Episodes: S1

The biography of Nicky Scarfo reveals the life of one of the most violent American mafia bosses in the past half century.

We explore Scarfo's fast rise within the ranks of the Philadelphia Mob - as soldier, consigliere and finally as boss. And we outlines Scarfo's vicious crimes and his authoritative management style. His paranoia, volatility and treachery ultimately lead to his demise.

Roy Albert DeMeo was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1942. When Roy was old enough to work, he got a job as a delivery boy for a neighborhood grocery store and started loaning money to friends to make a profit.

After high school, DeMeo was making loans to anyone who needed it and raking in good money. After 1965, Roy DeMeo would never hold a legitimate job again. His loan-sharking business continued to grow and a member of the Gambino crime family named Nino Gaggi took notice. Gaggi brought DeMeo into the family as an associate.

Frank "Superfly" Lucas was the notorious heroin kingpin who dominated the Harlem drug market from 1968 to 1975 with his high-potency smack called Blue Magic.

Lucas used charm, manipulation and intimidation to run his criminal organization, which earned him an estimated $56 million. In 1976, Lucas was busted for conspiracy to distribute heroin and received a 70-year sentence. He turned snitch behind bars, and was released after serving only 5-years.

In 2007, Universal released the semi-autobiographical feature length film, American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington as Lucas.

Mickey Cohen was one of the most influential and notorious faces on the Hollywood scene, running with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Lana Turner.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Cohen was known for flexing his muscles, which proved useful in the ring as a professional boxer. Through mob connections, Cohen worked with Bugsy Siegel to set up rackets on the West Coast. After Siegel's death in 1947, Cohen became king of the West Coast mob rackets, raking in millions a year through gambling, extortion, and prostitution.

Twice convicted and incarcerated for tax evasion, Mickey spent time in federal prison. While he was at Alcatraz, a man bludgeoned him with a lead pipe, rendering Cohen partially paralyzed.

Ruthless gang Murder, Inc. terrorised America from coast to coast during the 1930s. When mob leaders formed "The Syndicate," they became the "judge and jury," and Murder, Inc. "the executioner." As the enforcement arm of The Syndicate, members of Murder, Inc. killed an estimated 1,000 people during their reign of terror.

But through the efforts of some tenacious crime fighters, such as Assistant Brooklyn District Attorney Burton Turkus, and U.S Attorney Thomas Dewey, Murder, Inc. unraveled and its murderous reign of terror came to an end.

Carlos Marcello's younger years were modest, growing up in the mysterious milieu of New Orleans in the early twentieth century. But within four decades he had climbed to the top of the city's mafia.

Marcello joined the mafia at age 26 and quickly moved up its ranks, aided by success in illegal gambling ventures and a talent for making effective payoffs to public officials. In 1947, he became the longtime boss of New Orleans in a reign marked by absolute power, corruption, and antagonism of the U.S. government.

At his height he was revered as possibly the most powerful mob leader in the nation. At one stage, Congress even suspected Marcello of participating in a conspiracy to kill the President of the United States. 

The fifth child of 13 children, John Joseph Gotti, Jr. was born October 27 1940, in the South Bronx. From a very young age, John Gotti made a name for himself in the neighbourhood as the leader of the Fulton-Rockaway Boys, a group of young thugs. He soon became "capo" of the East New York Crew. After a violent coup he went on to take the leadership position of the Gambino Crime family.

All of these events would set Gotti on the path to becoming one of the most well-known figures in Mafia history. Gotti's legendary fashion flair made him an interesting character. His rough cunning made his fellow mafiosi respect him, while Gotti's volatile temper made them and others fear him.

James "Whitey" Bulger is one of Boston's most notorious gangsters, who reigned supreme in Boston's underworld for more than 20 years. His rise to power, as part of South Boston's Irish-American Winter Hill gang, was due in part to a remarkable relationship with the FBI. In exchange for protection, Bulger ratted on mob rivals. It helped the feds flush out mobsters, but also consolidated Bulger's power.

The FBI's so-called "Deal with the Devil" came to an end in 1995, when the shadowy affiliation was fully exposed, leading to the conviction of an FBI agent. Still, the elusive Whitey Bulger found a way to evade capture, and to this day remains a fugitive from justice.

"Big Paul" Castellano served as boss of the Gambino crime family, the largest in New York during the 1970s and 80s. Castellano presented himself as a legitimate businessman and mingled with New York's upper crust, while running a multi-million dollar racketeering operation. From his $3.5 million dollar estate on Staten Island, he oversaw rackets in construction, meat distribution, union infiltration, pornography and more.

But many Gambino members believed Castellano got a free ride to the top on the coattails of his predecessor, cousin and brother-in-law, Carlo Gambino. Nepotism and Castellano's reclusive lifestyle split the Gambino family into two factions, which ultimately led to his undoing.

He was one of the most successful and notorious members of the Italian-American Mafia. During Lucchese's tenure as underboss and boss of what would come to be known as the Lucchese crime family, he pioneered and perfected labour rackets in New York City's kosher chicken industry, the garment district, and the world of professional boxing which generated millions of dollars.

The Lucchese organisation maintained a prominent position within organised crime for more than six decades, seemingly invulnerable to prosecution. It was the one criminal organisation that most directly affected the lives of ordinary Americans.