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Gangland Wire

1989 Year of the Stool Pigeon Betty Tocco

Gangland Wire

Gary Jenkins: Mafia Detective

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 623 Ratings

🗓️ 30 September 2021

⏱️ 13 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Betty Tocco Outfit wife Gary, Camillus Robinson, and Paul Whitcombe take a look at Betty Tocco, the wife of Al Tocco who was the boss of what was called the South Side Crew. He had married a beautiful brunette but she should have gotten a clue. She claimed their first date was a visit to a brothel so Al Tocco could pick up some money. Over the years, he abused Betty Tocco while threatening her life. He often told her to pack all her belongings because they were going on the lam and disappeared himself for long periods. Al Tocco was a protege of Al Pilotto who had been the long-time boss of this south-side crew. They extorted money from gamblers, prostitutes and loaned money at loan sharks’ rates of interest. To not repay the loan shark Al Tocco invited a beating or worse from Tocco or his chief enforcer Clarence Crockett. Betty Tocco the final straw She testified that she did not really understand what Tocco was until on Father’s Day, he called her in a panic. Al directed Betty Tocco to pick him up in rural Indiana next to a cornfield. On the ride home Al Tocco raged about how they had murdered the Spilotro brothers and he was in charge of disposing of the bodies. They were interrupted and his men ran off and left him stranded. She will later testify that she had to cancel a barbeque planned for that afternoon with her relatives. She said, “What was I supposed to tell them that my husband just killed the Spilotro brothers and buried their bodies.” She also testified that he said Billy Dauber was killed because he was talking. She will be the first mob wife to testify against her husband. Show notes by Gary Jenkins To go to the store or make a donation click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here.  To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here, please give me a review and help others find the podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0

You are listening to Gangland Wire, hosted by former Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit Detective Gary Jenkins.

0:19.0

Hey guys, all you wiretappers out there.

0:21.8

This is one of the series of short episodes about the Chicago outfit in 1989.

0:31.5

I'm recording this with my friend Cam Robinson, Camulus Robinson, and Paul Whitcomb,

0:38.8

my other friend, both these guys are experts on the Chicago outfit. Now, looking back at 1989, the Covey is won first place in the

0:45.1

National League East, but the Giants beat them in the National League playoffs, if you remember that.

0:50.0

The Royals, since I'm from Kansas City, we finished second near American League West,

0:54.8

kind of on our way back downhill from our Great Wind and the World Series in 1985.

1:00.9

Richard J. Daly had been the mayor for a long time in Chicago, and Richard M. Daly,

1:06.2

little Ritchie, became the mayor in 1989.

1:10.0

Now you're going to notice that the sound is just a little off.

1:13.3

I had to take the sound from a Zoom call because my recorder developed a problem during

1:18.1

the taping and I didn't notice until we were about, God, I've been about an hour or so into it

1:23.7

and none of us wanted to go back over this again.

1:26.1

It's like catching lightning

1:28.3

in a bottle doing a show. I felt like we'd done something really good and just, we just can't,

1:34.4

sometimes you just can't do it again. So, but I think it's a cool show, a cool series of episodes

1:39.6

about stool pigeons in 1989. Now, 1989, the Chicago outfit had a bad year, as you'll see.

1:47.7

Everybody came in and started talking.

1:49.9

So settle back and listen to this particular episode.

1:53.6

I don't remember which is which.

1:55.2

Now, don't forget to hit me up on my Venmo, bite me a shot in a beer,

...

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