Informer's 2026 issue, focused on organized crime in Las Vegas, is scheduled for release by November 20, 2026.
The articles deadline is September 25.
The advertising deadline is October 16.
Friday, July 10, 2026
Wednesday, April 1, 2026
Considering Vegas issue in 2026
A new issue of Informer for 2026 is currently under consideration. The issue most likely would focus on the organized crime history of Las Vegas, Nevada.
If you are interested in contributing an article to a Las Vegas-focused Informer issue, please let me know through an email to informerjournal@gmail.com. Please be specific about the article subject, the sources you intend to use and your own background, if any, in research and writing.
Thanks!
- T.
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
MobHistory on Substack
I am sorry to announce that, due to a variety of factors including competing commitments and recent (now apparently resolved) health concerns, there is no plan to produce an issue of Informer for 2025.
I am hopeful that Informer readers will find my newest (a bit more casual / far less demanding) venture, MobHistory on Substack, to be suitable as a substitute at least in the short term.
Sunday, November 10, 2024
Kindle version cracks top-100 lists
The Kindle edition of Informer's November 2024 issue, The Treacherous World of Joseph Valachi, has become a top-100 seller in two Amazon.com categories: Biographies of Organized Crime and History of Mid-Atlantic U.S.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
November 2024 issue of Informer
November 2024 issue contents
The Treacherous World
of Joseph Valachi
A rare primary source into Castellammarese War-era Mafia history, Joseph Valachi also described the early gangland of East Harlem, Manhattan and the Bronx, and provided a unique soldier-level view of New York-area organized crime from Prohibition to Apalachin. An early FBI informant, Valachi was the focus of a best-selling book and a popular movie, as well as televised Senate testimony and a lengthy autobiography. Yet, a great deal of the true Valachi story has remained untold.
Now, 60 years after Valachi put pen to paper to tell his story, a team of historians from around the globe is revealing long hidden aspects of his life and investigating the individuals who influenced him.
Contributors to the issue: Thomas Hunt (U.S.), Steve Turner (U.K.), Fabien Rossat (France), Jon Black (U.K.), Thibaut Maïquès (France), J. Michael Niotta PhD (U.S.), Thom L. Jones (New Zealand), Patrick Downey (U.S.), Ellen Poulsen (U.S.).
This Informer issue features articles on various phases of Valachi's existence in and out of "cosa nostra," bios of those who played important roles in his life and background of his time and place. The issue is illustrated with photos, documents and maps.
In addition to Informer's traditional print and electronic magazine formats, this issue is available in hardcover, paperback and ebook formats.The magazine and e-magazine editions total about 260 pages, and the book editions are about 500 pages. The available formats are compared in this table.
| Type | Identifier | Dimensions | Color? | Seller | Price (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAGAZINE LAYOUTS | |||||
| Print Magazine | ISSN: 1943-7803 |
8 1/4" x 10 3/4" 262 pg incl covers |
Yes |  MagCloud |
$62.00 |
| PDF EMagazine1 | ISSN: 1944-8139 |
N/A | Yes | MagCloud |
$20.00* |
| BOOK LAYOUTS | |||||
| Print Hardcover2 | ISBN5: 9798340925138 |
6" x 9" x 1.5" 500 pages |
No |  Amazon |
$32.95 |
| Print Paperback2 | ISBN6: 9798340935007 |
6" x 9" x 1.25" 500 pages |
No | Amazon |
$24.75 |
| Kindle EBook3 | ASIN: B0DJD793GL |
N/A | No |
Amazon |
$15.75 |
| EPUB EBook4 | GGKEY: EYCX505E9B9 |
N/A | No |  GooglePlay |
$15.75 |
|
1 - PDF document reader - such as Acrobat Reader - required. 2 - The printed books are indexed. (Ebooks/Emagazines can be searched.) 3 - Kindle device or Kindle reader software required. 4 - EPUB device or reader software - such as Calibre - required. 5 - Print hardcover also has ASIN: B0DJX7678D. 6 - Print paperback also has ASIN: B0DJXBBZ2F. * - PDF e-magazine is free with print magazine purchase. |
|||||
Issue contents
Introduction: Betrayal ranks among the worst emotional wounds in the human experience. The pain of betrayal probably impacts every person's life to some degree. But in Joseph Valachi's life story, betrayal became a strong and recurring theme...This section runs 5 magazine pages / 8 book pages.
