April 19, 1955. Almost every squad car in Hillsborough County, Florida lined Columbus Drive in Ybor City. A crowd of men, women and children stood anxiously in the yard of the only mansion of Ybor City, waiting to hear if the rumors of another gang slaying that had spread throughout the city were true. While gang slayings had become the norm in Tampa, the latest being the 21st in the last 23 years, this one was different. This murder was especially brutal. The victim’s head was caved in with a bat and his neck was sliced from ear to ear. Most importantly, though, was the identity of the victim. He was not just any Mafioso or gang member, the victim was one of the most colorful and notorious men in the history of Tampa, the man known as the “White Shadow”–Charlie Wall–the tall, Anglo, retired crime lord who ruled Tampa through both love and fear for most of the early part of the 20th century.

"I am going to St. Petersburg, Florida, tomorrow. Let the worthy citizens of Chicago get their liquor the best they can. I'm sick of the job-it's a thankless one and full of grief. I've been spending the best years of my life as a public benefactor."

-Al Capone at a press conference in 1927.

Did the Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office Make a Deal With Castro  to Bring Down the Mob?

When Floridians voted for and approved a state lottery system in 1986, it must have seemed like déjà vu to the people of Tampa. The government-sanctioned Florida Lotto, with its little white numbered balls, is strikingly similar to another game of chance, one responsible for gangland shootings and rampant corruption. The game was bolita and for over 60 years Tampa’s criminal underworld battled for control of the illegal lottery and its profits.

Author Scott Deitche takes us to the casino tables of Havana in the 1940s and 1950s with an excerpt from his book, The Silent Don. Dietche carefully unravels Tampa's organized crime network, showing us threads that reached from Havana to New York to Dallas and beyond.

Hollywood screenwriters dare not dream up a more improbable script: Descendent of blue blood pioneer Southern family rebels against wicked stepmother, is expelled from military school and seeks refuge in exotic immigrant quarter, where he becomes prince of the underworld.