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Organized Crime and Punishment

Organized crime has been a part of human society for centuries, and Organized Crime and Punishment: A History and Crime Podcast takes a deep dive into its roots, evolution, and impact on different cultures and countries. In Organized Crime and Punishment: A History and Crime Podcast, we explore the rise of organized crime in various regions of the world. Throughout different seasons of the show, we will examine the different types of organized crime, from the American Mafia to modern-day cartels, and how they have adapted to changes in society and law enforcement. We also delve into the lives of notorious gangsters and their criminal empires, revealing the inner workings of these secretive organizations. We will explore the political, economic, and social factors that have fueled the growth of organized crime, as well as the efforts of governments and law enforcement agencies to combat it. Join us as we take a journey through the shadowy world of organized crime, exploring its history, impact, and ongoing influence on our societies today. Whether you're a history buff, true crime aficionado, or simply curious about this fascinating topic, Organized Crime and Punishment: A History and Crime Podcast is sure to entertain and inform.

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Behind the Badge: Unmasking and Preventing Police Corruption

November 8, 2023 - 40 min

Title: Behind the Badge: Unmasking and Preventing Police Corruption Original Publication Date: 11/8/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/3mw7dv9a5a8 Description: In this episode, we delve into a crucial topic: Police Corruption and the challenges officers face daily. We'll also discuss effective measures to prevent such corruption in law enforcement. This episode features 20 year police captain and police fiction author Frank Scalise. https://www.frankzafiro.com/ #PoliceCorruption #LawEnforcement #CommunityPolicing #PreventCorruption #PoliceAccountability You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime, with your hosts, Steve and Mustache Chris. I started to think about another form of, I guess it could be corruption, and it comes out of the fact that policing, like just about anything else, Is a lot more subjective than it is the objective and, uh, and baseball. Now they have it where they have the AI calling balls and strikes and. Seriously, it's experimental and, uh, and then they'll go to it. Uh, if, uh, they can, that you can challenge [00:01:00] it. But there's a lot of subjectivity to a ball and a strike. Now you could have it where you see somebody who maybe rolls through a stop and, uh, should I give them a ticket? Did I really see it the right way? But you could also see it where somebody blows past a stops, uh, stop red light past the school bus. But it's 10 minutes before your shift is supposed to end and you really don't feel like staying over. And I got to get my kid to this and that, and, uh, I'm not going to, that's got kind of a corruption in a way. Well, policing requires a great deal of discretion. That's no question. And I think if you're going to examine but. Apples to apples is a better way to look at it, right? So if you're talking about somebody rolling through a stop, are you working that intersection? Are you writing tickets? You stop. I stopped Chris. I don't know him. He gets a [00:02:00] ticket. I stopped Steve. We went to high school together. In fact, we play baseball together. Uh, you know, I'm going to give you a warning this time. Is that correct? You know, I was not a traffic count. I, I gave a lot of warnings and my, my rule of thumb essentially was, is if I stopped you and we had a short conversation and I thought that our conversation had a likelihood of affecting your future behavior, then I didn't see the need for something punitive. To, to do it. If you just basically wouldn't admit that you ran through the stop sign or you were a jerk or whatever, it's clear. I wasn't going to impact your future behavior. Then my only other option was, well, let's see if a financial penalty will influence your future. Because my role is to, it's not to do anything about the stop sign you just ran. It's to stop you from doing it again, because that's how I make that intersection safe. Well, you know, there's a lot of discretion. That's discretion, right? I mean, if I talk to Chris and he's a jerk and I don't know it and he gets a ticket and I talked to Steve and I went to high school with him and he's like, [00:03:00] yeah, man, that was stupid. I normally don't do that. I will never do that again. If I will try to never do that again. I'm really sorry. And I cut you a break. Is that corruption? Because I didn't treat you equally. I may have treated you fairly, but I didn't treat you equally. And so even when you go apples to apples, it's hard, you know, you could get into long discussion

Coming Soon: PTSD on the Streets

November 6, 2023 - 1 min

Noble Cause Corruption: Police Corruption for All the Best Reasons?

