Nicky Barnes: Mr Untouchable | The Council | 3

This episode contains descriptions and details that some listeners might find disturbing. Listener discretion is advised. It's a sunny afternoon in late winter 1977.

At Harlem River Motors in the Bronx, Robert Geronimo is hanging out with his buddies, talking about cars, women and money. It's been a few months since the federal government recruited Robert to help them get evidence of Nicky Barnes' drug empire.

Since then, he's grown more used to the idea of keeping secrets from his friends. It's slow going, though. Despite what he told the agents, Robert doesn't have a solid in with Nicky.

He's been trying to find a way to get closer to him and his partners, so he can catch them on tape saying something incriminating. That's why he asked his buddy, Wally Fisher, to help him score some heroin last year.

He was hoping to bring himself one step closer to Wally's brother, Guy. That didn't go anywhere, though, and Robert's been looking for a new foothold ever since.

As Robert lifts the hood of his own car to find something to work on, the rumble of a motor grabs his attention. He leans out from behind the hood to take a look at the shiny new Corvette Stingray that's just pulled into the yard.

The yellow paint gleams from every surface of the two-seater. The driver's side door opens and Wally unfolds himself from the seat, a wide grin splitting his face.

Robert heads over with the other fellas to offer their congratulations on the new wheels. Wally proudly tells them that everyone he knows is jealous. Even Jazz wants one like it, he says.

Now, hearing that, the wheels in Robert's head start turning. Joseph Hayden, who goes by Jazz, is another one of Nicky's partners in his drug syndicate. And if Robert can help him get something he wants, then that could score him big points.

Jazz has plenty of money and could probably buy himself a few different Corvettes without even thinking about it. But Robert's pretty sure he'd prefer to get one at a good price.

So he pulls Wally aside to tell him that his Uncle D, the guy Wally hooked up with Powder last year, can get Jazz set up with a vet. Wally looks interested, but Robert really wants to sell it. He keeps going, promising that his uncle is a big deal.

He can get cars, launder money, whatever a guy like Jazz might need. Wally nods sagely. He likes the sound of that and says he'll pass Uncle D's info along to Jazz.

Robert can't believe how easy that was. This might finally be the break he's been searching for. Who knows?

He might be about to help bring down Mr. Untouchable himself. From Airship and Evergreen Podcasts, I'm Jeremy Schwartz and this is American Criminal.

3:38

In 1972, Nicky Barnes formed a crime syndicate with a group of four other drug dealers, Frank James, Wally Rice, Ishmael Muhammad, and Thomas Gaps Foreman.

They called themselves The Council, and they were bound by their common experience in the drug trade, their shared Islamic faith, and a desire to take control of heroin distribution in New York.

Each of them had their territory, and each of them swore to respect their fellow members. At first, five members of the council seemed fitting. After all, the flow of heroin into the city had been dominated by the five families for decades.

Having five black men challenged that status quo within Harlem felt poetic. But Nicky made the decision to add two more men to the group. The sixth member was Joseph Hayden, or Jazz, to his friends.

He and Nicky had grown close in Greenhaven, and when Jazz got out, Nicky gave him a package of heroin on consignment. When Jazz proved himself capable of running his operation without a fuss, Nicky invited him to join the Council.

Their seventh member came to them through Nicky's girlfriend Thelma, who introduced him to Guy Fisher. He was a young kid, but ambitious. He already had a solid operation, but couldn't get his hands on enough powder to take it to the next level.

Nicky liked his confidence and gave him a chance like he did with Jazz. When that worked out, Guy was welcomed to the team too.

With that, The Council was complete, and they could get to work getting drugs into the hands of their more than eager customers. This is episode 3 in our 4 part series on Leroy Nicky Barnes, The Council. It's January 27th, 1973 in Astoria, Queens.

39-year-old Nicky Barnes sits opposite his old friend Matty Madonna in a booth at a quiet diner.

It's late enough that there aren't a lot of other customers in the joint, but there's a couple finishing their meal a few tables away, so Nick and Matty keep their voices down.

Over cups of coffee, they discuss guys that they both know from Greenhaven State Prison, Matty's older brother Frank, and the next Celtics game that's on the TV in the corner.

When they've finished their coffee, Matty throws a few bills on the table and both men stand to go. The restaurant is empty, so there's less need for caution out. Still, they are careful.

Matty reaches out to shake Nick's hand, slipping a car key into his palm. It's a blue Ford Granada, he says, parked at 120 Overlook. Just like that, 30 kilograms or about 66 pounds of heroin has changed hands.

And in less than a day, it'll be on the streets of New York City, making Nicky Barnes and his associates very, very rich.

6:43

Once he brought them all together, Nicky wanted the members of the council to agree to certain rules. First, they had to show respect. No using derogatory language about each other for any reason.

Same goes for women. They had to respect them. And the wives, girlfriends and mistresses of members were off limits to one another.

They also needed to do business honestly. There was to be no making a profit off other council members by selling a product at a markup. As for the drugs they sold, all suppliers had to be approved by the group.

And it just so happened that the council came together right around the time that Matty Madonna was released from prison. Once he was back in New York, he sent word that he wanted to meet with Nicky.

In the past, Nick had used Matt's older brother, Frank, as a supplier. But now, Matty was ready to step into that role. He was going to be bringing in shipments of 200 kilograms at a time, which would be worth 5 million to him.

Once he offloaded that powder, dealers were free to dilute it, mark it up and sell it for whatever profit they could get. The potential earnings on shipments this big were astronomical and Nick wanted in.

He brought Matty's proposal to the Council and everyone agreed they go in on this together. Where the powder was going to come from, they didn't know. Could have been from Europe or South America, maybe even Asia.

It didn't really matter. All they knew was that it was going to be some of the best stuff available in the city and it would be all theirs. After leaving that diner in Queens, Nicky has the key to a car with 30 kilos of heroin in the trunk.

But he's not planning on picking it up himself. He's got enough experience to know not to get caught driving around with that kind of package in the trunk.

And he understands the importance of putting several levels of people between himself and his product. Matty taught him that when they were in Greenhaven together.

So instead of collecting the car himself, Nicky drives to a quiet street where he meets his top guy, Kurt Millett. He hands Kurt the key, tells him the address and what kind of car he's looking for.

Then Nick heads back to his penthouse apartment in Washington Heights to watch the rest of the Knicks game. From there, the heroin begins its winding journey to get into the hands of the Council's drug addicted customers.

Kurt picks up the Ford and drives it to an auto garage in Hackensack, New Jersey. A whole state line between the guys in the Council and the drugs they sell. Kurt splits up the 31 kilogram bags into seven different packages.

Nicky's is the largest share by far since he's running the biggest operation. The rest are handed off to the lieutenants of the other Council members. What they do with it is none of Nick's business.

He's got his system in place and that's what matters to him. Kurt takes Nicky's share to an apartment in Fort Lee. A young middle class couple live in the apartment which Nicky pays for.

In exchange for free accommodation, they're responsible for cutting the heroin. Nick dilutes his powder with a laxative that gives it a fluffy texture and a drug called quinine, which he thinks adds a hot flash at the moment of injection.

In his mind, both are the mark of a quality product. The couple use playing cards to mix these two additives into the powder Kurt hands them. After a few hours, they've turned each of Nicky's kilograms into nine.

And his product is known to be relatively strong compared to the other stuff on New York streets. So who knows how much other people are cutting theirs.

Anyway, once the job's done, Kurt takes what is now about 140 kilograms or just over 300 pounds to a tenement apartment in Upper Harlem. Inside are 10 women related to Nicky's girlfriend, Thelma.

Her brother is there too, standing guard with a sawed-off shotgun. When Kurt arrives, the women take off their clothes, put on surgical masks, and get to work scooping the powder into small glassine bags.

The bags are sealed with black tape, that's Nicky's signature. And then they're bundled into brown paper grocery sacks. This is a long process.

It takes the women about a full day of working to get the entire delivery ready for distribution. Then the women wipe down and vacuum the apartment, while Kurt takes the grocery bags to his car.

