The Underworld Podcast - The Cuban Mob: Billion Dollar Rackets, the CIA, Lucchese Mafia Firebomb Wars, Miami Cocaine Trafficking and Fidel Castro

Episode Date: July 27, 2021

Jose Miguel Battle's Cuban Mafia known as The Corporation ran a billion dollar numbers racket with brutal enforcers for three decades, growing so powerful that they went to war with the Luccheses, firebombing each other's spots all over New York City. This episode has got failed assassination plots, CIA Training, Fidel Castro, Harlem arson wars, cockfighting, billion dollar numbers rackets, ruthless hitmen with dozens of bodies, broad day shootouts in Central Park, Peruvian casinos and Miami cocaine trafficking, what more could you want? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Available at the prepared foods counter. Get Summer Splash Savings Now at Whole Foods Market. I'm Lola Blanc and I'm Megan Elizabeth. And we're the hosts of Trust Me, the podcast about Colts, extreme belief, and the abuse of power. Now on Podcast 1. We want to debunk the myth that people who join Colts are uneducated because anyone can be manipulated by a narcissist. and we should know we both have been. Join us every week as we explore the world of extreme belief,

talk to survivors and experts, and share our own experiences with cults and the abuse of power. Get new episodes of Trust Me every Wednesday on Podcast One and anywhere you get your podcasts. April 16, 1961, Jose Miguel Bado is on a boat with 200 armed men under the cover of darkness heading towards Cuba. The boat left Nicaragua at 2 a.m. the night before,

and it's now meeting up with five other boats, carrying hundreds of soldiers. Battle is 31 years old then, thick-necked, a former Havana vice cop who had fled Cuba for New York after becoming disillusioned with Fidel Castro's revolution. He's also a natural-born leader, serving as a second lieutenant and commanding respect in his motley crew of Cuban exiles.

1,500 of these men had trained at a secret base in Guatemala as part of a CIA effort to overthrow Castro's communist government. Originally, the plan had called for the U.S. to take out Cuba's air force, but at the last minute, JFK calls off all but one of the air raids. The men didn't know this as they headed towards Cuba shores. Hell, they didn't know much about anything of the internal political battling in the U.S. over what to do, of what the CIA even was before all this. All they knew was that they wanted their country back.

According to T.J. English, who wrote the book on the Cuban mob, back then these men weren't all reactionaries or upper-class rich guys. Some had supported rebel groups in the 1950s. Others had even fought with Castro's July 26. movement. Some of these men had lost their livelihoods. Others had lost friends or family. Some had simply fought for the revolution and then felt betrayed. Unfortunately, they were about to be betrayed once again, this time by the U.S. As they headed to the shores, they had no idea that Cuban military was already waiting for them, and that they no longer had air support. They were about to begin an immense

failure of an operation, dubbed the Bay of Pigs that would have disastrous consequences for the men of Brigade 2506. In the decades to come, those that were lucky enough to survive would share an unbreakable bond in the Cuban exile community, even as some of them would become murderous right-wing terrorists and others brutal gangsters. Jose Miguel Bado, who would risk his life to save a dozen or so brigade members, would build his reputation there. Something happened to those men in the swamps and later in the jail cells as they were

held as prisoners of war. Battle's reputation earned there would serve him well, as would be the war. As with the bonds he established with other members of the brigade. His legend would carry all the way to the United States to New York, New Jersey, Miami, as he rose to the top of the Cuban Exile Underworld, starting the powerful Cuban Mafia known as the corporation that would brutally rule for decades as they brought in hundreds of millions of dollars through gambling rackets. Welcome to the Underworld podcast.

Thank you. Thank you. All right. All right. This is the podcast where we take you through the worlds of transnational organized crime. I am Danny Gold. I'm Sean Williams. I'm here, by the way, that was the longest intro we've ever done, man. Like, what's they all going to put over the top? Buenna Vista, Pitbull. Is Pippel, like, there are any Pitbull songs that are even that long?

He's got to. I mean, Mr. 305 is the way to go. Something along. I mean, I'll settle for, like, some cool Buena Vista type music, but Pippel would definitely carry it. You know, he's, like, pretty vocal, like, anti-Castro. I think he has, like, rap songs about it. Really? Oh, shit.

Yeah. Dude, Mr. Worldwide does not play around. As always, a reminder, we have bonus episodes up at patreon.com slash the underworld podcast. You know, there's merch on the website, Underworldpod.com. And also, like, please tell some friends and also try to rate us five stars and leave positive comments. It's like the 30th episode. And finally, I remember to say something like that.

I guess other podcasters are much better at getting the word out like that. But, yeah, Sean, how's your summer? Have you done any good crimes? I mean, crimes, no. I spent the last two weeks sitting beside a pool somewhere in New Yorker, taking some time off my crimes. But like, if football isn't coming home, then I guess I've got to, like, have you been up to much?

Have you been vaccinated? I guess that's what everyone's saying now, right? That's the opening line for every single fucking conversation we ever have. Yeah. I have in a word of caution, though, to our listeners. Sean is experimenting with getting drunk for this episode to see if he's, going to be funnier. And I'm experimenting with microdosing to see if I can be more productive. So, you know, it's going to be an interesting episode one way or another. Yeah, I think I'm like three

gin and juices deep. So let's see how this goes. Yeah, this is, this is a wild one. I mean, we are talking the CIA, ruthless hit men with dozens of bodies, Fidel Castro assassination plots, billion dollar gambling rackets, Miami cocaine trafficking in the 80s, which like that was a very vintage decade for cocaine trafficking in Miami, Harlem Firebarm Wars, and just go in a battle versus the five families. Yeah, that's quite a lot of stuff. I'm strapped in. Yeah, yeah, let's do it. And, you know, we're also talking the numbers racket, the illegal lottery, the bolita, as they call it in Spanish, it means little ball, because they used to do it by taking out numbered balls. I have a paper bag like bingo. But yeah, back in those days, everyone in New York

City in Miami, you know, played this. It was everywhere. This was before state lotteries and scratch-off tickets really got off the ground. Think about how much money now the mega millions brings in. Now think about even a fraction of that coming in every single week to organize crime. We'll get more into the numbers racket later and how it worked and where it came from, but that's a big part of today's episode. So I might be too British here, but I'm imagining old ladies smoking in some school hall, like Legs 11, bingo. Is that what this is? I've come across this tons of times doing our chosen. Like, I've just realized that don't actually know what the hell this is.

Yeah, I mean, it is. Old ladies play this all the time. And to tell you the truth, it still exists, right? With all the legalized gambling in the U.S., there's dudes in my neighborhood who still run a numbers game out of the bodega, these older Panamean cats. You know, it's not really a young man's organized crime game. I kind of envision it as sort of a classy, older Latin gentleman thing.

