In the 100th episode of "The Trial Lawyer's
Handbook" podcast series, litigation attorney Dan
Small introduces his listeners to Sam Cammarata, a
career criminal who tried to follow his dreams and become the
"Godfather of Houston." After brief stints in the Boston
and New Orleans mafia, Cammarata decided to start his own criminal
empire in Houston, Texas. With a nightclub as a legal front and a
second-in-command with a love of violence, the Cammarata
organization quickly grew more prominent and more profitable as it
engaged in illegal activities such as bookmaking, loansharking,
prostitution and extortion. As a prosecutor for the U.S. Department
of Justice's Organized Crime Strike Force, Mr. Small was sent
to Texas to help the Texas Rangers indict members of the criminal
enterprise.
