WEBVTT - Ep 7: Disorganized Crime 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:06.880 Novel. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.640 I read a lot of romance novels. People have a 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.520 tendency to make fun of them, mostly because it's a 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:24.239 genre largely targeted towards and written by women. Romance novels 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:28.920 are full of hope, humor, and yes, sometimes there's really 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:32.879 steamy sex. You like dragons and elves. You want to 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:35.160 know what it looks like when a whole hockey team 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:39.360 finds love. Maybe you'd like a fictionalized version of an 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.879 amish courtship, or what would it look like for a 0:00:43.000 --> 0:00:46.839 rabbi to fall for a former sex worker. Romance has 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:51.800 it all, Pumpkin. There's even a world where Italian gangsters 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:56.600 learn there's more to life than money and violence. I'd 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.840 actually never read any mafia romances before I came across 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:02.560 you his story, so I figured i'd pick up a 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:06.720 few for research purposes. Of course, I asked my Twitter 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:10.000 followers what they liked about mafia stories and got a 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:14.600 variety of answers. People are fascinated by the strong sense 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:20.280 of loyalty, the found family narratives, and the protectiveness, plus 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:23.679 the secretive nature of the community. And there's much to 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.759 be said about size stepping government overreach. Everybody loves sticking 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.160 it to the man. Add in the mysts about Italian men, 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:35.480 their appreciation for good food, good living, and good loving, 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:38.840 and well, it can be hard to resist a good 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:42.440 mob romance. A lot of these images that feed into 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:45.760 the lore of gangsters were shaped by Eunice and Dewey's 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:47.720 conviction of Lucky Luciano. 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:54.640 Okay, a brief synopsis of America's fascination with the Italian mafia. 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:55.680 If I may. 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:02.720 In the nineteen thirties, when the Lucky Luciano trial first 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:06.800 started to hit the local papers, life imitated art and 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:08.600 aught imitated life. 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:09.720 In those days. 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.840 Until the trial of Lucky there may have been rising 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.040 public panic about the seeping influence of crime and corruption 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.560 on American life, but the gangsters themselves. 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:24.160 American people started to pick up sympathy for these guys. 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:30.760 You've got this crazy dichotomy between people fascinated with the 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.400 mob and people who hated and feared the mob. For 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:36.680 very good reason. 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:38.480 We can thank Hollywood for that. 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:44.320 Those early gangster movies were based on real life crime figures. 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.520 In the early thirties, Hollywood is turning out film after 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:52.600 film about anti hero gangsters. Whether it's Edward g Robinson 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.160 playing Rico in the nineteen thirty one movie Little. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:56.680 Caesar Allison Rico. 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:58.920 I'm gonna talk to you, but you're not gonna hear 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:00.200 a word I say. 0:03:00.440 --> 0:03:02.000 That would have been al Capone. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.480 This is inside dope, and if it gets out, it'll 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:06.080 be just too bad for somebody. 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:10.560 Or Humphrey Bogart as Duke Manty in The Petrified Forest, 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:12.360 released in nineteen thirty six. 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.160 If you'll think I was kitten when I said I'd 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:16.760 be glad to knock you up. 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:23.160 People all love The Petrified Forest because that's Dilinger. You know, 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:25.400 Bogi really nailed it. 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:30.560 You're all right, Paly, I got good ideas. I'll try 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:32.040 that picture soos that don't hurt. 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.120 By the early thirties, it di was kissed that people 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:38.480 wanted to see the gangsters. 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.640 The government, unsurprisingly doesn't like this. 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:48.480 The gangster is being seen as the hero. We've got 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:49.960 to stop that. We've got to stop that. 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.160 So the government starts promoting their own style of hero 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:53.800 in films. 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:57.200 Now we're going to make movies about g men, you know, 0:03:57.440 --> 0:03:59.560 government men, the FBI agents. 