a nationwide pyramid scheme, and unleashed a wave of drugs and violence across Europe from the late 90s. We dive into its most notorious bosses - and how gangs including the 'Hellbanianz' have taken over the UK's lucrative drug scene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The "Maxi Trial" pitted two fearless Palermo prosecutors and turncoat "Pentiti" against the Cosa Nostra, its thuggish leader Toto Riina, and a whole host of corrupt cops, politicians and businessmen. But when the judge handed down 344 guilty verdicts, the real chaos was just beginning. We dive into an era of Italian Mafia history-car bombs, daily hits, heroin billions-that looked more like war than organized crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Early one morning this past June, 6 fully kitted out SWAT teams in Dubai fanned out across multiple luxury buildings. They were targeting a vast criminal conspiracy that had scammed hundreds of millions of dollars through pretty simply cyber trickery. From Brooklyn Blood sets using cryptocurrency to facilitate their credit card scams to the Nigerian fraud king Hushpuppi getting busted with 40 million dollars in cash, we have some fun talking scammers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Car bombs, shoulder-fired missiles, grenades and hits across 5 continents; the Israeli mafias that rose up in the 90's and fought each other for control of gambling and drug rackets for the following decades are among the most sophisticated in the world. At one point, they controlled 80% of the world's global ecstasy trade and partnered with street gangs in Los Angeles to distribute. The Alperons, Abergils, Rosensteins, and Abutbuls had no problem going after judges, politicians and cops. And when they weren't busy killing each other over bottle recycling rackets in Israel, they established global networks of drugs and gambling across Europe, Asia, and America. Danny is joined by Israeli crime reporter Ben Hartman in this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over the last few years, Sean's been on the ground covering the Philippines' brutal drug war amongst the dealers, addicts, and killer cops. Rodrigo Duterte, the architect of the Philippines' blood-soaked drug war, has shot men dead with uzis and fed them to crocodiles. How did he become the country's top man? We take a ride on Manila's gruesome 'Night Shift,' and tell the tale of a showdown between a killer cop and infamous gang down south, to find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

( note: we weren't able to record in the studio so audio is off a bit) The murder capital of the United States isn't Chicago, Baltimore or Detroit - it's St. Louis, Missouri, which for each of the last **SEVEN** years in a row had has the highest murder rate in the United States. The city just finished 2020 with a record breaking murder rate of 87 per 100,000 people, making it the deadliest city in the world not in Mexico or Brazil. A city of only 300,000 people, it had twice as many murders as London, population 9 million. This is the story of how St Louis became the murder capital of America; guns, gangs, drugs, poor policing, population loss, disappearing industry, concentrated poverty, and a history of systemically racist policies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Danny is out this week, and Sean is joined by comedian Sami Shah. He came from nowhere to become the murderous king of Melbourne's 'underbelly.' But how did Carl Williams, a "shelf stacker - and not a good one," lead the Australian city's long established Calabrian and Irish mafias into its biggest-ever war? And how did cops, and an informant named 'Lawyer X,' stoke the flames? Sean is joined by writer and comedian Sami Shah to explore the Melbourne Gangland Killings. Patreon.com/TheUnderworldPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 1990's, a new group of criminals started making their presence known on the streets of New York City: the Albanian mafia. Soon, they earned a reputation that even scared the Italian mafias that had dominated the city for decades. Muscling in on Gambino and Lucchese rackets, they pulled guns on made men and people began referring to the Rudaj Organization, better known as The Corporation, as the 6th family. This is the story of how Albanian organized crime groups came to New York. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The biggest drug cartel in the world isn't Mexican, or Colombian. It's Asian. Buried deep in the Burmese jungle are networks of cutting edge meth labs, guarded by rebels and run by kingpins so powerful they make El Chapo look like a corner boy. In 2019, Underworld cohost Sean Williams went looking for one of the billion dollar meth labs spending months on the Mekong, in lawless casinos and hunting a drug industry bigger than any other on earth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent years MS-13 has become one of the most feared street gangs in the world, thanks to face tattoos and machetes. Underworld host and producer Danny Gold first went to El Salvador to report on the gang and their rivals 18th Street in 2015 and has since returned numerous times. In this episode he breaks down the origins of the gang and what it's like to go behind the scenes with them (and 18th street). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In part two of our Yakuza deep dive, we plot their post-war rise from hustlers to corporate raiders - and a smack back down to earth. There are wars, kamikaze assassinations, CIA stings and the growth of the Yamaguchi-gumi, a mob so powerful it has its logo on the door. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there an organized crime group more iconic than Japan's Yakuza? In part one of two episodes on the group-or web of groups-we plunge into their ancient history, traditions, and how the Second World War made gangs of thieves into multi-billionaire magnates. Oh, and we'll unpack those tattoos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In part 2 of our episode on the Russian Mafia coming to Brooklyn, we are joined by journalist Michael Weiss to continue our story of how mostly Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union set up shop in Brighton Beach and formed the 'Russian Mafia'. We talk about the war for Brighton Beach between Boris Nayfeld and Monya Elson, the arrival of the infamous and feared vor y zakone (allegedly!) Yaponchik, and how Russian gangsters in Brighton Beach bilk the US government out of billions of dollars through healthcare scams. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Russian Mafia has been an object of fascination for decades in America, but it only really emerged in the 1980's after mostly Jewish immigrants were allowed to leave the Soviet Union and settled in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brighton Beach. And while they may have started off as small-time hoods extorting bakeries and defrauding jewelry stores, in no time they were dropping bodies all over Brooklyn and scamming their way to hundreds of millions of dollars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They called him "The Merchant of Death" - the world's most dangerous man. But was gun-runner Viktor Bout actually the arms trade's fall guy? From Angola to Zaire and everywhere in between, Bout's black-market weapons have fueled the globe's most grisly gangs and conflicts. But despite Nic Cage's excellent performance in Lord of War, there's far more to the real Viktor Bout than his Hollywood image suggests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Building off our Nigerian Cults episode: Omoyele Sowore was attacked by the cults as a student leader, saw them morph into political power, and tried to take them down. Now the New Jersey resident - a journalist, activist and 2019 presidential candidate - is under house arrest in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. With gangsters in the government and the rule of law trampled, will Sowore's revolution take hold? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chinatowns in the United States have never been short on organized crime syndicates, from the early days of secret society tongs to the Triads. In Boston, it was the Sky Dragon who ruled over the gambling, prostitution and drug markets. Somewhere along the way, though, a white kid from south Boston straight out of a Ben Afleck movie would find his way to the top of Boston's Triads. This is the story of White Devil John, with special guest The Wonton Don AKA Donnie Does. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They began as freedom-fighting pirates, swashbuckling for African rights. But over the decades Nigeria's confraternities descended into vicious cults. Among them one group has spread across the entire world, and Law Enforcement is only now just learning how dangerous the Black Axe really is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Decided to make this free, it's the first of our many bonus episodes up on the patreon, where we'll focus on interviewing experts, journalists, and well-connected individuals. Toby Muse is a journalist who has covered the drug war in Colombia for more than 15 years. We talk about the time he tried to get me killed in Medellin, the acceptance of gay men in the hyper masculine world of cartel members, and the one cartel boss who makes Pablo Escobar look weak. Subscribe on patreon.com/TheUnderworldPodcast for more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been made by a vicious network of organized crime figures throughout Southeast Asia by preying on what the United Nations has called "the most persecuted people in the world," the stateless and desperate Rohingya people. From the high rises of Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, we follow the transnational network that operates like a modern day slave trade, roping in politicians, police officials and high ranking members of militaries along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Few names strike fear into the hearts of Indians quite like Dawood Ibrahim. From a Mumbai slum he built his 'D Company' into the country's biggest mafia. Then he did something truly shocking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tyson Fury, large amounts of cocaine, public executions at press conferences, and Estonian hitmen - Ireland's war between the Hutchs and the Kinahans, one of the biggest drug trafficking cartels in Europe, has it all. From the bloody streets of Dublin to exclusive gated communities on the Spanish Coast, this gangland feud between two of Ireland's most powerful crime family patriarchs has seen dozens killed over the last 5 years, but could it be nearing the end? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arkan started off a bankrobber and a hitman before becoming the leader of a vicious paramilitary group that committed war crimes. He grew rich off the disintegration of Yugoslavia and the wars that followed, becoming a new iteration of warlord mafioso. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Berlin is Europe's party capital. But since the 1980's, another kind of club has taken over the city - and not always quietly. Lebanese-Kurdish "problematic families" have taken hold, and one Tony Soprano-like leader stands above the rest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the Underworld Podcast, a weekly series where journalists Danny Gold and Sean Williams take you into the secret world of transnational organized crime with all the associated warlords, mobsters and scammers from Brooklyn to Beijing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices