Anastasia - 'Lord High Executioner'

June 2015 Issue Contents
Feature article

The bloody underworld career of Albert Anastasia

‘Lord High Executioner’ 

of the American Mafia

by Lennert van`t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner

"Albert Anastasia must be counted among the most violent and ruthless American Mafia bosses. As director of a Brooklyn band of gunmen known popularly as 'Murder Incorporated,' Anastasia was implicated in a staggering number of 1930s-era homicides. His activities earned him the news media nicknames 'Lord High Executioner' and 'Mad Hatter'..."

Thirty-six and a half pages, including five and a half pages of endnotes and thirty-three images.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

The Ascent of Genovese

January 2014 Issue Contents
Feature Article

The ascent of Vito Genovese

By Lennert van`t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner

Vito Genovese

"Much has been written about Vito Genovese, widely regarded as the single most powerful figure in the American Mafia during the 1940s and 1950s. Genovese was the subject of two published biographies and figured prominently in the well-publicized recollections of Joseph Valachi, the benchmark Mafia informer who exposed the workings of Cosa Nostra. Valachi portrayed Genovese as a ruthless individual, who murdered his way to the top of his secret criminal society. That description is generally accepted. However, the precise route by which Genovese became such a commanding figure in the underworld has been unclear..."

Forty-four and a half pages including eight pages of notes and eighteen photographs.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Preview/purchase electronic edition through Scribd.

Tweet

Gunmen of the Castellammarese War - Part 5

April 2013 Contents
Feature Article

Gunmen of the Castellammarese War, Part Five 

A lifetime of tangling with the law:

Salvatore 'Sally Shields' Shillitani

By Lennert van‘t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner

Salvatore Shillitani

"The fifth and final chapter of our series Gunmen of the Castellammarese War features the life of Salvatore Shillitani, better known as 'Sally Shields.' More than the others mentioned in the series, Shillitani’s life after the Castellammare War was one of incarceration and bending to penitentiary rules. In the criminal world, he was a failure. How Shillitani enrolled in such a life is unclear, but one factor may have been the bad examples he received from relatives..."

Twenty-four pages, including four pages of notes and thirteen photographs.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Preview/purchase electronic edition through Scribd.

Tweet

October 2012 Issue of Informer

October 2012 Contents
Editorial

For whatever reason, certain figures in crime history attract an inordinate amount of attention from the public. That attention tends to generate legend. And there probably are more underworld legends about Al Capone than any other criminal.

Capone contributed to the growth of these legends through his public appearances and through his travels. While his criminal empire was based in Chicago, he is known to have visited many locations across the Midwestern United States. He also traveled extensively in his native state of New York and in the nearby states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He visited the West Coast and vacationed in the South, eventually settling in Florida. All the locations he visited during his lifetime – and perhaps a fair number of places he never even heard of – have become homes to Capone history and Capone legend.

In this issue, true crime author Scott Deitche tracks down some of the lingering Capone legends in St. Petersburg, Florida, a Capone retreat where the gangland boss reportedly owned considerable real estate. (Preview) Deitche uncovers the properties and businesses that really have historic connections to Capone and his underworld associates.

Also in this issue We present Part 4 of the Gunmen of the Castellammarese War series. Lennert van‘t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner examine Dominic “The Gap” Petrelli, close friend and Mafia sponsor of Joe Valachi. (Preview)

Bill Feather provides an early Mafia membership chart for Tampa, Florida. (Preview)

Edmond Valin studies FBI documents to determine which members of the San Jose and San Francisco Mafias were providing information to law enforcement. (Preview)

In the Warner Files, Richard Warner gives his  recommendations for books about New York organized crime figures. (Preview)

Fifty-six pages, including advertising and cover.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Gunmen of the Castellammarese War - Part 4

October 2012 Contents
Feature article

Gunmen of the Castellammarese War, Part Four

Valachi's Mafia Sponsor:

Dominick 'The Gap' Petrelli

By Lennert van‘t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner

"Dominick 'The Gap' Petrelli’s life was filled with intrigue and risk. More an underworld 'fixer' than a Mafia killer, Petrelli sought to steer a course that maximized his business opportunities while avoiding potentially fatal side-effects. The only of our five Castellammarese War gunmen subjects born in mainland Italy, Petrelli came into the world as Domenico Antonio Francesco Petrella."