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.560 I don't think the public ever really bought that. After all, 0:04:04.000 --> 0:04:07.120 having the law as Heroes doesn't exactly fit with most 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:08.480 people's experiences. 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:13.160 The general attitude towards criminality come nineteen thirty three as well. 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:15.360 The gangsters in fact that in many ways they're better 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:17.600 than the police. At least they're not being paid by 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.120 the state. They're not taking money and being paid by 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:21.880 the state, so they're cleaner than that. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:29.760 Then there's Dewey, with his investigation into the Mob. This 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:33.920 mustachioled crusader works hard to frame Dutch Schultz and then 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:39.400 Lucky Luciano as public enemy number one. Dewey does start 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.159 to have some success here changing public attitudes. He begins 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:47.200 using radio broadcasts and newspaper headlines, and the hype of 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:51.400 Lucky's trial helps chase away any lingering doubts the public 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:55.000 may have about how bad the Mob is. By the 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.280 time of the guilty verdict, the legend of Lucky Luciano 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:04.040 and his downfall is being broadcast triumphantly across America. The 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:08.720 gangster who revolutionized the mob has been taken down the 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:16.960 boss of bosses laid Low, the original godfather. But even 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.800 as Lucky is led away from that courtroom in handcuffs, 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.680 people are already starting as to question the lines between 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:25.440 the truth and fiction. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:32.479 Lucky Luciano, who is this guy? Who was he for real? 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:41.599 When it comes to unicon Dewey's prized mob conviction? Is 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:46.360 it possible the whole story of Lucky is a fraud? 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:53.360 From the teams at iHeartRadio and novel I'm Nicole Perkins 0:05:53.920 --> 0:06:31.680 and this is the Godmother, Episode seven Disorganized Crime. On 0:06:31.800 --> 0:06:36.080 June eighteenth, nineteen thirty six, twelve days after Lucky Luciano 0:06:36.200 --> 0:06:40.279 was found guilty on charges of compulsory prostitution, he returns 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:45.160 to court for sentencing Dewey, Lucky, and the other co 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:51.839 defendants pushed past the crowds and step into the Manhattan courtroom. 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:56.240 There they all stand before Judge McCook, a judge you 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.560 might remember who had been specially appointed to take on 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:00.599 organis crime. 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:04.760 They were set on putting these guys away for as 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:07.279 long as they could, particularly Luciano. 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:11.920 A few weeks ago, Lucky had been all arrogance and 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:15.600 swagger as he took to the stand in that same courtroom. 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:19.880 But if he'd been surprised by the jury's eventual guilty verdict, 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:24.880 it was nothing compared to his slack jaw shock. As 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:29.720 Judge McCook reads his sentence aloud to the courtroom. 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:33.080 Holy Toledo for prostitution, you're giving me a life sentence. 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:40.520 Lucky Luciano took the harshest term from Judge McCook. 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:44.200 Thirty to fifty years in prison. It was a life sentence. 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:51.160 Once all sentences have been handed out, Lucky and the 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.760 other defendants are taken away for processing. 0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:57.960 It was quickly determined they needed to be split up 0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:02.720 and sent to different prisons so that they couldn't reorganize 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:04.720 this sex trafficking gang. 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.480 Lucky heads upstate to a prison on the Canadian border, 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:09.360 up the river. 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:13.040 As they say, he wasn't taken down by taxes like 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:16.760 al Capone or Waxi Garden. He wasn't shot in the 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:21.000 head by arrival like Dutch Schalt. He was brought down 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:25.600 by a bunch of two bit hores. Most men in 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.679 the underworld insisted it could not be true. 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.160 In the end, it's the women who bring Lucky low. 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.800 Lucky might be down, but he and his team of 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:43.600 expensive lawyers are far from done because, let's face it, 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:48.360 the prosecution's case hadn't exactly been watertight. 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.120 At best, questionable, if not don't right illegal. 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:55.160 So as that summer of nineteen thirty six passes, Lucky's 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:58.000 team starts to work on their appeal in an attempt 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:01.520 to swiftly free Lucky from his new home up the river. 