A&E Biography - Mobsters: Series 4 (2012)

Follow the true stories behind the mob legends who have ruthlessly clawed and fought their way to success in the American underworld. Included are infamous figures such as Jimmy "The Gent" Burke, made famous by Martin Scorcesse's film Goodfellas, and "The Grim Reaper" Greg Scarpa, who for over 30 years lived a charmed triple life: Mafia hit man, loving father and husband, and secret FBI informant. One of the most violent and outrageous characters in mob history is featured - "Mad Sam" DeStefano , who lived up to his moniker throughout a three-decade reign as a money lender and sadistic enforcer with the notorious Chicago Outfit.
MOBSTERS investigates the violent world these men accept as normal, where power plays involve murder and corruption at a level that most people would find hard to comprehend.

Produced by Towers Productions, Inc. for BIO, The Biography Channel

Part 1: Family Secrets
The Chicago underworld was thrown into chaos when Frank Calabrese Jr., son of mobster Frank Calabrese, flipped against his father, and started a chain reaction that nearly brought down the vaunted Chicago Outfit.
In the mid-1990's, Frank Calabrese, Sr. had been a ruthless mob loanshark and hit man for decades, and had brought his brother Nick along for the ride. But the buck stopped when Frank Sr. forced his son, Frank Jr., into service alongside him. When father and son were locked up at the same prison for racketeering, Frank Jr. made a fateful decision — he'd wear a wire, and implicate his father in various murders.
The crucial information had a domino effect, implicating other mob leaders, as well as causing brother Nick Calabrese to flip. The 'Family Secrets' trial would be a landmark case against the Chicago Outfit, the biggest in history going all the way back to Al Capone.


Part 2: Carmine "The Snake" Persico
With over 30 years as the head of the Colombo crime family, Carmine Persico stands as one of most enduring Godfathers in mafia history — but his time at the top came from a ruthless drive for power, a drive that earned him the nickname, "The Snake."
Persico began his rise to the top on the hard-scrabble streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn. He 'made his bones' as one of the alleged hitmen behind the barbershop murder of notorious Albert Anastasia.
Persico then rose in the Colombo family repeatedly as internal warfare brought the leaders down one by one. His most infamous move was betraying friend and ally Larry Gallo, nearly strangling him to death in a move that coined his nickname 'The Snake'.
Persico's became head of the family in the late-1970's, and held onto power since then despite his incarceration in the landmark Commission Trial.


Part 3: "Mad Sam" DeStefano
One of the most violent and outrageous characters in mob history, "Mad Sam" DeStefano lived up to his moniker throughout a three-decade reign as a juice loan lender and sadistic enforcer with the notorious Chicago Outfit.
"Mad Sam" was born in 1909, the son of a nomad mine-worker. DeStefano plunged into crime early, taking up with Chicago's famed '42-Gang', and spending time behind bars for rape and burglary.
His fortunes changed when, locked up at Leavenworth Prison, he met Paul "The Waiter" Ricca, head of the Chicago Outfit.
DeStefano started as a loan shark, or 'juice loan' lender with Ricca's backing, and the mobster's underworld business thrived. By the 1960's, he was king of the juice loans in Chicago.
The mobster staked his claim by brutally punishing any delinquent debtors — going so far as to stab, burn, and even urinate on his victims. But DeStefano's eccentric — and even worse — public personality rankled the Outfit brass. By the early 1970's, the order was made to take down "Mad Sam", and he was shot and killed in his own garage.


Part 4: "The Iceman": Richard Kuklinski
For over thirty years, Richard Kuklinski lived a shocking double life. While appearing like a suburban husband and father at home, he was a brutal contract killer on the streets and earned the nickname, "The Ice Man."
Kuklinski grew up in a broken home, abused and beaten. He took out his anger on neighborhood bullies, and by his early twenties had gained an almost unquenchable thirst for violence.
Kuklinski caught the eye of mafia hitman Roy DeMeo, and DeMeo helped turn him into one of the most vicious contract killer the United States had ever known — a man some have claimed has killed over 100 people.
All the while, Kuklinski had a wife and kids, although his rage sometimes unveiled itself inside the home — something from which his wife, Barbara, bears the scars.


Part 5: "The Grim Reaper": Greg Scarpa
For over thirty years, Gregory Scarpa lived a charmed triple life; mafia hit man, loving father and husband, and secret FBI informant–until a fatal disease weakened the man that had become known as "The Grim Reaper."
Born in Brooklyn, Scarpa followed his brother into the mob life, becoming a vicious enforcer and prolific earner.
The charming womanizer also had a fruitful home life, and after a bust for hijacking, betrayed his oath to the mafia to become a closed informant for the FBI. Scarpa balanced his multiple roles for a number of years, until he contracted the AIDS virus during a blood transfusion.


Part 6: Jimmy "The Gent" Burke
Made famous by Martin Scorcese's film "Goodfellas", Jimmy "The Gent" Burke was one of the most prolific mob earners in New York history— but after the success of the infamous Lufthansa Heist, Burke unleashed a wave of murders that rocked New York City.
Burke grew up in Queens, New York, and quickly jumped on the radar of the Lucchesse crime family with his many ways of making a buck. He brought neighborhood criminals Tommy DeSimone and Henry Hill along in his crew. Together, they brought in millions of dollars to the mob through cigarette smuggling, illegal bookmaking, and truck hijackings.
Their crowning achievement was the Lufthansa Heist, which at the time, was the biggest cash robbery in US history at over 5 million dollars. The Heist brought a wave of police attention, however, and Burke began eliminating his fellow crewmembers one by one.
When he targeted Henry Hill, however, the mobster quickly flipped to the FBI, and Hill's insider information brought down Burke from his