Bootleg & Betrayal

One real Prohibition-era document, read line by line — the people and betrayals behind the paperwork.

Bootleg & Betrayal takes one real document from the Prohibition era — an FBI file, a court transcript, a wiretap log, a yellowed newspaper page — and reads it line by line, with the full history around it. The goal isn't the body count. It's the people: the calculations, the loyalties, and the betrayals behind the paperwork. We sit in the room with them and ask what we'd have done.

Every episode is built on primary sources, cited on screen and in the description by archive call number. The narration uses a synthetic (AI) voice; the research, writing, and editorial judgment are human.

Researched and edited by Louis Black.
New document decodes most weeks.
Contact: louis@bootlegandbetrayal.com