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:06.000 And while they're working on that, what is Eunice Carter 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:07.600 doing what she does? 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:13.559 After Luciano's trial, Thomas Dewey's team continues to investigate organized crime. 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.640 She and Dewey are back in their office on the 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.720 Woolworth Building's fourteenth floor. She was a relative rookie when 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:29.160 she joined Dewey's investigation, But Eunice Harbor's ambitions of becoming 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:33.240 a judge one day It's a lofty goal on any scale, 0:09:33.960 --> 0:09:36.800 let alone for a black woman in the footheels of 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:40.520 a vast mountain of systemic racism and sexism in America. 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:44.320 But I wouldn't be surprised if Eunice thought why not? 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.160 Her career as a prosecutor was off to the best 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:51.320 possible start with a high profile Lucky conviction. It's easy 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.880 to imagine Unice back in her office desk, light burning 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:58.160 her eyes as she goes back over every piece of 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:02.160 evidence in preparation for Lucky so appeal. She has to 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:05.520 know everything will be called into question. It was her 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.080 original work that got the conviction in the first place. 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.000 She may not have received kudos in public, but if 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.440 Lucky won his appeal, the prosecution's loss will definitely have 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:22.559 her name all over it. By nineteen thirty seven, Lucky's 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:25.800 lawyers think a do over might be imminent. There was 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.480 one obvious weakness in his original conviction. 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:33.560 The witnesses the Underworld had a strong self interest in 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:38.000 pressing the narrative that these women were unreliable witnesses. 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:41.320 It wasn't just what the witnesses had said on the stand, 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.600 it's the way Eunice and Dewey had coaxed that testimony 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:45.920 out of them in the first place. 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:49.439 So they were effectively held against their will in communicado 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:51.040 unlesson until they cooperate. 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:57.400 Lucky and his team are well aware of just how 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.439 shady the coercion of testimonies had been from the witnesses. 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:05.920 In fact, most of America is becoming aware. The public 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.120 has been reading a slow trickle of allegations that had 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.800 found their way into the newspapers. Some of the witnesses 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.920 who had cooperated with the prosecution are now talking to 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:20.720 reporters about their experiences. I wonder if Dewey's composure cracks 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:23.960 away from the courthouse as he reads the newspaper over 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:28.080 his breakfast each morning. Maybe he worries his mustache into disarray, 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:33.199 wondering who could be leaking all of this information. Readers 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:37.160 aren't just learning about brutal coercion. Eunice and Dewey may 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.640 have turned the bad cop dial up a little too high, 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.560 but they'd also been using the good cop routine. 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:48.280 It is certainly true that the ones who were willing 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.160 to talk were given special treatment. They didn't have to 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.640 stay necessarily in the jails. In some cases, they were 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:56.199 put into secret apartments. 0:11:56.480 --> 0:11:59.880 Dewey's assistant prosecutors was taking the girls out the bar 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:01.080 and getting drunk with them. 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:04.320 I'm pretty sure Unis wasn't the assistant prosecutor taking the 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:06.280 girls out, but who knows. 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.680 The idea of whining and dining the ones who were 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.480 released from jail was fairly outrageous. 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:15.040 And the newspaper reports are now alleging that this coaxing 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:17.640 of the witnesses didn't stop with simple nights out on 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:21.679 the town. Apparently, certain promises were made to the witnesses 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:25.800 about rewards After a positive conviction, several. 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:29.840 Of them received emoluments that were highly unusual. Two of 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.200 the women were sent on a cruise around the world, 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:34.480 paid for by doing as prosecutors. 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:44.360 When the trial began, Judge McCook reminded the jurors of 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.800 the sex workers humanity, But maybe he should have delivered 0:12:47.840 --> 0:12:51.679 that message to the prosecution as well. These witnesses had 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:55.920 been exploited at every turn by their customers, the mob, 0:12:56.360 --> 0:13:01.640 the prosecution, the defense, and now the press. Yes, everyone 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.000 wants these little birdies to sing for their supper, with 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:08.280 promises of gilded cages for protection, but there's no real 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:11.960 safety after you read out the mob is there. The 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:14.400 good guys want you to be grateful as if they 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:18.000 saved you. The bad guys want you punished, and the 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:21.800 press wants you to keep singing. But all those gilded 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:25.600 cages flake and rust, So which one do you choose. 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:36.120 There's no way to be truly free, is there. Dewey 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:38.160 and his team are about to learn the hard way 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:41.760 that some of their key witnesses are falling back into 0:13:41.760 --> 0:14:00.960 the hands of the mob. Koki Flow was one of 0:14:00.960 --> 0:14:05.720 the prosecution's key witnesses. You remember Koki, She was going 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:10.000 through detox on the stand. Koch's testimony, like nearly all 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.800 the witnesses, had put her life in great danger. No 0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:17.360 one likes a snitch, especially if they're pointing fingers at 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.840 the boss of bosses. But if Dewey was worried about 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:23.280 the safety of Kochi or any of the rest of 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.920 the women, he didn't show signs of it, at least 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:28.640 not in his media briefings. 0:14:29.160 --> 0:14:35.400 His press releases afterwards were more of a justification of 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:39.160 what had been done during the trial. He was very 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:43.880 mute on what steps were being taken to protect the women. 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:48.600 After the trial, when Lucky is convicted, Cokey and Millie Harris, 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.400 one of the other trial witnesses, understandably decide to get 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:58.760 the hell out of Dodge. They flee upstate to Rochester, 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:02.120 New York, and whole up in a cheap hotel. Breathing 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:06.560 fresh air and looking over their shoulders. 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:09.720 They began writing these stories that they were hired to 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.000 write for Liberty Magazine. 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:17.120 They were offered the magazine deal in exchange for their 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:17.920 life stories. 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.840 A series of stories was called Underworld Nights. 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:25.960 Liberty Magazine is a popular magazine that features stories from 0:15:26.040 --> 0:15:31.640 people of all walks of life, including celebrities, politicians, and 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:37.280 former sex workers turned prosecution witnesses. The series of articles 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:38.000 is published. 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.280 Once they finished that and they were paid for that, 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.680 they couldn't go back to New York to their old lives, 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.800 so they decided to go on a road trip and 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.280 they bought a car. They took the southern route out 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.600 to California, California. 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:59.760 Because Flow and Millie aren't just magazine writers now, in 0:15:59.800 --> 0:16:04.000 the aftermath of the trial, they'd also been offered a 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:04.840 movie deal. 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:09.200 They were under the impression that this film deal was 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:11.720 imminent and they wanted to be in LA when the 0:16:11.760 --> 0:16:12.680 film deal went down. 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.040 The ladies don't end up in Tinseltown right away. Maybe 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.280 they want to make their money stretch a little longer, 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:26.280 or try their hand at living straight. Because before long 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.560 they're living in Pomona, just outside of LA and they're 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:33.960 getting short of cash because they've spent their remaining money 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:37.400 on a kind of a strange new business. 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.440 They decided to open a gas station and Pomona, of 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:42.680 all things, and the two of them opened a gas 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:47.000 station and they ran it for a while, and Koki 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:48.120 Flow is okay. 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:51.240 With that, But for Millie Harris. It's not so simple. 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:55.320 Hollywood tends to take its time, and the film about 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:58.640 their lives still hasn't come about yet. And the gas 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:03.080 station Pomona life isn't quite what she'd anticipated. I'm sure 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:05.919 it lacked all the glitz and glam of New York City, 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:11.399 and she's a city girl. Plus she's carrying an emotional weight. 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:16.160 She wanted to get back to New York. 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:19.040 She missed her husband, a husband she had helped put 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:20.720 away alongside. 