EPISODE · Sep 7, 2026 · 29 MIN
Revolver Era: How One Gun Defined Early Mafia Violence
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
The episode takes listeners back to the turn‑of‑the‑century streets of New York and Chicago, where cheap Colt revolvers shaped the lethal tactics of early organized crime. It examines how technology limited assassins to one shot per round, forced close‑quarters hits, and left witnesses able to identify shooters—citing cases like Herman Rosenthal’s murder—and explains why the revolver era set the stage for the rise of bootlegging syndicates and the modern Mafia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Revolver Era: How One Gun Defined Early Mafia Violence
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