MAN: Shake this square world and blast off for Kicksville.
NIXON: America's public enemy number one is drug abuse.
NANCY: Just say no.
MAN 2: The Mafia is a major player in the
international drug underworld.
MAN 3: At the end of the day, it's all about the dollar.
It's all about the dollar.
REAGAN: American people want the mob and its associates
brought to justice and their power broken.
HARRIS: There's now an understanding that the
War on Drugs was an abject failure.
MAN 4: You have to stop and ask yourself,
"How did we get here?"
♪ ♪
(fans cheering)
JIMMY D: When I was in college, we never lost a game.
The other teams would be exhausted by halftime and
we came out like it was the beginning of the game.
We just annihilated other people.
We could have beat anyone.
This feeling of being' on top of the world.
The football team went undefeated 'cause I had 'em
all methed up.
My name was on the lips of every student there.
Everyone on the college campus was wired up.
Everybody got straight As.
These other kids were ridin' the bus,
I had a brand‐new Cadillac.
JIMMY D: Long John became the methamphetamine king pin
in Philadelphia.
And he would step over your dead body if he was done with you.
His name was Long John because he had long pockets and short arms.
He'd rather eat his young than part with a buck.
MARTORANO: My name is George Martorano.
I'm the son of Long John Martorano.
My father's reputation was made in the meth business.
He made a lotta money.
Millions and millions and millions.
(laughs)
You don't become "Long John" by sellin' ice cream.
MARTORANO: It all started from our vending company
right in the neighborhood.
So he supplies, you know,
pinball machines, juke boxes, cigarette machines
to restaurants and other businesses.
He was a money maker, it was just unbelievable.
It wasn't a week go by that he didn't come up with another
idea how to make money.
GEORGE: Philadelphia's a blue‐collar town.
Meth was a drug that made you feel you could work really hard,
you could go for hours.
If I pop some meth, 16 hours in a flash won't
even affect me.
Meth was the preferred drug of choice for a lotta
different segments of the community.
Boom, it exploded.
JIMMY D: Long John offered to supply me with bags of a gram,
of a half a gram, of small quantities you sell
person‐to‐person.
Meth was such an addictive drug,
you got a line waiting around the corner to buy this.
JIMMY D: Long John was sneakin' his drug dealing on the side,
on the down low,
that's why he recruited kids like me so it couldn't get
back to the other Mob guys.
Long John would pay maybe 7, 8 grand for the pound, cut it,
put it out on the street, gross 30.
He'd walk away with $23,000, in three days.
GEORGE: Long John settles in Cherry Hill, New Jersey,
which is a very upscale suburban community.
And he became a very wealthy man.
He had summer homes.
He would go for long vacations with the family.
JIMMY D: He was flashy, jewelry. Flashy cars.
Money.
Everything in Long John's life was money.
LOU: But then there's something that money can't buy.
JIMMY D: He played himself up as the Godfather, the Don,
the Boss of Bosses.
But in fact, he wasn't a made guy.
LOU: By becoming a member of the Mob,
it is status.
It adds a special gravitas to your name.
JIMMY D: That's definitely Long John's goal in life.
That's why he had to impress Angelo Bruno.
GEORGE: Angelo Bruno, who emerged as the boss in 1959,
was a businessman.
Angelo Bruno was an entrepreneur.
Angelo Bruno understood the idea was to make money not headlines.
Long John was an earner.
That's why Bruno liked him.
He and Bruno kinda spoke the same language.
It's about money.
(pop)
MARTORANO: I remember one time we were havin' lunch.
It was me, my father and the Boss,
Angelo Bruno, at the table.
A big money guy on the streets came out with a wisecrack.
Your Boss got very upset.
My father picked up the sugar container and...
(thud and breaking glass)
That guy will never say a wisecrack again.
I think it cost him thousands of dollars to get
his teeth done.
Attempted killings, beatings.
My father would get up and do it himself.
And everyone knew that's what kinda man he was.