It has strong roots in Latin America. You know, I'm not sure how much these dudes bring in, but, you know, people seem to play the numbers pretty old. golf in and sometimes they throw free barbecues on the sidewalk so maybe they maybe they're doing okay yeah oh yeah if you hear some thunder right now in the mic there's like a crazy thunderstorm going on in new york and uh you know it is what it is but uh i thought you i thought you were just like get another micro dose out of the fridge there nah nah uh before we start too i want to mention tj english who's one of the best crime writers ever his book the corporation it basically serves as

as the basis for a lot of this information um and last i heard it was was going to be a movie with Benicio del Toro and hopefully that comes true. I mean, how many Latin gangsters' roles drop on Del Toro's agent's desk? Like, more than a number of creepy bad guys that Rayleigh or Oswald gets or? Him and the dude from El Machete, I think between the two of them, like every single script that involves a Spanish-speaking gangster, like both their agents hear about it. Yeah. Jose Miguel Battle is born in Cuba in 1929 in a rural area, like real backwood stuff.

he's got five brothers and a sister and his brothers actually end up doing a lot of crime work with him I mean they're called Battle right nominative determinism and all that like can't imagine we'll have any more crazy on point names like that in this episode will we Oh you're foreshadowing But yeah I think it was actually pronounced differently

But it got Americanized when they came to the US Oh right battle graduates from school in 1947 And joins the National Police in Cuba Relatively quickly he sent to Ovana to work for the Vice Squad Now, Havana during this time is like a fantastically wild place. I'm talking the Vegas of its era, but like the classy Vegas of the rat pack, not the throw up in a pool, fist pumping to Tiesto on bad blow, get a few STDs Vegas of now. I'm just, look, this sounds great.

I'm just saying we're all thinking kid rock, basically. Yeah, you know, along those lines. Everyone from all over went there to party. You know, they probably wore linen suits and those cool hats while doing it. beautiful hotels, amazing casinos, showgirls, nightclubs, Latin jazz and swing bands. You know, it's the kind of place where people play Baccarat, which I don't really know what that is, but I know it's classy. Of course, you know, there was always a CD underworlds. All right.

I mean, the infamous Meyer Lansky, you know, one of the greatest gangsters of all time, he was appointed the Gaming Commissioner in 1952. And he actually was said to have cleaned it up a bit because they had shadier and rig casinos. But yeah, if a gangster is your gaming. commissioner, there's only so many things that can be on the up and up. So you also had your share of hookers, drugs, gangsters, illegal gambling, cockfights. That's the kind of stuff that that battle was looking into as a vice cop in Havana during this time. He was said to be kind of a slick dude, able to talk to anyone, someone who kept his foot on both sides of the law at the time, tapped into the street, but also good with politicians and his law enforcement superiors. During this time,

a hotel boss that he had made friends with introduces him to Santo Traficante, who was a top gangster in Cuba. All right. So this guy's name in English is Holy Traficker. Like, Jesus. His mom and dad knew what they were doing there. By the way, is Mark Cuban actually Cuban? Totally off topic.

I'm just asking for a friend. I don't know, but he follows me on Twitter, and I DMed him about being on the podcast like eight months ago. I don't think he was interested. I don't think so. Oh, heartbreak. Yeah. Traficante is actually Sicilian.

He's from Florida, from an infamous mafia family. His father had moved heroin from Marseilles through Cuba and also ran the Bolita in Tampa where Traficanti originally was from. Battle bonds with this mob boss, who will play a big role later on and eventually becomes the guy who takes Traficante Jr.'s payoffs

to Felgencio Batista. I might be pronouncing Fulgencio wrong. Batista was at that time the dictator controlling Cuba. You know, I'm not going to get into the political situation too much, but things weren't great. There was corruption. He didn't really tolerate dissent and was repressive. And revolution and political intrigue were brewing in Havana all during the 1950s,

periodic outbreaks of violence and all that. Yeah, I think they're going to be a bit more violent before the 20th centuries out. Dude, you with the spoilers, man. Anyway, this is, you know, already a long episode. And while I'm thrilled with the idea of both 16-year-old Twitter Marxists with anime avatars and angry Miami Cubans just yelling at me online, we're just going to leave it with that. If you want to argue about political Cuba, politics in Cuba and all that, there's a lot of other places you can go right now. And this just, it's not one of them. No, no, no, no, no. I'm not having that. We need the interaction. Like, please forward all tanky emails to the underworld podcasts at gmailcom.com. We hate communism. By the way, today I saw the best Twitter handle ever, which is called Mr. Gorbachev. Please hit these back walls. And I've got a lot of respect for that. So, yeah, just emails.

You really have had like four drinks. Oh, yeah. Yeah. In 1959, Fidel Castro's revolution succeeds after a big guerrilla war. He overthrews Batiste's government. And when Fidel takes the city, the casinos are trashed. You know, they were seen as a symbol of corruption. But battle doesn't freak out right away, right?

He's still a cop. He's still got a job. And maybe things under Castro won't be so bad for him. When Fidel first sees his power, even some of his own revolutionaries, they really don't know that he's going to go full Marxist Leninists. He actually had hit it for a while, but things go south quick. You know, there's hundreds of executions, powers consolidated, and things don't look great for battle. Castro soon shuts down the gaming industry.

Battle gets demoted to being a traffic cop and he's just like, screw it. You know, I'm going to go to the U.S. like a lot of others. He leaves his wife and kid at the end of 1959, books a boat to New York City. He eventually ends up in Union City, New Jersey, which has a huge Cuban population and buys into a go-go bar. But he's still broke. He can't get his family over. And in April 1960, he hears through the exile community, many of whom are pissed off at what Fidel has done over the last year, that the U.S. government is looking to recruit a force of Cubans to go back and overthrow Castro. And he wants it.

