Synopsis

After serving as a Marine during World War II, Joe Merola returns to Pittsburgh determined to achieve the American Dream, but his skills draw him into the Mafia. Sent to Miami Beach, he operates from the Garden of Allah motel and helps supply weapons to the revolution that brings Fidel Castro to power. Until Cuba becomes a Cold War threat, Joe turns against the regime he helped create and joins the CIA to dismantle the regime. Based on an unpublished narrative-nonfiction book, the series follows one man’s journey from Marine to Mafia gunrunner and covert government asset, revealing a hidden history connecting governments, gangsters and revolutions through his eyes, and asks whether his service to the United States government outweighs the crimes he committed along the way.