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.120 Lucky who was in jail and sing sing. 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:25.360 Maybe the guilt is eating away at her. 0:17:25.520 --> 0:17:30.119 Because Millie Harris, without Kochie Flow's knowledge, started communicating with 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:34.240 the lawyers for Luciana who were handling his appeal, and 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:38.080 an investigator wanted to get her to recant her testimony, 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:38.760 which she did. 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:43.520 Eventually, both women returned to New York together, back to 0:17:43.560 --> 0:17:50.880 their old lives. Cochie goes back on heroin, she became. 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:53.359 An addict again. They both went into a sanitarium to 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.840 try to take the cure to get off of heroin, 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.159 and it was during that time that they signed these 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.359 affidavits recanting their testimony. 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:04.320 Sometimes the fear of something new is as much of 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:13.280 a prison as anything else. By March nineteen thirty seven, 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:20.320 all the prosecution's key witnesses have officially turned. Eunice and 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:23.919 Dewey have lost the very foundation of their case against Lucky, 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:28.280 and Lucky's defense is picking up steam. All they have 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:31.240 to do now is get these recanted statements in front 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:35.919 of an appeals court, get the conviction overturned, and then 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:40.359 Lucky will be a free man. Dewey is clearly worried 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:44.440 about this too. He re enlists Eunice as his assistant 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:48.080 for an April nineteen thirty seven hearing for a retrial. 0:18:49.119 --> 0:18:53.040 But Eunice, Dewey, and Lucky haven't factored in Judge McCook, 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:58.160 that belligerent, dedicated, anti mob judge who had already come 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:01.600 up with his own plan for this turn and of events. 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:03.160 McCook did something that was highly unusual. 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:11.400 You see, back in June of nineteen thirty six, when 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.280 the Blue Ribbon jury had dropped the bombshell of Lucky 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:19.159 Luciano's conviction, When Dewey was striding triumphantly from the courtroom 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:23.840 and Eunice was well not there as the drama played out, 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:32.240 another scene was also taking place, this one behind closed doors. 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.680 Judge McCook, instead of taking a well earned break after 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:39.439 ruling over the trial of the Century, is in his 0:19:39.560 --> 0:19:42.719 office surrounded by sex workers. 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.800 After the verdict, and while the motion for new trial 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.080 was pending, he called all seventy some women who were 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.680 still in jail into his chambers. 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:57.880 These seventy women are the sex workers and madams who 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:01.240 have been witnesses in the trial. And this isn't some 0:20:01.560 --> 0:20:02.639 post trial party. 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:05.800 And without any notice to the defense or without any 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:09.840 defense lawyer being present, on the record, with a prosecutor present, 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:12.720 he made them reassert their testimony. 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:17.240 All seventy women are told to swear again that their 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.000 testimony was accurate. 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:23.000 Highly unusual to do that, outrageous. Actually, the case really 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:26.800 reeks a prosgatorial misconduct, at least by today's standards. 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:33.359 These women don't have a cushy life at the start 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:35.840 of Lucky's trial, and we know it took a lot 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.880 to persuade them to testify in the first place. Their 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:41.960 lives leading up to the trial had been severely uprooted, 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.399 and it probably didn't get any easier after their names 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.399 had been dragged through the press. Plus, I imagine the 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:53.439 mob and their defense attorneys probably weren't very sweet when 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:56.680 it came time to convince them to recant. It's been 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:02.720 one harrowing experience after another, and now recanting their testimony 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:07.919 means nothing. Lucky's defense team tries everything they have to 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:12.439 get the case invalidated. In fact, by October tenth, nineteen 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.280 thirty eight, they've taken this all the way to the 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:16.720 highest court in the land. 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:23.600 The conviction was analyzed by the appellate and was denied 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:27.600 for an appeal. They denied a retrial, and they denied 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:29.000 a mistrial. 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:32.440 Thanks in part to Judge McCook's early intervention. 