Carl Rettich’s Deadly Footwear and Murder Mansion
New England Legends Podcast
Jeff Belanger
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2024
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Episode 344 Jeff Belanger and Ray Auger explore Warwick Neck, Rhode Island, to search for the Crime Castle of Carl Rettich. In the 1920s, during the height of Prohibition, Rettich ran Rhode Island’s bootlegging game with an iron fist, and if you crossed him… with a mobster staple of his own invention: cement shoes.
See more here: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-344-carl-rettichs-deadly-footwear-and-murder-mansion/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ray, your shoes are looking a little ratty. I mean, they're going to hold together? |
| 0:07.2 | I probably am due for some new ones. Why do you suddenly care about my footwear? Are we heading |
| 0:12.9 | someplace rugged here in Warwick, Rhode Island? No, we're not going to any place rugged or no epic hikes |
| 0:18.0 | today. Far from it, actually. We're going to a swanky section of Warwick called Warwick Neck on the Warwick Point Peninsula. Too swanky for my beat-up sneakers? Probably. But still, not my point. Though this week's legend is indeed about footwear. Oh, what kind of footwear? Wing tips, chucks, loafers, high heels, stilettos? No, no, no, nothing like that. |
| 0:38.6 | This is about the kind of shoes you never want to find yourself wearing. Okay, what kind of footwear is that? |
| 0:44.1 | Ray, we've come to Warwick Neck, Rhode Island to meet the inventor of Cement Shoes. |
| 0:55.7 | Hey, I'm Jeff Pallanger. |
| 0:59.1 | Welcome to episode 344 of the New England Legends podcast. |
| 1:00.2 | And I'm Ray Osier. |
| 1:04.2 | Thanks for joining us on our mission to Chronicle Every Legend in New England, one story at a time. |
| 1:06.4 | Did you know most of our story leads come from you? |
| 1:07.4 | Well, this one did. |
| 1:10.8 | Thanks to Lisa Offeler for writing in to us on our website. If you've got a strange tale you think we should check out, please reach out to us anytime. It takes a community to do this. So thanks for being a part of ours, Lisa. |
| 1:19.1 | Yeah, thank you, Lisa. Now, we'll go searching for the inventor of cement shoes right after this word from our sponsor. |
| 1:25.4 | And we're talking mobster stuff here, right? As in a way to execute someone? |
| 1:29.4 | That is exactly what we're talking about, Ray. |
| 1:31.7 | Cement shoes got started in Warwick, Rhode Island, not in like Vegas or Chicago or someplace |
| 1:37.0 | like that? |
| 1:37.5 | No, right here in Humble Little Warwick, thanks to a guy who lived in this swanky neighborhood |
| 1:41.6 | in a mansion that would later be called a crime castle. |
| 1:45.1 | So let's head back to 1924 and make this shady character. |
| 1:51.1 | It's April of 1924 here in Warwick, Rhode Island. Calvin Coolidge is in the White House. |
... |
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