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In Love with the Mob

From: Helen Borten
Series: A Sense of Place: Third Season
Length: 29:28

One hundred years of mob rule in Youngstown, Ohio. Read the full description.

Default-piece-image-2 How the botched hit of a County Prosecutor together with an FBI sting led to the criminal convictions of 79 public officials in Youngstown, OH--including an United States Congressman. The story of what has been called the "most crooked county in the USA" and how it got that way. The program traces a culture of resignation and acceptance so rampant it impregnates the halls of academe--and serves as a paradigm of how public attitudes can make or break our democratic processes. The piece interviews the FBI agent instrumental in breaking the case, a daughter of the mob, the Prosecutor who was shot, a mob lawyer, an university professor and others. It was distributed by PRI in 2004 as part of the Third Season of A Sense of Place.

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Piece Description

How the botched hit of a County Prosecutor together with an FBI sting led to the criminal convictions of 79 public officials in Youngstown, OH--including an United States Congressman. The story of what has been called the "most crooked county in the USA" and how it got that way. The program traces a culture of resignation and acceptance so rampant it impregnates the halls of academe--and serves as a paradigm of how public attitudes can make or break our democratic processes. The piece interviews the FBI agent instrumental in breaking the case, a daughter of the mob, the Prosecutor who was shot, a mob lawyer, an university professor and others. It was distributed by PRI in 2004 as part of the Third Season of A Sense of Place.