He goes down to Florida. He joins hundreds of other Cubans being recruited by the CIA. And they start training in Florida and then a secret area in Guatemala. I mean, this guy just loves a fight, right? He loves to get stuck into it. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. He starts progressively loving fights more and more, right? He establishes himself as a leader at that base,

but the whole thing, like we said, is going to be a massive disaster. The second these guys leave the boat, you know, the boat that came from Nicaragua, we talked about in the beginning, and they get onto the shores in Cuba. The Cuban army, you know, is waiting for them. They open up on them. It's a bloodbath. The men of Brigade 2506, they put up a fierce fight,

but they're overwhelmed for three days. Was there a reason for that? name? Like, it's not a great one, but I just wondering where it came from. I actually, I don't know. And if there is, I haven't found it. By all accounts, battles a war hero during this time, right? He risked his own life to save the lives of some of his men and some pretty daring feats when they're all outnumbered. But they're, you know, they're stuck in the swamps for days. They end up drinking their own urine, being kind of followed by vultures, just being hunted down. That is not on one of those bear grill shows. Also, I don't know.

way, like, do vultures chase you? Like, that's pretty scary. I think they just kind of follow you waiting for you to die so they can eat your corpse. Okay, cool. T.J. English, he goes back to this, you know, a few times in the book these days, not just the bloody battles and the death and the swamps, but also the betrayal of the Americans. That, coupled with the next two years, battle and the survivors would spend as P.O.Ws and Cuban jails, you're kind of left with this impression that it really messed them up. But yeah, I mean, when they were POWs, they're abused a bit,

they're paraded around in humiliation. It's something one would do to an invading force trying to overthrow you, right? There's some show trials, some conviction, some harsh prison conditions, but the men, they bond. And eventually, after nearly two years,

Castro shows mercy and U.S. officials negotiate their release. The men are awarded for their service by JFK, who to make amends, he offers them to join any branch of the U.S. military and receive citizenship. Battle enlist in the U.

U.S. Army as a second lieutenant. And thanks to his citizenship, he's able to get his wife and his kids into the U.S. from Cuba. Oh, that's a nice story. That's a happy ending, right? That's the end of this episode. Oh, no, I'm afraid it not. So a guy he had been in prison with who had also been a cop in Havana, this guy, Angel Mujica, was basically his right-hand man at this point. It's 1964 now, and he's just finished his service in the army. He's 35 years old. And, you know, it's never too late for a second career, which is something I say to myself in the mirror 10 times a day. I am 35 years old. And podcasting is that, yeah. Yeah. So it's just a wild time during this era, right? Mafiosos, Cuban exiles getting involved,

all sorts of half-baked CIA plots cooked off the Toppera cassero, just kind of throwing shit at the wall. I mean, is this the era where they're trying to assassinate with like seashells and exploding cigars? Like, who was in charge of the CIA, Carrotope? I think it was, but I think a lot of the more far-fetched plans never really got off the ground. They were just kind of things thrown around in meetings. But yeah, it's definitely that era. And at the same time, Kennedy's administration is going to war with the mafia in the U.S., partially because the mafia is just huge at the time. And partially because Kennedy had to show off rumors of him being in bed with the mob.

So in 1961, 171 Mafia associates are sent to prison. And the year before, they'd only been four sent to prison. So what that means is that there's an opening, it's a vacuum of power, right, for any new aspiring immigrants here to live out their American dream. And battle at this time had just moved back to Union City, New Jersey, right across the Hudson River from New York City. And he meets up with his former right-hand man, Mohika, who has started a gambling operation in the Bronx. He brings battle in on it, and him and Mohika start looking for a backer. Someone with a big cash flow who could help with payouts in their little numbers game, because if the numbers hit big, you know, they got to. to pay out all these people and they also want to expand in New York City. And also, that's

five families territory, right? You can't just show up and start operating in the areas where the Italian mob runs things. Yeah. Ouch. I mean, if anything, this guy's got Cajonis despair. I mean, actually, that's like a weird phrase. He has the correct allocation of Cajonis. Yeah, yeah, big ones. So battle turns to his old friend from Cuba, Mr. Traficante, who was already a well-established gangster. He had tons of connections. both in the Cuban community and with the Italian-American mafioso's. Traficante sets up meetings. Battle goes around to the various mafiosos, offering them their cut and getting permission.

Oh, nice. Like gangsters start up seeding fun rounds. I like it. Yeah, I never thought of it that way, but that's exactly what it is. One of these guys is fat Tony Salerno, who is a Genovesi captain who oversaw all the numbers rackets in the city. So numbers, yeah. It's the same thing as a lottery. you basically pick numbers, almost always three digits, but I've heard of four digits one sometimes.

And if you hit the numbers that come up, you win. And generally, the strike number is based on the last three digits of the racing handle. Handel is the total amount of bets taken in at the horse track that day. And it's published in the newspaper the following day. I also think I've heard of it being the last digits on the Dow Jones total before two. But anyway, you hit that and you win. So if you pick three numbers and you win if they come up, up basically and you get a ticket like the dog track or the lottery like is that right yeah it's it's

basically it um it was always super popular in poor working class ethnic neighborhoods but i kind of feel like every neighborhood in new york city back then was a poor working class ethnic neighborhood or like 90% of them it was also called the policy racket so blacks italians jews irish they all had their numbers games and their number runners and their bar or grocery store or barber where they laid their bets it was already a popular thing by the end of the ninth century And the first state lottery didn't start until 1964 in New Hampshire. And the odds were worse. And besides, if you won that, you had to pay taxes.

You know, who wants to pay taxes? According to English, battle offered a better return, 600 to 1, than other policy rackets. So he really started to grow. And remember, you have a 1 in 900-99 chance of winning, and he's paying out only 600 to 1. So you spread that out with a massive amount of people playing, and that's a lot of money coming in.

All right. So I very much did not do economics. But to do this, you need like backers, floats, right? Because if a bunch of people hit their numbers, you're going to need to pay or you're in a lot of trouble. Yeah. Yeah. Like if it's, you know, I guess if someone plays the date or like a 7-Eleven or some popular number and a lot of people hit, like you're going to need a big bankroll to pay all them out if you get that unlucky. That's a big reason why they went to find backers and why you'll hear about bankers a lot.

Bankers are the guys who put up the money for the stuff. But numbers, you know, it's not small-time shit, right? It's a full-fledged operation. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly, big board buck slot machine by aristocrat gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package.

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Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. Zootopia 2 has come home to Disney Plus. Let's go. Get ready for a new case. We're going to crack this case and prove we're decoranous partners of all time. New friends. You are Gary Desnake. And your last name?

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Now available on Disney Plus rated PG. You need runners picking up the bets. You need bankers who handle the money and bank you. Auditors, corrupt politicians and policemen on the payroll, a big bankroll to pay out if this popular number hits. You know, there's a system in organization like any good criminal operation. And you also need to pick up the numbers picks and the money, mark them down, then divvy up this money flow to all the money.

the people who got a cut from workers to the banks, which were mostly rich Cuban exiles in Miami and mafiososos, pay off the other mafiosos that get their cut. And remember back then, this is all in cash, right? You don't have like an Excel spreadsheet keeping track of it either. You have to protect that money too. You have to store it. You have to transport it every day. And you have to pay off the cops and the politicians and all that mess. And you want to enforce things if people stiff you or they try to rob you or muscle in on your territory. I mean, there's a reason they ended up calling this thing the corporation. The logistics at hand, they're mind boggling. We're talking Fortune 500 type shit. It sounds even more difficult

than we're a legit business, to be honest. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's not, it's not, I mean, this is work. You know, they are putting in work. Yeah. Battle brings in all his people from the Havana days, his brothers, his brigade mates, you know, former cops and other powerful players in the Cuban exile community. People start calling them the Cuban mafia and they have the backing of the five families. This is when battle sort of transforms into El Padrino, the godfather, overseeing the whole damn thing. And in the early days, at least, he's real big into loyalty, community, all that. But he also knows when to throw down to prove his point, though it's more like he has a real bad temper that's only going to get worse. He shoots a guy in the throat in a barbershop because the guy was insulting his wife.