It includes a map, an image, endnotes.
The issue contains the following articles and columns (click for additional information):
- Growing up Valachi
- The Murder Stables (Jon Black)
- Mafia minor leaguers (Thibaut Maïquès)
- Mystery victims
- How a mafioso is 'made' (J. Michael Niotta PhD)
- 'Little Apples'; big lie (Patrick Downey)
- Killing of off-dury officer linked to Valachi kin (Thomas Hunt, Ellen Poulsen)
- Valachi and women
- Valachi and 'the French Connection' (Fabien Rossat)
- Murder by Mistake
- Was Valachi insane?
- Valachi and the FBI rechristened the Mafia
- DOJ vs FBI
- Testimony was 'a mixed bag'
- Minor characters in the Valachi epic (Hunt, Steve Turner)
- Elusive Crime Figures (Hunt, Turner)
- Getting the story printed
- End of Days (Thom L. Jones)
- Valachi's exit
- Last will and testament of Joseph Valachi
- Marie Jackson mysteries remain
- Valachi's life: the motion picture
- Historians review 'Valachi papers' movie
- New books
Feature 1
November 2024 issue contents
As the newborn “Giuseppe Vilacio” took his first breath in autumn 1903, his East Harlem community was home to an already substantial and still growing population of first- and second-generation Italian Americans...
Growing up Valachi
East Harlem boy becomes Mafia soldier
As the newborn “Giuseppe Vilacio” took his first breath in autumn 1903, his East Harlem community was home to an already substantial and still growing population of first- and second-generation Italian Americans...
18 magazine pages / 34 book pages.
Includes sidebar articles on New York Catholic Protectory; Anthony Valachi; John Valachi; Filomena, Maddalena, Antonetta Valachi.
Map, documents, images, endnotes.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
Feature 2
November 2024 issue contents
A menacing maze of run-down structures played a significant role in the East Harlem childhood of Joseph Valachi. The structures, built and rebuilt over time from discarded building debris, packing crates and old sheet iron, stood at the corner of First Avenue and East 108th Street. They included junk and rag collection shops, wagon storage and other business uses. At the heart of the ramshackle complex was a boarding stable infamous for criminal activity. Due to its presence, the cluster of shacks acquired an evil reputation and became collectively known as the “Murder Stables”...
The Murder Stables
By Jon Black
A menacing maze of run-down structures played a significant role in the East Harlem childhood of Joseph Valachi. The structures, built and rebuilt over time from discarded building debris, packing crates and old sheet iron, stood at the corner of First Avenue and East 108th Street. They included junk and rag collection shops, wagon storage and other business uses. At the heart of the ramshackle complex was a boarding stable infamous for criminal activity. Due to its presence, the cluster of shacks acquired an evil reputation and became collectively known as the “Murder Stables”...
10 magazine pages / 17 book pages.
Map, images, endnotes.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
Feature 3
November 2024 issue contents
Pushed by poverty and peers, by about 1920 young Joseph Valachi was engaged in gang crime. He was excluded as many of his contemporaries graduated into regional racketeering. The pressure of the underworld conflict known as the Castellammarese War caused a Mafia organization to induct Valachi late in 1930...
Mafia minor leaguers
East Harlem gangsters became 'mobbed up'
By Thibaut Maïquès
5 magazine pages / 10 book pages.
Images, sources.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
Feature 4
November 2024 issue contents
Two rebel groups in the New York area joined forces against the reigning Mafia boss of bosses in 1930. But before they did so, they needed to prove commitment to their shared cause by murdering two men. Valachi described the arrangement in his autobiography but did not identify the victims...
Mystery victims
Two killed due to underworld deal were not identified by Valachi
 |
| Consiglio |
4 magazine pages / 7 book pages.
Image, endnotes.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
Feature 5
November 2024 issue contents
By the time Joe Valachi bared all in front of television cameras for Arkansas Senator John L. McClellan and his subcommittee in October of 1963, the agencies working “Italian crimes” in America already had a fair amount of intel on the Mafia, including versions of the criminal society’s induction ceremony...