He drives to the Bronx and passes the key to one of Nicky's dealers, who drives the car to another spot, takes one of the sacks from the trunk, and passes the key to another guy.

So on and so forth until each bag of bundled heroin is distributed among Nicky's 10 street dealers. Then the car comes back to Kurt, and he drives it home to sleep. Each of the individual bags of cut heroin sells for about $70 on the street.

In 2026 money, that's about $530. And these bags sell fast. A week after he met with Matty Madonna to receive the key to the Ford Granada, Nick hooks up with him again.

This time, Matt hands over the key to a different car with a fresh 30 kilo batch. In exchange, Nicky passes over a key of his own to a Buick Skylark containing $750,000 on the trunk. Today, that number would be about $5.7 million.

And that's just for the first 30 kilos of heroin. Matty's bringing in shipments of 200 kilos and doling it out week by week. The Council makes their way through the entire shipment, paying Matty $5 million for the merchandise.

The profit they make on the product is more than $20 million. And by the time they receive that shipment, the next one is already on its way. It's an endless cycle that sees the streets of New York turn white with powder.

Now remember, this is at a time when the US government is pumping more and more resources into fighting drug use in America. It was only about two years ago that President Nixon declared drug use public enemy number one.

The authorities are doing whatever they can to combat the issue, but they're fighting a losing battle. And with every passing day, Nicky Barnes' reputation evolves.

For years, he's been a notorious figure to police and federal drug agents, and he's been renowned among Harlem's drug users for selling high-quality heroin. But now, now he's becoming a minor cultural figure in his own right.

It's not just his customers that know who Nicky is, it's just about everyone in Harlem. Decades before the idea of quiet luxury will become de rigueur among the wealthy, his cars draw attention, and his designer clothes pull focus wherever he goes.

He's also building enough clout to stand up to other dealers who feel like they can set a foot in Harlem. In the summer of 1973, he's at a favorite bar when two Mafia soldiers step inside to threaten a low-level dealer who's 15 grand in the hole.

Nicky doesn't like that. He and the Council created their crime syndicate to make money on the streets they grew up on, and now an Italian family is trying to rough people up right in front of him?

A few days later, Nicky sits down with an Italian supplier he does occasional business with. He's got a message for this guy to take back to his superiors, to his underlings, to anyone in the five families, really. It's a simple one.

Italians aren't allowed to have a physical presence in Harlem anymore. They're suppliers only. If they have a problem that needs handling, they're to come to Nicky and he'll deal with it.

But while Nick's laying down the law within his territory, he's also dealing with a lot of heat from the actual law. Like I said, he's living a flashy lifestyle, and the authorities are certain that he's making his money by selling drugs.

So they've been tailing him pretty much around the clock since the start of 73. And for the most part, he treats it like it's a game.

He'll take his car out for long winding drives through the city, making sudden stops at bars, clubs, sandwich shops, garages. Anywhere he gets the urge to pull over and say hey to someone.

He's messing with the cops assigned to follow him, sure, but he's also sending them a message. I know you're there. Their presence becomes more than a little annoying at the end of August that year.

On the 30th, he arrives home from a trip out of state and calls Thelma from the airport. She's supposed to pick him up, but she's at home with their baby and it's sweltering hot. There's a blackout across the city.

She doesn't want to walk down the stairs from her penthouse carrying an infant. So he tells her to stay cool and he'll just take a cab home. Well, wouldn't you know it, the phone in Nicky's penthouse has been tapped for months.

So investigators overhear this conversation and figure that was some kind of coded message. The next morning, Nicky's in his garage, about to get into his car when he's surrounded by NYPD officers, who produce a warrant to search the apartment.

Upstairs in the penthouse, they find $50,000 in cash in a dresser drawer, half a dozen guns and a partially smoked joint in the bathroom. The cop who finds the joint holds it up in triumph.

They're certain they've caught the King of Harlem, but they're dead wrong.

16:55

It's early September 1973, a day or two after Nicky Barnes was arrested on weapons and drug charges at his girlfriend's penthouse in Washington Heights. Now, he's at a different penthouse, the one he shares with his wife, Sister.

