Just quickly, before we get started, this episode will have adult content throughout, including toxic affairs, sickening amounts of cash and violence.

This is an episode about the mob, after all.

There's also going to be a lot of swearing.

Yes, prepare for some fruity language right from the get-go.

From the bedrooms of powerful men,

we're bringing you the secret histories

of their mistresses,

concubines and courtesans.

I'm Jamila Jamil.

I'm an actor, a writer and a broadcaster.

And I'm Dr. Kate Lister,

a historian with a ponchont

for scandalous tales from centuries past.

This is mistresses, an audible original.

It's 1951 and a Senate investigation is taking place into organised crime in the US.

Mob activity is out of control and the powers that they have decided it is finally time to

crack down. The hearings are televised and they're the hottest new reality show on TV.

Eyeballs are glued to screens across the US as hundreds and hundreds of witnesses are called

before the committee.

On March the 15th, a new witness walks into the courthouse in Lower Manhattan.

She's wearing a broad-brimmed hat, silk gloves and an expensive-looking mink cape.

Her name is Virginia Hill.

...