The success of the "Crimetown" podcast, which concluded Sunday, led to "An Evening in Crimetown" before a sold-out crowd at the Genius Center in Brooklyn on Thursday.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Maybe we take our wise guys and corrupt politicians for granted in Rhode Island. We're used to them, we know them, some of us even elected them.

Take the Providence corruption story on the road, and a whole new audience opens up — surprised and entertained at the stories about Providence's criminal history.

Not every place can claim to have been the home of the New England crime boss, Raymond L.S. Patriarca. Not everyone had a "Buddy."

The success of the "Crimetown" podcast, which concluded Sunday, led to "An Evening in Crimetown" before a sold-out crowd at the Genius Event Space on Thursday.

The program was held in Brooklyn at the Event Space at Genius, near the home of Gimlet Media, the podcasting company that produced "Crimetown."

They were there to hear the stories of special guests — master thief Tony Fiore and his former nemesis Rhode Island State Police Capt. Brian Andrews, Patriarca's cardiologist Dr. Barbara H. Roberts, former wise guy Bobby Walason, and former lock-picker and international drug trafficker Charles "The Ghost" Kennedy.

"Providence's dubious distinction for being corrupt? Well, I helped promote that," Kennedy said, to a round of applause and loud cheers from the crowd.

Marc Smerling, who produced the podcast with Zac Stuart-Pontier, said the event was so popular that they had to turn away hundreds of people. An event is being planned for Providence.

What's the attraction for crime and corruption in a tiny state? Andrew Hong and Kristin Sword, both of Manhattan, said they listened to every episode, drawn in by the storytelling and the larger-than-life characters.

The first episode, when the late Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr. beat a Bristol contractor and burned him with a cigarette, sounded unbelievable to Sword.

It's real, as every Rhode Islander knows. And it kept her listening.

Former Providence Journal reporter Dan Barry, now of The New York Times, emceed the event, wearing a shirt with the faces of Patriarca and Cianci — the "yin and yin of Providence."

In Providence, you could hear the voice of Cianci, ex-mayor and felon, hosting his popular radio talk show. "Is this a city of redemption or a city of '[expletive] you, this is how we do it?'" Barry said.

Most in the crowd weren't from Rhode Island, but those who were had their own brushes with Buddy.

Scroll to an episode below and click it to play:

Sculptor Robert Raphael remembered at his RISD graduation in 2000, when Cianci jumped on stage and gave a speech — without being invited. Cianci was facing the federal corruption investigation that eventually took him down.

Now, through "Crimetown," Raphael knows more of the story. He said that he and his friends from RISD text each other about each episode.

Nancy Somma, Raphael's neighbor, didn't know anything about Providence until the podcast. She's hooked. "It's a fascinating window into the 1970s and 1980s, in a changing America, and what you could get away with then," she said.

"Buddy was who he was because he knew everybody," Somma said. "Even when he wasn't mayor, he was the mayor. He was connected."

"Crimetown" has her sounding like a Rhode Islander.

[View the story "Sold-out Crimetown Live finale in Brooklyn" on Storify]