EPISODE · Sep 7, 2026 · 12 MIN
Runways & Rackets: How the Mafia Built America’s Airports
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 explores how organized crime infiltrated major airport projects across the U.S. and abroad—from New York’s Port Authority and Teamsters Local 103 at JFK to foreign examples in Sydney and Berlin—using construction bribery, labor racketeering, and cargo logistics to funnel illicit profit into legitimate infrastructure. Through court records, wiretaps and congressional testimony we trace the chain from union officials to mafia bosses and see how federal prosecutions began to pry apart this hidden network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Runways & Rackets: How the Mafia Built America’s Airports
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