He gets charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, but they bribe the victim with $10,000 and the case gets dismissed. Okay, so he shot a guy in a barbershop That's pretty close range And the guy did not die Even though he got shot in the throat Cool Like that's lucky, I guess I mean maybe it was really small caliber

I don't really know how It went in and out You know like fight club style Who knows But in Miami There's another thing going on Right? Some of his brothers

Start getting into cocaine This is the 1960s though It's not the cocaine Cowboys of the 80s So it's not as crazy or profitable yet, battle himself stays away from drugs. He's actually against it at this time, and he told all his associates and his brothers to stay away from it.

But, you know, they didn't listen. In 1969, his brother gets into some shit with another Cuban Coke dealer, a real wild guy, former revolutionary militant named Hector D'orte. They get into a crazy multi-hour car chase shootout. Hector ends up shot and killed. And some people say, this is actually the opening battle in the next few decades of Miami's cocaine war. But yeah, you know, I put this story in to sort of show how wild the Cuban underground was during this time, especially in Miami and Union City.

You know, you had spies from Cuba. You had counter-revolutionaries. CIA spies, blossoming anarchos, gangsters, just lots of political intrigue. No wonder Hunter is Thomsen rocked up there. I'm not married to an American anymore, so I can head off to Cuba on my holly bobs. Editors commission me on a Cuba story any time. I even know the rules. of baseball, by the way, and I'm British. So I think we're going to limit you to two drinks in the future for episodes. I feel like that might be... Come on.

Hey, it's good o' boy, Mike. This is good old boy, Dave. From Sips, Sips, Suds and Smokes. Sips, Sips, Suds and Smokes covers wine, tea, coffee, distilled spirits, whiskey, scotch, beer, cigars. People whose first name starts with Q. Bad, fake British accents.

And we always take time to make fun of the people of Alabama. Band once again. It's a one-hour episode that's mildly entertaining for about 22 minutes. I think mildly would be a vast improvement. Well, we do have the only beer show with the Holy Man. We talk about these products and rate them with our unique rating system, like our SEDs 5 rating. Do you really have something better to do with your life for an hour than actually listen to this show?

I don't make them think about it. Well, join us on this radio station, podcast network, or via our Android app. battles brother gustavo the one involved in the shootout he gets off on the murder but the feds they set their sights on him and soon he's doing six years on a cocaine charge and now they're watching jose miguel i mean the feds during this time they're watching all these cubans at this point you know because militants some are terrorists uh you know they're going to be doing so for decades to come including people like the novo brothers who tried to fire a homemade bazooka from queens at the u.n building when chay gavara was speaking there battle was also still heavily involved in militant anti-caster activities, and he's alleged to have used these same brothers to kill some of his enemies and also enemies of the cause. In 1970, the feds indict him and a bunch of his men. It's basically a RICO charge, but really luckily for him, it's three months before RICO is actually a thing. So instead of facing 30 years, he's facing 3 to 6. But he's got bad memories of jail time, though.

He's still kind of PTSD'd out from his Cuban days. and in 71 he skips trial and he flees to Spain. A bunch of other Cuban exiles were there, even some of his associates who also skipped trial, and Spain has no extradition treaty with the U.S. at this time. That seems pretty easy. Just jump on an Iberian flight and you're there. This, by the way, is why I've got issues in Moldova.

Like, ain't nobody with an extradition treaty in Moldova. Yeah, I mean, this was a big thing, I think, in our Pink Panthers episode, a lot of the guys from Montenegro, they would just go there after they pull jobs because there's no exorician treaty, no extracian treaty there, which they might have to do if they want to get into the EU,

which is going to be a problem for the Pink Panthers. But I think, yeah, it's a big thing. The Bolita is still running in New York, but battles meeting other mafiososos, boloteros, as the lottery runners were called, and Cuban exiles in Spain. One guy he befriends is this guy Ernesto Torres. Torres is the son of a famous Havanaugh gangster and drug dealer

who fled Spain with his son. He promptly got arrested and he leaves his 19-year-old son to fend for himself. Luckily, his gangster dad was already training him to be a criminal prodigy. He was already a killer. Battle takes a real liking to him. He starts raising him like a son, even though he was pretty wild and out of control. And both of them are going to pay for that eventually, one of them with their life. Battle gets sick of Spain, though.

He comes back to New York after two years, promptly gets arrested, pleads guilty, and serves two years. Right. You can only have so many potatoes brothels. I don't know, man. For Haman Serrano and Homoan Aberico, I would, Iberico, however you say it, I would hold out, I think, for a little longer. Piemianos de Padron. Oh my God. Take me that to Spain. The Spanish do it right. We're in like the mid-70s now, right? And another battle brother, Pedro, he teams up with Ernesto to start selling cocaine in the South Bronx. At this point, too, you know, the godfather came out. And battle ends up being really obsessed with it. and the idea of himself as Don Corleone, kind of like how rappers and shitty Coke dealers are with Scarface. And Don Carleone was not a fan of the narcotics business. But Pedro does not listen.

I mean, do they ever? And he gets into some territory war with another Cuban gangster selling Coke in New York. This guy everyone calls Palulu. All right. I like Paloulu. Like unimposing nickname, which is way darker, if you like, some murderous narco. Yeah, it kind of sounds like a Samoan thing, right?

I kind of dig it. Jose Miguel gets out of prison around then, learns of his brother's cocaine dealings. He gets pissed off because now he's got to deal with all the street war stuff instead of focusing on the numbers. Then Pedro Battle and Palulu run into each other at a packed nightclub in Washington Heights like 3 a.m. Pedro gets killed in a shootout. And now with his youngest brother dead, El Padreino is going to go to war. And this begins like a slow descent of the man just going off the rails. It's December of 1974, Pedro's funeral and Jose Mendoza Mendoza.

