October 2023 issue of Informer

 October 2023 issue contents - Introduction

The gangster breeding ground

Journalists Craig Thompson and Allen Raymond in 1940 wrote that “...the lower East Side of Manhattan in the first twenty years of the twentieth century was the greatest breeding ground for gunmen and racketeers, since risen to eminence, that this country has ever seen...” (Gang Rule in New York)

Conditions in the pre-Prohibition twentieth century Lower East Side certainly fueled an explosion in gangs and racketeering. Such underworld giants as Meyer Lansky, Louis “Lepke” Buchalter and Salvatore “Charlie Luciano” Lucania were products of that overcrowded and hard environment. But that was just a small part of the area’s exciting and often bloody underworld history...

In this issue, Informer presents a collection of articles representing the seedy and bloody gangland history of the Lower East Side. Material spans many decades of Manhattan’s history. Here's what we have inside:

    • Not long after the end of the Civil War, the area became home to a network of professional thieves and thugs, known as the Whyos. Probably more of a loose association than a gang, the Irish-American outlaws picked pockets, rolled drunks and attacked police officers. See "End of the Whyos."

    • A single historic photograph has preserved the squalor and peril of Lower East Side tenement neighborhoods. Take a closer look at "Bandits' Roost."

    • Few in New York's history acquired worse reputations than John McGurk, proprietor of a dance-hall/saloon that became known as Suicide Hall. See "John H. McGurk and Bowery's 'Suicide Hall.'" 

    • Towering over the pre-Prohibition Manhattan underworld was Edward “Monk” Eastman. The gangland legend managed to win the esteem of his home city through wartime heroism, only to be murdered outside a speakeasy. See "The death and life of hoodlum/hero Eastman."

    • An 1890s Italian-American racketeer residing on the Lower East Side may have been the first boss of the Mafia in New York, possibly the leader of the Mafia in the entire U.S. See "NYC's first Mafia boss?"

    • When an Italian-American gang leader adopts an Irish name, confusion is a likely result. We try to set the record straight on "Paul Kelly" Vaccarelli. See "Italian gang chief with an Irish name."

    • Sai Wing Mock, faction leader during bloody “Tong Wars” in Manhattan's Chinatown, was thought dead at least a couple of times before he actually passed away. See "Sai Wing Mock and the New York 'Tong Wars.'"

    • Before becoming a California Mafia boss, Frank Lanza got wealthy in Manhattan businesses. See "Perspective: Lanza's NY firms may have been Mafia fronts."

    • Gang leader “Johnny Spanish” Mistretta and his family appear to have embraced a false backstory, causing problems for historians. See "Mafia genealogy: In search of 'Johnny Spanish.'" 

    • A rich future in racketeering was molded in Meyer Lansky's childhood on the Lower East Side. See "Racketeering future was molded in young Lansky's neighborhood."

    • Enough blood was spilled on Second Avenue during a fourteen-year period to warrant renaming the road, “Death Avenue.” See "'Death Avenue,' 1910-1924."

    • A 1960s government report on narcotics law violators provided biographical and criminal information of just over two dozen racketeers from the Lower East Side. See "1964 narcotics report included mobster bios."

Eleven sidebar articles deal with these subjects: Gambling; Eastman's killer Jeremiah W. Bohan; Mafia HQ on Mott Street; The Pelham and Irving Berlin; Sirocco and Tricker; Torrio and Vanella; Bellantonis of Broome Street; "Mutty," "Lucy" and "Kitty"; "Dutch" Goldberg; "Gurrah," "Lepke," "Curly" and "Bugsy"; "Red" Levine.

A few other items in this issue do not directly relate to the underworld history of the Lower East Side: 

    • Interesting background information has come to light on two attendees of the 1928 Mafia convention in Cleveland. See "Mob history: New facts about two 1928 conventioneers."

    • Eight recently released and soon-to-be-released books are announced. See "Books."

    • Perhaps the most famous of Lower East Side gang bosses (made famous by Hollywood) wasn't really one at all. See "Just one more thing: 'Butcher' wasn't from the Five Points."

This issue is available in seven formats. Use the table below to determine the appropriate format for you. Clicking a seller logo will take you to the related preview/purchase website.

