[UPDATE: Immediately following the release of publication, it was learned that the discovered photo labeled "Maranzano" by an Italian periodical was actually of a German murderer.]
Showing posts with label Lucania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lucania. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Monday, August 5, 2019
August 2019 issue of Informer
August 2019 issue contents
Editorial
Researchers have long been bothered by the lack of a photograph of Prohibition Era Mafia leader Salvatore Maranzano.
One decade ago, in the July 2009 issue of Informer, Mafia historian David Critchley discussed a widely circulated mug shot photo that had been passed off as Maranzano. Critchley noted that the image had made the rounds since initial publication in a 1990 book. It had been copied into books, magazines and websites, always captioned as Maranzano and never credited to any specific source. Critchley revealed that the same photo had been printed with an article on British vice criminal Salvatore Messina in an August 1967 London newspaper. He confirmed that the photo was of Messina, not Maranzano, by locating Messina's mug shot in a Scotland Yard resource.
There seem to be no official U.S. government mug shots of Maranzano for the simple reason that Maranzano was not arrested. He was sought by law enforcement on more than one occasion, but never photographed until after his murder. During the police investigation of the killing, two known photographs were taken of the dead Mafia leader. These did not provide much in the way of facial detail. The only other known image of Maranzano was a coroner’s sketch that roughly showed a profile of his face and pinpointed the wounds inflicted on his body.
For the July 2009 issue, Informer attempted to blend the crime scene photos and sketch into an image of the living Maranzano. But there was no method of gauging the accuracy of the result.
Then, early this past April, Informer received an email from a Canadian researcher, who believed he was on the verge of obtaining an actual image of Maranzano. [UPDATE: It has since been proven that this photo too is NOT of Salvatore Maranzano.]
Peter Kalm discovered an old magazine that contained an article and a photograph of Maranzano and told Informer of his find. We initially were skeptical that any published image of the Mafia leader had managed to escape notice for nearly eighty eight years. But on April 25, Kalm shared the magazine article and photograph. We noted there were obvious similarities between the image and the crime scene photos, coroner’s sketch and our own blended image of Maranzano.
As he provided the materials, Kalm wrote, “Maranzano has intrigued me since I saw the movie The Valachi Papers years ago. Sadly, it is probably too late for anyone to write a book about his life since there is no one around who remembers him and also so little information about him still exists.”
In case there are some who do not already know, Maranzano was a bootlegger and Mafioso in the New York area during the late 1920s. He rose to command a successful gangland rebellion against reigning boss of bosses Giuseppe Masseria in 1930-31 and took for himself the boss of bosses position. His term in office was merely a few months, as he was assassinated by gunmen working for Salvatore "Charlie Luciano" Lucania in September 1931.
We considered how best to publicize Kalm’s discovery and to make known his vigilance, good fortune and extreme generosity. He indicated that he was uninterested in any personal publicity but hoped the appearance of the photograph would reignite Maranzano research.
It seemed to us that the most appropriate method of bringing the image to the public was to package it in an entire Informer issue that discussed all that we know about Maranzano. While it falls somewhat short of Kalm’s wish for a Maranzano book, we hope it will serve as a foundation for future research.
This issue contains a number of articles that approach the issue from different perspectives. These articles contain some overlapping data, but each is written to address a specific question about Salvatore Maranzano:
84 pages including covers and eight and a half pages of advertisements.
Editorial
So... why are we discussing
Salvatore Maranzano now?
One decade ago, in the July 2009 issue of Informer, Mafia historian David Critchley discussed a widely circulated mug shot photo that had been passed off as Maranzano. Critchley noted that the image had made the rounds since initial publication in a 1990 book. It had been copied into books, magazines and websites, always captioned as Maranzano and never credited to any specific source. Critchley revealed that the same photo had been printed with an article on British vice criminal Salvatore Messina in an August 1967 London newspaper. He confirmed that the photo was of Messina, not Maranzano, by locating Messina's mug shot in a Scotland Yard resource.
There seem to be no official U.S. government mug shots of Maranzano for the simple reason that Maranzano was not arrested. He was sought by law enforcement on more than one occasion, but never photographed until after his murder. During the police investigation of the killing, two known photographs were taken of the dead Mafia leader. These did not provide much in the way of facial detail. The only other known image of Maranzano was a coroner’s sketch that roughly showed a profile of his face and pinpointed the wounds inflicted on his body.
