This week, Dana tells Anthony the unbelievable story of Fredericka Mandelbaum — the German immigrant who quietly built one of the largest criminal empires in American history while New York’s elite looked the other way. From stolen diamonds and blackmail schemes to training master thieves in the heart of the Gilded Age, “Mother” Mandelbaum became the secret architect of organized crime decades before the Mafia ever took power.
Behind the velvet gowns, luxury storefronts, and high society connections was a woman laundering fortunes in stolen goods and outsmarting police at every turn. But as her empire grew bigger, so did the detectives determined to destroy it.
This is a story of greed, corruption, glamour, and the woman who helped invent the modern criminal underworld.
Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
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