CNBC Presents - Mob Money

It’s the world’s most secretive business, an old school operation that generates billions…tax free.

On Wednesday, June 23rd at 9PM ET, CNBC presents “Mob Money,” a special presentation of “American Greed,” narrated by Stacy Keach that takes viewers inside the inner-workings of a mob family. From loan-sharking and labor racketeering to illegal gambling and murder for hire to its recent invasion into Wall Street it’s all part of the life and death business of organized crime.

The one-hour program chronicles the rise and fall of the DeCavalcante Family—a smaller family operating quietly west of the Hudson River and based in Elizabeth, NJ. Growing in the shadows of the powerful “Five Families” of New York City, the DeCavalcante’s were known by the derogatory term “Farmers” because of their Garden State roots, but they were just as deadly as their New York cousins. This Family’s story bears many similarities to the HBO hit series, “The Sopranos.” Viewers will see how this Family matures, becomes successful…and then eventually, bows to its weakness, bringing the Family down, crumbling to its knees.

The way the mob does business isn’t all that different than any other big corporation. There’s a corporate structure. And there are investments and returns on those investments. In 2002, the FBI estimated the mob’s annual earnings at between $50 and $90 billion dollars a year. Mob bosses take their business as serious as any CEO with one major exception…the way organized crime deals with the competition--making them some of the most violent criminals around. Nothing and no one stands in their way.

The hour profiles Vincent “Vinny Ocean” Palermo, a soldier who, after a struggle for power, takes over the DeCavalcante Family. Under Palermo’s leadership, viewers will see how the Family makes money, where investments are made, who gets promoted and just how bad rats are for business.

But, it will be a mob heist orchestrated by wanna-be wiseguy Ralph Guarino that ultimately brings this mafia family to its knees and forces Guarino to make the ultimate betrayal—lead a double-life as a wiseguy and informant. He wears a recording device so everything that happens to the DeCavalcantes—the murders, the extortions, the beat-downs—all goes right into the fed’s ear. The program uncovers how the old ways of Omerta, the vow of loyalty and silence, has passed as the threat of longer prison times loosens tongues as gangsters scramble to save themselves. No family and no boss is safe anymore… even Palermo turns on his own family eventually becoming an FBI informant and ultimately going into the witness protection program.

For more information and special web exclusives, logon to mobmoney.cnbc.com.

CNBC’s “Mob Money” is produced exclusively for CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, by Kurtis Productions.

Sharon Barrett is the executive producer for Kurtis Productions and Bernie Dudek is the producer from Kurtis Productions. Charles Schaeffer is the Executive Producer for CNBC. Ray Borelli is the Vice President of Strategic Research, Scheduling and Long Form Programming.

CNBC’s “Mob Money” will re-air on Wednesday, June 23rd at 10PM ET/PT, Saturday, June 26th at 8PM & 11PM ET and Sunday, June 27th at 12AM ET.