America’s Craziest Mob Boss (Sort of!) Vincent Gigante

The Underworld Podcast

True Crime, Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 January 2026

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Vincent “Chin” Gigante was the most powerful mob boss in America...and he was also the mob's best performance artist. By day, he wandered Greenwich Village in a bathrobe, muttering to himself, selling the world on the idea that he was crazy. By night, he ran the Genovese crime family with near-absolute discipline, avoiding wires, indictments, and the spotlight that destroyed flashier dons. For decades, he convinced the FBI and the courts he was too mentally ill to stand trial, all while green-lighting murders, controlling unions, and skimming millions, turning the Genovese family into the most powerful criminal group in America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:00.3	May 1957, Manhattan, 115 Central Park West, to be precise, a luxury building. The Luciano
1:08.1	Crime family, one of New York City's powerful five mafia families, is undergoing
1:12.7	a bit of an upheaval. Founded by the infamous Charles Lucky Luciano, one of the most powerful
1:18.3	mobsters America has ever known, the family is now headed by Frank Costello. Costello isn't a street
1:24.7	thug. He doesn't love violence and he doesn't really need it that much.
1:28.6	He's got politicians, judges, cops, and business leaders all in his pocket.
1:33.2	They call him the prime minister of the underworld, a man who prefers influence over intimidation.
	...

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