2020 paperback gets new cover

"Better late than never"?

The first Informer issue released in trade paperback format (Nicola Gentile issue released in October 2020) was somewhat hastily assembled in response to printing problems (since fixed) with the print magazine format. The cover of that paperback was essentially a stretched out version of the magazine cover, and some of its spine text - black on a dark teal background - was difficult to read on a bookshelf.

It took a few years, but a new cover - simpler in design, but clear, proportional and featuring more readable spine text - has been put in place on the 2020 paperback edition (it has been added to the Kindle and EPUB ebook formats, as well), which remains available for purchase through Amazon.com. Issue content remains unchanged.

Multiple formats for October 2021 issue

Paperback, EPUB e-book offered

The October 2021 issue of Informer will be offered in 6-inch by 9-inch trade paperback and popular e-book formats, in addition to its usual standard 8.25-inch by 10.75-inch printed magazine and e-magazine formats. The additional options were first offered in 2020 and proved to be popular.

Comparison of paperback
and magazine cover sizes

Paperback and Kindle-compatible e-book versions will be available through Amazon.com. EPUB-compatible e-book will be available through Google Play Books. These formats will have monochrome (black and white) interiors. Grayscale images will be placed at the conclusion of articles.

The printed magazine and PDF-format e-magazine versions, available through MagCloud, will have color interiors, with grayscale and color images incorporated into the page design.

The paperback will be a lower cost print option, retailing for about $14.95 (USD), while the magazine will be sold for $25.50 (USD). All electronic versions are expected to retail for about $9.49 (USD).

Watch for announcements of the issue's release.

Missed an issue? No worries!

All thirty issues of Informer - dating back to 2008 - remain available. They can be obtained in print or electronic PDF format and can be previewed before purchase.

Use these links to locate the issues of interest to you:

• View the summaries of all Informer crime history journal issues.
• Preview/purchase print or electronic issues through MagCloud.
• Preview/purchase select issues through Amazon.com.
  

 

 

20% holiday discount on paperback edition

Holiday shopping for a crime history reader?

The special trade paperback edition of our latest Informer issue is for sale at a 20% discount during the 2020 holiday season. Nick Gentile, subject of the issue, was a pal to Lucky Luciano, Albert Anastasia, Al Capone, "Joe the Boss" Masseria and other memorable crime figures. His life story and bios of dozens of his associates are presented here in a 382-page book available through Amazon.com.

Gentile's story begins with the formative years of the U.S. Mafia and runs through the Prohibition Era gang wars and consolidation into the transatlantic narcotics rackets of the post-WWII years.

The special issue benefited from contributions of a dozen historians: Thomas Hunt, David Critchley, Steve Turner, Lennert van't Riet, Richard N. Warner, Justin Cascio, Sam Carlino, Michael O'Haire, Jon Black, Margaret Janco, Bill Feather, Christian Cipollini.

(This holiday discount is only available on the trade paperback version of the issue and only until December 24, 2020.)

Kindle e-book available for preorder

The Kindle e-book version of October's Informer issue is already available for preorder through Amazon.com. Click the image below to link to the issue page.

(As an Amazon affiliate, we earn commissions from qualifying purchases.)

Early NYC Mafia issue now a Kindle e-book

An Informer issue devoted to a groundbreaking discussion of the evolution of the early New York City Mafia is now available as an Amazon Kindle e-book. It is our hope that this will allow a wider audience for the "alternative theory" presented by Mafia historians Richard Warner, Angelo Santino and Lennert Van`t Riet.

Click to preview this issue on Amazon (US).

Sicilian hometown allegiance and kinship ties may have played larger roles in early Mafia development than previously thought. Using government records, other archival sources and published accounts, the writers follow offshoots of established Sicilian underworld organizations from Palermo, Corleone and Castellammare del Golfo as these propagate in a new land. The writers define relationships among and within the developing crime families and explore factional frictions through two early Mafia wars.

The discussion is accompanied by photographs, maps, charts and timelines. More than two hundred endnotes are provided.

This Informer issue was first released in print and PDF electronic editions (through MagCloud) in May 2014, and those editions remain available. It is the third Informer issue to be made available as a Kindle e-book.

Vinnitta: The Birth of the Detroit Mafia

In Vinnitta, author Daniel Waugh offers an in-depth account of the violent birth of the Detroit Mafia and its impact on the city's Little Sicily residents. The book climaxes with the Giannola-Vitale War of 1918-1921.

Vinnitta is available now in paperback and in Kindle e-book through Amazon and in paperback and e-book editions through other booksellers.

ISBN: 978-1483496276
ASIN: B07R72N5CV

E-book version available for pre-order

The official release date of Informer's special issue on Salvatore Maranzano is still a few weeks away, but the issue - in Kindle e-book form - can be pre-ordered NOW through Amazon.com. (Link: https://amzn.to/32GaLgr or click on the cover image below.)

This is only the second time an Informer issue has been available for purchase through Amazon. It is the first time that an issue has been sold in the Kindle "MOBI" e-book format. (The July 2011 issue was provided for Kindle as a PDF conversion.)

Our usual magazine formats - standard-size print and electronic PDF - will be available soon through the MagCloud service.