App Store

Google Play

Details page - Device banner - 894x1036

Step into an infinite world of stories

Listen and read

Spotify Studios

Undeniable power. Unbelievable stories. Unlikely origins. Kingpins follows the rise and fall of rulers of the underworld. Every Friday, we examine the leaders of organized crime rings, and how money and power corrupted and changed their communities. What makes a kingpin or queenpin, and how can we stop them? Kingpins is a Spotify Original from Parcast.

Kingpins

Violence. Corruption. Decadence. Kingpins and Queenpins live heightened lives. This new podcast tells their unbelievable stories. Kingpins tracks the rise and fall of the notorious, presenting bizarre and captivating tales from the underworld. Along the way, the hosts profile the insane people, skewed relationships, and pressure-cooker environments behind organized crime. What's it really like to live like a Kingpin? Tune in to Kingpins every Friday. Kingpins is part of the Parcast Network and is a Cutler Media Production.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome Trailer!

In the early years of the Mexican drug world, there were no cartels - there were only kingpins. The border region was a lawless desert governed by bloody shootouts, crooked cops, and folk-hero bandits. And to rule an old-fashioned frontier, it takes an old-fashioned outlaw. 
Parcast - Subscribe to our new show Hostage! Head to Parcast.com/Hostage now so you don’t miss an episode!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"The Ojinaga Fox" Pt. 1: Pablo Acosta Villarreal

He repaired schools, paid medical bills for the poor and elderly, in exchange for one thing: control. The whole town protected him. But who was the man that brought him down?
Sponsors!
Parcast - Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to our new podcast Hostage!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"The Ojinaga Fox" Pt. 2: Pablo Acosta Villarreal

This vicious leader had very little regard for human life as if it stood in the way of his business. Pablo Acosta Villarreal commanded a 500 person operation on both sides of the border before his downfall and death in 1987. 
Sponsors!
Parcast - Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe to our new podcast Hostage!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"The Ojinaga Fox" Pt. 3: Pablo Acosta Villarreal

Moving from North Carolina to New York City, Frank Lucas engaged in petty crime and pool hustling before he began smuggling drugs using coffins of dead American servicemen in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He cut out the middleman and bought heroin directly from the source. 
Sponsors!
Parcast - Rate, review, and subscribe to our new podcast Hostage!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"American Gangster" Pt. 1: Frank Lucas

After the death of his boss, Bumpy Johnson in 1968, Frank Lucas is ready to capitalize on the open market. Originally a small-time dealer on the streets of Harlem, he becomes one of the most successful heroin dealers of all time.
Sponsors!
Parcast - Rate, review and subscribe to our new show Assassinations which premieres November 19th!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"American Gangster" Pt. 2: Frank Lucas

How did Manuel Noriega rise from nothing to become the drug-smuggling, secret-selling, military dictator of Panama? He had a great deal of help from the American CIA.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"Cara de Piña" Pt. 1: Manuel Noriega

He rose from nothing to become the drug-smuggling, secret-selling, military dictator of Panama throughout the 1980s. However, it turns out he had a great deal of help from the American CIA.
Sponsors!
Audible - Get 3 months of Audible for just $6.95 a month by going to Audible.com/KINGPINS or text KINGPINS to 500 500.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Cara de Piña” Pt. 2: Manuel Noriega

For years, this queenpin watched from the shadows while her husband built a drug empire. After tragedy struck in 1986, Thelma was thrust into the center of the action navigating a bi-coastal drug trade between Philadelphia and Los Angeles. 
Parcast - Check out our brand new podcast Mythology at https://www.parcast.com/mythology
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Gangster Queen of Philadelphia” Pt. 1: Thelma Wright

After her husband's murder in 1986, Thelma stepped in and took over a nationwide drug operation, moving cocaine and heroin from LA to Philadelphia. She had no idea what she was getting herself into. Wright enjoyed the lavish lifestyle the drug trade afforded, but would soon learn the consequences of engaging with the criminal underworld.
Parcast Network - Check out our new show Mythology at https://www.parcast.com/mythology.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Gangster Queen of Philadelphia” Pt. 2: Thelma Wright

On the last Sunday of every month, Parcast Rewind replays a classic episode of Kingpins that you might have missed! 

Frank Lucas found his way into the New York City underworld, and under the wing of a man known as the Harlem Godfather, emerged as one of the most powerful drug kingpins of all time.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kingpins Rewind: Frank Lucas Pt. 1

Listen and read

Other podcasts you might like ...