Miguel is just talking greasy, offering 20 grand for Palulu dead and 50 for him alive. And this is 1970s cash, you know, and, you know, when you got people like that offering more than double to get someone alive, like you're better off getting killed. You know what I'm saying? He also issues an ultimatum to everyone who runs with Palulu. And they have till the end of the burial service to switch sides. Otherwise, again, it's on site with all of them. Whoa, that is like a tense fuming. Do they like line up like choosing football teams in a school playground or something? I mean, I don't know if he issued it at the beginning of the funeral.

But yeah, it was it was pretty crazy. Teams of Hitman, they go out looking for Palulu. Battles even got all the police in Union City on the take. So they're looking for him too. And this guy named Chino who used to run with Palulu switch his sides. And him and Ernesto become these top killers. They're getting $4,000 to $5,000 for everybody that they make. For months, they're using Chino's inside or not.

knowledge of Palulu and his people to track them down, kill them, you know, they're torturing people to get more info. I mean, really brutal stuff. They kill 11 people. And one of these torture sessions leads to info that Polulu meets his team on the north side of Central Park. So Chino and Ernesto, they stake him out there and they get into a wild gun battle there right in the middle of the day. In Central Park, New York. Like what, was the city like feral back then? Yeah. I mean, people talk a lot about the early 90s in the crack wars. and that's when the murder rate was at its highest. But the late 70s in New York,

you know, that was the whole, the city's broke thing, and, and, you know, I forget, was it Ford, set to New York dropped out.

Like, New York City was completely insane in the late 70s. I mean, my parents were living even, I think, on, like, you know, like Midtown West or the Upper West Side. And that's,

you know, a nice neighborhood. But back then, that neighborhood was more dangerous than the most dangerous neighborhoods in New York right now. It is just like, crazy.

Complete lunacy. So they, they, they, they hit Palulu with machine gun fire and he survives once again. And this is going to become a theme. His leg gets amputated while in the hospital. He ends up getting charged with Pedro's murder.

But the case falls apart. He still gets hit with two or three years, two to three years on a gun charge. And now there's 100K put on his head. Again, 1970s money. And within six weeks of being in prison, Palulu is shanked. But again, he survives. But now, I mean, you're kind of seeing the reality of battle here, right? Like he wasn't just a businessman.

There's a real viciousness street to him that's only developing and it only gets worse. There's just a savage brutality there. Meanwhile, Ernesto and Chino get arrested for attempted murder of an informant. The informant survives. And when the informant eventually gets out of the hospital, battle hires men from an anti-Castro-militan organization known as Omega 7 to go after him. These guys originally got famous for firebombing political assassinations. They car bombed this guy in 1976. no more trial and there's this interweaving you know of the anti-castro militants slash

terrorists and cuban organized crime again in the meantime battle makes ernesto despite him being just a wild boy into a banker someone who controls the money for the numbers games this is like going from a soldier to a copo you know from a grunt to a general no more dirty work you sit back you make money but ernesto you know he's not so good at that i don't think he was the sharpest dude He keeps losing money. He decides to start taking sports bets, which it's a big no-no because that pisses off the Italians who controlled all the sports betting. And after a big losing streak, you know, people kept hitting their numbers and rumors of him taking sports bats and not paying winners. Battle demotes him.

Okay. This is why you hire slow and fire fast. Like, that was not Bezos. Yeah, I mean, this is a call that's going to end up costing him a lot. But Ernesto, he's not having it. And he starts taking more risks. thinking he was untouchable because of his close relationship with El Patrino. He kidnaps and shoots a big-time banker in like a failed extortion attempt.

And then he rips off the wives of some of the assassins who work for Omega 7. He has like some weird orgy with them that he tries to use as blackmail. And then there's a failed car bomb attempt on him. And, you know, at this point, he's not sure if it's battle, if it's the kidnapped bankers people or if it's the Omega 7 guys. And that's a real bad thing. You know, when you can't tell which powerful, murderous psychos are trying to kill you because there's so many of them who want to do it. Like, that's not a good look.

No. He flees to Miami after another attempt on his life. And right away, he makes a plan to kidnap one of the top bolita bankers who live down there. This guy, Eleno Davila. This guy has a 20-acre spread in Fort Lauderdale, and he keeps three pumas in cages. And apparently, if his security system detects someone moving on the property, the cages of the puma is what? open. And I know that sounds awesome, but like what if they're not hungry then or what if they're tired? Like, I don't know, maybe just hire like a few security guards, pal. Like, that seems like it

would be a better job. Yeah. I mean, what if it's just like the UPS guy or a kid or like someone's cat? That's terrible. And besides, like, the most lethal animal in the world, that's, that's human beings, Danny. That's, that's true. It is. It is. That's the, that's the most dangerous game and the most dangerous hunter. DeBilla, he's one of battle's main competitors, but this is kind of a friendly competition at this point, and battle gets a cut of his money. Around this time, the other top angers in New York, they call a meeting with battle, and they tell him that Ernesto's gone too far.

They know about the plans to rob and kidnap him and that something's got to be done. Battle agrees, and because he's the one who brought Ernesto in, it's his responsibility to kill him. after a couple of failed attempts in Miami, Battle decides he's got to go down there and do it himself with his brother and Chino. And Battle ends up killing him execution style but leaves a witness Ernesto's wife. I think they shoot her a few times, but she survives. Battles 47 years old at this time. He's the head of an empire pushing hundreds of millions of dollars.

I mean, he's just an idiot, you know? That's like the defining line of this episode. It should be 100% done in Morgan Freeman's voice. I mean, it's a real dumb move. to do that kind of work yourself. It's just not smart. And it turns out that one of Ernesto's friends, his main partner, this guy by the name of Charlie Hernandez,

who was, you know, a small fish, he turned state's evidence and snitches on Battle Chino and their whole crew on a slew of murders, but especially Ernestos. Charlie had been a small-time thief and a burglary guy who was super close with Ernesto. They had actually made all their plans together. He was supposed to help with the kidnapping of the bankers.

Battles crew even tried to turn him. at one point and he started playing both sides, but then Ernesto got killed. Charlie goes on the run. He gets caught for something stupid and he flips on the whole Cuban mafia. It's July of 1977, battle is arrested for the murder of Ernesto. I mean, that is coming like 10 years late, but yeah, cool. Oh, it's not even close to done, man. I mean, this is like two-thirds of the way through the episode. Like, this is, it's kind of mind-boggling. They could have saved like 20 lives if they'd like arrested him when he'd done the first insane shit. Like so long ago.

Oh, it's going to keep going. And you really have to wonder, like, how ineffectual both the NYPD and the Miami Police Department were in those days. Because it's kind of nuts. Battle gets high-priced lawyers to fight the charge, including one guy who represented all the Black Panthers, this famous guy Raymond Brown. When all is said and done, though, he can't save Battle then. Battle gets convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and solicitation to commit murder, but not guilty on first-degree murder. side note like the prosecution and detectives on this case were completely out of control. Have you ever seen the movie The 7-5 about cops in Brownsville in New York who were on the take?