How a mafioso is 'made'
Comparing underworld induction ceremonies of different times and places
By J. Michael Niotta, PhD
5 magazine pages / 10 book pages.
Images, sources.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
Feature 6
November 2024 issue contents
Having survived both the Castellammarese War and the purge of Salvatore Maranzano’s faithful that followed, by the fall of 1932, Joe Valachi was settling into Mafia life. As a new member of a crew run by Anthony Strollo, aka Tony Bender, he became safely entrenched in the Mafia organization headed by Charlie “Lucky” Luciano (Salvatore Lucania) and his underboss Vito Genovese. Through The Valachi Papers, we learn that Joe received his first Luciano Crime Family murder contract via Bender that autumn. The victim was twenty-one-year-old hoodlum Michael Reggione, nicknamed Little Apples, who hung around a coffee shop on East 109th Street...
'Little Apples'; big lie
We weren't told the truth about Valachi's early Mafia murder contract
By Patrick Downey
 |
| Reggione |
4 magazine pages / 7 book pages.
Images, documents, sources.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
Feature 7
November 2024 issue contents
The killing of off-duty New York Police Officer Alfred Loreto in the summer of 1950 occurred in a Bronx neighborhood familiar to Joseph Valachi and may have resulted from the criminal ventures of Valachi’s brother-in-law Giacomo “Jack” Reina...
Killing of off-dury officer linked to Valachi kin
By Thomas Hunt with Ellen Poulsen
 |
| Officer Loreto |
6 magazine pages / 12 book pages.
Images, sources.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
Feature 8
November 2024 issue contents
Through his teen years and early adulthood, Valachi avoided serious romantic entanglements, feeling shame over his poor living conditions and the crimes he was committing in an effort to remedy them. Around his mid-twenties, he began to more highly value his bonds with women. While fidelity was never his strong suit, he formed a series of meaningful connections with women...
Valachi and women
5 magazine pages / 10 book pages.
Images, endnotes.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
Feature 10
November 2024 issue contents
Though reportedly involved in thirty-three homicides, Valachi generally denied committing killings with his own hands. The one murder he admitted to performing himself, the vicious beating death of prison inmate John Joseph Saupp, was said to be the result of a mistake...
Murder by mistake
Saupp was fatally beaten because he physically resembled a mobster
11 magazine pages / 16 book pages.
Images, endnotes.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
Feature 9
November 2024 issue contents
On December 27, 1961, Joseph Valachi, a member of the Genovese Crime Family, and ten codefendants were convicted of importing into the United States $150 million worth of heroin. Sentenced to twenty years for this affair, it was the end of Valachi’s long racketeering career. A few months later, he would become the first penitent to publicly testify to the existence of Cosa Nostra in the U.S. While Valachi had been an important link in the drug operation, that link was near one end of a vast chain – a multinational trafficking network that the general public would later know (thanks to Director William Friedkin's 1971 film) as The French Connection...
Valachi and 'the French Connection'
By Fabien Rossat
 |
| Frank Caruso, Vincent Mauro, Salvatore Maneri |
On December 27, 1961, Joseph Valachi, a member of the Genovese Crime Family, and ten codefendants were convicted of importing into the United States $150 million worth of heroin. Sentenced to twenty years for this affair, it was the end of Valachi’s long racketeering career. A few months later, he would become the first penitent to publicly testify to the existence of Cosa Nostra in the U.S. While Valachi had been an important link in the drug operation, that link was near one end of a vast chain – a multinational trafficking network that the general public would later know (thanks to Director William Friedkin's 1971 film) as The French Connection...
11 magazine pages / 18 book pages.
Images, map, endnotes.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
Feature 11
November 2024 issue contents
Joseph Valachi’s rationality and emotional stability were questioned by a number of sources on a number of occasions. Some issues were raised by Valachi’s history, actions and comments; some by the underworld colleagues he publicly betrayed; some by a critical press...
Was Valachi insane?
Joseph Valachi’s rationality and emotional stability were questioned by a number of sources on a number of occasions. Some issues were raised by Valachi’s history, actions and comments; some by the underworld colleagues he publicly betrayed; some by a critical press...
7 magazine pages / 13 book pages.
Sidebar articles on Counting up the 'crazies,' Lipton's troubles.
Images, document, endnotes.
Click for more information on this Informer issue.
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