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:35.760 Judge McCook, I'm not saying it was a crooked trial. 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:38.879 I'm just saying, in nineteen thirty six, don't be a 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:45.080 high profile criminal. They put him away in a manner 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:50.879 that today standards I would hope wouldn't hold water. 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:55.879 It was not fair, but it was considered fair for 0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:56.840 its time. 0:21:57.480 --> 0:22:02.080 Dewey and Unice's triumph is now set in stone. It 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:06.119 looks like Charles Lucky Luciano is stuck in jail for 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:10.560 the foreseeable future, and as he languishes there while his 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.119 lawyers try and fail to win an appeal, Eunice and 0:22:14.200 --> 0:22:18.720 Dewey are already busy again. They both continue their fight 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:25.119 against organized crime, although with very different results. Unice is 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:30.960 now diligently prosecuting Numbers runners in Harlem. 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:36.440 She winds up taking down some numbers racket leaders in Harlem, 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:41.639 which is sort of met with mixed feelings within the 0:22:41.680 --> 0:22:42.560 Harlem community. 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:47.000 Unice's success on this front isn't met with blanket approval. 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:50.840 There's definitely a lot of people who are very happy 0:22:50.920 --> 0:22:54.080 because they do not want there to be criminal activity 0:22:54.160 --> 0:22:56.840 in their community. But then also when you look at 0:22:56.840 --> 0:23:00.439 the newspapers, not only black owned papers in carl but 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:03.959 across the city, there's editorials that are like, why is 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:06.439 this woman targeting her own community? 0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:13.280 In order to get ahead in the predominantly white world 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:17.280 of law and justice, Unice has to prosecute people who 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:20.840 walk the same streets as she does. It's a fine line. 0:23:21.520 --> 0:23:24.119 I imagine she has to prove to her white colleagues 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:27.280 she won't be biased in her work, while also trying 0:23:27.320 --> 0:23:30.679 to prove her self trustworthy to her Harlem community. 0:23:30.760 --> 0:23:34.919 We talk frequently today about the constraints on black womanhood 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:38.600 in the public eye. Right we know that black women 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:43.280 are subjected to more critique, to more hate, to a 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:47.680 different set of standards than other people. These pressure from 0:23:47.720 --> 0:23:52.000 within the black community to be a representative of the 0:23:52.080 --> 0:23:56.800 race would also presumably have made Unice Carter fuel pressure 0:23:57.040 --> 0:24:01.760 even when she wasn't in white spaces. 0:24:04.680 --> 0:24:08.119 During this time. Whenever Unice Carter opens the paper and 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:12.719 sees her name, it's not with professional accolades or recognition. 0:24:12.760 --> 0:24:17.240 In the society pages, she reads judgments of her loyalty, 0:24:17.640 --> 0:24:22.200 her character, and her image. The newspapers that used to 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:27.760 praise Unice now judge her as harshly as any jury. Meanwhile, 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:49.680 Dewey is receiving a much more positive reception in the media. 0:24:50.960 --> 0:24:54.080 By the end of nineteen thirty seven, Thomas Dewey is 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:57.640 no longer a special prosecutor. He gets sworn in as 0:24:57.680 --> 0:25:01.560 one of five New York District jorneys with a power 0:25:01.640 --> 0:25:05.760 to decide who gets prosecuted. The law was only ever 0:25:05.880 --> 0:25:10.199 a stepping stone. He wants to break into politics. The 0:25:10.280 --> 0:25:13.119 following year, he's on the move again. He runs and 0:25:13.200 --> 0:25:17.080 loses a gubernatorial race, but in nineteen forty two he 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:21.359 runs again and is successfully elected governor of New York. 0:25:22.359 --> 0:25:26.359 His dreams of political office have come true. His rise 0:25:26.520 --> 0:25:30.800 is by any standards, meteoric. He's ridden a wave of 0:25:30.880 --> 0:25:35.160 popularity that followed Lucky's prosecution, far higher and faster than 0:25:35.160 --> 0:25:38.239 many might have expected. How did he manage it? 0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:42.560 Not in cooperation with police and federal law enforcement departments throughout. 0:25:42.320 --> 0:25:43.120 The United States. 0:25:43.440 --> 0:25:46.640 The only national program that brings you authentic police case 0:25:46.800 --> 0:25:50.720 history gain in Muster. 0:26:02.600 --> 0:26:06.560 In the immediate aftermath of Lucky's trial. Dewey is not 0:26:06.800 --> 0:26:08.720 shy about trumpeting his performance. 0:26:09.320 --> 0:26:14.080 He gave his reports on WNYC radio. He also regularly 0:26:14.080 --> 0:26:18.320 gave interviews. Dewey, by thirty seven thirty eight was in 0:26:18.359 --> 0:26:20.960 the news. He was the guy who put Lucciano away. 0:26:21.080 --> 0:26:22.159 He was the gangbuster. 0:26:22.640 --> 0:26:26.719 Gangbusters is a law versus gangster fact based radio drama. 0:26:27.160 --> 0:26:30.600 It first aired in nineteen thirty five. It's a program 0:26:30.640 --> 0:26:34.399 that Dewey becomes associated with by nineteen thirty six. In 0:26:34.480 --> 0:26:39.040 nineteen thirty nine, a book called ninety Times Guilty is published. 0:26:39.720 --> 0:26:43.480 It tells a now familiar story of Lucky Luciano as 0:26:43.520 --> 0:26:47.280 a shadowy mafia figure pulling the strings of the underworld, 0:26:47.680 --> 0:26:52.760 a criminal mastermind. Hickman Powell, a former political reporter for 0:26:52.800 --> 0:26:55.680 The New York Herald Tribune writes the book while working 0:26:55.680 --> 0:26:59.679 for Thomas Dewey as a volunteer speechwriter and researcher. 0:27:00.119 --> 0:27:03.919 Ninety Times Guilty came out with the idea that Luciano 0:27:04.000 --> 0:27:07.879 had centralized, organized modernized the American mafia. 0:27:08.040 --> 0:27:10.639