Genovese Mafia Chart

January 2011 Contents
Membership Charts
By Bill Feather

The January issue includes a 1930s-1970s Genovese Crime Family membership chart by Bill Feather. The Seven and a half-page chart includes more than 150 documented and suspected Mafiosi along with birth, death, immigration, relationship, rank and other information.

Seven and a half pages.

Preview or purchase Print edition of this issue.

Preview or purchase Electronic edition of this issue.

Tribute to Rick Mattix

January 2011 Contents
Tribute

"I suppose it seems odd to some that the serious study of history's criminals draws in many fine people. But I have found it to be true. Rick Mattix, the dean of crime researchers, was among the very best."

"On October 27, 2010, the true crime community lost one of its greatest minds,strongest supporters, and best friends. I’m talking about Rick ‘Mad Dog’ Mattix."

"He was integral to this field. He will never be replaced and his contributions can never be measured because they will benefit research for generations to come."

Preview or purchase Print edition of this issue.

Preview or purchase Electronic edition of this issue.

Four pages including one image.
Five advertisements.

Special Mattix-memorial issue planned

Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement will publish a winter issue dedicated to the memory of the publication's Editorial Director Rick Mattix. (The release date has been penciled in for Feb. 14, 2011.) Rick, a highly regarded historian and mentor to true crime authors, died Oct. 27 at the age of 57.

ALL ADVERTISING INCOME from this issue will be forwarded directly to Rick Mattix's surviving family. So, this issue represents an opportunity for crime historians to promote their own works while making a special contribution to Rick's loved ones.

For this special issue, advertising prices have been reduced to:
$100 for a full-page (7.5 x 10.5 inches) ad
$ 55 for a half-page (7.5 x 5 inches) ad
$ 15 for a business-card-sized (3.5 x 2 inches) ad.

December 17, 2010, is the final day for submitting ad copy and payment. All payments must be sent through Paypal to informerjournal@gmail.com . (If you agree to purchase an ad through email to that address, a bill will be emailed to you through the Paypal service. Paypal accepts major credit cards and cash transfers as payment.)

Writers interested in submitting items for this special winter issue should send them to informerjournal@gmail.com by next Friday, Nov. 26. The journal welcomes well-researched articles of any length on any subject relating to American crime and law enforcement history.

Those who personally knew and/or worked with Rick Mattix are also encouraged to submit letters describing their experiences for inclusion in this issue.

Rick Mattix (1953-2010), author, researcher

    Rick “Mad Dog” Mattix, 57, of Bussey, Iowa, died Wednesday, Oct. 27, at the Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. He was born on September 21, 1953, at Oskaloosa, Iowa, the son of Virgil and Aletha McKim Mattix. He graduated from Twin Cedars High School with the class of 1971. Following high school Rick went to work for a local factory. He retired from there in 1998, after an accident.
    Rick’s passion in life was researching gangster history; he was a world renowned author, researcher and historian on the subject. He was known by the gangster community as the “Godfather” of gangster history. He had appeared on the History Channel and on an A&E Biography program, speaking on gangster history. He has written several books on the subject - including The Complete Public Enemy Almanac coauthored with his friend William Helmer - and his knowledge will be greatly missed. In July 2010, Rick announced that he and Thomas Hunt would partner in the operation of quarterly journal Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement.
    On April 28, 2000, he was united in marriage to Linda Steele at Bussey. He took Linda all over the country doing research. He will be remembered as a one of a kind person that never had a harsh word for anyone. He was an avid dog lover. He was a strong supporter of Indian rights and the National Rifle Association. He enjoyed listening to the Beatles and enjoyed a laid-back life.
    He is survived by his wife Linda Mattix of Bussey; two stepsons: Adam Steele of Bussey and Eli Steele of Des Moines; a very close grandson: Ridge Steele; a sister and her husband: Pamela and Terry Bonnett of Bussey; and two brothers: Duane and Barbara Mattix in Georgia, and Leland Mattix of Chicago, Illinois; his father in law: Kenny Hunt of Lacey; and many nieces and nephews.
    Rick was preceded in death by his parents; three brothers: Delmar and Darrel Mattix and Frank Wignal; and three sisters: Beverly McDaniels, Delores DeVore, and Patty Wilson; and his mother in law: Darlene Hunt.
    Funeral services for Rick Mattix, will be held Sunday, October 31, 2010, at 3 p.m. in the Bates Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa with Pastor Alvern Boetsma officiating. As was Rick’s wish his body will be cremated following the funeral. The Bates Funeral Chapel is in charge of the arrangements. Visitation will begin Saturday after 12 noon in the Bates Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa and then continue until 6 p.m. on Saturday. Visitation will begin again on Sunday morning after 10 a.m. and the family will be at the funeral chapel on Sunday afternoon from 1:30 - 3 to greet friends and relatives. Memorials may be made to the Rick Mattix Memorial Fund.
    To send condolences to the Rick Mattix family, send e-mails to: director@batesfuneralchapel.com.

