Why are thrillers and police procedurals so popular on TV and in books? Because everyone likes a good story to solve. Detectives look over files, interviews, and signs over and over again, putting together a puzzle of what-ifs and alibis until everything fits together perfectly and the big picture becomes clear. Police use a lot of different methods to find criminals, but sometimes even the most modern techniques aren’t enough, and the case is almost impossible to solve.
US Criminals Who Helped Solve Crimes
John Martorano
John Martorano was a seasoned criminal and hitman who only got 12 years in jail for admitting to killing 20 people after making a deal with the police to help them. Martorano was asked to testify against his old partner in crime, James “Whitey” Bulger. Bulger was charged with 19 murders in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as extortion, drug trafficking, and running illegal companies.
Joseph Valachi
Unofficially, Joseph Valachi was the first person to say that there is an Italian-American mob like the one we know today. Before he joined the Genovese family of criminals, he was a part of Salvatore Maranzano’s group. Valachi was an important part of their business there and knew a lot about how they worked.
For 15 to 20 years, he would be locked up on drug charges even though he was a cruel killer and a mob enforcer. So, he thought again about the choices he had made in his life. After getting into a fight with Genovese and killing a guy he thought was there to kill him, Valachi lied to the police and turned state witness.
Frank Calabrese Jr.
Because he was involved in a murder-related racketeering plot, Frank Calabrese Sr., who is the father of Frank Calabrese Jr., was given a life term and told to pay $24 million in restitution to the families of the murder victims. The most interesting thing about this story is that his son, Calabrese Jr., was the one who finally blamed him.
Callabrese Jr. turned things around while he and his father were locked up in Milan for a loan shark plan. He was done with being in the mob for good. Calabrese Jr. wrote a letter in which he said he was ready to help keep his father in jail. That set things in motion.
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Frank Lucas
Frank Lucas was a drug lord in the 1970s. He was also made famous by Denzel Washington in a movie. Heroin was his drug of choice. Of course, not every man is strong enough to take on the mob, let alone something as complicated as a drug ring. But Lucas found a way, and the trade now makes him almost $1 million a day.
Lucas brought drugs into the United States in the graves of dead soldiers who were coming back from Vietnam. He then sold the drugs on the streets of the city. But in the end, it all fell apart when he was caught and given a 70-year prison sentence for his crimes.
Sammy Gravano
Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano was a notorious gangster who was born during the “golden age” of the gang. He got his nickname when he was young and got into a fight with two bigger boys over his bike. After that, there was only one way to get to the gang. Gravano was a famous gangster and underboss of the Gambino Family for many years. He took part in hits and enforced mob rules in a way that only a real gangster can.
However, there is tension in every group. When the government changed, John Gotti, the notorious mob boss, and Gravano were both charged with racketeering, which Gotti said was Gravano’s fault. Gravano felt duped, so he broke the one rule that could get him killed: he agreed to testify against Gotti.
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