don bolles

In the summer of 1976, Don Bolles, a veteran journalist at the Arizona Republic newspaper, was on the verge of breaking a huge story about Mafia activities, especially money laundering through the six licensed dog-racing tracks in the state. His assassination did not put an end to the investigation, however. Journalists from across the country joined together to continue the work that Bolles started. They exposed massive criminal operations that also involved people from the nominally legal worlds of business and politics.

One year after Bolles’ death, the body of an Arizona businessman was found in the desert. He had been shot in the back of the head. Another journalist uncovered that the man, Chuck Morgan, ran an escrow company that the Mob used to launder dirty money - seemingly confirming, under tragic circumstances, that the Mafia was still using a favorably lax regulatory environment and local collaborators to facilitate its criminal operations in Arizona.

Then, fourteen years later, as interest in the case was revived following its coverage on a popular television show, the murders restarted …

Attribution for music used in this episode:

Assassinations Podcast Theme Music (Intro, Outro, and Transitions) written and performed by Graeme Ronald