October 2010 issue of Informer

October 2010 contents


Following the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the murders of John Scalise, Albert Anselmi and Joseph “Hop Toad” Giunta, Chicago gang boss Alphonse Capone found himself targeted by law enforcement as well as underworld rivals. His summer 1929 jailing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, following a brief visit to Atlantic City, New Jersey, is viewed by many historians as more than a coincidence. 

It is often referred to as a Capone-orchestrated plot to shield the crime boss. While the possibility of Capone’s involvement in setting up his own arrest remains a mystery, in this issue, Thomas Hunt shows that Capone did not act like a willing prisoner and worked continuously to regain his liberty (preview).

In “Eastern State Penitentiary: A Bastion of Solitude,” Gregory Peduto examines the history of the famous penal institution that served as Capone’s home for most of his long stay in Philadelphia (preview). Additional coverage related to the Capone incarceration includes a collection of Capone’s comments to Philadelphia Director of Public Safety Lemuel Schofield, the text of English novelist Charles Dickens’ harsh criticism of Eastern State Penitentiary, a discussion of the famous photo of Capone and Atlantic City underworld leader Enoch “Nucky” Johnson strolling the Boardwalk together (preview), and Bill Feather’s chart of the Philadelphia Mafia Family membership (preview).

In addition, this issue features “A Room for Two” by Chriss Lyon, which explains the presence of gangsters Gus Winkeler and John Moran in Berrien County, Michigan (preview); an interview of freelance archivist Arthur Nash; and a review of Ron Chepesiuk’s new book, Sergeant Smack (preview).

Sixty pages
including cover and advertisements
Published October 7, 2010.


Preview or purchase print edition of this issue

Preview or purchase electronic edition of this issue

Capone's long stay in Philly

October 2010 contents
Feature article

Never before imprisoned, Chicago’s underworld boss

may have underestimated a weapons charge in 1929.

80 years later, crime historians still argue about

Al Capone’s long

stay in Philadelphia

By Thomas Hunt

"On May 16, 1929, Chicago gang leader Al Capone and his bodyguard Frankie Rio were arrested as they exited a Philadelphia movie theater. The two men pleaded guilty to possession of concealed deadly weapons the following day and were sentenced to serve a year in prison. It was Capone’s first prison term. His treatment in Philadelphia was a dramatic change from the customary question-and-release law enforcement pattern in Chicago."

"Through the more than eighty years since the event, gangland historians have speculated that Capone deliberately set up the arrest and imprisonment to escape the wrath of rival gangsters, to appease underworld
higher-ups or to plan in guarded security the complete takeover of Chicago’s rackets."

Eighteen Pages including three pages of notes, two sidebar stories, twelve images.


Preview or purchase print edition of this issue

Preview or purchase electronic edition of this issue

Preview or purchase electronic version of this single article.

