Gangsters of NYC's Lower East Side?

The gangster history of New York City's Lower East Side is under consideration as a focus for the fall 2023 issue of Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement.

I'd be happy to hear any/all feedback on this idea. Feel free to comment on this post or to send an email to informerjournal@gmail.com. If you're a  crime history writer and you have an idea for an article, I'd like to hear about that too. (But use email for that.) 

The deadline for articles is likely to be early August, 2023, with the issue release occurring in October. 

Thank you to our article contributors

With the articles deadline for the November 2022 (Mob in Youngstown) issue now in the rearview, we are ready to begin work on designing, proofing and indexing the pages of the issue. However, we first want to take a moment to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of writers/researchers James Barber, Justin Cascio, Margaret Janco, Thom L. Jones, Michael A. Tona and Edmond Valin. 

It looks as though the issue will be a large one, closing in on 200 pages for the print magazine format and about 375 for the print book format.

The issue's advertising deadline is September 30, 2022. The scheduled release date is November 1, 2022.

Informer No. 31 set for October

The next issue of Informer will be released October 4, 2021.

The articles deadline is August 2. Please contact the editor as soon as possible if you're working on something you intend to submit. (For this issue, we're especially interested in crime and law enforcement history articles with a California connection.)

The advertising deadline is September 6. Camera-ready ads and payments must be received by that date. A rate/policy sheet is available upon request. As usual, special ad pricing is available to authors of crime history books seeking to publicize their works.

Contact:
informerjournal@gmail.com

Closing of Scribd document store

We were advised on February 1, 2017, that the Scribd document store would soon be closing. Today is its official closing day. The business change appears linked to Scribd's repackaging as an e-book subscription service.

Informer issues and articles had been available for purchase through the Scribd store since the fall of 2010. Thousands of readers used the Scribd store to access Informer documents. We regret access will no longer be possible through Scribd, but this is entirely out of our control.

Fortunately, Informer electronic and print editions remain available for preview and purchase through the MagCloud/Blurb service. All Informer issues - from the very first issue back in September 2008 - can still be acquired through MagCloud/Blurb. MagCloud/Blurb is our "go-to" service for Informer distribution, but we will be checking into other document sale and distribution options.

Click to visit Informer on the MagCloud/Blurb service.

Tweet

Leftist radicals clash in Barre, Vermont

October 2016 contents
Features.

Leftist radicals clash in Barre, Vermont

Sculptor Elia Corti is slain as

U.S. vs anarchy war begins

by Thomas Hunt

"What was billed as a political discussion became a bloody melee. Several gunshots were fired and a man fell mortally wounded. At least one man was stabbed. Another was thrown down stone stairs into the street. By the time police arrived, the shooting victim was near death, and the cause of American anarchism was about to gain a new martyr."

Ten pages including one and a half pages of notes, nine images.

Preview / purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Tweet

'Family business' - the Corleone Fratuzzi

October 2016 contents
Features.

'Family business' - the Corleone Fratuzzi

by Justin Cascio

"Nearly all the leaders of the Corleone Mafia for the past hundred years have been related to one another through blood and marriage. The Sicilian Mafia we know today was once many Mafias. Each town, suburb and district of the Province of Palermo, the heartland of the Sicilian mafia, had a local gang and a different leader..."

Twelve and a half pages, one family tree

Preview / purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Tweet

The Galleanists' war of terror

October 2016 contents.
Features.

The Galleanists' war of terror

by Thomas Hunt

"The roots of the anarchist political philosophy in Europe extend back to the French Revolution and may be detected in many of the countries of Europe. Living conditions of the working classes through the Industrial Revolution aided the spread of the anti-authority philosophy. Some of its early proponents in Italy were Carlo Cafiero, Errico Malatesta and Giuseppe Fanelli.
Though socialists-communists and anarchists sought similar revolutionary objectives, they differed substantially on approach and regularly came into conflict..."

Five and a half pages including one page of notes, two images.

Preview / purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Tweet

Saluting our many contributors

The following writers have contributed articles to and/or have been interviewed for Informer over the past six years.