November 1, 2023 - 52 min

Title: Noble Cause Corruption: Police Corruption for All the Best Reasons? Original Publication Date: 11/1/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/YErXOzeB214 Description: In today’s episode of Organized Crime and Punishment, we explore the intricate relationship between law enforcement and crime. We look into the complexities, ethical dilemmas, and consequences that arise when these two worlds collide. Join us as we unravel the hidden aspects of this captivating intersection. This episode features 20 year police captain and true crime author Frank Scalise. https://www.frankzafiro.com/ #PoliceCorruption #OrganizedCrimePodcast #CriminalUnderworld #CrimeAndJustice #CorruptCops #UnveilingTheTruth You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime with your hosts, Steve and Mustache Chris. Thanks for joining us again on Organized Crime and Punishment. I'm your host, Steve, and I am joined as usual by our own Mustache Chris. Today, we have a very special guest, our first guest, guest, uh, as it were. Frank Scalise. Frank is a retired Spokane, Washington police officer. Is it Spokane, Spokane, Spokane? It's definitely, it is definitely Spokane, not Spokane, not Spokant, but Spokane. [00:01:00] Frank served at every level from patrolman to captain in his 20 year career. Look for Frank to be a fixture on the podcast to provide the law enforcement aspect of crime and punishment. In this first episode of a, of a series where we're going to begin to discuss law enforcement, we will discuss a serious topic in policing that of corruption. Police corruption is a really complicated topic and a really a fascinating one. And I'm really excited to have Frank here to lead us through this, uh, in some ways, difficult conversation. Thank you so much for joining us today, Frank. Well, thanks for having me. I'm excited to talk about this too. And I think it's, uh, going to lend itself to an interesting discussion, given that, you know, I'm up in the Pacific Northwest. Uh, you're down in Texas, I think, by way of the Northeast. Yeah. And, and, and Chris is up in Toronto area there in Ontario, um, in Canada. So, I mean, [00:02:00] there, there's that. Cultural divides there, and I think that comes into play when we're talking about this topic. So it'll be interesting to hear the different viewpoints. And now, Frank, can you, we'll get into a lot of details of your biography, but can you maybe give us a 10, 000 foot view about yourself and your police career and then your post police career? Uh, sure. The, uh, thumbnail sketch is I came on the job in Spokane, Washington in 1993. For people who don't know anything about Spokane, it's in Eastern Washington. Um, I think it's about 250, 000 people. Now it was closer to 200, uh, even to 10, maybe when I came on, uh, in my career, I was kind of fortunate. Uh, not kind of. I was very fortunate. And then I spent the first half of my career doing the job where the, where the rubber meets the road. I was patrol officer training officer. I was a detective. I was a corporal. Um, and, and I, so I did the work that that police are there to [00:03:00] do about halfway through my career. I kind of fell backwards into a leadership. Position, uh, as a sergeant and, and had to reassess my career a bit in terms of what I wanted to accomplish and, and, and what leadership meant and, and I embrace that. So, uh, I spent the 2nd, half of my career in leadership roles and I retired as a captain. The good thing a

Coming Soon: 25 Cent Police Corruption

October 30, 2023 - 2 min

Mafia and Church

October 25, 2023 - 51 min

Title: Mafia and Church Original Publication Date: 10/25/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/BZyv8VrPajJ Description: Today we have a special crossover episode between the History of the Papacy Podcast and Organized Crime and Punishment. Chris and Steve talk about how much religion, particularly the Catholic Church, has impacted the Mafia and how the Mafia has impacted the Catholic Church. This relationship goes far into the past and exists to this very day! You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ By Quirinale.it, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129042272 Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime, with your hosts, Steve and Mustache Chris. Thank you for joining me again today. I have a special program today featuring the brand new podcast I've launched with my co host, Mustache Chris. called Organized Crime and Punishment, a history and crime podcast. Organized Crime and Punishment takes the true crime genre and injects it with the heavy dose of the, uh, the much needed history podcast genre. Mustache Chris and I will... Take you through [00:01:00] some of the most fascinating topics in organized crime throughout the history of the United States, and even beyond the United States. And a lot of it is actually gonna cross over with history of the Papa c and in coming episodes and seasons. Mustache. Why don't you introduce yourself to the history of the Papacy audience nicknames, uh, mustache. Chris was the story behind that, but you'll have to listen to the new podcast too. Uh, Get why I have that nickname. I have a mustache, but there's a, there's a little more for it too. Yeah. I don't know if you ever listened to Steve's like beyond the big screen podcast. It became like quite frequent guest on there. Um, you know, we're discussing movies and. You know, this, this new show that we're going to be doing, uh, came about because we were discussing mafia movies and we were both, uh, kind of history dorks and, um, you know, one thing led to another and the series just kept on getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And we decided this, why don't we just do [00:02:00] a history of organized crime in general? You know, just we're going to do the mafia, but, you know, we're talking about doing, you know, all around the world. So we really, it was, we needed to get set free from being held back by. We had to tie something into a movie and we could really go where we wanted to go and follow the history. Wherever it took us, and it's taking us in all sorts of interesting places, which really ties into today's episode. We're going to let you wet your beak a little bit on what Mustache Chris and I will offer in this new podcast series with an episode on the history of the Catholic Church and the Mafia. We'll discuss a few of the people and events where the Mafia and the Church... Collided and crossed over. If you want to learn more and subscribe to organized crime and punishment, you can find it on Spotify, Apple podcasts, your podcatcher of choice, and on YouTube. And if you enjoy [00:03:00] what you hear, make sure you tell a friend about this podcast so that they can be friend of friends of ours. So let me give you a little background, basically. The Roman Catholic Church has had a very strange relationship with various organized crime organizations in southern Italy since they formed in at least the 1800s and even earlier. The full history of the local organized crime outfits in Italy, such as La Cosa Nostra in Sicily, the Camo

