Meet Kenny “The Kid”, a Chicago mafia soldier and hitman for nearly 25 years. After hearing a brutal firsthand account of a mafia hit, we learn how and why Kenny was recruited as 17 year old kid, explore the history of the legendary Chicago Outfit, and reveal a devastating truth that reverberates to this very day.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: What is the introduction to Crook County?
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Exciting!
This is a 1970s-era Board of Tourism advertisement for the city of Chicago. Chicago is fun! It's overflowing with sunlit cityscapes and joyful, smiling faces of young people, families, and tourists, all locked in a state of perpetual 8-millimeter textured happiness and wonder of this city of broad shoulders, this great city by the lake.
Chapter 2: What is the real Chicago beyond tourism ads?
Look north now to that glittering shopper's paradise proudly dubbed the Magnificent Mile.
It really does look like a wonderful place to live. A place with endless possibilities, where anybody, no matter who you are or where you came from, can get a fair shot at the brass ring.
Chicago is something you've just got to see for yourself.
But only a few miles from the bright lights of Michigan Avenue is a different stretch of road, a dark corner of the Windy City you won't see in any Board of Tourism commercial.
It's a place where the cops are just as crooked as the criminals, where drugs and prostitution run rampant, and where a young mafia hitman they call The Kid is parked outside of a dark, dilapidated apartment building, waiting for just the right moment to make his next move.
About 9 p.m. at night, I'm in an apartment complex in a neighborhood that I really don't know very well. And I'm listening to my song, the song that I always play before I do something sketchy like this, and that's Sympathy for the Devil.
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Chapter 3: Who is Kenny 'The Kid' and what was his role in the Outfit?
It just does something to me.
I don't know what it does. It's just part of my routine. I sit in my car and I do what I always do. I breathe. I make myself aware. I heighten my senses, my sight, my smell, my hearing. I don't know how I do it, but I do it. As I'm listening to the music, I feel my senses start to kick in. As they kick in, the moment arises. The moment always hits me.
I don't know how it hits me, but I know when I'm ready for the moment. Out of my car. Walk up to the apartment complex. Ring the buzzer. This asshole comes at a buzzer, announces his name. I said, this is Ken. I'm coming up for the coke. He says, fine, come on up. Buzzer hits. I walk up the stairs. I reach my right hand behind my belt on my back. Knock on the door with my left hand.
Chapter 4: How did Kenny perform a mafia hit?
Please, man, no, man, please, man, no.
I want to say his name, dude, but I can't. Will you edit his name out of here? Let's kick ass. Back it up to the bathroom. He didn't move fast enough, and I wanted him to know I meant fucking business here. So I beat him. I hit him twice, right cheek, left cheek. Backed off, put the gun back up to his forehead. Backed him up into the bathroom. Got to the bathroom. Get on your knees, .
He wouldn't have gotten on his knees fast enough, so I dropped him with my left foot. I got him right behind his right knee. That dropped him to his knees. Pushed him down towards the toilet. grabbed the cuffs that were in my left rear pocket and cuffed him right behind the base of the toilet. There he sat.
I can't remember exactly what I said to him, but I was dead serious what I said, but I really can't remember. Anyway, I waited like I was asked to do. Knock at the door comes and three of my boys come in. Showed them to the bathroom. I backed out because it wasn't my hit. It was just my setup. It wasn't my hit. Went back into the living room, sat and waited.
Heard some commotion, a muffled gunshot. I know that's the end of the story. The boys walk out. Where's the dope, Ken? Ransacked his bedroom, found the dope. Got about three or four ounces of what was called at the time... Yeah, it was pink cocaine. What the hell did they call it back then? Peruvian, I don't know. Anyway, it was coke. All right, because that's what everybody was doing back then.
Uncuffed them, brought them to the living room, started tearing up the carpet inside the living room, wrapped them up in there, and left them until tomorrow. What normally happens is, or what was already set up was, not by me, but it was already set up to have a carpeting company come in the next day, put in a new carpet, take him out, put in new carpeting, lay it, and then me leave.
Spent the night, waited for the carpeting people in the morning. They arrived about nine o'clock. They took him out, wrapped up in the carpet, brought up a whole new carpeting and padding, laid that down. I left the door unlocked and I left. That was the end of him. That's it. Story's over.
Holy shit. I'm your host, Kyle Tequila. Welcome to Crook County.
Yeah, Crook County. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. It's a den of thieves.
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Chapter 5: What are the historical roots of the Chicago Outfit?
But in this corner of the South, it's not just the soil that keeps secrets.
Nobody talks about it. Nobody has any information.
When you peel back the layers of Mississippi's Yazoo clay, nothing's ever as simple as you think.
The story is much more complicated and nuanced than that.
I'm Larison Campbell. Listen to Under Yazoo Clay on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have you ever looked into the night sky and wondered who or what was flying around up there? We've seen planes, helicopters, hot air balloons, and birds. But what if there's something else, something much more ominous that appears under the cover of night, silent, unseen, watching?
They may be right above your car late one night as you cruise down the road or look like mysterious lights hovering above your home. Drones. Or are they? We used the word drone because it was comfortable to other people.
One minute it was there and one minute it wasn't.
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Chapter 6: Who were the key figures in the Chicago Outfit during Kenny's time?
Oh, that is beyond creepy. Do you feel like this drone? was targeting you specifically?
Yes, absolutely. Listen to Obscurum, Invasion of the Drones, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Brittany Ard, and after sharing my story in the first eight chapters, I've realized something. It's not just my story anymore, it's ours. In the next chapters, you'll meet Lou and Eve, two women from Ireland who connected over a hunt for a photograph. You'll hear from Cash, who has found her voice after the foster care system tried to take it away from her.
And you'll witness how one life can change in just a month. And my story is far from over. New episodes drop Tuesdays, starting on December 31st. You can binge all of Season 2 early and ad-free on Patreon. You probably think this story is about you. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Episode 1. Give me your fucking money.
You're not going to put my voice on that thing, are you? Yeah. You're going to tell the story?
Uh-huh. All right. I'm interviewing Kenny, the kid, for the first time. Okay. He's a big man, in his mid-60s, with a full head of jet black hair, combed and styled with only a few strands of gray, wearing a clean white t-shirt and reading glasses with thick black frames. He's handsome, in a run-down sort of way. He kind of reminds me of a down-on-his-luck Clark Kent. You know, Superman, but fat.
Oh man, I'm not good at this, man. Just whenever you feel like it, just start talking.
Let your brain go. He's not used to having a microphone in his face and seems to be having a little trouble getting comfortable with me.
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