And she's mad, mad about his mistress, mad about the drugs and the cops, and she's done. A couple of hours ago, she picked Nicky up from jail, where he posted bail, money funneled through his local church.

Now, sisters storming around their bedroom, packing first her cosmetics, then a Louis Vuitton suitcase with designer clothes. Nicky follows her around the apartment as she does this, telling her she's not gonna leave him.

He suggests that they take Check a night... or two off. Check into the four seasons while a contractor comes to fix the door the cops busted down when they came to search the place.

But Sista won't be swayed. She takes off her diamond wedding band and drops it on the kitchen counter. Then she walks out that splintered front door for the last time.

Nicky will never see her again. Nick's not the only one in his organization with a turbulent romantic life. And parts of this are about to sound like storylines from a primetime soap, but stick with me.

Nicky's top lieutenant, Kurt, is married, but he's been seeing a woman on the side. Her name is Lucky, and she figures she can do better. So she starts dating a woman, Judy, which 36-year-old Kurt doesn't really like.

See, he pays for the apartment Lucky lives in, and he confronts her at a crowded club one night in late February, 1974, to tell her she can't be living with the woman in his apartment.

When Lucky tells him that it's her place, Kurt loses his temper and punches her. Humiliated and in pain, Lucky goes back to the apartment, grabs Judy and splits, taking with her about $33,000 that Kurt has stashed in one of the closets.

And that is a mistake. Because that money isn't just Kurt's. It belongs to the Council.

And they don't like their money being stolen. So when they find out, Nicky initiates a low key search for Lucky and Judy. He wants the cash back, but he doesn't want a bunch of people to know what's happened.

Frank though, is mad as hell and he's eager to prove his manhood. So he wants everyone to know that he's hunting the women. Obviously, this backfires.

Lucky and Judy hear that they're in danger and get out of town. Where they head to, no one seems to know. And because Frank's made his vendetta very public knowledge, the Council now has to do something in order to save face.

So when the group next meets in early March, Frank announces that he wants to go after Lucky's brother, a guy named Clifford Haynes.

Frank figures that Cliff will know where his sister's gone, and once he gets that info, he intends to kill both of the women. Every member of the Council votes to authorize the murders. Except Nicky.

He's annoyed to have lost that money, but none of them have been endangered by the theft. He tells them they can go after Cliff, but the end goal is just to get the money back, not killing anyone. Unfortunately, that doesn't go according to plan.

On March 8th, Kurt and Freddie, another of Nick's guys, go to Cliff's apartment in the Bronx. They put a plastic bag over Cliff's head, and when he won't tell them where his sister is, Freddie stabs him with a kitchen knife.

That's the story Nicky tells, at least. It's possible things happened differently, though. Perhaps this Freddie guy wasn't actually there, and it was someone else who did the stabbing.

I say that because when Cliff's eventually found, he's rushed to the nearest hospital. There, he allegedly makes a dying declaration that he was attacked by Kurt Mullett and Nicky Barnes. No mention of anyone named Freddie.

But Cliff isn't able to offer much more insight than that. He dies that same day, age 31. The cops spend the next month looking for Kurt, and eventually pick him up on April 11th.

And the same day, they announce to the media that they're looking to charge Nicky Barnes with murder too. Nicky's got no intention of taking the fall for this crime. He says he didn't commit, so he uses an alias to check into a New Jersey hotel.

He spends the next couple of days making arrangements for what will happen when he's eventually arrested. He knows it's inevitable, and he doesn't want things to fall apart when he's in custody.

Most importantly, he has Guy meet with Matty Madonna to take over the receipt of shipments for a while. Then on May 11th, Nick's arrested and charged at his penthouse in Riverside. He's held on $100,000 bail, which would be about $700 grand today.

And Reverend Samuel Windham steps forward to pay it with cash, just like before. According to the Reverend, Nicky is a long-time member of his church, and the congregation is always there to help its members in need.

But and I'm not one to call the Holy Man a liar, but that was a lie. Nick's been using Reverend Windham to launder money for him for quite some time, and he used his network to get the Reverend the bail money as soon as he was picked up.