After the War: Key WW2 European Theater Leaders

October 21, 2023 - 22 min

The Danbury Trashers -Trash On and Off the Rink

October 18, 2023 - 53 min

Title: The Danbury Trashers -Trash On and Off the Rink Original Publication Date: 10/18/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/fGOuaYx9PwB Description: In the second part of the Organized Crime and Punishment podcast's two-part episode on the Danbury Trashers, the focus remains on the intriguing story of this minor league hockey team's entanglement with organized crime. In this episode, the hosts delve deeper into the Trashers' ties to the underworld and the consequences faced by those involved. They explore the team's financial dealings with notorious figures, highlighting how this partnership impacted both the players and the league itself. The episode also sheds light on the legal repercussions faced by key individuals within the organization, offering a gripping account of their trials and punishments. Throughout, the Steve, Mustache and Frank discuss hockey, law enforcement and the Mafia to provide a comprehensive understanding of this remarkable tale. Best Hashtags: #DanburyTrashers #OrganizedCrime #HockeyUnderworld #CrimeAndPunishment #MinorLeagueHockey #hockey #NHL You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime, with your hosts, Steve and Mustache Chris. Hey, friends of ours, this is Steve here. This is the second part of a two part conversation on the Mafia and Hockey. I'm joined by Frank and, as usual, Mustache Chris. If you like what you hear, you can go back and listen to part one to get some more context for this episode, or just dive right in. They both work really well individually, or even better as a team. So let's dive [00:01:00] right in. One of the corollaries to the, to the wrestling aspect of it was the fighting, and anybody who's even semi aware of hockey. Knows that fighting is a part of hockey, Chris, and then we'll bounce it over to Frank. What's your opinion on fighting in hockey? I'll say right off the bat, like it is kind of bizarre. We're I think it was, uh, there's a clip, there's a famous clip of, like, Joe Rogan talking about hockey, and it's just like, it's the weirdest sport in the world, where, like, they're just playing the sport, and then all of a sudden, people are dropping the gloves, and they're just beating the crap out of each other, and it is truly bizarre, there's no other sport in the world that just, that happens, there isn't, like, I know there's, like, a little bit of roughhousing in football, and once in a while, maybe, people in basketball, they're like, Throw some slaps and maybe sometimes in baseball people will like charge them out. But like, like a, like a fist fight, like a one on one fist fight that goes on in hockey, like there's [00:02:00] nothing compares to it. And the fact that like, say like happens in baseball, it's like, oh, like that's out of the ordinary in hockey. It's like, no, it's just part of the game. This is what you do. It's, it's, uh, it's interesting, like the history of fighting and hockey from everything that I've read, like really early on. It wasn't all that common, uh, like it would happen, obviously, right? Uh, you know, like, more frequently than any other sport. It actually, I believe it was around the 60s and 70s is when it really started kicking off where teams like the the Flyers, as Frank will probably tell you about, um, Saw an opportunity where they maybe they weren't as skilled as some of the other teams, but the intimidation factor fighting and the hard hitting, uh, became like a level or so you could bring the basically

