Colorado Experience:The Smaldones, Family of Crime

Colorado Experience examines one of the lesser-known
chapters in American organized crime: the story of the Smaldones, an Italian-American crime family that operated out of Denver. Brothers Clyde and Eugene Smaldone took control of Denver’s underworld in 1933, after then-crime boss Joe Roma’s
body was found riddled with bullets in his home. They specialized in bootlegging during the years of prohibition and, later, bookmaking and gambling. To some, they were family men who provided food to poor members of their community; to others, they were ruthless criminals.Utilizing audio interviews with Clyde Smaldone himself, Colorado Experience sheds lights on the man who led Denver’s infamous organized crime syndicate.