Discount on Informer's print edition

To mark the first anniversary of MagCloud.com, all magazines printed by the service - including the print edition of Informer - are available at a 20% discount through August 31, 2009.


All four issues of Informer's print edition (Sep. '08, Jan. '09, Apr. '09, Jul '09) are now available at discounted prices. Visit http://informer.magcloud.com/ to preview or order the issues.

Electronic subscription price reduced

The price of an electronic subscription to Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History has been reduced to $18 per year (four issues).

As a subscriber to Informer's electronic edition, you receive email notification when a new issue is published. The email provides you with a password-protected web link for the download of that issue in PDF format from the Scribd document sharing service. The electronic edition is easily readable and printable. And it has precisely the same content as the print edition at a far lower price.

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Vol. 2, No. 3: July 2009

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents

July 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of a still unsolved murder in the City of Danbury, Connecticut. While the killers of Giovanni Zarcone remain unknown, history has linked them to the New York Mafia organization of Giuseppe Morello. In this issue, we examine the known details of the Zarcone murder and follow the links between the victim and other organized criminals of the era.

What did Mafia boss of bosses Salvatore Maranzano look like? If you believe you know, author David Critchley says you’re mistaken. According to Critchley, a photograph often presented as a likeness of Maranzano is actually someone else’s mug shot. Read more about it and take a look at some actual images of Maranzano—plus Informer’s own approximation of a Maranzano mug shot.

Also in this issue: Researcher Bill Feather provides us with background data on scores of Pittsburgh-area Mafiosi and Informer tackles a question about the “Teflon Don,” John J. Gotti, late boss of the Gambino Crime Family.

Books coverage includes an excerpt from King of the Sunset Strip: Hangin’ with Mickey Cohen and the Hollywood Mob by Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood; an interview with Patrick Downey, author of Gangster City and Bad Seeds in the Big Apple; in addition to reviews of Mike Dash’s The First Family and Sandra Harmon’s Mafia Son.

1909 Mafia murder in Danbury, Connecticut, by Thomas Hunt. After a fruit farmer is shotgunned to death at his home, authorities connect him to the infamous Barrel Murder six years earlier. Eighteen pages. (Preview)

Maranzano Muddle by David Critchley, Ph.D. You may think you know what Salvatore Maranzano looked like, but a widely disseminated photo isn't Maranzano at all. Two pages. (Preview)

My First Dinner with Mickey by Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood. A young Hollywood actor finds himself palling around with California racketeer Mickey Cohen. Four and a half pages.(Preview)

Pittsburgh Mafia Membership Chart, 1900-2000, by Bill Feather. Four pages. (Preview)

Interview: Patrick Downey. Two and a half pages.

Book Review of The First Family by Mike Dash. One and a half pages.

Book Review of Mafia Son by Sandra Harmon. One and a half pages.

Books: New Releases: One half page.

Ask the Informer: The Teflon Don's conviction. One page. (Preview)

A Look Back: 100 years, 75 years, 50 years. One half page. (Preview)

Current Events: DiNunzio reaches plea deal, 11 indicted as Bonanno crew in Florida, deputy U.S. marshal leaked witness info, Nicholas Corozzo sentenced for murder. (Preview)

Deaths: Alfonso Tornabene, Donato Angiulo.

48 pages including cover and advertisements
Published July 15, 2009.

1909 Mafia murder in Danbury, CT

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents

Feature Article

1909 Mafia murder in

Danbury, Connecticut

By Thomas Hunt

(July 27, 2009, marks the 100th anniversary of this unsolved murder.)

"A halo of artificial light surrounded Danbury Hospital, a complex Victorian-style structure located at the intersection of Locust and Hospital Avenues near the official city limits. Light also emanated from the city's almshouse at Broadview farm, a third of a mile further east on Hospital Avenue. In between, the avenue was illuminated only by the quarter moon overhead. Moonlight was sufficient to provide visibility on the roadway itself, but it could not penetrate the tree branches and shrubs growing along the north side of the street."

Fourteen and a half pages article body

including sidebar story.

Three and a half pages of endnotes.

Twelve images.

Click here to preview or purchase this issue.

Or subscribe to Informer using the links at right.

Maranzano muddle

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents
Feature article

Though many believe they've seen a picture of him,

very few know what he really looked like

Maranzano muddle
By David Critchley, Ph.D.

"An apparent photograph of 'Salvatore Maranzano' (at right) has appeared in varied venues, ranging from books to the Internet. What those who print it fail to mention is that it's not of Maranzano at all. The mistake made is a classic case of the much broader problem of inaccuracies plaguing accounts of the American Mafia, which spread myths and misunderstandings."