GEORGE: Angelo Bruno was one of the old school Mafia guys
who said drugs are forbidden and he saw drugs
as a dirty business.
Heavy law enforcement attention and if you deal drugs,
you're violating the principles of our organization.
MARTORANO: In the Mob you cannot sell drugs.
If you got caught with drugs,
you're gonna get the death penalty.
(sirens)
(overlapping radio chatter)
REPORTER: There is a major story tonight in Philadelphia.
Here's what's happening.
WOMAN: It's absolutely shocking here.
This is a gangland‐style killing,
certainly not something we expected to see in
Philadelphia tonight.
GEORGE: There's Angelo Bruno, the Boss, his mouth agape,
his head back on the seat of the car.
A hole in the back of Angelo Bruno's head.
And that's the end of Angelo Bruno's era,
right there on the streets in South Philly.
MAN: I know he was a good man. That's all I can tell ya.
WOMAN: Nice man to everybody that I know of.
MAN 2: The big thing I guess was that he would never be
involved in drugs around this neighborhood and now people
are wondering, you know, what's gonna happen,
is there gonna be a lot of drug traffic around here now?
REPORTER: There was a funeral in Philadelphia today
for Angelo Bruno.
It was well attended by his family,
friends and fellow Mob members.
(overlapping chatter)
It is even possible that the man who paid to have him
killed was there too.
LOU: The reason that Bruno was killed involved drugs.
You had these associates and drugs would be another revenue
source that they were being deprived of.
JIMMY D: There never was any proof of it,
but it's almost like Long John had something
to do with Bruno's murder.
MARTORANO: My father had nothin' to do with it.
He was very heart broke, very sad, very sad.
INTERVIEWER (over PA): Well, how would you characterize your
relationship or acquaintance with Mr. Bruno?
LONG JOHN (over PA): He was a very dear friend of mine, sir.
LOU: Nicky Scarfo was a psychopath.
What came first was violence as a tool to
enforce discipline to maximize profits.
His DNA was the bullet and he loved it.
LOU: What was Long John's first thing that he wanted to
know with respect to Scarfo?
He wanted to know what's your position with respect to drugs,
because this was his business.
JIMMY D: Scarfo was anti‐drugs out in the open,
but he certainly opened it up for Long John.
Nicky Scarfo wasn't gonna pay us up on all that money
Long John offered.
Scarfo turned a blind eye, got his cut of Long John's
business and allowed him really to explode
in the drug business.
JIMMY D: Long John stopped dealing finished product,
he just wanted the chemicals.
That's where the money was, it was fast turnover.
You didn't have to turn it into powder,
you just buy it and sell it.
The chemicals you need are P2P,
Phenyl‐2‐Propanone.
A pint of P2P will make one pound of pure methamphetamine.
The biggest problem is getting P2P.
RONALD: I felt that as a marketing major in college,
find a need and fill it.
I've been told I was the largest P2P seller
in the United States.
We had a large cocaine division,
but I liked the P2P business better because I was able to
control it from the source.
We were getting the large quantities from Germany.
We had it shipped into the Bahamas.
I purchased a yacht, we would load it up and come back to
Fort Lauderdale.
We'd pick up the shipment and bring it back to Philadelphia.
I liked the business, and I had no competition.
RONALD: Word had gotten out to Long John that we
were a source.
We would meet at a car wash.
Long John said,
"Look, I'd like you to sell P2P to a couple of my people
and we'll take care of any problems you have."
I sold 200 gallons to Long John's people.
RONALD: We could put 28 gallons in the trunk of a car
and deliver the car to them.
JIMMY D: Long John started selling me Raiton P2P which
was far and away better than anything on the street.
At this point I'm no longer dealing in a product,
I was full‐time meth cooker for the Pagan Motorcycle Gang.
Manufacturing meth was like havin' a good union job.
Philadelphia in my era was the meth capital of the world.
The Pagans distributed it all over the country.
LOU: Long John was an agent of destruction with respect to
the drugs that he was dealing in.
MAN: Leave me alone! Guys, leave me!