Eastern State: Bastion of solitude

October 2010 contents
Feature article

Alcatraz may rank as the world’s most fabled house of correction

but another institution spawned hundreds of imitators and

forever changed the history of penology

Eastern State Penitentiary:

A bastion of solitude

By Gregory Peduto

"Through much of recorded history, prisons were little more than dungeons constructed to inflict the maximum amount of punishment upon wrongdoers. With fetid conditions and severe corporal punishment, a person sentenced to an early “gaol” was unlikely to emerge alive." Six pages with four images.



Preview or purchase print edition of this issue

Preview or purchase electronic edition of this issue

Room for Two: Winkeler and Moran

October 2010 Contents
Feature Article

Located along the busy route from Chicago to Detroit,

Berrien County was a popular stop for Prohibition Era gangsters

Room for two:

Winkeler and Moran

By Chriss Lyon

"Chicago became synonymous with the Gangster Era, but Chicago gangsters often strayed beyond the city limits. When Windy City racketeers felt in need of a change in scenery, the plentiful resorts and beaches of Berrien County in nearby southwest Michigan beckoned." Seven pages including notes and five images.


Preview or purchase print edition of this issue

Preview or purchase electronic edition of this issue

Capone and Nucky Johnson, arm-in-arm

October 2010 contents
Photograph

After eighty years, controversy still

surrounds Capone-Johnson photo

The photograph shows Chicago gang boss Al Capone walking down Atlantic City’s Boardwalk arm-in-arm with city political boss and underworld czar Enoch “Nucky” Johnson. It establishes the two men as friends and illustrates the bond between organized criminals of different regions of the country. There’s only one problem: Many believe the photo to be a fake.


Preview or purchase print edition of this issue

Preview or purchase electronic edition of this issue

Criminal syndicates in Pennsylvania

October 2010 contents
Feature article
Agency document

Criminal syndicates

in Pennsylvania

By the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, 1970.

Excerpt from the Report on Organized Crime, Pennsylvania Crime Commission, 1970, examines the composition, history, leadership and enterprises of the five U.S. Mafia families involved in rackets within Pennsylvania - Philadelphia/Bruno, Scranton/Bufalino, Pittsburgh/LaRocca, New Jersey/DeCavalcante, Buffalo NY/Magaddino. Eight pages including notes.


Preview or purchase print edition of this issue

Preview or purchase electronic edition of this issue

Books and Television

October 2010 Contents
Books, Television

Books and Television coverage in the October issue of Informer includes:
- Preview of HBO's Boardwalk Empire.
- Review of Ron Chepesiuk's Sergeant Smack.
- Announcement of Deep Water second edition.
- Notes on new releases - "Into the Heart of the Mafia," "Lucky Luciano: The Real and the Fake Gangster," "Gangsters of Virtue," "Jersey Boy," "Unsolved Crimes."


Preview or purchase print edition of this issue

Preview or purchase electronic edition of this issue

Philadelphia Mafia Chart

October 2010 Contents
Membership Charts
by Bill Feather

The October issue includes a 1910-1960s Philadelphia Mafia Membership Chart by Bill Feather. The four-page chart includes dozens of documented and suspected Mafiosi along with birth, death, immigration, relationship, rank and other information.


Preview or purchase print edition of this issue

Preview or purchase electronic edition of this issue

Informer total readership tops 33,000

Readership of all Informer issues and indexes published to date has topped 33,000. The July 2010 issue, already accessed 412 times in print and electronic editions, has brought the publication's total readership figure to 33,191*. The total jumped more than 40 percent in the three months between May 6 and August 7, 2010.

Indexes remain the most popular of Informer's publications. The two indexes published to date have combined for about 13,000 readers, leaving the non-index issue readership total at 20,131 (a three-month increase of just under 40 percent).