This is like the real Miami version. These detectives, they had narco bosses as paid informants. They all partied and did coke and got hookers together, including with Charlie Hernandez and Ernesto's wife, you know, who was the main witness, who had started sleeping with one of the detectives. They're robbing other drug dealers and stealing cocaine for them. I mean, this is real Miami shit. right here. I feel like I did not see this in the television series Miami Vice, like just shoulder pads and speedboats. And I have not seen the 75. This sounds insane. Yeah, 75 is a real,

real good doc. And it's like one of those ones where the guy at the center of it just like has served his time already and just doesn't care. So he's just airing out everything. Like it's pretty, it's pretty nuts. Battle gets sentenced to 30 years. But first, he gets sent to New York City to face a separate gun charge before the Miami sentence starts. And he actually meets with Fat Tony Slerno in jail for a sit down and explains to him that his son is now going to be handling with the Bolita. Fat Tony, again, Genovese boss, the one who ran Spanish Harlem and who battle had to have permission with and who battle gave a cut to as well.

But battles lawyers, they keep filing appeals. And after nearly two years, the case gets overturned over the difference between, I think, using ore and end in some sentences, like some insane. technicality like that. Seriously, overturned a 30-year sentence. This is just like that episode we did with the Yakuza, when they got off buying RPGs in Hawaii. Because like the defense claimed they weren't actually saying a Japanese for yes, but the Japanese for yeah, maybe. I guess the jury's aren't the bright. It's all the judges. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty wild. I'm sure there was money involved too.

There's still the possibility of a retrial, but they only bring battle up on the conspiracy charge and he cops a plea, he gets a sweetheart deal, time served plus probation. His son and this older bulleterio, this guy, Abraham Ridds, who went back to the Vanity's with Battle, they had run the shop while battle was locked up. And they treated it more like a business, right? Rids was the Meyer-Lansky of the Cuban mob, not just because he was a Polish Jew. He was a genius with money laundering, and he preferred to keep things on the straight and narrow. He was a big proponent of unnecessary violence fucks up the money. They were investing in shell companies at this time. They had all these new businesses, which to launder the profits with.

And this is when it really starts being called the corporation. They had, you know, Swiss bank accounts. The son had gone to college. He was smart. I think he had a semester and a half at Seaton Hall, that kind of smart. This is how the money was divvied up. Battle gets 17% of the weekly take. His son gets the same and so does Rids. And we're talking 100,000 to a million dollars weekly. The rest of the money included all the employees, the payoffs, and the mafia's cut. In the 1980s, they were a bolita high point for New York City. But during this time, battles also starting out problems with the mob. Not the Genoveses, but the Lucchese's. That friendly competitor of him, Ilano DeVilla, the guy with the Panthers or Pumas, whatever

it was, he's working Bolidas in Brooklyn and Queens, and he's dealing with the Lucchaises themselves. I mean, I'm not surprised. What I'm surprised about is the fact these guys weren't just whacked off the bat. Who battle in them? Yeah, yeah. Bro, I mean, they were powerful. Like, they had a lot of money and they had a lot of soldiers

and they killed a lot of people. Like, they weren't some small time thing that you could just kind of go after. Even the mob, like, didn't have the power to completely go after them, you know, as we'll find out relatively soon. Central Harlem, which is to the west of Spanish Harlem, was the most lucrative market for numbers

in all the U.S. during this time. During battles lockup, Alano and the Lucchese's, they started expanding, opening up new number spots here and there, even into Harlem. Aleno was the biggest independent banker in New York and New Jersey. He moved in with the blessing of the Lucasies and the usual Bolita spots, you know, they're taking in $6,000 to $8,000 a week in bets. In Harlem, it was $20,000 to $25K a week. Whoa, that's like, I mean, that's way over $100K in today's money, like, decent earn over a single neighborhood. And that seems like a big thing for the cops not to be shutting down.

I guess maybe they were all just like on the take or something. So, so, you know, two things. First off, this wasn't just the whole neighborhood, right? This was like a couple blocks. There were 100 spots alone in Central Harlem. Shit. And the second thing was that the numbers game wasn't really seen as a top priority back then. I mean, yeah, there were a lot of cops on the take.

You know, it was seen as the kind of thing that grandmothers play. It wasn't a notoriously violent industry. There weren't guns being used all the time. It wasn't drugs. They had a lot of different priorities back then, and the numbers game was not one of them. It was more seen as a gentlemanly thing, I think. Aleno during this time,

he decides to form his own consortium while battle was locked up called the company. So it's the company versus the corporation, which is super fucking boring, though maybe a little more sophisticated than the current gang crews in Harlem, which have names like, you know, guerrilla goonies and the stack money crew or something like that, which I'm serious about. You can look it up.

Meanwhile, things had gone a little soft in the corporation, right, while battle was locked up because Brids and Battle's son were more businessmen than psycho killers. So when Battle gets out, he has scores to settle. He finds this new top-notch hit man named Pons. They set up a hit squad and they go to work. A bunch of people get killed in the early 80s who thought they could rip off or muscle out the corporation. During this time, battle also moves down to Miami.

He wanted that in New York and Union City, the cold winters and the days today, the operation. And, you know, I know how it is. So more power to him. When you finally find your thing, you want the whole world to know about that thing. So you use a thing called Canva to make it an even bigger and better thing. Whether you want to create flyers for that thing, make presentations for that thing, or design merch for that thing. You can do anything. so people can see your thing, feel your thing, love your thing.

The next thing you know, it's a thing. Canva, the thing that makes anything a thing. Ambition comes in all shapes and sizes. At First Citizens Bank, we roll with your goals because we're built for what you're building. Fit for your ambition for Citizens Bank. At the same time as all of this, and stay with me here, I know there's a lot going on. battle is still trying to have our old friend polulu killed you know the guy who killed his brother he's not dead he survives no not dead he survives three more attempts on his life each of him ends with him being

shot and surviving and i think the fourth or fifth attempt he's shot numerous times in the bronx battle was actually there and he had watched it go down he goes up to palulu's bleeding body to make sure he was dead but he survives again after being shot 11 times he's in critical condition and they finally sneak into the hospital with someone's disguised, like as a nurse, like Carlito's way, you know, and they kill them. And then celebrations kick off in Miami for a week when battle gets the call that it's done. You got the Dom Pee on ice and all that. They're basically celebrating being the worst hitman in history.