REPORTER: This man exhibits a very common reaction.
Anxious, agitated, disturbed and acutely frightened.
MAN: Oh I never hurt nobody!
WOMAN: The risk involved is death with speed.
Inevitably the result will be death.
JIMMY D: He had a lotta money,
but Long John still wanted to be a made man.
He had to impress Scarfo, so Scarfo ordered a hit.
It's your job, kill him.
I don't give a (bleep) how you do it.
Kill him.
♪ ♪
GEORGE: The Italian American Mob in Philadelphia
was Philadelphia‐based,
but it had tentacles into southern New Jersey,
as far east as the Atlantic City Resort.
LOU: In the late '70s where legalized gambling
came to Atlantic City,
this was like a treasure trove for the Mob.
JIMMY D: Atlantic City went from a ghetto to a very
powerful union city.
The Bartender's Union, the Waitress Union,
the Linen Union.
The Philadelphia Mob with Scarfo wanted to own those
unions 'cause then you could go to the casino Presidents,
tell 'em, "We're gonna have a strike unless you kick up to
us "X" amount of dollars annually."
It was big money.
JIMMY D: John McCullough was a union leader.
McCullough took control of the unions in Atlantic City and
he wouldn't go along with any of the Mob's plans
of working with them.
MARTORANO: John McCullough made the mistake getting his
eyes on Atlantic City.
All's I know he was told to keep out of Atlantic City.
He shoulda listened.
LOU: Scarfo goes to Long John, wants to set up McCullough,
you do the murder.
Long John's going to willingly accept that because this is
how he's going to prove himself with respect to
becoming a Mob member.
JUNIOR: People don't realize,
it takes a lotta balls to walk up and put a gun
up to someone's head.
(gunshot)
JUNIOR: I met Long John, he said,
"You got balls like an elephant.
Basically, we gotta piece of work to do.
I want you to do it, do a murder."
With a guy that's right next to the Boss, it's an honor to be asked.
I said, "All right, no problem."
JUNIOR: Got a box of flowers so I could lay the
piece and the silencer in there,
try and be like a dumb delivery guy.
We arranged to meet about 5:00 that night.
Long John, I think he had his gold Lincoln that day.
I got in the back, nodded at each other.
We proceeded over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge,
headin' towards Northeast Philadelphia.
Long John pointed out the house.
He turned around and sat a couple of houses down
in his car.
I got out with the flowers.
I went up, knocked on the door.
(knock)
As soon as John answered the door,
he looked at me just like you're lookin' at me and
I just put the silencer up to his forehead.
(silened gunshots)
It was over and that was that.
JUNIOR: Long John said, "Man, I love you, I love you."
He handed me $5,000 in cash and said,
"Listen, buy yourself some suits."
REPORTER: 60‐year‐old McCullough was gunned down
nine days before Christmas in his
Northeast Philadelphia home.
LOU: Delivery man kills him in front of his wife.
People were just absolutely stunned by that.
You wonder what is the darkness of the individual
who's a member of the Mob.
GEORGE: Long John got made and became an initiated member
because of that hit.
He was worthy of being part of the organization.
JIMMY D: He became Scarfo's number one man on the street.
JIMMY D: Long John definitely wanted to control
the whole business of meth in every aspect.
Someone won't cooperate, kill 'em.
We'll just take over his whole operation.
♪ ♪
OFFICER: We ready to rock 'n roll?
OFFICER 2: Yeah.
OFFICER: Have we got the equipment?
OFFICER 2: Yeah.
COOKE: This is a pretty dangerous operation.
So we are gonna be very careful about any of these
people that arm themselves in a panic.
(camera shutter)
(knock)
OFFICER 3: Hit it, hit it!
OFFICER 4: On the floor! On the floor!
On the ground!
OFFICER 5: Hands out, hands where I can see 'em!
Now! Hands behind your head.
COOKE: This is the dope that was found.
It was in a thermos container.
A little over 40 ounces.
