This week's guest is Scott Deitche, author of "Cigar City Mafia" and numerous other books about the mob. He shares details and stories about the Mafia's involvement in Florida politics and gambling. The Mob was big in Tampa and South Florida, starting in the 1930s when they moved in on the locals who were bootlegging and running the bolita racket during Prohibition. In the 1950s, when the Kefauver Committee held hearings here, Senate investigators found mob influence in everything from the dog tracks to the sheriffs and even the governor's office.
Craig Pittman is the award-winning author of Oh, Florida!: How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country, The Scent of Scandal, Cat Tale, Manatee Insanity and The State You’re In, and co-author of Paving Paradise. Born in Pensacola, he graduated from Troy State University in Alabama, where his muckraking work for the student paper prompted an agitated dean to label him “the most destructive force on campus.” Since then he has covered a variety of newspaper beats and quite a few natural disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires and the Florida Legislature.