For the July 2009 issue, Informer attempted to blend the crime scene photos and sketch into an image of the living Maranzano. But there was no method of gauging the accuracy of the result.
Then, early this past April, Informer received an email from a Canadian researcher, who believed he was on the verge of obtaining an actual image of Maranzano. [UPDATE: It has since been proven that this photo too is NOT of Salvatore Maranzano.]
Peter Kalm discovered an old magazine that contained an article and a photograph of Maranzano and told Informer of his find. We initially were skeptical that any published image of the Mafia leader had managed to escape notice for nearly eighty eight years. But on April 25, Kalm shared the magazine article and photograph. We noted there were obvious similarities between the image and the crime scene photos, coroner’s sketch and our own blended image of Maranzano.
As he provided the materials, Kalm wrote, “Maranzano has intrigued me since I saw the movie The Valachi Papers years ago. Sadly, it is probably too late for anyone to write a book about his life since there is no one around who remembers him and also so little information about him still exists.”
In case there are some who do not already know, Maranzano was a bootlegger and Mafioso in the New York area during the late 1920s. He rose to command a successful gangland rebellion against reigning boss of bosses Giuseppe Masseria in 1930-31 and took for himself the boss of bosses position. His term in office was merely a few months, as he was assassinated by gunmen working for Salvatore "Charlie Luciano" Lucania in September 1931.
We considered how best to publicize Kalm’s discovery and to make known his vigilance, good fortune and extreme generosity. He indicated that he was uninterested in any personal publicity but hoped the appearance of the photograph would reignite Maranzano research.
It seemed to us that the most appropriate method of bringing the image to the public was to package it in an entire Informer issue that discussed all that we know about Maranzano. While it falls somewhat short of Kalm’s wish for a Maranzano book, we hope it will serve as a foundation for future research.
This issue contains a number of articles that approach the issue from different perspectives. These articles contain some overlapping data, but each is written to address a specific question about Salvatore Maranzano:
- What can we learn from recent discoveries? (Preview.)
- Why was Maranzano important in U.S. Mafia history? (Preview.)
- What did Maranzano certainly NOT look like? (Preview.)
- What was Maranzano up to in Dutchess County, New York? (Preview.)
- Why did Maranzano select Coll to kill "Lucky"? (Preview.)
- What was revealed about Maranzano by those who knew him? (Preview.)
- Where were significant locations of Maranzano’s life and career? (Preview.)
- When did Maranzano related events occur? (Preview.)
- Did Maranzano become a United States citizen? (Preview.)
- How has Maranzano been depicted in motion pictures? (Preview.)
- What happened on Sept. 10, 1931? (Preview.)
- What was in the memorandum book? (Preview.)
- What do we know about Maranzano in Sicily? (Preview.)
- Was there really a post Maranzano purge? (Preview.)
84 pages including covers and eight and a half pages of advertisements.
Why did Maranzano select Coll?
August 2019 issue contents
Features
Some of the lingering questions about Salvatore Maranzano relate to his hiring of Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll to murder Salvatore (a.k.a. “Charlie” or “Lucky Luciano”) Lucania: Why did Maranzano select Coll? How was he able to reach out to Coll? Why would Coll agree to serve as a Mafia executioner?
Clear, authoritative answers are not found in available source material, but we can make some educated guesses.
One page.
Features
Why did Maranzano select Coll to kill 'Lucky'?
By Thomas Hunt
 |
| Coll |
Clear, authoritative answers are not found in available source material, but we can make some educated guesses.
One page.
What happened on Sept. 10, 1931?
August 2019 issue contents
Features
Gangsters posing as law enforcement officers entered Maranzano's offices, Rooms 925 and 926 on the ninth floor of the New York Central Building at 230 Park Avenue, separated him from others in the office and shot and stabbed him to death. The basic storyline of the September 10, 1931, assassination is firmly established. But details in the story vary with the teller...
Two pages, including a half page of notes.
Features
What happened on Sept. 10, 1931?
Two pages, including a half page of notes.
