Betrayal - Introducing: The Godmother

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

In the 1930s, Lucky Luciano, one of American history’s most notorious mobsters, was finally taken down by a rookie prosecutor. Eunice Carter was one of the first Black Women ever to become a prosecutor in America. She operated from the heart of the Harlem Renaissance to navigate the corrupt world of downtown Manhattan politics, and a deeply racist and sexist pre-civil rights American society. But her pioneering role in what became known as the “trial of the century” has been forgotten by popular history. Hers is the story of a writer, social worker, mother, teacher, sister, socialite, political candidate, community organizer and unheralded pioneer. This eight part immersive podcast is hosted by poet and writer, Nichole Perkins. It tells the story of Eunice Carter: a bad-ass anti-hero unafraid to bend the rules in pursuit of ambition, justice and legacy. Listen to The Godmother on the iHeartRadio App or wherever you get your podcasts. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-godmother-141201920/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm Nicole Perkins, and in my new podcast, The Godmother, I'm inviting you to 1936, New York, to a Manhattan courthouse. At the time, it was called the trial of the century. They had snipers on the roofs in Foley Square. They had police officers with riot guns in the hallway. On the stand was one of America's most notorious gangsters, a man named Lucky Luciano. He is called sometimes the Boss of Bourses.

The Godfather was a great film based partly on the Luciano legend. At this trial, on a crisp spring morning, in the middle of the Great Depression, Lucky would finally be brought down. Or old Luciano said, holy Toledo, you're giving me a life sentence? Everybody generally agrees that that was the nail in Lucky's coffin. But beneath the glitz, the glamour, the grime, and the notoriety of this moment in American history, there's another story that's being overshadowed, a name that's been left out of the Hollywood retellings.

Eunice Carter. There's a better story to be told. I'm a complex story. But for Eunice Carter, I don't know that Luciano would ever have been convicted. Eunice Carter was a black female lawyer in 1930s America, who took down one of history's most notorious gangsters. UNICE CARDER was the spark that started the

fire. She was the one that said this is how we get it. So why hasn't she been remembered? I just want people to know what she did. I've been doing some digging and what I found paints a picture of a complex, fascinating woman. This is a straight shooter who will say something and mean it. She intimidated a lot of people in real life. She was just kind of a fierce person. All around us today, Black American history is being erased, especially the stories of

Black women. It's not even just that not everyone remembers Eunice, but that people don't even believe she could have existed. The idea that she could have existed seems like a fantasy to people. Remembering Eunice Carter feels more urgent than ever. This is a story of ambition, justice, and legacy. This is the story of UNICECARTER. The influence that you have while you're alive matters,

even if after you're gone, everyone forgets about you. It doesn't mean that it was all for nothing. Listen to the Godmother with me, Nicole Perkins, on the I Heart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.