Events of 2009

January

Jan 15 - Former FBI Agent John J. Connolly, 68, is sentenced in a Miami Florida courtroom to serve 40 years in prison. He was convicted of second-degree murder, a charge resulting from his information-sharing with Massachusetts underworld informants James "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "Rifleman" Flemmi.

Jan 26 - Paul "the Indian" Schiro, 71, is sentenced to 20 years in prison for racketeering offenses. He was convicted in the 2007 Family Secrets case in Chicago.

Jan 28 - Chicago Outfit leader Frank Calabrese Sr., 72, is sentenced to life in prison for racketeering and participation in seven racketeering murders. He was convicted in the 2007 Family Secrets case.

February

Feb 02 - Chicago Outfit leader Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, 79, is sentenced to life in prison for racketeering and a racketeering murder. He was convicted in the 2007 Family Secrets case.

Feb 04 - A 38-count federal indictment is unsealed against a dozen alleged members of the Genovese Crime Family. One of those charged with racketeering and related crimes is former Genovese acting boss Daniel Leo, who is already held in federal custody on other charges.

Feb 05 - Chicago Outfit boss James Marcello, 65, is sentenced to life in prison for racketeering and racketeering-related murders. He was convicted in the 2007 Family Secrets case.

Feb 11 - Federal prosecutors unseal racketeering and murder indictments against Gambino Crime Family acting boss John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico and crime family associate Joseph Watts.

Feb 12 - Six alleged members of the Garrison NY-based "Delmonico crew" of the Genovese Crime Family are charged with racketeering.

Feb 19 - The Scranton Times newspaper chain files court documents charging that two judges involved in a $3.5 million defamation verdict against the company had links to Northeast Pennsylvania crime boss William D'Elia.

Feb 23 - Recent underworld turncoat John Alite, an old friend of John A. "Junior" Gotti, takes the witness stand in Brooklyn Federal Court to testify against accused Gambino Crime Family racketeer Charles Carneglia.

Feb 27 - Colombo Crime Family acting boss Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico, 55, is sentenced to life in prison for ordering the 1999 murder of underworld rival William "Wild Bill" Cutolo. With both Persico and his father in prison, authorities believe there will be a leadership change in the Colombo organization.

March

Mar 06 - "Mafia Cops" Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa are sentenced to life in prison for their cooperation with the leadership of the Lucchese Crime Family in New York. After a 2006 federal conviction, the trial judge ruled that the statute of limitations had run out. An appeals court reinstated the conviction.

Mar 12 - Former police officer Anthony "Twan" Doyle, 64, is sentenced to 12 years in prison for racketeering-related offenses. He was convicted in the 2007 Family Secrets case in Chicago.

Mar 17 - Gambino Crime Family soldier Charles Carneglia is convicted in Brooklyn Federal Court of racketeering and murders. Prosecutors say he disposed of some of his murder victims by dissolving their bodies in barrels of acid.

Mar 26 - Nicholas Calabrese, 66, is sentenced to 12 years in prison for racketeering and racketeering-related murders. Calabrese admitted to committing 14 gangland murders. He won the lenient sentence by cooperating in the Family Secrets investigation in Chicago and by testifying against his brother Frank Calabrese Sr. and other Chicago Outfit leaders.

April

Apr 06 - Salvatore "the Ironworker" Montagna, 39-year-old reputed acting boss of the Bonanno Crime Family, is arrested by FBI and immigration agents as he leaves his steel business in Brooklyn. U.S. authorities plan to deport him to his native Canada. (He is also a citizen of Italy, as his family moved him there during childhood.) Authorities say he led the Bonanno organization since 2006 when former bosses Joey Massino and Vincent Basciano were successfully prosecuted.

Apr 06 - A federal judge orders four convicted Chicago racketeers - Frank Calabrese Sr., Joseph Lombardo, James Marcello and Paul Schiro - to pay about $20 million in fines and $4.3 million in restitution to the families of 14 men killed by the Chicago Outfit.

Apr 08 - Anthony "the Saint" St. Laurent, a leading figure in the New England Crime Family, is indicted in Providence for planning to murder New England capodecina Robert DeLuca Sr.

Apr 17 - Nicholas "Little Nicky" Corozzo, 69, is sentenced to 13 and a half years in prison for the 1996 racketeering-related murder of Lucchese Crime Family associate Robert Arena. Authorities believe Corozzo may have been poised to take over leadership of the crime family.