Two pages
Five images

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Or subscribe to Informer using the links at right.

In the News

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents

In the News:

• Carmen DiNunzio reaches plea deal in Boston.
• 11 indicted as Bonanno crew in Florida.
• Deputy U.S. marshal leaked prisoner info.
• Nicholas Corozzo sentenced for murder.
• Chicago's Alfonso Tornabene dies at 86.
• New England's Donato Angiulo dies at 86.

Click here to preview or purchase this issue.
Or subscribe to Informer using the links at right.

Ask the Informer: The Teflon Don

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents

Ask the Informer

Question: When and on what charge was John "Teflon Don" Gotti finally locked away for good?

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Or subscribe to Informer using the links at right.

A Look Back

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents
A Look Back

100 years ago:
A New York Barrel Murder suspect is shot to death in Connecticut.

75 years ago:
A future New York crime boss is arrested for robbing a store.

50 years ago:
A Brooklyn racketeer and his female companion are killed.

Click here to preview or purchase this issue.
Or subscribe to Informer using the links at right.

'My first dinner with Mickey'

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents
Feature Article

My first dinner with Mickey

by Steve Stevens

and Craig Lockwood

(Show business veteran Steve Stevens reflects on his early encounters with California underworld figure Mickey Cohen in this excerpt from King of the Sunset Strip by Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood.)

"I pushed the doorbell. And the door opened. As if someone had been waiting, just inside. Before I could stop myself, I lurched back.
"'Yeah?' The voice and the guy were both scary. His heavy black eyebrows looked like they'd been applied by the Lon Chaney School of makeup design."


Four and a half pages
Five photos


Click here to preview or purchase this issue
Or subscribe to Informer using the links at right.

Pittsburgh Mafia Membership, 1900-2000

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents

Membership Chart

Researcher Bill Feather provides a chart of dozens of known and suspected Pittsburgh Mafia members from 1900 through 2000. Names, aliases, birth-death-immigration data, birthplaces and ranks are provided.

4 pages

Click here to preview or purchase this issue.

Or subscribe to Informer using the links at right.

July's print edition available now

The print edition of Informer's July issue (Vol. 2, No. 3) is available for purchase through the MagCloud service. See: informer.magcloud.com

The lead feature looks back one hundred years to the murder of an Italian fruit farmer in Danbury, Connecticut, who was linked to powerful Mafiosi in New York City. Also in the issue, we speculate on what boss of bosses Salvatore Maranzano looked like, we sit down to dinner with Mickey Cohen, we look over the known and suspected membership of the Pittsburgh Mafia, we interview author Patrick Downey, and we review Mike Dash's The First Family and Sandra Harmon's Mafia Son.


The electronic edition of the journal will be available soon.

Bad news / good news

Informer is sad to report that another crime history periodical, On the Spot, has suspended publication. On the Spot, published since fall 2006, has focused on crime and law enforcement history of the gangster era - 1920s and 1930s. On the Spot CEO Rick Mattix tells Informer that he hopes to resume publication of the journal in the future and he notes that back issues of On the Spot remain available for purchase. (Click to visit the On the Spot website.)

A far more positive development: Rick has agreed to become a regular columnist for Informer. An accomplished crime historian, he will write on subjects of personal interest to him. We look forward to featuring his column in upcoming issues.

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Vol. 2, No. 3: July 2009

In the July issue (Vol. 2, No. 3) of Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History, we look back 100 years to an unsolved Mafia-related murder in western Connecticut. The murder victim had been among the suspects in the New York Barrel Murder of 1903 and had blood ties to underworld characters across the United States.

What did Mafia boss of bosses Salvatore Maranzano look like? If you believe you know, author David Critchley says you’re mistaken. According to Critchley's article in Informer's July issue, a photograph often presented as a likeness of Maranzano is actually someone else’s mug shot. Read more about it and take a look at actual images of Maranzano —plus an Informer approximation of a Maranzano mug shot

Also in the July issue: Researcher Bill Feather provides us with background data on scores of Pittsburgh-area Mafiosi and Informer tackles a question about the “Teflon Don,” John J. Gotti,
late boss of the Gambino Crime Family.

Books coverage includes an excerpt from King of the Sunset Strip: Hangin’ with Mickey Cohen and the Hollywood Mob by Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood; an interview with Patrick
Downey, author of Gangster City and Bad Seeds in the Big Apple; in addition to reviews of Mike Dash’s The First Family and Sandra Harmon’s Mafia Son.

Plus... A Look Back, Book Notes, and Current Events.

The July issue of Informer will be available for sale by July 27.