Or maybe this like Polulu guy was invincible. I don't know, but whatever. Crack out of the Henning. Yeah. I mean, it's a pretty crazy story. In 1983, though, the mob tensions, they come to a head in New York. There's a rule in the Bolita world. You don't open up a spot within two blocks of another spot.

But one of the company's spots in Bedstye gets raided by the cops. And the corporation's Brooklyn guy, he opens up a spot half a block away. Well, the company's spot, it gets reopened. You know, they're too close. And the hit squad of the corporation led by Pons goes and firebombs the company's place. Now you've got all sorts of meetings taking place all over the city with Lucchase's, with fat Tony Salerno, some of their Irish associates, all. trying to keep the peace between the Cubans and keep things from turning ugly and fucking up the money.

At the end of one of these meetings, there's a drive-by and it kills one of the corporations guys and things kick off. The corporation goes to war with the mafia, like the actual mafia for Lucases. And the next few years are dubbed the arson wars. Both sides are just firebombing spots left and right. I mean, we are talking dozens and dozens of firebombs. It gets ugly. Civilians are being burned to death, including a four-year-old girl. And the media, you the tabloids they go nuts with this something like 25 people in total are killed and many of the other bulletarios they're actually kind of repulsed by all this right they're not big time violent gangsters they had families they just ran numbers yeah i mean but when you're playing a game like

when the remies in the system like little wayne said i mean dude that's the game this is it's embarrassing for you that's not a little wayne line that's a that's a j z line no is it yeah yeah yeah man just just just just stop stop making rap references leave that to me. Down in Miami, battle, he builds this big ranch called El Zapatole. And he grows fruit trees and he gets super into cockfights. And he's housing like dozens of roosters on his property. Have you ever been to a cockfight?

I mean, I went in Thailand. I think this is a Dominican Republic too. They're relatively unpleasant. Yeah, they're pretty gross, right? The one in Mumbai. I went to one in Mumbai and I got press ganged into it by some localhood was associated with the company. Oh, God.

They're something especially grim about where these guys screaming and cheering by the blood's flying. I'm not a veggie, so I don't know. Didn't turn me. Yeah, I mean, there's money going around and it's like super shady. So that part I enjoy, but the overall fights are not. Yeah, they're not what's good. They're not for the light of heart, yeah. Yeah, so he's staging these fights at his estate, even though it gets made illegal, I think, in the mid-80s.

But battle also takes care of dozens of stray dogs on the property. He has a soft spot for them, which, like, I don't know, man. Sure, he's responsible for hundreds of people. people being murdered, but I mean, I'm kind of big on stray dog adoption, and that bounces out a little bit, you know what I'm saying? So what's your feeling on Michael Vic? I mean, killed no one, lots of straight folks. Anyway, during this time, one of his top killers that do Chino, he gets arrested after killing a witness, and there's tons of headlines. Between the firebombing wars and the witness killing, the corporation is getting serious heat. And also at that time,

Ronald Reagan convened something called the President's Commission on Organized Crime. which is an investigative body set up to analyze organized crime across the U.S., which is getting big, getting real big. So they published a bunch of reports. I think we've mentioned them and used them in the Brighton Beach Russian mafia episode and the White Devil John Triads episode as well. Battles mostly been under the radar somewhat in the public eye, right? But there's a big report on him that's brought out,

revealing the existence of the corporation for the first time, breaking it down intricately with help from a top-level informant. You know, there's these estimates coming out that they're taking $45 million a profit a year from gambling in New York City. And Battle himself actually went to the committee as a spectator after being subpoenaed and refusing to testify. Wait, I thought that subpoenaed meant you couldn't refuse to testify. Like, is that the case? I don't know. I mean, it wasn't a trial, right?

It was like a committee. So I don't really know how it works. I know they've done these with gangsters in the past. And I think you could turn it down. but they're pretty wild moments if you ever get to see videos of them or read the transcripts. After that,

Battle is like he's out there, right? The headlines are talking about El Padrino, the front pages of papers from the Miami Herald and the New York Times. There's articles all about him. Battle is a little bit freaked out. He even lets two reporters into his home to give his side of the story.

And I love this thing he told them after showing them his fridge, right? Quote, this is the refrigerator of a millionaire, I eat yogurt. That's the quote. He also lets them take a photo of him with his pet monkey, which, you know, that's great. I mean, there's a lot going on there. So yogurt is what, like the food of the narcos?

What's going on? No, no, he's just like, I'm a regular guy. I eat yogurt. But then if you show your pet monkey, you're clearly not a regular guy. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah, bubbles is testament to that. If you ever brought up in one of these committees and you want to show your side, like me and Sean will happily hang out with you, you know?

I'll show you my monkey. Yeah, I've got some interesting people contacting me now that hopefully we'll get to do a, well, not a story, but an episode on. But yeah, we're open to it. You know, I got some miles I got to use. So hit us up. By 1987, battles estimated to be sitting on a fortune of $175 million. And the corporation is set to have 2,500 members. Back in New York City, though, things are going a bit haywire. The NYPD cracks down. They arrest some of the corporations, enforcers. They shut down bullied its spots all over the same. city. Eleno kind of sees the writing on the wall. He quietly moves all his money out of the U.S. Then he moves to Spain and then he settles in Panama. And by the end of the 80s, Rids has also had enough. At this point, the main guys, Rids, battle, battle son. They're pretty removed from the day-to-day operations, the violence and all that. But Rids doesn't like his name being mentioned and all this. He's really, you know, kind of losing sleep over the child that was killed in the arson wars. And he doesn't like dealing with the people running the New York operation who are

still just killing people all the time and won't listen to him about not using so much violence. So he does something completely unheard of in the world of organized crime. He retires. He gives up a 17%. He still does some work for that financial arms. The corporation sell companies and legit investments, but he's mostly out. And law enforcement, at this point, they're obsessively trying to bring down the corporation. Battle tries to give off this impression that he's also retired, but he's not, right?

He has a collector for two big bulleterios in Miami killed in 1989. because he's angry and they're not giving him a cut. He also sent some of his men after other big-time bulletarios in Miami, firing warning shots, just issuing all these threats, so much so that some of them actually went to the police and others just were tired. They were so scared of battle. Yeah, I mean, I'm not surprised. At this point, battle is just some psychopathic greed-driven narco, right?

I mean, I'd still clear if I was in his bingo club. Yeah, I mean, he's going to get worse, too. There's also the story of three Cubans, robbing a cockfight battle happened to be at. They didn't really know who he was. They were more recent immigrants. All three were found killed with their bodies dumped in the Everglades. And Miami PD, meanwhile, they're running all sorts of informants, cases, everything they could to bring down battle.

