This turned out to be, in my opinion, one of the best City Confidential episodes I've ever watched. I say that because the story got better and better as it went on and the descriptions of the crime story were tremendous. Thankfully, the mob's hit men were the bungling group of morons you've ever seen and their target has lived to tell the tale and the city is doing its best to recover.
I didn't catch the writer of this particular episode, or if it was a joint effort by the six people listed here on IMDb under "full cast and crew" but he or they ought to be commended for an outstanding job. I can't remember an episode in which I laughed out loud so many times and the clever lines said by narrator Paul Winfield.
Youngstown is no laughing matter, though, to many of its residents who have seen and read about murder after murder for a number of years in their fair city, located halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Youngstown, especially after the steel mills went belly up in the '70s, is a rough town and was really scary for several decades. Car bombings were so prevalent that they were called "The Youngstown Tuneup." People hired others to start their cars in the morning! Organized crime - the Mafia - had a hold on this city like no city in America. It controlled it all, including the sheriff and the country prosecutor. No "wise guy" or otherwise would need worry about going to court about something; it would be fixed before any trial took place. Heading it all was Lenny Strollo, a "made man" from Pittsburgh who had the competition killed and took over Youngstown, according to City Confidential.
Everything was going Strollo's way until the 1996 elections for Country Prosecutor. Lenny and all his boys thought their man, incumbent Jim Philomena was a shoo-in, so much so that Philomena hardly campaigned. However, his rival, did. That was Paul Gains, a guy who wouldn't be bought, was an honest man above reproach and pulled off an incredible upset by winning the election by about 500 votes. A guy who wouldn't sell out won the election in March and would take office the following January.
Gains told a good friend he wasn't sure if he'd still be living to take office. He knew Mr. Strollo and the Mob was not about to let an honest man take over. He was right. One night a man burst into his house and shot him. As Harris lay on the floor, the man attempted to finish him off and his gun jammed! The "hit man" ran back to his buddies waiting in the car and they all left.
After that is a tale of the dumbest mob men you've ever heard, things that will have you almost falling out of your chair laughing, especially since they are all true! Oh, by the way: the introduction of this show calls Youngstown "Murder Town, U.S.A., the most violent crime city in America." Right after that is the show's opening which states....."a unique community; the last place you'd ever expect a murder."
I didn't catch the writer of this particular episode, or if it was a joint effort by the six people listed here on IMDb under "full cast and crew" but he or they ought to be commended for an outstanding job. I can't remember an episode in which I laughed out loud so many times and the clever lines said by narrator Paul Winfield.
Youngstown is no laughing matter, though, to many of its residents who have seen and read about murder after murder for a number of years in their fair city, located halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Youngstown, especially after the steel mills went belly up in the '70s, is a rough town and was really scary for several decades. Car bombings were so prevalent that they were called "The Youngstown Tuneup." People hired others to start their cars in the morning! Organized crime - the Mafia - had a hold on this city like no city in America. It controlled it all, including the sheriff and the country prosecutor. No "wise guy" or otherwise would need worry about going to court about something; it would be fixed before any trial took place. Heading it all was Lenny Strollo, a "made man" from Pittsburgh who had the competition killed and took over Youngstown, according to City Confidential.
Everything was going Strollo's way until the 1996 elections for Country Prosecutor. Lenny and all his boys thought their man, incumbent Jim Philomena was a shoo-in, so much so that Philomena hardly campaigned. However, his rival, did. That was Paul Gains, a guy who wouldn't be bought, was an honest man above reproach and pulled off an incredible upset by winning the election by about 500 votes. A guy who wouldn't sell out won the election in March and would take office the following January.
Gains told a good friend he wasn't sure if he'd still be living to take office. He knew Mr. Strollo and the Mob was not about to let an honest man take over. He was right. One night a man burst into his house and shot him. As Harris lay on the floor, the man attempted to finish him off and his gun jammed! The "hit man" ran back to his buddies waiting in the car and they all left.
After that is a tale of the dumbest mob men you've ever heard, things that will have you almost falling out of your chair laughing, especially since they are all true! Oh, by the way: the introduction of this show calls Youngstown "Murder Town, U.S.A., the most violent crime city in America." Right after that is the show's opening which states....."a unique community; the last place you'd ever expect a murder."