But the DA thinks that something fishy is going on. So he asked the judge to investigate the source of the bail money. This drags on for a while, with the church eventually withdrawing the offer to pay the bail.

Nicky then spends the next couple of months trying to get out of the city jail by asking different people to bring the money to the court. Each failed attempt gets more and more press.

In mid-July, he's eventually bailed out, only to find that his high-profile tussles with the DA have made him more famous than ever. Suddenly, anyone who reads a New York newspaper knows the name of Harlem's rising drug kingpin.

And that's a blessing as much as it's a curse. Because now Nicky finds he can get a table at the Copacabana whenever he wants. But he's also too recognizable to make public meetings with Matty Madonna an option.

Unfortunately, a raised public profile is the least of Nick's concerns. He's only been away for a couple of months, but the Council has been faltering without him.

Matty's delivering smaller shipments these days because he just doesn't feel respected by Guy. And it's not just Guy's demeanor either. The Council hasn't been paying their bills.

When Nicky starts asking around, he hears a bunch of excuses for why there's money missing. Turns out that Ishmael thought he was being followed back to his house one day, so he flushed 250 grand worth of powder down the toilet.

And two of Frank's street dealers were turned into the cops by customers, so all of their cash and heroin were confiscated. Trigger happy as ever, Frank tells Nicky that he's taken care of the problem. He killed the dealers.

But Nick's still annoyed. This was an easily avoided problem. If Frank stuck to the standard cut ratio that Nick uses, his customers would be loyal to him.

But Frank's greedy and insists on diluting his powder more than anyone on the Council. So his buyers feel cheated. All in all, the Council owes Matty about a hundred grand.

They all get the money together, and Nicky hands it to Guy to drive over and deliver it in person. Only Guy's pulled over for not signalling, and he gets caught using a fake license. Then he tries to use the cash to bribe the cop.

So that's a hundred grand confiscated as evidence while Guy's hauled off to jail. Eventually, Nick takes money from his own reserves to pay Matty and cover Guy's bail. He's hoping they can get back to normal after that.

But with six other men as his partners, there's a never-ending parade of mess to clean up.

In mid-December of 1974, it's been about two years since the Council first came together, and about six months since Nicky was charged with the murder of Cliff Haynes.

On the night of the Council's annual Christmas party, Wally comes to see Nick about a problem. A while ago, he trusted a street dealer, Lawrence Billings, with selling a package of heroin.

But according to Wally, Lawrence never paid him for the drugs, then broke into Wally's office to steal money. Plus, he's a snitch for the DEA. So Wally wants to kill Lawrence.

It's the only course of action. Nicky listens patiently and then tells Wally he'll have the allegations looked into. If they pan out, then Lawrence will be punished.

It's how things work in the Council. They don't act on unverified information and emotion. Wally agrees to this and goes off to enjoy the party.

A few hours later, Nicky gets into his Mercedes Benz. He's supposed to be meeting with his girlfriend Thelma at the Copa soon. But he has to drop off some powder with Kurt first.

Ordinarily, he wouldn't be doing grunt work like this. It's beneath him for one thing and for another, it's dangerous for him to be in direct contact with the drugs.

But it's Christmas and he decides to do one of his men a solid by giving him the night off. Turns out, that's a pretty big mistake.

Cops pull Nicky over, telling him that he and the man in his passenger seat matched descriptions from a robbery earlier tonight. The cops search Nick and his friend, finding a gun in one of their pockets.

That gives them an excuse to search the car, where they find a good amount of heroin plus $133,000 in cash. To hear Nicky tell it, that money's not even going to be used for his drug business.

It's meant for him to give out to people in the neighborhood if they come to ask for help. It's Christmas, after all, and like Al Capone before him, Nick can't say no when someone hits him with a sob story.

But drugs, a gun and a boatload of cash all in the same car mean Nicky's hauled down to the station. And according to him, the officers on duty start counting the money, talking about what they could buy with it.

Maybe they'll let Nick go if they can split the money among themselves. Again, this is all according to Nick, so take that with a grain of salt.

