One winter afternoon 50 years ago, a phone rang inside The Trap, an old mob hangout in Kansas City’s Columbus Park neighborhood. Answering the phone at the social club was a man named Frank Tousa, a bookie running the local gambling operation. On the other end of the line was Nick Civella, the undisputed boss of local organized crime. He had an urgent question.



“How are you sitting?” Civella asked.



In two hours or so, the Chiefs would face the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, the biggest sporting event, to that point, in Kansas City’s history. The town was aflame with Chiefs fever. The team was loaded with stars, and the locals could not get enough. Three years earlier, Kansas City had clashed with the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I, losing 35-10 in Los Angeles, a disappointing showing in a historic matchup.



Now Kansas City was back in the NFL’s championship game, preparing to take on the favored Vikings in New...