Apr 27 - Angelo Prisco, New Jersey-based capodecina in the Genovese Crime Family, is convicted in Manhattan Federal Court of murder, racketeering, robbery, extortion and other offenses.

Apr 28 - Former Deputy U.S. Marshal John T. Ambrose is convicted of stealing and leaking witness information related to Family Secrets Case witness Nicholas Calabrese.

May

May 03 - Donato "Danny" Angiulo, 86-year-old brother of former New England Mafia underboss Jerry Angiulo, dies in the Boston area of natural causes. Authorities say Danny Angiulo once served as capodecina in the crime family.

May 17 - Alfonso "Pizza Man" Tornabene, 86, dies of natural causes. Federal authorities say Tornabene served as a senior member of the Chicago Outfit and helped run the organization during the imprisonment of James Marcello between 1992 and 2003.

May 21 - A federal indictment names 11 Floridians as members of a crew affiliated with the Bonanno Crime Family.

May 23 - U.S. officials deport Rosario Gambino, 67, to Italy. Gambino, a cousin of former crime family boss Carlo Gambino, was linked to Pizza Connection heroin and cocaine smuggling rackets in the 1970s and 1980s.

July

Jul 01 - Carmen "Cheese Man" DiNunzio, reputed leader of the New England Mafia's Boston branch, pleads guilty to bribery charges related to the Boston area's "Big Dig" highway construction project.

Jul ?? - Burton Kaplan, former New York racketeer and key witness in the Mafia Cops trial, dies of natural causes at age 75.

August

Aug 18 - The Genovese Crime Family's New Jersey crew leader Angelo Prisco, 69, is sentenced to life in prison for cooperating in the murder of Angelo Sangiuolo and for conducting a series of home invasion robberies.

Aug 29 - Gennaro "Jerry" Angiulo, 90-year-old former underboss of the New England Crime Family, dies of kidney failure at Massachusetts General Hospital.

September

Sep 17 - Gambino Crime Family soldier Charles Carneglia is sentenced to life in prison for a racketeering and murder conviction.

Sep 21 - John A. "Junior" Gotti's fourth racketeering trial in the past five years opens in New York.

Sep 24 - The New England Crime Family's Boston-based underboss, Carmen "Cheese Man" DiNunzio, is sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty of bribery charges.

October

Oct 01 - Two sets of raids on the Lucchese Crime Family of New York resulted in 29 arrests. Among those arrested on state enterprise corruption, bribery and other charges were two reputed members of the organization's leadership panel, Joseph DiNapoli, 74, of the Bronx, and Matthew Madonna, 73, of Selden.

Oct 07 - Fifteen alleged leaders, members and associates of the Bonanno Crime Family are rounded up by the FBI. Federal prosecutors say one of those arrested, Joseph "Sammy" Sammartino, 55, of North Arlington NJ, has been a member of the Bonanno ruling panel.

Oct 27 - Anthony "Todo" Anastasio, 80, is convicted in Brooklyn Federal Court of racketeering and extortion charges. Anastasio is the nephew of legendary Gambino Crime Family boss Albert Anastasia.

November

Nov 05 - New England media report a shift in leadership of the regional Mafia. The Boston area faction increases in importance as Bostonian Peter Limone reportedly replaces Providence-based Luigi Manocchio.

Nov 20 - Gambino Crime Family capodecina Gregory DePalma of Scarsdale NY dies at age 78 at the Butner Federal Medical Prison in North Carolina.

December

Dec 01 - For the fourth time in five years, a federal racketeering case against John A. "Junior" Gotti ends with a hung jury in New York.

Dec 17 - A 66-year-old Somerville Massachusetts man, Ralph F. DeLeo, is indicted as the "street boss" of the New York-based Colombo Crime Family. He is charged with commanding an interstate crew engaged in narcotics trafficking, extortion and loan sharking.

Dec 21 - Two Gambino Crime Family associates, Letterio DeCarlo, 47, and Thomas Dono, 34, plead guilty to conspiring in the April 28, 1998, murder of suspected Gambino turncoat Frank Hydell. The men also admitted participating in an illegal gambling business in the late 1990s.

Dec 28 - Nick Rizzuto Jr., son of reputed Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto (currently serving time in a U.S. prison), is shot to death outside a Montreal-area construction company.

Informer readership figures

Readership of Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History grew dramatically during the month of November. Average readership of a non-index journal issue grew by more than 66 percent from 972.4 on Nov. 6 to 1620.8 on Dec. 12.

