Inside the Life

Long inspired by his father, a Harlem NYPD detective, and confronted by the 1970s heroin epidemic in New York City which affected many of his young-adult peers returning from the Vietnam War, Lew Rice found his calling with the Drug Enforcement Administration in 1974. In this episode, Rice describes his journey with the DEA, highlighting his undercover experiences and how he worked his way through the ranks to supervisory roles, al...

Best known for his role as Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero on HBO’s hit series “The Sopranos,” Giovanni and Dutch welcome actor Vincent Pastore to Inside the Life. In this episode, Vincent, Giovanni and Dutch chop it up, discussing everything from Pastore’s career in the music and nightlife industry, his experience living and working around New York Mob-types, how he landed his role on “The Sopranos” to Giovanni’s infiltration of...

One of the DEA’s first female undercover agents, Patricia Naughton sits down with Giovanni and Dutch to talk about her experience inside the life. While bonding over the risks they were all willing to take, Naughton describes how she went from small narcotics buys as a city police officer to infiltrating outlaw motorcycle clubs and the Detroit Mafia as a woman in the 1980s. During an incredibly violent era in Detroit's history, Nau...

In a rare interview, John Gleeson, the former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, shares his experiences as a prosecutor in the government’s 1986 and 1992 cases against Gambino crime family boss John Gotti. Sitting down with co-hosts Dutch and Giovanni, Gleeson gives listeners a behind-the-scenes look into how he and the government crafted the case against Gotti and his co-defendants, why they risked indic...

Power, money, greed and image – Sal Polisi’s firsthand experience as a Colombo associate during the Mafia’s height in 1970s New York City is a testament to the Mob’s violence and disregard for public safety. In this episode, Polisi tells host Giovanni Rocco how after years of committing crimes with the Colombo and Gambino crime families, he became disillusioned during a stint in the Lewisburg Penitentiary. Though he was never a mad...

In this episode, co-hosts Dutch McAlpin and Giovanni Rocco speak with television and film creator, writer and producer Chris Brancato. As the showrunner of organized crime television dramas “Narcos” and “Godfather of Harlem,” Brancato explores the unique influence of organized crime on popular culture. In this episode, Brancato shares how he strategically combines real events with his own creative liberties to shape the alluring di...

Actress Kathrine Narducci offers hosts Giovanni Rocco and Dutch McAlpin a firsthand look into the world of Mob television and film. Exploring her work as an actress, Narducci shares how she beat out more than 2,500 women for her first role, the backstory she created for her character on “The Sopranos,” the surprise of her “Euphoria” character’s viral look and details about her upcoming projects.  

About Kathrine Narducci:

Narducci ...

Javier Peña, the retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent whose fight to take down Medellín Cartel kingpin Pablo Escobar was dramatized in Netflix’s “Narcos,” sits down with hosts Giovanni Rocco and Dutch McAlpin to share the real story of his career. After starting his law enforcement career in a Laredo, Texas jail, Javier Peña never expected the world’s most violent drug trafficker would know him by name and put a $300,000 b...

Reformed mobster and son of notorious Chicago Outfit enforcer and hitman Frank Calabrese Jr. sits down with former undercover agents Giovanni Rocco and Dutch McAlpin to share his story of family, violence, addiction and life inside the Chicago Outfit. In this candid conversation Calabrese Jr. shares the intimate details surrounding his decision to leave the world his father pressured him into and how he risked his life to escape.  

Narcotics trafficking is a global problem. Agents who are sent to fight it can find themselves deep undercover on foreign soil. In this episode, hosts Dutch McAlpin and Giovanni Rocco sit down with retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent Frank Panessa. Frank was at the center of the case known as the “Pizza Connection," during which he infiltrated the Mafia. As former undercover agents themselves, Giovanni and Dutch are able ...

Who can you trust? In this captivating episode, hosts Giovanni Rocco and Dutch McAlpin discuss how their undercover work intersected at the most opportune and dire times, including an unforgettable Las Vegas dinner with a DeCavalcante crime family caporegime. 

Produced by The Mob Museum.

Season One of Inside the Life is presented by Levy Online and Levy Production Group.

To watch episodes of this podcast, visit YouTube

For behind-...

Welcome to Inside the Life, a podcast produced by The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. In this episode of Inside the Life, we introduce host and former elite undercover agent Dutch McAlpin. Dutch’s harrowing accounts offer a rare glimpse inside law enforcement, from his early years as a beat cop to the top-clearance, confidential world of undercover work. 

About Dutch McAlpin:

Often working in...

Welcome to Inside the Life, a podcast produced by The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. In this episode, meet host and elite undercover agent Giovanni Rocco. Through Operation Charlie Horse, Rocco was responsible for infiltrating and taking down the DeCavalcante crime family now recognized as “The Real Sopranos.”

About Giovanni Rocco:

During his decades-long career working undercover for the fe...

Inside the Life is a new podcast produced by The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. It is hosted by two former elite undercover agents, Giovanni Rocco and Dutch McAlpin. Their stories of infiltrating everything from the American Mob and outlaw motorcycle gangs to the cartels will leave you stunned. This podcast will give listeners a one-of-a-kind look into the inner world of organized crime, ...