Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:22 — 6.6MB)
Good Audio quality. A little draggy in the beginning.
An Italian tale of extortion. The mafia, or black hand, has a stranglehold over Italy until the extortions were defeated by the dictator, Muscilini. An insider helps topple the kingpin family, Capalini.
Note: The gang boss in the show seems loosely modeled after that of Al Capone. By this time, his career was ending on grounds of tax evasion, and he would spend most of the 1930’s locked up. Al did have a son who he was very fond of, and tried to shield him from his fame as a tycoon of the underworld, but they were never separated until his incarceration.
Capone was a music fan, but probably more of Louisiana jazz bands, which he imported to Chicago to play in his night clubs. it is said that he could play mandolin to some degree. not sure how true that is.
Several times, Capone tried to retire, but the law abiding citizens in the parts of the country he wanted to take it easy in, caused him trouble.
Just a few tidbits of similarity found in this episode to real life.
