The small-time mob figure who may have helped put John Gotti in jail
NEW YORK - A new podcast is taking a closer look at organized crime in New York City.
It's a story about the man who may have triggered a chain of events leading to the conviction of John Gotti.
To fully understand the impact of this story you have to turn the clock back to 1985 and the mob hit that changed everything.
The so called 'Boss of Bosses' of the Five Families, Paul Castellano, taken out in front of a steakhouse in Midtown, Manhattan.
A FOX reporter at the scene all those years ago, describing what law enforcement sources believe happened.
"So why bump him off? The answer, according to our law enforcement sources, lies in a long-simmering feud between two factions of the mob.
Gambino mob boss, John Gotti, was convicted of orchestrating the Castellano hit, years later.
It was testimony from his former underboss turned informant Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano and secret recordings that famously helped to put Gotti away.
On one of the recordings played in federal court, Gotti can be heard saying, "This is gonna be a Cosa Nostra 'til I die. Be it an hour from now, or be it tonight, or a hundred years from now when I'm in jail. It's gonna be a Cosa Nostra."
Gotti would eventually die in prison.
When he ordered the hit on Paul Castellano in 1985, Castellano was on trial for a case involving a car theft ring and a team of assassins.
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"So this crew is known for being very, very good at stealing cars, they had a stolen car operation that was unparalleled," said Celia Aniskovich.
Aniskovich is the host and producer of a new Investigation Discovery podcast called 'Mafia Tapes.'
"We're talking about loan sharking, we're talking about, really any racket you can think of you've ever heard of from the mob these guys were involved in. And I think that goes to, you know, New York in the 80s. We have in our first episode, you hear someone talk about you know, you want to do this, you got to see the boys, you want to do this, you got to see the boys. And the NYPD figured out around the time that about 10 cents of every dollar in New York City was going to the mafia in New York in the 80s."
And yet, the focus of her podcast isn't about the big flashy headlines and prominent figures in NYC organized crime.
Instead, it's about a man named Dominick Montiglio, who was born into a mafia family, but later became a key federal witness at that Castellano trial.
"If Dominick was known for anything, he is known for helping to bring down the Gambino mafia family. And some people will say that was a courageous decision. And other people will say Dominick Montiglio was a rat. And he is nothing more than a rat. And we have people saying both things in the series, and giving both opinions," she said.
The Mafia Tapes podcast series uncovers never before released recordings from Montiglio.
They highlight the personal struggles of a small-time mob figure, conflicted between a life of crime, commitment to his own family and ultimately choosing a different path that may have changed everything.
"If Dominick hadn't come in if he hadn't testified, what Paul Castellano have been where he was, would he have been killed? Would we have gotten to Gotti," Aniskovich said. "Is it possible that we wouldn't be talking about some of these things? If it wasn't for Dominick, I think we probably wouldn't. And I think the course of Mafia history may have looked very different."
The new series, Mafia Tapes, is out and available wherever you listen to podcasts.