Twenty-four pages, including twelve photographs and five pages of notes.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Preview/purchase electronic edition through Scribd.

Tweet

Gunmen of the Castellammarese War - Part 3

July 2012 Contents
Feature Article
Third in a series

Gunmen of the Castellammarese War, Part Three

Ex-boxer Girolamo ‘Bobby Doyle’ Santuccio

By Lennert van ‘t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner

"Best known to his criminal associates as 'Bobby Doyle,' Santuccio took part in the permanent removals of Masseria allies Joseph Pinzolo, Alfred Mineo and Steve Ferrigno. His later life was something of an anticlimax and, like his wartime contemporaries Domingo and Rannelli, Santuccio died without fanfare..."

Eighteen pages including three pages of notes, eleven photographs and one map.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.
Preview/purchase electronic edition through Scribd.

Tweet

April 2012 Issue of Informer

April 2012 Contents
Editorial

The average Mafia aficionado likely feels that he or she already knows a great deal about New York gangland chieftain Charlie "Lucky" Luciano. Just about everyone knows, for example, that Luciano survived being taken "for a ride" by his rivals, that he was nicknamed "Lucky" as a result of that episode and that he single-handledly revolutionized organized crime in the United States. Just about everyone knows those things; unfortunately none are true. The problem is that much of what is generally believed about the 1930s-era crime boss can be traced to fictional works and a single, terribly suspect Luciano biography.

In this issue, Informer takes a close look at Salvatore Lucania, a.k.a. Charlie Luciano, intending to separate fact from fiction and to establish the real-world details of his life and criminal career. A great deal of the material written about Luciano and his associates since the mid-1970s rests upon an insecure foundation: The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano by Martin Gosch and Richard Hammer.

Though often criticized by historians as the product of Gosch's imagination, The Last Testament has been widely (and inexplicably) accepted as a near-autobiographical telling of Luciano's life story. Quotes from the work have appeared in books about Luciano and his ally Meyer Lansky. Even some who have been vocally critical of Last Testament's contents and Gosch's methods have found it impossible to resist borrowing tales from the book for their own works.

In our featured article, historian Richard Warner explores The Last Testament and the claims of its authors. He compares its contents to the historical record in order to deliver what should be "The Last Word on The Last Testament" (preview).

Thomas Hunt follows up with a Luciano lifetime chronology. While the Gosch-Hammer controversy is noted, "Year-by-year: Charlie Lucky's life" is devoid of Last Testament influence (preview).

Also in this issue, we present the second installment of “Gunmen of the Castellammarese War,” as historians Lennert van ‘t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner tell the story of Steve Rannelli (preview); Edmond Valin identifies underworld informants from the Philly Mob (preview); Bill Feather provides an extensive membership chart for the post-Luciano Genovese Crime Family of New York (preview); Richard Warner recommends books on Al Capone (preview); and Patrick Downey discusses gangsters who were sent to watery graves (preview).

One hundred pages. Published April 20, 2012.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Tweet

Gunmen of the Castellammarese War - Part 2

April 2012 Contents
Feature Article 
Second in a Series

Gunmen of the Castellammarese War, Part Two

A Series of Serious Errors: 

The Underworld Career of Steve Rannelli

By Lennert van`t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner.

"While not as mysterious an identity to the public as Sebastiano 'Buster from Chicago' Domingo, Stefano Rannelli was strategically more important to the outcome of the Castellammarese War. His story also gives us insights into the personal life of a Mafia killer during the conflict..."

Twelve and a half pages
Including seven images and three pages of notes.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Preview/purchase electronic edition through Scribd.

Tweet