The word “Mafia” probably doesn’t conjure visions of a roomful of seniors talking about memories from mob-owned restaurants/clubs across Denver. But Colorado has a rich bootlegging and racketeering history, and it lives on in the stories of Tom Hackett and others who remember the heyday of Colorado’s Bootleggers and Cosa Nostra. Hackett, who has studied the mob for more than 30 years, runs the Denver Mob Tour and has done speaking engagements for the past 6 years. From Al Capone and Joe Roma to Clyde Smaldone, Hackett covers them all as well as the illegal bugging of Gaetano’s Restaurant, which was the beginning of the end for Cosa Nostra in Denver.