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Maranzano issue taking shape
The August 2019 issue of Informer will deal exclusively with Prohibition Era Mafia leader Salvatore Maranzano - life, career, assassination and post-assassination aftermath. Through articles, photos and maps, Informer will tackle the many questions about Maranzano, including:
- Who was Salvatore Maranzano?
- What did he look like? (And what did he certainly NOT look like?)
- What does a recent discovery tell us about him?
- What was said about him by those who knew him in life?
- Where were the locations significant to his life and career?
- When did Maranzano-related events occur?
- Why was he important in U.S. Mafia history?
- How has he been portrayed by Hollywood?
- What do we know of Maranzano's life in Sicily?
- Was there really a post-Maranzano Mafia purge?
Pages for the issue are currently being laid out. (Issue is expected to weigh in at around seventy-two pages.)
Plans call for the August Informer to be released in the usual print and electronic/PDF formats (through the MagCloud service). And, with some luck, the issue also will be available in a Kindle ebook format.
Stay tuned.
Monday, October 22, 2018
Interview: Christian Cipollini
November 2018 issue contents
Interview
"My interest was sparked by my father’s interest in history, especially the lesser known corners of it. On the surface one would think my mob fascination was an obvious influence because my dad was a narcotics cop, but oddly enough, not overtly. His job lit a spark that didn’t fully flame until years later, leading me toward fact-finding as a whole, and instilling in me that history is always relevant: We’re never given all the clues at once, there’s always more to piece together, and somehow all of it does indeed repeat itself, for better or worse, if we don’t pay attention to it."
Six pages including three images.
Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.
Interview
Interview: Christian Cipollini
Six pages including three images.
Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
April 2012 Issue of Informer
April 2012 Contents
Editorial
In this issue, Informer takes a close look at Salvatore Lucania, a.k.a. Charlie Luciano, intending to separate fact from fiction and to establish the real-world details of his life and criminal career. A great deal of the material written about Luciano and his associates since the mid-1970s rests upon an insecure foundation: The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano by Martin Gosch and Richard Hammer.
Though often criticized by historians as the product of Gosch's imagination, The Last Testament has been widely (and inexplicably) accepted as a near-autobiographical telling of Luciano's life story. Quotes from the work have appeared in books about Luciano and his ally Meyer Lansky. Even some who have been vocally critical of Last Testament's contents and Gosch's methods have found it impossible to resist borrowing tales from the book for their own works.
In our featured article, historian Richard Warner explores The Last Testament and the claims of its authors. He compares its contents to the historical record in order to deliver what should be "The Last Word on The Last Testament" (preview).
Thomas Hunt follows up with a Luciano lifetime chronology. While the Gosch-Hammer controversy is noted, "Year-by-year: Charlie Lucky's life" is devoid of Last Testament influence (preview).
Also in this issue, we present the second installment of “Gunmen of the Castellammarese War,” as historians Lennert van ‘t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner tell the story of Steve Rannelli (preview); Edmond Valin identifies underworld informants from the Philly Mob (preview); Bill Feather provides an extensive membership chart for the post-Luciano Genovese Crime Family of New York (preview); Richard Warner recommends books on Al Capone (preview); and Patrick Downey discusses gangsters who were sent to watery graves (preview).
One hundred pages. Published April 20, 2012.
Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.
Last Word on 'Last Testament'
April 2012 Contents
Feature Article
The Last Word on
'The Last Testament'
By Richard N. Warner
"Although Last Testament was positively received by the public, it came under heavy fire by journalists who had years specializing in organized crime research. The first negative criticism was offered by New York Times organized crime specialist Nicholas Gage. It was followed by a scathing review from former New York Post writer Tony Scaduto. The harshest criticism, however, came from an official government source – the Federal Bureau of Investigation..."
Twenty-nine and a half pages
Including twelve images and four and a half pages of notes.
Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.
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Year-by-year: Charlie Lucky's Life
April 2012 Contents
Feature Article
Year-by-year:
Charlie Lucky's Life
By Thomas Hunt
"When two of the suspects are brought to Levy’s hotel room for identification, the wounded insurance broker says, 'There’s some mistake. These aren’t the men.' On December 29, Lucania, the Diamond brothers and Walsh are discharged in magistrate’s court."
Twenty-seven and a half pages
Including twenty-four images and five pages of notes.
Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.
Preview/purchase electronic edition through Scribd.
Preview/purchase this single article through Scribd.
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