Only then, the cops start fighting over who gets how much cash, and that alleged deal is off the table, just a couple of hours after it was first proposed. By the morning, Nicky's been charged with bribery, and his bail is set at $2.6 million.

Merry Christmas, Nick.

28:05

After Nick's arrest that December, things only go further off the rails. Because Wally decides not to wait and find out whether Lawrence Billings really is a snitch. He wants to kill him no matter what.

So, on January 9th, he lures the guy to a meeting under the pretense of giving him some heroin to sell him consignment. Then, he pulls out his favorite 32 caliber with a long silencer and shoots Lawrence in the head. Three times.

Then, figuring Lawrence is dead, Wally heads home. Only thing, Lawrence isn't dead. Wally's silencer must have affected the way the bullets left his gun, because Lawrence survives.

His jaw is basically blown off, but he's able to tell cops who shot him. It was Wally Fisher, he says. Wally Fisher, Nicky Barnes and their crew.

Now, Nicky's still in the Bronx house of detention, so the cops know he couldn't have been there himself. But they probably buy that he might have ordered some kind of hit on Lawrence from behind bars.

Nick understands that this could go badly for him and goes into damage control mode. Again. After Wally's arrested over the attempted murder, Nick orders Guy to take 10 grand from their communal stash and get it to Lawrence in his hospital room.

Use the money to buy his silence so he can't say another word against Wally or Nick. The money's sent along with the message, but Lawrence refuses the offer. So Nick tells his men to double it to 20 grand.

Eventually, one of Wally's men finds Lawrence and convinces him to take the money. After that, there's not a lot of evidence against Wally and nothing against Nick. So that's one less thing to worry about.

He's still got two criminal trials fast approaching though. And here is where some of the legend around Nicky Barnes really starts to solidify. Because between April and May of 1975, he's tried and acquitted in two separate cases.

The first is the bribery charge from December. The next one is much bigger though. It's over the murder of Clifford Haynes, Lucky's brother.

Nick's lawyer proves that Cliff was already dead at the time the police say he made his deathbed accusation against Kurt and Nicky. So after months of stories about him in the newspapers, Nicky walks away from the courts a free man.

He's beaten the system, despite all the evidence suggesting that he's a drug mogul. And because of this, people start using a new nickname for him, Mr. Untouchable.

It's a Saturday night at the Hubba Hubba Social Club. Nicky Barnes' joint in Harlem. Drinks are flowing freely, just like the cocaine.

Nicky's watching the revelry from his roped-off booth when the bouncer approaches. There's a young woman outside who wants to see him.

Now Nicky already has a girlfriend, but he's never been a one-woman kind of guy, so he tells the bouncer to let this young lady in. Moments later, a beautiful woman strides confidently across the dance floor.

She introduces herself as Shemecha, though her real name is Beverly Ash, and she's the younger sister of one of the men in Guy Fisher's crew. Nick nods and waves an arm, inviting her to sit down.

She tries to order a club soda, but Nicky insists on getting her a glass of the most expensive wine they have. When they're settled with their drinks, he asks Shemecha what he can do for her.

She explains that her brother was arrested, and she needs money for bail. With tears in her eyes, she says that Guy promised to take care of things weeks ago, but there's been no news since then.

Nicky's annoyed to hear this, that council members are supposed to take care of their men when it comes to bail and legal bills. Guy's failing in that duty. But Nick thinks this might just work out in his favor.

Looking into Shemecha's brown eyes, he raises his glass to her and says there might be something he can do to help her out.

32:32

It's sometime in 1975, when Jazz calls a meeting with the rest of the council. He has something he wants to discuss. He says he's found a new Italian supplier, guy by the name of Mike Puglese.

And his heroin is as good as, if not better, than Matty Madonna's stuff. Now Nicky's skeptical of this at first, but the group agrees to try a sample of the product to see if it's all Jazz says it is.

And they all come to the conclusion that it's strong quality powder. Jazz is over the moon. Because he found the supplier, that means he gets to be in charge of negotiating terms, taking shipments and making payments.

