Listen to the Clooney episode! Conan was pretty good, too, though better if you'd listened to Colbert first.
I listen to Micheal Franzese's podcast a lot too. Former capo in the columbo family. But sammy is such a damn good storyteller. I went down the rabbithole and listened to like 20 of these over the weekend. I laughed my ass off when he got to the story about the heart shaped bed and playboy apartment they hid in after the hit.
I just started the first one today and it hooked me immediately, but I love everything mafia related. I like the length, my commute is 20-30 min so it’s perfect for me to crack one out in a day or less
I do as well. I read a lot of the historical accounts and true crime books. Five families about 70 years in new York and the sixth family for the Montreal mafia are both top notch books. Both Donnie brasco books are great too.
I have a Colombo on my team at work - didn't give it a thought until he brought up his own father's connection to the mob side of the family. He laughs about it but crazy to think about how close he came to being sucked into that world/life.
on ep 3 now, I was so into it I missed my exit to go home on the highway and took the further one down that sends me to my old house. My brain was on autopilot
Either way let me know when you get to the part about red silk pajamas and a heart shaped bed. I near pissed myself laughing
None of his stories are in any kind of order lol. He starts season 2 talking about the legendary hit on Castelano for 2 episodes then the next episode he is talking about stories where he had to answer to Paul or ask Paul's permission for something. It's kind of a scattershot of his memories. But damn it's captivating. It's easy to forget what a total piece of shit human he is half the time, even if he did have more of a Cosa Nostra code before he flipped. Sammy was boss material, half gangster half white collar and John Gotti was a piece of shit bust up man and hijacker with no clue to the white collar part all around. I have to remind myself constantly sammy is a piece of shit because I hate admiring these guys, but it's captivating. Michael Franzese was less into the gangster part of the life and was more of a white collar criminal and he walked away from the life and became religious In the early 90s after serving time for his gasoline tax scam and nobody every connected him to any murders or the rough part of the life, not even with the hundreds of mob guys who flipped for light sentences. I'm less inclined to dislike him as a person. His podcast is fun too. He had Donnie Brasco/Joe pistone on a a guest. Even Mike Tyson on as a guest. And he has mob movie Mondays where he reviews movies and shows like the sopranos lol
Just realized. If you guys find 2 hours sometime, sammy initially did a 2 hour video interview before he realized there was a market for his stories. It's pretty deep. He goes into a lot of detail on why he ratted and how Gotti's dumb ass destroyed Cosa nostra beforehand and why he wasn't willing to take the fall for him, etc
Love it! Starting at the beginning also just helps me make sure I don't miss episodes. I seem to go through periods where I get super interested in all of this stuff - thanks for kicking me into that direction again. It usually comes after watching a really good mob movie or something like The Sopranos but there really hasn't been anything amazing in a couple of years in that genre.
a Bronx tale The godfather series Donnie Brasco Goodfellas sopranos would be a good place to start and crack out a few episodes here and there
Sopranos and Donnie Brasco has the confirmed most realistic dialogue., even if Sopranos is stuff that may never really happen lol . Godfather 1 and 2 is a classic must watch. Bad blood is excellent
I was actually thinking I'd start with Donnie Brasco. Of all the mob movies, it's probably my favorite and it's been years since I've seen it. I have to see if/where I have access to watch Sopranos. We used to have the DVD's but pretty sure we got rid of those when we moved to Seattle and I don't subscribe to HBO Max.
This Sammy the bull podcast is the most addictive thing I’ve ever heard. I’ve listened to nothing else all week, started season 2 this afternoon where they’re setting up the Castellano hit and back story
got to that part. It was pretty funny that a bunch of these hardened mob dudes didn’t want to sleep there in case they got popped and found in the sex room gravano is a total piece of shit and his need for constant adoration is fucking weird but the stories are so good.
The stories are good but would be horrible if it wasn't him telling them - ie: written down word for word and reading his stories from a book would be a bad read. It's enjoyable listening to him tell them, though. A lot of: - "I did this." - "I said ok." - "He did that." But in his voice and with his emphasis, it works.
Ay whaddya want from me huh? Go fuck yaself listening to an old gangster with that Brooklyn accent might be rubbing off