Type	Identifier	Dimensions	Color?	Seller	Price (USD)
MAGAZINE LAYOUTS
Print Magazine	ISSN: 1943-7803	8 1/4" x 10 3/4" 174 pg incl covers	Yes	MagCloud	$42.80
PDF EMagazine1	ISSN: 1944-8139	N/A	Yes	MagCloud	$10.951
BOOK LAYOUTS
Print Hardcover2	ISBN: 9798859895656	6" x 9" 370 pages	No	Amazon	$27.85
Print Paperback3	ISBN: 9798859876655	6" x 9" 370 pages	No	Amazon	$19.83
Kindle EBook4	ASIN: B0CH26LB4L	N/A	No	Amazon	$9.95
EPUB EBook5	GGKEY: 15L2PWLZWP4	N/A	No	GooglePlay	$9.95
AUDIOBOOK
Audiobook6	GGKEY: 48QRTHAQBHN	8hrs:32mins	N/A	GooglePlay	$12.95
Print hardcover and paperback books are indexed. Ebooks are text searchable. 1 - PDF emagazine is free with print magazine purchase. Viewable online or with Acrobat Reader. 2 - Print hardcover also has ASIN: . 3 - Print paperback also has ASIN: . 4 - Kindle device or Kindle reader software required. 5 - EPUB device or reader software - such as Calibre - required. 6 - Abridged audiobook created through Google Beta program.

2020 paperback gets new cover

"Better late than never"?

The first Informer issue released in trade paperback format (Nicola Gentile issue released in October 2020) was somewhat hastily assembled in response to printing problems (since fixed) with the print magazine format. The cover of that paperback was essentially a stretched out version of the magazine cover, and some of its spine text - black on a dark teal background - was difficult to read on a bookshelf.

It took a few years, but a new cover - simpler in design, but clear, proportional and featuring more readable spine text - has been put in place on the 2020 paperback edition (it has been added to the Kindle and EPUB ebook formats, as well), which remains available for purchase through Amazon.com. Issue content remains unchanged.

Small price hike on book editions

Due to the KDP printing service's escalating costs for materials and labor, the list prices of Informer paperback (Oct 2020, Oct 2021 and Nov 2022 issues) and hardcover (Nov 2022 only) book editions recently increased slightly. 

For example, the October 2022 "Mob in Youngstown" issue in paperback form was originally priced at $19.95 (U.S. dollars). After the price increase, it is now for sale at $20.20 (USD).

The pricing for Informer's magazine format and for electronic magazine and electronic book formats have been unaffected by this price increase.

Available now: Nov. 2022 Informer

November 2022 Issue Announcement

INFORMER:
THE MOB IN YOUNGSTOWN

All print and electronic formats of the November 2022 issue of Informer are now available for preview / purchase. View the issue introduction for an overview and a summary of included articles. Or use the table below to find the format that best suits you.

This issue is available in seven formats. Use the table below to determine the appropriate format for you. Clicking a seller logo will take you to the related preview/purchase website.

Type	Identifier	Dimensions	Color?	Seller	Price (USD)
MAGAZINE LAYOUTS
Print Magazine	ISSN: 1943-7803	8 1/4" x 10 3/4" 188 pg incl covers	Yes	MagCloud	$44.70
PDF EMagazine1	ISSN: 1944-8139	N/A	Yes	MagCloud	$10.95*
BOOK LAYOUTS
Print Hardcover2	ISBN5: 9798849815220	6" x 9" 378 pages	No	Amazon	$26.85
Print Paperback2	ISBN6: 9798351244709	6" x 9" 378 pages	No	Amazon	$19.95
Kindle EBook3	ASIN: B0BDFT9C9C	N/A	No	Amazon	$9.95
EPUB EBook4	GGKEY: EYCX505E9B9	N/A	No	GooglePlay	$9.95
AUDIOBOOK
Audiobook7	GGKEY: 48QRTHAQBHN	10hrs:22mins	N/A	GooglePlay	$27.50 $18.00
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: B0BHRFTR4X. 6 - Print paperback also has ASIN: B0BHRB3L52. 7 - Audiobook created through Google Auto-Narrated Audiobook Beta program. * - PDF e-magazine is free with print magazine purchase.

