Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso

Ian spoke with crime expert Philip Carlo, who shared stories from his research into organized crime and discussed his latest work, Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mafia Boss. 

Carlo said he grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, where he was a neighbor of Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, the man who led the Lucchese crime family and is serving thirteen consecutive life sentences plus 455 years at a federal prison in Colorado. According to Carlo, Casso is very angry about his current situation, and at least partially blames it on Vincent "The Chin" Gigante's refusal to kill a rat in his crew. 

Carlo discussed the 1991 Windows Case, which involved the manipulation of who received the contract to install hundreds of thousands of windows in city-owned buildings in New York. This case led to the arrest of the heads of all five crime families, Carlo explained, noting this as the reason Casso initially went on the lamb. Carlo also provided details about Casso's association with Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, the two 'mafia cops' who handed hitman James Hidell over to him to be interrogated and killed. 

Carlo also talked about Casso's association with entertainer Tony Bennett, the mob's involvement in gambling, drugs, and unions, as well as the Russian Mafia's control of gas stations in New York and New Jersey in the early 1990s. Carlo said Casso made a deal with the Russians and the five families to divvy up 'profits' from their gas stations. In the first year alone they split $96 million, he said.