Coming Soon The Danbury Trashers Not Trash Hockey

October 16, 2023 - 2 min

The Danbury Trashers – Skating on Thin Ice

October 11, 2023 - 40 min

Title: The Danbury Trashers – Skating on Thin Ice Original Publication Date: 10/11/2023 Transcript URL: https://share.descript.com/view/iwB0rOeBrF9 Description: In the first part of this two-part episode of Organized Crime and Punishment, Frank, Mustache Chris and Steve delve into the intriguing story of the Danbury Trashers hockey team. Founded by James Galante, a prominent figure in the waste management industry with alleged connections to organized crime, the Trashers' rise to notoriety is a fascinating tale of sports, business, and criminal influence. In this episode, we explore the origins of the team and how it became a symbol of defiance against the established hockey world. We discuss the controversial figures involved, the Trashers' unique marketing strategies, and the tensions that arose as they challenged the status quo in minor league hockey. #DanburyTrashers #OrganizedCrime #HockeyHistory #SportsScandal #JamesGalante #MinorLeagueHockey #hockey #NHL You can learn more about Organized Crime and Punishment and subscribe at all these great places: https://atozhistorypage.start.page email: crime@atozhistorypage.com www.organizedcrimeandpunishment.com Parthenon Podcast Network Home: parthenonpodcast.com On Social Media: https://www.youtube.com/@atozhistory https://www.facebook.com/groups/atozhistorypage https://facebook.com/atozhistorypage https://twitter.com/atozhistorypage https://www.instagram.com/atozhistorypage/ Music Provided by: Music from "5/8 Socket" by Rico's Gruv Used by permission. © 2021 All Rights Reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=210vQJ4-Ns0 https://open.spotify.com/album/32EOkwDG1YdZwfm8pFOzUu Begin Transcript: [00:00:00] Welcome to Organized Crime and Punishment, the best spot in town to hang out and talk about history and crime with your hosts, Steve and Mustache Chris. I'd like to welcome everybody back to a special Episode of Organized Crime and Punishment. We're joined not only by Mustache Chris, but also our new contributor on this series, and hopefully many series to come, Frank Scalise, and you will be aware of him. Frank Scalise from some of our previous episodes, Frank Scalise was a 20 year officer with the Spokane police department. Uh, so [00:01:00] he's going to give us a law enforcement perspective, but today he's also going to give us both. Frank and mustache. Chris are going to give us a perspective on crime, but not only crime, but a mutual passion of theirs of hockey. As we talk about a really. Fascinating piece of history, of hockey history and the mafia history with the hockey team called the Danbury Trashers. And we're going to have a really wide ranging conversation about organized crime, hockey, hockey meets organized crime, and much, much more. Maybe we'll start with Chris. Can you give us a little bit of background on why you came up with this episode, because you had come up with this episode just for people. If you want to really dig in deep, even more into this. There is a Netflix documentary on the Danbury trashers, but we're going to go into some other avenues on this story. Chris. [00:02:00] But to start us off, what got you interested in this particular topic? And why did you think it might be a good one for a collaboration? When me and Frank and you all talked previously on the, the previous episodes, we, what you guys didn't really hear was, uh, me and Frank talking about hockey and Frank's a Flyers fan. I'm a Maple Leaf fan and we just hit it off right away because I don't know, I guess we're both like, uh, hockey nerds. Uh, you know, it's not very often you meet people who can remember players like, You know, Donald Breshear and, you know, from way back in the day, and we were talking about even when the Flyers beat the Leafs in the playoffs and almost immediately after we finished our conversation, I remembered, oh, yeah, there's a documentary that literally is about hockey and organized crime, and it would fit perfectly for the show. And why wouldn't I want to talk about probably two of my most favorite things now? Um, what did you think? What was your first [00:03:00] blush of this? Frank, when you watched the documentary, I had watched it once before, uh, shortly after I think it first came out. My wife. Watche

Coming Soon: Hockey Wrestling and the Mafia

October 9, 2023 - 2 min

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Meet Your Hosts

Steve Guerra is a historian and podcaster who hosts three different shows. He started with the History of the Papacy Podcast in 2013. In 2017, Steve began Beyond the Big Screen, a podcast that delves into the fascinating stories behind films through lively interviews. His newest show, Organized Crime and Punishment, takes a deep dive into the roots, evolution, and impact of organized crime across different cultures and countries.

Mustache Chris is the co-host of Organized Crime and Punishment. He is from the True North, born and bred in Toronto, Canada. Some say he bears a striking resemblance to Gambino Crime Family associate Chris Rosenberg, but we'll leave that up to you.