October 2021 issue of Informer

October 2021 issue contents - Editorial

Editorial:

Mafiosi of the West Coast

Our look at mobsters who set up shop on America's West Coast begins with excerpts from a fact-based crime noir by J. Michael Niotta PhD. These excerpts relate to the escape to California of New York gangsters - a young Jack Dragna and his cousin Ben Rizzotto - implicated in the 1914 murder of wealthy Manhattan poultryman Barnett Baff (PREVIEW). This is Dr. Niotta's first article in Informer. A brief biography of Baff is provided as a sidebar.

Dragna and Rizzotto also make appearances in Justin Cascio's study of the legendary “San Pedro Gang” and Corleone Mafia transplant Sam Streva (PREVIEW).

The San Francisco gangland murder of Nick DeJohn, found stuffed into the trunk of his car in 1947, and that killing's possible relationship with Chicago's so-called “Cheese War” are considered by Thomas Hunt (PREVIEW). The article is accompanied by a sidebar story on early Chicago shootings linked with the DeJohn family and by a collection of other car-involved murders of crime figures who settled in California.

Michael O'Haire reveals that San Francisco crime boss Francesco Lanza played important roles in the development of the Mafia in Colorado (PREVIEW). Lennert van 't Riet explores connections between the early San Francisco and New Orleans Mafia organizations, focusing on 1898 murder victim Francesco DiFranchi (PREVIEW).

In addition to the California-related material, we look into reports of another, “other Gentile family” (PREVIEW) and Jeffery King describes the career of Reinhold Engel, who led “one of the cleverest and most efficient” bank robbery gangs (PREVIEW).

In our “Just One More Thing” column, Thomas Hunt considers the rare appearance of law enforcement officers on United States postage stamps (PREVIEW). This issue also includes “Hundred Years Ago” notes on a crime boss desperate to leave the country and the murder of a St. Louis political boss, as well as a new book announcement for Rogues' Gallery about the Gilded Age revolution of policing in New York City. 

This issue is available in five formats. Seller logos link to preview/purchase sites. (Sept. 27 note: The issue is being released earlier than scheduled, but we were limited in our ability to move up the release date. We regret that Amazon Kindle downloads will not be available until Sept. 29.)

Type	Identifier	Dimensions	Color?	Seller	Price (USD)
MAGAZINE LAYOUTS
Print magazine	ISSN: 1943-7803	8 1/4" x 10 3/4" 96 pages	Yes	MagCloud	$25.50
PDF e-magazine1	ISSN: 1944-8139	N/A	Yes	MagCloud	$9.49*
BOOK LAYOUTS
Print paperback	ISBN4: 9798474567648	6" x 9" 160+ pages	No	Amazon	$14.95
Kindle e-book2	ASIN: B09FYJKJZS	N/A	No	Amazon	$9.49
EPUB e-book3	GGKEY: L7A1ZTHWFGN	N/A	No	GooglePlay	$9.49
1 - PDF document reader - such as Acrobat Reader - required. 2 - Kindle device or Kindle reader software required. 3 - EPUB device or reader software - such as Calibre - required. 4 - Print paperback also has ASIN: B09FS72B7G. * - PDF e-magazine is free with print magazine purchase.

Plain text links:

• MagCloud - print and PDF electronic magazine formats (color).
• Amazon - print paperback and Kindle e-book formats (B&W).
• Google Play Books - EPUB e-book format (B&W).

Multiple formats for October 2021 issue

Paperback, EPUB e-book offered

The October 2021 issue of Informer will be offered in 6-inch by 9-inch trade paperback and popular e-book formats, in addition to its usual standard 8.25-inch by 10.75-inch printed magazine and e-magazine formats. The additional options were first offered in 2020 and proved to be popular.

Comparison of paperback
and magazine cover sizes

Paperback and Kindle-compatible e-book versions will be available through Amazon.com. EPUB-compatible e-book will be available through Google Play Books. These formats will have monochrome (black and white) interiors. Grayscale images will be placed at the conclusion of articles.

