Sam Manninaro’s Big Score

Retired Intelligence Detective Gary Jenkins brings you the best in mob history with his unique perception of the mafia. Gary interviews David Rabinovitch, an EMMY-winning investigative journalist and filmmaker, about his uncle Wolf Rabin and his association with Pittsburgh mafia member Sam Mannarino. David wrote a book titled Jukebox Empire: The Mob and the Darkside of the American Dream and told several stories from his book. Sam Mannarino was a prominent La Cosa Nostra figure in Western Pennsylvania when he went into business with Wolf Rabin. Mannarino and his brother, Gabriel “Kelly” Mannarino, controlled gambling and related activities in New Kensington for the Pittsburgh Crime Family. Of interest is that Sam Mannarino also had an interest in the Sans Souci casino in Cuba in the 1950s. This Cuban connection will be instrumental in the laundering of stolen bonds. David tells a story of international crime that stretches from the US to Canada to Cuba and Switzerland. David’s uncle, Wolf Rabin, got into the Jukebox business in the 1930s and developed many organized crime connections. Subscribe to the Podcast for a new gangster story every week. Get 50% off on your Factor Food order use code gangland50 at checkout Support the Podcast. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwireClick here to “buy me a cup of coffee” To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup click here To rent Brothers against Brothers, the documentary, click here. To rent Gangland Wire, the documentary, click here To buy my Kindle book, Leaving Vegas: The True Story of How FBI Wiretaps Ended Mob Domination of Las Vegas Casinos. To subscribe on iTunes click here. Please give me a review and help others find the podcast. Donate to the podcast. Click here! Transcript SPEAKERS GARY JENKINS, David Rabinovitch GARY JENKINS 00:00 Well welcome all you Wiretappers out there. It’s good to be back here in studio gangland wire. I have a really interesting story. I didn’t remember how I got onto this somewhere on the internet of course. And it was about a man named Wolf Rabin now what a cool name Wolf Rabin. And he got involved with Sam Mannarino, who was a many of you all know is a big time Pittsburgh mafia member and they did a international kind of a crime and then I found there’s a book on it, you know, and then it’s by I believe a relative of south of not Sam Manariono but of Wolf Rabin, and so I have that man here, David Rabinovitch. Thanks a lot for coming on, David. David Rabinovitch 00:41 Nice. Thank you for inviting me Gary was one thing in my family we pronounce to Rabin. GARY JENKINS 00:48 Rabbit work. Okay. All right, a little more Russian, Russian. My grandpa used to say those Russians, David Rabinovitch 00:57 My grandfather left Ukraine GARY JENKINS 01:04 in hell really interesting. David is an Emmy winning documentary filmmaker and has a bunch of stuff out there. So David wants you tell the guys a little bit about your history your boat a few days, if you will. David Rabinovitch 01:19 Know, this is pretty much all I’ve ever done. Since I was a teenager, I had the good fortune to have some wonderful mentors who a bureau chief from Time magazine, who might wind up breaking the ever start. I’m 19 years old. I grew up in Canada. So I worked a lot for media and Broadcasting Corporation, pretty young agent, we the longest producer, on staff and at 21 or 22. So we documentaries, really all over the world. I moved to the the United States 45 years ago and continue doing well. I think one of the most significant films made during my career was a film called Politics of Poison, which was an investigation of the use of chemicals known as Agent Orange. The other kind of major production that I’ll mention is still I’m this is a mini series called Secret Files of the Inquisition. And this is a four part Docudrama, based on files from the Vatican archive other archives in Europe that reveal jus...