Gary Jenkins Bio
Gary Jenkins, former Intelligence Unit detective with the Kansas City Police Department, has produced 4 documentary films, created the Kansas City Mob Tour app, authored 3 books, and currently produces and produces and hosts his own true-crime podcast, titled Gangland Wire Crime Stories. In this popular true-crime podcast Gary Jenkins tells many stories about the Kansas City mafia, interviews experts on mafia families in many other cities, and has found many former mafia members to tell their stories.
Gary independently produced Negroes To Hire: Slave Life and Culture on Antebellum Missouri Farms which won the Jackson County Historical Society award for the best historical documentary film of the year in 2011. In 2012, he produced Freedom Seekers: Stories From the Western Underground Railroad. Both of these films are used in many educational history programs and African American Study programs. Gary authored two companion books for these films. The first is titled John Brown and The Last Train. The second book is titled The Immortal 10: A Story from the Western Underground Railroad.
Freedom Seekers brings an understanding of the regional issues relating to antebellum slavery and the antislavery movement that helped shape the western Underground Railroad. Slaves, with the help of stationmasters and conductors, had to dodge professional slave catchers, federal marshals, and slaveholders on a grueling thousand-mile journey to freedom. Viewer will learn how the Kansas/Missouri political conditions created the opportunity for the perhaps less known escape route along the western frontier. This film uses primary source documents, historians, interviews with slave descendants, moving readings and dramatic depictions to tell exciting stories of Underground Railroad activities.
Negroes To Hire tells the intriguing story of life on slaveholding antebellum farms in Missouri. The WPA Slave Narratives provide compelling first-hand accounts of the day-to-day existence of those held in bondage. Along with insightful commentary by noted historians, authors and educators, this unique documentary sheds new light on a controversial and troubling subject. Not just history, but a shared heritage between African-Americans and European-Americans. A better understanding of this relationship allows us to see our shared humanity, and not fear our differences. The filmmaker is the descendant of Missouri slavemasters and the primary educator in this film is a descendant of Missouri slaves. They worked together to bring a balanced view of slavery. They believe this film breaks though myths and will generates open discussions of the subject. They have screened it for many groups and the post-film discussions appear to heal old wounds.
In Gary’s first mob documentary, Gangland Wire, former F.B.I. agents, cops, reporters, and casino employees tell insider stories about a Kansas City mob war that escalated into several murders and bombings. The police and FBI investigation into the local crimes led to the installation of hidden microphones and wiretaps in Kansas City mob offices, bars, and homes. In Gary’s most recent documentary film released in 2019, he tells the inside story of the war between the Nick Civella Family and the Spero brothers. In Brothers against Brothers: The Civella Spero War, Gary takes the viewers inside the lives of surveillance cops who have to avoid being caught ina crossfire, being mistaken for a hitman, or being too close to a hidden unexploded bomb.
For more information, please visit Gary's website here.
Gary Jenkins Presenting at Battle of Westport Visitor Center and Museum in 2015.