They're even trying to go after him for cockfighting, which, again, has just been made illegal and battle's super into it. By that time, too, he's getting involved in big cocaine shipments being brought into Miami, kind of like everyone else in the 80s, right? Of course, battle had been against drug dealing back then, but at this point, cocaine in Miami is like, you know, it's basically GameStop or Crypto, right, of its day. Everyone's getting rich doing it except for you. So why not give it a go? You know what I'm saying? You had to find that reference, right?

Yeah, always. He's also kind of losing his mind at this point, having other guys killed left and right. You know, he's definitely doing his own fair share of Coke, getting super paranoid. In 1992, he even has Anheel Mouhika killed. His old friend who we talked about in the beginning had been with him in Savannah, been with him in the jail, had got him started in the Bolita business back in the day in the Bronx. Mohika had actually left the belita business in 79, moved to Spain. But he went back to New York a decade later in 89. He tried to open up some of his own independent spots.

He even went to El Padreino to beg him to let his spot stay open despite being told he had to shut them down. Battle agrees to let them stay open. and then he just orders him killed, you know? And the vibe, yeah, I mean, Battle's just in his angry old man, paranoid stage. He doesn't trust anyone to be the boss. It's a very junior soprano, just having people whacked all over,

doing too much coke, getting involved in narco trafficking. Just keep in mind, you know, Mojika had been one of his best friends. They were in the brigade together. They had that bond, right? And he just has him killed like is nothing. Around this time, too, the heat is really on.

And battle gets word of some high, level Peruvians who want to open up a casino down there. This is in 1992 and battle, since his Vanity's, he's always dreamed of running his own casino. So he moves down to Peru, opens up the casino in 1993. And it's kind of a disaster, right? There's money issues. It's very unprofessional stuff. They're stealing. Battle would do stuff like send hookers to the rooms of drunk government officials and secretly record them for blackmail purposes. I feel like you go, I feel like you go meta with that idea, right? You could tell high rollers, you're going to send hookers to their room and you're going to film them and then make it a thing.

I mean, that could be a good earner, right? Yeah, I don't. I don't know, man. I'm just going to move on. I'm just going to drink in. Somehow the casino. It's a success, though, somehow early on, right? Even though battle spends a lot of time just hiding out in his room, Coke to the Gills,

watching all three Godfather movies over and over, threatening to kill any employee who doesn't do as he wishes. I mean, dude is losing it. Room service will, like, forget his fries, and he's threatening to kill half the kitchen staff. Like, it's that level of incentive. I kind of want fries right now. By 1994, though, the casino is not really doing as great,

and battles even more out of control. He'd been a little under the radar there. He wasn't really operating under his own name, even though some people knew who he was. But an article in a Peruvian newspaper comes out, and it just lays the whole thing bare. battle starts having passport issues because of law enforcement pressure from the U.S. He ends up getting deported to Miami expecting to be arrested right away.

But the cops are still building the RICO case. By the end of 96, the Miami PD finally has enough to do a big raid on Al-Zepatole. They search the premises, they find all these papers and weapons and cash. Battle is hell without bail, but he's got bigger problems, right? His kidneys are failing, and he's just started doing dialysis. You know, a Coke problem in your 60s, it's going to have that effect. So gross. I mean, this is basically Scarface, but way grimer.

Kind of sad. Well, I mean, they're both sad movies. Like Scarface is not. The whole thing with people idolizing Scarface, like Scarface loses at the end. Like really quickly. Scarface is not a Christmas movement. Oh, no, no, that's die hard. Yeah, that's cool.

Yeah. But yeah, it does have Cuban scarf. I guess I completely forgot about the Scarface Cuban stuff. So, you know, it's, these things line up. They get him on a bunch of little chargers, but he's still only facing a year or two with good behavior, which is just, like, it's insane. Like, his lawyers must have been. incredible. Battle gets released after like only a year or two, you know, but there are some

shootouts in New York City around the same time involving his men. There's even more heat. Finally, the authorities do their job. It's dubbed Operation Corporate Raider, 170 detectives and sergeants, 66 federal agents, everyone gets arrested. All right. I mean, they got the code name right, finally. This is like, this is clown show from the feds. They spent what, like, two decades He's chasing this guy who's basically criminally insane. He's murdered like a million people. What are they doing? Yeah, I mean, it's pretty nuts how he got away with a lot of this.

I mean, he was smart. He and he had good lawyers and he had things backed up and probably had people coping and pleas and taking responsibility. According to our friends at Gangsters Inc. A great website on this sort of stuff. In 2004, Battle Senior, his son, Jr., and 21 other key aid members and associates were indicted in charge with five murders for arson. attacks resulting in eight deaths and more than $1.5 billion collected from drug trafficking,

bookmaking, and numbers records. It's a lot of cash. And that's another way to stay at prison, right? When you have that much money. Trial starts in February of 2006. Battle Jr. gets 15 years. Senior gets 20 years. Rids flips, but he kills himself after not getting a lighter sentence.

And Battle dies before his sentence can even really begin. He dies while he's locked up. his health problems get the best of him. So yeah, that is the story of the Cuban mafia and the corporation. And really, when you think about it, it's a story about friendship. Dale, get those applause on the game.

Yeah, no, I mean, but seriously, TJ English, he has this line in the beginning of the book that, that, you know, I really, really like this line. And it's quote, in the United States of America, the true melting pot has been organized crime. The process of becoming American

is rooted in gangsterism. And that's sort of like, you know, I think we don't just do American gangsters, but that's sort of, I think, how we cover organized crime as a melting pot. You know, it's not something that one people or one group are associated with, but it's actually really interesting to look at all the groups

that came to America and got started that way. Yeah. It's definitely something we'll be doing a lot more, I think, on coming episodes. Yeah, I think that's something that we like to do on this show, right? It's show how these things progress. And if battle stories tells us nothing, it's that, like, it's that progression

from, like, desperation, politics, immigration. I mean, it's just got everything. It's crazy. It's an insane story. It really, it really did. And hopefully you all made it this far. Thank you guys so much again.

We've given a lot of support lately. A lot of people listening. Patreon is rising. Patreon.com slash the podcast. We've got some fun stuff coming up there, I think. I'm going to, I'm going to pour myself another gin juice, actually. Yeah, you did great. Way better than I would have after.

four or five drinks. But thank you guys again. Until next episode, peace. Some follow the noise. Bloomberg follows the money because behind every headline is a bottom line. Whether it's the funds fueling AI or crypto's trillion dollar swings, there's a money side to every story. And when you see the money side, you understand what others miss. Get the money side of the story. Subscribe now at Bloomberg.com. Security program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling up, and audit dread? It's time for Vanta. Vanta automates security and compliance, brings evidence into one place, and cuts audit prep by 82%.

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