Introducing: The Godmother

00:00:03 Speaker 1: I'm Nicole Perkins, and in my new podcast, The Godmother, I'm inviting you to nineteen thirty six New York to a Manhattan courthouse. At the time, it was called the Trial of the Century. They had snipers on the roofs in Foley Square. They had police officers with riot guns in the hallway. On the stand was one of America's most notorious gangsters, a man named Lucky Luciano. He is called sometimes the Boss of Bosses. The Good Father was a great film based Paul on the Luciana legend. At this trial, on a crisp spring morning, in the middle of the Great Depression, Lucky would finally be brought down or Old Luciano said, Holy Toledo, you're giving me a life sentence. Everybody generally agrees that that was the nail in Lucky's coffin. But beneath the glitz, the glamour, the grime, and the notoriety of this moment in American history, there's another story that's being overshadowed, a name that's been left out of the Hollywood retellings, Unice Carter. There's a better story to be told, a more complex story. But for Unice Carter. I don't know that Lucciana wouldever have been convicted. Unice Carter was a black female lawyer in nineteen thirties America who took down one of history's most notorious gangsters. Unice Carter was the spark that started the fire. She was the one that said, this is how we get it. So why hasn't she been remembered. I just want people to know what she did. I've been doing some digging, and what I found paints a picture of a complex, fascinating woman. This is a straight shooter who will say something and mean it. She intimidated a lot of people in real life. She was just kind of a fierce person all around us. Today, Black American history is being erased, especially the stories of black women. It's not even just that not everyone remembers Unice, but that people don't even believe she could have existed. The idea that she could have existed seems like a fantasy to people. Remembering Unice Carter feels more urgent than ever. This is a story of ambition, justice, and legacy. This is the story of Unice Carter. The influence that you have while you're alive matters, even if after you're gone, everyone forgets about you. It doesn't mean that it was all for nothing. Listen to The Godmother with me Nicole Perkins on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.