The printed magazine and PDF-format e-magazine versions, available through MagCloud, will have color interiors, with grayscale and color images incorporated into the page design.

The paperback will be a lower cost print option, retailing for about $14.95 (USD), while the magazine will be sold for $25.50 (USD). All electronic versions are expected to retail for about $9.49 (USD).

Watch for announcements of the issue's release.

20% holiday discount on paperback edition

Holiday shopping for a crime history reader?

The special trade paperback edition of our latest Informer issue is for sale at a 20% discount during the 2020 holiday season. Nick Gentile, subject of the issue, was a pal to Lucky Luciano, Albert Anastasia, Al Capone, "Joe the Boss" Masseria and other memorable crime figures. His life story and bios of dozens of his associates are presented here in a 382-page book available through Amazon.com.

Gentile's story begins with the formative years of the U.S. Mafia and runs through the Prohibition Era gang wars and consolidation into the transatlantic narcotics rackets of the post-WWII years.

The special issue benefited from contributions of a dozen historians: Thomas Hunt, David Critchley, Steve Turner, Lennert van't Riet, Richard N. Warner, Justin Cascio, Sam Carlino, Michael O'Haire, Jon Black, Margaret Janco, Bill Feather, Christian Cipollini.

(This holiday discount is only available on the trade paperback version of the issue and only until December 24, 2020.)

October 2020 issue of Informer

October 2020 Issue contents - Editorial

Editorial:

Mafia history and Nick Gentile

The memoirs of Nicola Gentile contain a wealth of information on early Mafia history in the United States. But this treasure has been inaccessible for most Americans. Published twice in Italy – in 1963 and in 1993 – the book, Vita di Capomafia, has never been released in an English-language version. Copies of the Italian-language editions are rarely available for sale and nearly impossible to locate in U.S. libraries.

In this issue of Informer (our thirtieth), we strive to bring Nicola Gentile’s entire life story to the English-language reader. Building on extensive original research by a team of Mafia history experts and on U.S. government documents designed to extract meaning from the memoirs, we attempt to balance Gentile’s obviously self-serving and self-aggrandizing autobiographical work with verifiable history, to correct the misinformation and to fill in the wide gaps in his personal account.

We lead off with a detailed biography of the well-traveled Mafia leader, from his 1885 birth to his disappearance from history in the 1970s (Link).

Sidebar biographical articles deal with Gentile’s first criminal racket (Link), his murder of a man (or men) in Pittsburgh (Link), the young family he created and abandoned in western New York (Link), the 1930s narcotics case that convinced him to flee the U.S. (Link), the American spy he befriended in Italy (Link), the various printed forms of his life story (Link) and his Italian coauthor Felice Chilanti (Link).

Source material is also shared through a statement given by Gentile to a U.S. Customs agent in Italy (Link), a set of Gentile address books acquired by U.S. officials (Link) and a Gentile letter from Italy seized from its courier on the way into New York (Link).

David Critchley delves into the failure of U.S. authorities to promptly and fully exploit information provided by Gentile (Link). Richard N. Warner examines Gentile’s statements in an effort to detect an underlying moral code (Link). Thomas Hunt surveys the discrepancies, distortions and deceptions found in Gentile’s memoirs (Link).

We also provide biographies for dozens of individuals who played important or interesting roles in the Gentile life story (Link), a timeline of events relating to Gentile’s life and underworld career (Link) and a listing of Gentile-related addresses in the U.S. and Italy (Link).

Also in this issue:

• Sam Carlino examines Gentile’s interactions with Colorado Mafiosi and explains the feuds and the Mafia “trial” that grew out of Pellegrino Scaglia’s murder (Link).
• Michael O’Haire finds that figures from his own family history crossed paths with Nicola Gentile in Pueblo, Colorado (Link).
• Jon Black discusses New York underworld leaders Giuseppe Masseria and Frankie Yale in an excerpt from his soon-to-be-released book, Secret Societies (Link).
• Justin Cascio explores the early Los Angeles Mafia through the circumstances surrounding the 1906 murder of George Maisano (Link).
• In The Warner Files, Richard N. Warner looks at the impact of COVID-19 on organized crime (Link).
• Book announcements: Colorado’s Carlino Brothers, Secret Societies, The Italian Squad (Link).
• Obituary: Martha Macheca Sheldon (Link).

