CrimeTown

Season 1 Providence Rhode Island I never really knew this being from out West, but it turns out that Providence has a little bit of a "crime problem," Listening to this show felt like they needed Batman. It starts out talking about Buddy Cianci who was a radio DJ who decided he loved his city so much that he was going to run for mayor. And he won was the mayor for almost 10 years and then was forced to resign and then 7 years later decided to run again and won! Can you imagine impeaching someone and then re-electing them? But this guy was also on the team of prosecuters in the trial legendary mob boss Raymond Patriarca so that made him a hero so people love him. But it turns out that Buddy was loyal to his friends even if his friends weren't on "the right side of the law" After establishing the kind of shining example the mayor was they started telling us about some of the other player in the mob. This is the kind of story that makes being affiliated with the mob exciting. These guys started as kids and they are making more money than they could imagine with connections and favors added in. All they had to do was steal and occasionaly kill a person or 2. Ok wait, that last part sounds terrible! But this is where the "mob mentality" comes in. If someone who is taking care of you wants you to do something and you think you owe them, you're more likely to cross those lines. And then there is the truth that the kill is just a part of the game, meaning don't hate the player hate the game. It's like when you're playing any sport and someone gets hurt. You can't feel bad because it's just part of what everyone signed up for. So just like Gotham, it becomes harder to tell the good people from the bad people. Something about power corrupts? This podcast is weird because the episodes switch from following Mayor Buddy to introducing another criminal. I think this is a good way to show how convoluted this town was at this time. Buddy isn't the only one playing both sides either. This story is 26 episodes long and therefore 26 examples of different kinds of corruption. It makes me wonder if all of this is still going on... I remember I had a friend at my last job who told me a story about his old town in Ohio and I made a mafia joke and he got legitimately mad at me saying not to joke about that. Does this still happen? I would think that the way of the world is that people can't hide anymore. But it's not like crime doesn't happen anymore. I don't know but I guess I hope I never find out it's still going on.