EPISODE · Sep 8, 2026 · 16 MIN
Hoover’s Blind Spot: The FBI Before the Mafia Crackdown
from A History of the American Mafia Podcast: Organized Crime, Mob Families, Bosses, Gangsters, Prohibition, Criminal Trials, and the Rise of La Cosa Nostra · host Podily & Josh Linsk
This episode explores how, in the 1920s‑30s, J. Edgar Hoover and the fledgling FBI largely ignored the burgeoning American Mafia—focusing instead on bank robbers, kidnappings, and political radicals—and how landmark events like the Apalachin meeting and Joe Valachi’s testimony eventually forced a federal reckoning with La Cosa Nostra. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Hoover’s Blind Spot: The FBI Before the Mafia Crackdown
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