November 2018 issue of Informer

November 2018 issue contents
Editorial

Adhesive tape was a fairly recent invention when robbers began finding it especially handy in their field of endeavor. It was quicker and easier to bind and gag a victim with strips of the sticky material than with cloth or rope. And a roll of tape was far easier to carry around. Due to the novelty of this approach, newspapers dubbed groups that used it, “tape bandits.”

We learn in this issue’s feature by Jeffery S. King (Preview), that notorious gangster George “Baby Face” Nelson once led a group of these enterprising tape bandits.

Also in this issue:

• Saving a person from the electric chair may not always be the same as saving the person’s “life.” Thomas Hunt’s article (Preview) reveals that one wrongly convicted man was emotionally destroyed despite Detective Joseph Petrosino’s heroic efforts to free him from Sing Sing’s Death House.
• Did Albany’s powerful O’Connell Machine ensure the 1930s conviction and electrocution of widow Anna Antonio merely to shield local bootlegging and narcotics rackets? Ellen Poulsen considers the question (Preview).
• Author Christian Cipollini reveals past, present and what might happen if he ever smiled for a photograph (Preview).
• Richard N. Warner explores the unsolved murder of Chicago’s Sam Giancana (Preview).
• Thomas Hunt ponders “Wherefore art thou, [Frank] Romeo?” (Preview).
• Book reviews and announcements (Preview).

Sixty-eight pages.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Nemesis of counterfeiters: William Flynn

Vol. 3, Issue 1, April 2010 Contents

Feature article

The dismantling of the Morello Mafia leadership

was one highlight in a long law enforcement career

Nemesis of Counterfeiters:

William J. Flynn

By Thomas Hunt

In 1910, much of the early Mafia network in New York was dismantled through the efforts of a tenacious and resourceful Secret Service agent named William J. Flynn. Flynn had spent years building a counterfeiting case against Mafia boss of bosses Giuseppe Morello and his henchmen. While Flynn won great notoriety for the successful conclusion of the Morello counterfeiting trial and related prosecutions, that case was just one highlight in a law enforcement career that spanned a quarter-century and included all levels of government.

Twenty-three pages

including four and a half pages of notes

Thirteen images

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1909 Newspaper: Petrosino to be forgotten

Interesting quote about a $450 candle constructed in memory of NYPD Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino and scheduled to be burned in a New York cathedral:

"Poor fools! One century hence the world will know not that Joe Petrosino ever lived, and the candle will be forgot long before that."

The comment came from the Lexington (KY) Blue Grass Blade, May 2, 1909. Strangely, the original Blue Grass Blade - an outspoken atheist newspaper - ceased publication one year after that prediction and is, itself, largely forgotten, while the memory of Petrosino certainly lingers. (The Blade's name recently has been used by a Lexington atheist organization.)

Informer remembered Joseph Petrosino and his NYPD Italian Squad in its January 2009 issue.

Martyr: Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino

Vol. 2, Issue 1, Jan. 2009 Contents
Feature Article

A century ago, Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino of the

New York Police Department was shot to death

while on assignment in a foreign land.

Martyr

by Thomas Hunt

First paragraph:
"'Petrosino was a great man, a good man,' former President Theodore Roosevelt told the press. 'I knew him for years, and he did not know the name of fear. He was a man worth while. I regret most sincerely the death of such a man as Joe Petrosino.'"

Sixteen pages article body
including sidebar story
Two pages of endnotes
Eleven images.

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Or subscribe to Informer using the links at right.

A Look Back

Vol. 2, Issue 1, Jan. 2009 Contents
A Look Back

100 years ago:
NYPD Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino assassinated in Sicily.

50 years ago:
Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista forced into exile.

25 years ago:
Pizza Connection broken up.

1 year ago:
Salvatore Bonanno died after heart attack.

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Or subscribe to Informer using the links at right.

Petrosino featured in January issue

Vol. 2, No. 1 of Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History will commemorate the career of New York Police Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino. Spring 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of Petrosino's assassination while on undercover assignment in Palermo, Sicily.

Also in the next issue:

• The Mob's Worst Year: 1957 - Part Two


• Book Review of Ouseley's Open City


• An Interview with Author Scott Deitche

and plenty more.

The issue will be available for subscriber download and online purchase on Jan. 26, 2009.

A Look Back

Vol. 1, Issue 1, Sept. 2008 Contents
A Look Back

100 years ago:
NYPD Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino keeps a watchful eye on vacationing Sicilian Mafioso Raffaele Palizzolo.

75 years ago:
Philadelphia mob leaders Salvatore Sabella, John Avena and A. Domenico Pollina are acquitted of the Cocozza and Zanghi murders.

25 years ago:
New Orleans Mafia boss Carlos Marcello heads to prison. Chicago and Kansas City mobsters are accused of skimming from Vegas casinos. Joseph Bonanno begins serving a prison term.

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