The single most popular Informer issue remains April 2009. That issue, focused on the Mafia in Chicago, has a readership of 4,094. Currently, the issue with the quickest growing readership is April 2010, focused on Giuseppe Morello and Ignazio Lupo. Its numbers have nearly quadrupled since May. The seven non-index issues - excluding the one just released at the end of July - have averaged 2,817 readers.

Informer's print and electronic editions - distributed through MagCloud.com and Scribd.com - remain available indefinitely. Over time, the issues become incorporated into Internet search engine databases, resulting in dramatic increases in readership.

Issue reader totals as of August 7, 2010 
(compared with three months earlier):
Sep 2008 issue - v1n1 - 3738 readers, up 18.8%
Jan 2009 issue - v2n1 - 3051 readers, up 19.8%
Apr 2009 issue - v2n2 - 4094 readers, up 31.2%
-Index v1n1 thru v2n2 - 7059 readers, up 29.4%
Jul 2009 issue - v2n3 - 3294 readers, up 34.2%
Oct 2009 issue - v2n4 - 2335 readers, up 36.2%
-Index v1n1 thru v2n4 - 6001 readers, up 59.1%
Jan 2010 issue - v3n1 - 2357 readers, up 90.1%
Apr 2010 issue - v3n2 - 850 readers, up 388.5%
Jul 2010 issue - v3n3 - 412 readers.

* Note: The Scribd.com service shows a higher total. It calculates that the electronic edition alone has accumulated 34,340 readers.

Mattix, Hunt combine to lead new Informer

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

      July 29, 2010 - The publishers of two quarterly true-crime journals plan to pool their resources in a new, combined publication. Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement, set to launch in October, will provide informative and well-documented historical articles on crime, organized crime, policing and penology.

      Rick Mattix (right) has been publisher and editor of the On the Spot Journal of Crime and Law Enforcement since fall of 2006. Thomas Hunt has held a similar role with Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History since fall of 2008. Mattix’s publication specialized in the history of the gangster era - the 1920s and 30s, while Hunt’s dealt exclusively with the history of the American Mafia.
      “Though I never thought of us as being in competition with each other,” Hunt said, “it’s clear there was considerable overlap in our publications. In fact, before launching Informer, I wrote several Mafia history articles for On the Spot. So, this seems a natural combination.”
      Mattix said, “I am pleased to participate in the new Informer, which I believe will be a worthy successor to both its parent journals as well as expanding our previous horizons in the history of American crime and crime control.”

      Hunt (left) will serve as publisher of the new Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement. He also will perform copy editing and page design tasks. Mattix will serve as editorial director and will be responsible for article acquisition and issue contents.

      The new publication will be distributed in electronic and print editions. The low-cost electronic edition will be distributed through the Scribd.com document sharing service. Individual electronic issues will be priced at $5 (US), with annual subscriptions available for $18. The high quality print edition will be produced and shipped by HP’s international print-on-demand service MagCloud.com. The cost of individual print edition issues, including shipping, is estimated to be just under $20. Annual subscriptions to the print edition will be offered at a price of $75.

      For more information on the publication, return to this website. Informer can also be found on Twitter (ID: informerjournal) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Informer/63288650969).

Contact:
mailto:tphunt@gmail.com
mailto:rickmattix@yahoo.com

###

MagCloud 50%-off "flash sale" July 20

MagCloud.com, printer of Informer's hardcopy edition, is scheduling two-hour 50%-off sales on July 19 and 20. The sales represent a rare opportunity to fill gaps in your Informer collection at bargain prices.


The next MagCloud 50%-off "flash sale" is scheduled for:
July 20 between 10 a.m. and noon Eastern Daylight Time (7-9 a.m. PDT).

Click here to preview or purchase Informer issues through MagCloud.

Informer issues available for iPad

Special announcement:
Issues of Informer can be read on your iPad device using the new MagCloud app downloadable from MagCloud.com . All Informer issues are currently available free of charge (limited time).