As I wrote last evening, I just finished the 3rd and final segment of the PBS' "Prohibition" series and found it fascinating. What was additionally interesting was the mention, now and again, of the scene in Kansas City and the "National Crime Syndicate" or "mob" that grew out of prohibition. It seems to me the time has come--and it would be a great, great story--if someone, somewhere would finally make a movie--maybe a series on HBO?--on the Kansas City mob. It's rich as heck. It's not Chicago or New York by a long shot but it's known KC was a "wide open" town and the people that created it also colored it very strongly and vividly. As an example, go to the Wikipedia link, below, click on it and read just a little bit about John Lazio and Charles Binaggio. And those are but two of the people involved. Check out some of the other names of people from this era: William "Willie the Rat" Cammisano, Sr., Anthony "Tiger" Cardarella, Charles V. "Charley The Wop" Carollo, Carl "Cork" Civella, Frank DeMayo, Charles "Mad Dog" Gargotta, Anthony "Tony" Gizzo, Nicolo Impostato, Gaetano Lococo and Peter Simone. And then, how did all this work with Tom Pendergast. (Hopefully they wouldn't put TOO much emphasis on Tom and his brother). Fascinating stuff. This, along with the separate story of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art--another, fascinating story that should be filmed and told--make for fantastic reading, let alone viewing, I think. Any takers?
Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Binaggio; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lazia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mobsters_by_city: http://www.onewal.com/w-binagg.html
2 comments:
Have you read or seen "Black Hand, Straw Man"? Great book, great movie...
No,I hadn't read it. I'll check it out, thanks.
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