Circulation figures for Informer are shown below. These figures represent readers of the journal's electronic edition and purchasers of its print edition as of Dec. 12, 2009. (Note: Web search engines provide greater exposure for issues as time passes, accounting for the generally greater reader stats of older electronic issues.) No effort is made to approximate the sharing of Informer's downloadable electronic edition.

Sep 2008 issue - v1n1
2490 readers (2060 Scribd, 416 other online, 14 print)
Increase of 11.8% over November's 2226 readers

Jan 2009 issue - v2n1
1765 readers (1469 Scribd, 282 other online, 14 print)
Increase of 82.9% over November's 965 readers

Apr 2009 issue - v2n2
1722 readers (1536 Scribd, 173 other online, 13 print)
Increase of 117.1% over November's 793 readers

Index v1n1 thru v2n2
3757 readers (3757 Scribd, print edition not offered)
Increase of 14.4% over November's 3282 readers

Jul 2009 issue - v2n3
1479 readers (1294 Scribd, 160 other online, 25 print)
Increase of 130.3% over November's 642 readers

Oct 2009 issue - v2n4
648 readers (635 Scribd, 4 other online, 9 print)
Increase of 174.5% over November's 236 readers

Index v1n1 thru v2n4
998 readers (996 Scribd, 2 print)
Increase of 698.4% over November's 125 readers

Average readership for a (non-index) journal issue:
1620.8 readers (1398 Scribd, 207 other online, 15 print)
Increase of 66.6% over November's 972.4 average

Holiday SALE on print edition issues

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1. September 2008
Contents: The Mob's Worst Year: 1957, Part 1, by Thomas Hunt / Capone's Triggerman Kills Michigan Cop by Chriss Lyon / New Orleans Newspaperman Reveals His Role in 1891 Anti-Mafia Lynch-Mob / A Look Back: 100 Years Ago, 75 Years Ago, 25 Years Ago / Book Reviews: Frank Nitti; The Mafia and the Machine; The First Vice Lord; The Complete Public Enemy Almanac / Author Interview: David Critchley / Ask the Informer: Joe DiGiovanni of Kansas City / Current Events: John A. Gotti, James "Whitey" Bulger / Deaths: John Bazzano Jr., Frank "the German" Schweihs, Carl "Tuffy" DeLuna.
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2. January 2009
Contents: Martyr: Joseph Petrosino by Thomas Hunt / Kansas City Mafia Membership Chart 1910s-1940s by Bill Feather / The Mob's Worst Year: 1957 Part Two by Thomas Hunt / A Look Back: 100 Years Ago, 50 Years Ago, 25 Years Ago, 1 Year Ago / David Critchley Book Review of Open City by William Ouseley / Book Review: The Last Undercover by Bob Hamer / Book News: Cumberland House True Crime Titles / Author Interview: Scott Deitche / Ask Informer: Saverio Pollaccia, Society of the Banana / Current Events.
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Contents: The Dreaded D'Andrea by Richard N. Warner / 80 Years Since the Valentine's Day Massacre / Chicago's Early Mafia Bosses by Thomas Hunt / Chicago Outfit Membership Chart 1920s-40s by Bill Feather / Author Interview: Arthur Bilek / Ask Informer: The Chicago Heights Mafia / Book Review: The Origin of Organized Crime in America by David Critchley / Book Notes / A Look Back / Current Events.
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4. July 2009
Contents: 1909 Mafia Murder in Danbury, Connecticut, by Thomas Hunt / Maranzano Muddle by David Critchley / Pittsburgh Mafia Membership Chart by Bill Feather / My First Dinner with Mickey by Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood / Book Reviews: The First Family by Mike Dash; Mafia Son by Sandra Harmon / Interview: Patrick Downey / Ask the Informer: John Gotti / Book Notes / A Look Back / Current Events.
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Contents: Castro and the Casinos by Thomas Hunt / Jack Ruby Visits Havana / Buccellato's Bushwick Crew by Justin Dugard / Early Bonanno Membership Chart / Book Reviews: The Mad Ones by Tom Folsom; The Canary Sang But Couldn't Fly by Edmund Elmaleh / Interview: Martha Macheca Sheldon / Ask the Informer: William Flynn's NYPD Career / Book Notes / A Look Back / Current Events.
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6. Informer Index - Vol. 1 and 2
Contents: A complete index to the five issues of Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History published in 2008 and 2009.
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