Our discussion of Gentile in this issue benefited from research, writing and editing contributions of underworld historians around the globe. We wish to express our appreciation to Steve Turner, David Critchley, Lennert van’t Riet, Margaret Janco, Bill Feather, Richard N. Warner, Sam Carlino, Michael O’Haire, Jon Black and Christian Cipollini.

A note about this issue's formats:

As we proofed the October 2020 issue, we encountered serious problems in the output from our usual printing service, MagCloud. MagCloud was unable to address these problems in a timely manner. In order to generate readable output in the print edition, we were forced to produce an electronic MagCloud PDF edition that did not have Informer's usual searchable text. We understand that some of our readers enjoy the ability to search our electronic issues (the Kindle e-book format still contains searchable text). We have added a searchable PDF version of this issue, as well as an EPUB-format e-book (for non-Kindle readers) through Google Play Books. While the contents of these various editions are essentially the same, layout differs between the magazine and book formats, and the magazine contains a few page-filler items not found in the book.

Preview/purchase this issue:

Magazine format

• Printed & bound - MagCloud, 214 pages ($47.50 US)
• Electronic PDF - no search - MagCloud ($9.49 US)
• Electronic PDF - searchable - Google Play Books ($9.49 US)

Book format

• Trade Paperback - Amazon, 382 pages ($24.95 US)
• Kindle format E-book - Amazon ($9.49 US)
• EPUB format E-book - Google Play Books ($9.49 US)

About formats and pricing

Formats and pricing

Dealing as completely as possible (through a half-year timetable) with the lengthy and complex underworld career of Nicola Gentile resulted in an especially lengthy issue of Informer (scheduled for release by October 19) and raised concerns over delivery of the issue to our readership. In its traditional, printed and bound magazine format, this issue reaches 214 pages, more than double the size of last year's large Maranzano-focused issue and about triple the size of the average Informer issue. With production costs tied to page count, it has become a particularly expensive document. In order to keep Informer as accessible as possible, we have added one new format - a black-and-white trade paperback - to our usual list of editions.

We gave some thought to decreasing the print magazine's page count through other means. It could have been achieved, for example, by eliminating article endnotes and/or by removing images and/or by dramatically reducing article type size and leading. These options were rejected as incompatible with Informer's mission and tradition. We decided that the usual print magazine format needed to be maintained, though its price tag might put it out of reach for some of its audience.

As usual, we are offering Informer in an electronic magazine (PDF) format. The pricing of this format is less influenced by the issue's page count, and we have been able to hold the sale price below $10 (US). Following the example of recent issues, we are also offering this issue as a Kindle-compatible e-book through Amazon.com. These electronic editions provide access to journal contents at a more reasonable cost, but they do not address the wants and needs of readers who prefer or require a physical form for their reading material.

For that reason, we reformatted the issue as a six-inch by nine-inch paperback book. Though this resulted in a hefty, 384-page volume, the printing cost calculations for books differ from those of magazines and allowed us to make the paperback format available for about half the price of the magazine. In the process, some filler material needed to be sacrificed, image color was lost and page layout had to be simplified. But the content of featured articles and their annotations were preserved.

We understand that increasing available formats could cause some confusion. We hope that our readers will forgive the complication and understand this attempt to provide flexible pricing of this important material. We plan to make the October 2020 issue available in the following editions (expected retail pricing shown):

• Printed bound magazine through MagCloud ($47.50)
  
• Printed softcover book through Amazon ($24.95)
  
• Electronic PDF magazine through MagCloud ($9.49)
  
• Electronic Kindle-compatible through Amazon ($9.49)
  

Update (Oct. 17)

Some problems in proof copies of the MagCloud print edition forced us to create a MagCloud electronic PDF that did not include Informer's usual searchable text. (Searchable text remains available in the Kindle e-book format.) We have decided to add two additional formats - a searchable PDF and an EPUB-format e-book - which will soon be available through Google Play Books. These both will be priced at $9.49.