All things Nick does when it comes to Madonna's powder. It's unusual for him to take a back seat like this, but the rules are the rules. So he lets Jazz take the steering wheel for a while.

The council pays 250 grand for a shipment of powder and gets to work cutting it as usual and sending it out onto the streets. Unfortunately for Jazz, his new source isn't as reliable as he thought.

Turns out that Puglesi sold him synthetic heroin, which is strong when it's tested in its pure form, but loses all of its potency when it's diluted.

Street dealers come back to the council's lieutenants to tell them they can't sell this stuff, it's too weak. It's a frustrating situation, but it's one that's fixable.

The council issues a recall of all the product, and Jazz tells Puglese they need a refund. Simple enough, right? Well, Puglese only offers $200,000, leaving the council out 50 grand.

And when Jazz tries to follow up for the rest, Puglese vanishes. Now for a while, it seems like this might have just been an expensive learning experience for Jazz and the rest of the council about who to trust.

But months later, Puglese shows up at Jazz's door with a promise to repay the missing money and the offer of a batch of pure heroin he can offer on consignment. Everyone on the council agrees that the whole thing stinks.

There's no way that this guy is going to come back out of the blue and just offer such a good deal. Apart from anything else, Jazz has moved twice since the last time he saw Puglese, so he couldn't possibly know where to find him.

Unless Jazz is being watched and Puglese is being fed information. In other words, unless he's a snitch. And if he is a snitch, there's only one way to deal with him, execution.

Before the Council takes any action though, Nicky goes to see Matty Madonna. They've known each other for years and he wants his advice as someone in the Italian crime world. What should they do with Puglese?

Matty tells Nick that Puglese is part of the Bonanno crime family. As such, Nick should ask for permission from the family's de facto leader, Carmine Galente.

If anyone from the Council moves against the Bonanno member without speaking to Galente first, it could start a war. But after years of paying his dues, Nicky realizes he doesn't want to kneel before another Kingpin.

He figures he's earned the right to decide what happens on his streets and who gets punished for double crossing him. So, having decided that Puglese is definitely an informant, the Council votes to execute him.

On July 29th, 1976, Jazz and Guy track 28-year-old Puglese down and shoot him 10 times in front of the Columbia Medical Center. The muzzle of Guy's gun is so close to Puglese's shirt that the fabric catches on fire. They just let his body burn.

It's about as clear a message as they can send to Carmine Galente. If your men mess with us, we'll take them out.

36:27

Now obviously, Galente is not going to take that lying down. He gets the word out that he's going to seek revenge on the Council for the affront. But days pass and all anyone hears is whispers.

Before long, August has slipped away and Galente hasn't made any kind of move against Nicky or the Council. Sick of waiting, Nicky meets with Matty Madonna to find out if he knows what's up.

But Matty just kind of shrugs and says he hasn't heard anything. Nick's operation is pivotal to too many of the suppliers working among the five families. If Galente was going to do anything, Matty would have heard about it for sure.

Nicky leaves the meeting with an even more inflated sense of self. He's made himself practically invincible. The authorities can't get anything to stick to him.

The Italians won't make a move against him. I mean, he really is Mr. Untouchable.

But while that might feel true right now, Nicky Barnes is going to realize just how wrong he is. And he'll never see it coming. From Airship, this is episode 3 in our series on Leroy Nicky Barnes.

On the next episode, The Council is infiltrated by the Feds, leading to a spectacular arrest on the streets of New York, and a jaw-dropping quest for revenge. We use many different sources while preparing this episode.

One we can particularly recommend is Mr. Untouchable, The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of Heroines Teflon Don by Leroy Barnes and Tom Folsom. This episode may contain reenactments or dramatized details.

And while in some cases we can't know exactly what happened, all our dramatizations are based on historical research. American Criminal is a co-production of Airship and Evergreen podcasts.

It's hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Jeremy Schwartz. Audio editing and sound design by Sean Ruhl-Hoffman, music by Thrun. This episode is written and researched by Joel Callan.

Managing producers are Emily Burke and Sarah Willgrube. Executive producers are Joel Callan and Lindsey Graham.