MAN: There's probably at least,
probably 10,000 to 20,000 in there.
COOKE: Here we have Jesús Malverde,
patron saint of drug traffickers.
Our head honcho here is wearing some jewelry around
his neck with Jesús Malverde's picture on it.
So he's the real deal.
♪ ♪
LOU: Long John's ultimate goal was to be the sole
source of P2P in Philadelphia.
Whenever you have a monopoly over anything that's in demand,
you're gonna be able to control its price,
you're gonna become even more powerful.
RONALD: Steve Bouras was the head of the Greek Mafia in
Philadelphia and he was one of my larger customers.
He was Long John's main competition.
JIMMY D: Steve Bouras was a P2P supplier
all over the city.
He had his own gang, they were very successful.
It was multi‐million‐dollar money
and Long John wanted their action.
LOU: Long John gets close to Stevie Bouras.
Says, "Let's go to dinner." Your guard is down because
you're going to dinner in a public place.
JIMMY D: Long John brought his wife and Bouras brought a date.
(pop)
It's a social event.
During the dinner, two masked men came in.
The shooter himself motioned the gun to Long John
to sit back.
It was obvious they were working together.
(gunshots)
The shooter murdered Bouras and his date,
an innocent woman who just thought she was going
out to have dinner.
REPORTER: Reportedly present at the table when the shooting broke out,
Long John Martorano,
a business associate of the late crime boss Angelo Bruno.
JIMMY D: No‐one in their right mind would go to
dinner with Long John.
You talk about the last supper.
LOU: Long John's thinking is so twisted.
Who ends up committing a murder with family members in
attendance and then with the danger that you have a
civilian who ends up dead.
JIMMY D: The street business on it is,
the shooter was Long John's own son, Georgie Martorano,
which is a little hard to understand that he not only
murdered the girlfriend or the date,
an innocent bystander,
by he did it in front of his own mother.
MARTORANO: They tried to say I was involved in it,
but I wasn't.
My father he was capable of orchestrating anything
if he wanted to.
MARTORANO: Me and my father,
we knew the family of the woman that got killed.
We actually went to her house and consoled the family and
make sure they had any kinda funds they needed for the funeral,
had coffee with them.
And that was it.
The next day it was onto business.
My father probably got all his customers.
They can't buy from a dead guy,
they're gonna buy from a living guy.
You know, it's the name of the game.
♪ ♪
RONALD: We met sitting on the park bench.
We talked about P2P and that I was selling too much
to other people.
Long John wanted to be my only customer.
He said he wants to buy 52 gallons of P2P from me.
I said okay, and we made arrangements to meet again.
RONALD (over speaker): First of all,
this is what it'll cost.
RONALD: I was wearing a wire.
There were several FBI agents watching us.
I was thrilled to be participating.
I wanted out of the business.
♪ ♪
RONALD: I got arrested on a cocaine distribution charge.
The punishment could be five years in prison.
I thought I could make a deal.
I met two agents from the FBI,
I gave 'em a list of my customers and they were very
interested in Long John.
LOU: Raiton had the criminal credentials to be able to meet
with Long John Martorano.
He was a prize as far as the FBI was concerned.
RONALD: They got back to me and said,
"Look, if you wear a wire, we'll make a deal with you."
I would be free, and I'd be out of the business.
LOU: So they set the meet up for Rittenhouse Square.
The city has all these different beautiful squares,
Rittenhouse Square is one of them.
MARTORANO: The FBI needed where they can get him on film
and what better place than an open park?
RONALD: I sat down on the bench where
Long John was sitting.
LOU: Now, this is something out of the movies, all right.
There's $100,000 he has in a shoebox in 1981.
That would be the equivalent of more than a quarter of a million dollars
in a shoebox.
RONALD: I gave him the keys to the van with 52 gallons
of P2P in it.
Told him where the van was parked, and I left.
I walked out with the shoebox of money.
(camera shutter)
LOU: The FBI's takin' pictures of this whole thing.
Long John's arrested.
His P2P empire came crashing down.
MARTORANO: He told me that very night.
"I'm bein' indicted."
He was very upset with himself,
very upset 'cause he felt he made a mistake,
and he wasn't a man to make a lotta mistakes.
GEORGE: From Long John's perspective,
you wanna remain in good standing with the organization
because they gotta have your back when you're in jail.
They gotta watch out for your family when you're away,
so he's gonna stay active even though he's under indictment.
MARTORANO: I gotta give it to my father.
No matter what happened he had no fear,
he had no fear of anything.
And sometimes that works against you.
He was out on bail,
but while he was out on bail Nicky Scarfo
and my father wanted a tax from the Pagan.
The Pagans would have to pay tens of thousands of dollars
if they wanted to exist in the speed
business in Philadelphia.
JIMMY D: When he attempted to pass a street tax onto the
Pagans that was not tolerable.
I figured that a dynamite vest on his son Georgie
would get my point across.
A Pagan grabbed up Georgie with three other Pagans,
put the vest on him, said,
"Georgie this is what we're gonna do to you til
your father comes around."
MARTORANO: They kidnapped me and they throw me in this van.
I don't know why I'm being kidnapped.
All I know is I'm lookin' at this kid and he has
a kill switch in his hand.
And he says, "Anybody comes nears us,
we're all gonna get blown up."
JIMMY D: Georgie called up Long John and told him
that we had a dynamite vest on him and if things
didn't go our way, we were gonna use it.
(sirens)
JIMMY D: Long John lost his mind when he thought he could
shake down the Pagan Motorcycle Club.
The dynamite vest on his son Georgie,
I guarantee you I got Long John's fullest attention.
MARTORANO: You're not dealin' with mental giants,
a lotta these bikers they're all high as kites, you know,
they're all methed out and it was pretty bad.
JIMMY D: Within an hour, Long John had $10,000
delivered to me to show that he was serious about stopping this.
About getting that vest off his son.
MARTORANO: Listen, sometimes you win,
sometimes you lose.
Thank God I'm here to live to tell about it.
REPORTER: Reputed mobster, Raymond "Long John" Martorano,
accused of being a key figure in a half a billion dollar
drug ring, is facing Federal charges of conspiracy and
possession of the drug P2P,
which is an ingredient used in methamphetamine.
RONALD: I had no problem testifying against him.
I just knew which side I was on,
so I did whatever I had to.
LOU: All the things that Raiton represented with
respect to his criminal past,
that he was a huge distributor of P2P.
His credibility was attacked and rightfully so.
RONALD (over speaker): First of all, this is what it costs.
LOU: Then on the other hand,
you had the power of the recorded conversations.
RONALD (over speaker): I'll have it for you in four weeks.
LOU: We built the case around the surveillance of
the FBI agents.
We built the case around the seizure of the P2P.
We exposed Long John for what he is,
a drug dealer.
JIMMY D: At the time they had parole,
so he was looking at maybe six or seven years.
He could do that much time standin' on his head.
MARTORANO: I mean, he didn't lose no sleep over it.
He did good time just like that.
Had all the food he wanted.
Everything was okay, no trouble.
He didn't know what was coming.
REPORTER: The District Attorney's Office in
Philadelphia is processing the warrants right now for
reputed mobster Raymond "Long John" Martorano
accused of murdering Philadelphia Roofers Union
President John McCullough.
JUNIOR: I testified in court in 1983 against
Long John Martorano.
It's packed with press, wall‐to‐wall,
people fighting to get seats.
It was pretty big news.
MARTORANO: My dad did not think he was invincible,
he just knew that you took the shots,
you did what you did,
and you went to jail and he wound up with life.
GEORGE: Long John made phenomenal amounts of money
in the meth business.
But he got too full of himself and that was his demise.
LOU: When you're dealing in drugs to the amount that he
was dealing in and the destruction that that imposes
on the community,
I believe Long John's legacy is an example of the
destructive powers of the Mob.
(sirens)
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.
(sirens)