• Ryan Artis, book reviewer and interviewer.
• Arthur Bilek, author of The First Vice Lord.
• Deirdre Marie Capone, author of Uncle Al Capone.
• Christian Cipollini, author of Lucky Luciano: Mysterious Tales of a Gangland Legend.
• David Critchley, author of The Origin of Organized Crime in America.
• Scott Deitche, author of The Silent Don: The Criminal Underworld of Santo Trafficante Jr.
• Patrick Downey, author of Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld, 1900-1935.
• Justin Dugard, organized crime historian.
• Bill Feather, organized crime historian.
• Oscar Goodman, author of Being Oscar: From Mob Lawyer to Mayor of Las Vegas.
• Sandra Harmon, author of Mafia Son: The Scarpa Mob Family, the FBI and a Story of Betrayal.
• William J. Helmer, author of Al Capone and His American Boys.
• Joshua R. Henze, organized crime historian.
• Alex Hortis, author of The Mob and the City.
• Thomas Hunt, coauthor of DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime.
• Thom L. Jones, organized crime historian.
• Jeffery S. King, author of The Rise and Fall of the Dillinger Gang.
• Craig Lockwood, coauthor of King of the Sunset Strip.
• Chriss Lyon, author of A Killing in Capone's Playground.
• Rick Mattix, coauthor of The Complete Public Enemy Almanac.
• Arthur Nash, author of Images of America: New York City Gangland.
• Gregory Peduto, writer and historian.
• Rick Porrello, author of The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia.
• Ellen Poulsen, author of The Case Against Lucky Luciano: New York's Most Sensational Vice Trial.
• Marina Riggio, genealogist, contributor to articles.
• Angelo Santino, organized crime historian.
• Gavin Schmitt, author of Images of America: Milwaukee Mafia.
• Richard Shaw, crime historian.
• Martha Sheldon, coauthor of Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia.
• Steve Stevens, coauthor of King of the Sunset Strip.
• Michael A. Tona, coauthor of DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime.
• Steve Turner, organized crime historian.
• Edmond Valin, investigative researcher, organized crime historian.
• Lennert Van`t Riet, organized crime historian.
• Richard N. Warner, columnist, reviewer, interviewer, organized crime historian.

Tweet

Early NY Mafia - an alternative theory

May 2014 Issue Contents
Feature Article

Sicilian hometown allegiance and kinship ties

may have played larger roles in early Mafia

development than previously thought

The Early New York Mafia:

An Alternative Theory

by Richard Warner, Angelo Santino and Lennert Van`t Riet.

"Much of what has been widely accepted as early New York City Mafia history hinges on a particular interpretation of a small collection of source material. As availability of sources from that early era has improved, additional interpretations have become possible. It now appears that many of the long-accepted 'facts' and the history that has been woven from them may have been flawed. We cannot know what additional revelations the future may hold, so it is unlikely that our analysis of existing materials will be 'the final word' written on this subject. However, it is important to document the additional clues that recently have come to light and to fit a workable interpretation to the new data as a starting point for future research..."

100 pages, including 21 images, 21 maps and tables, and 12 and a half pages of notes.

Preview/purchase print and electronic editions through MagCloud

"Miracle of Brooklyn"?

January 2014 Issue Contents
Feature Article

A Brooklyn parish sacrifices for peace

but experiences pain and bloodshed

The Regina Pacis crowns

By Thomas Hunt

"Holy items dedicated to lasting world peace played an ironic role in tumult and violence within a Roman Catholic parish in Brooklyn. The items were a pair of precious jeweled crowns, blessed by the Pope, and fastened to a mural at the Regina Pacis Votive Shrine of St. Rosalia’s Parish. The crowns were twice stolen from the shrine and twice returned. The thefts caused widespread anguish, resulted in several arrests, and were linked to at least one gangland murder and the start of a long and bloody rebellion inside a Brooklyn-based crime family..."

Forty-two pages including seven and a half pages of notes and twenty-three photographs.

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

Fifty Years Ago: Warren Commission

January 2014 Issue Contents
Feature Article

Oswald and the FBI

Lee Harvey Oswald

"Late in January of 1964, the President’s Commission on the Assassi-nation of President Kennedy (the Warren Commission) wrestled in executive session with a particularly troubling issue. There had been reports that the late Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John F. Kennedy, had been on the payroll of the Federal Bureau of Investigation..."

Fifteen pages including two pages of notes.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Preview/purchase electronic edition through Scribd.

Tweet

'Diamond Joe' Esposito

July 2013 Contents
Feature Article

'He was a faithful, generous and loyal friend'

The Life and Crimes of 

'Diamond Joe' Esposito

By Lennert van‘t Riet 

and David Critchley

"An early example of the rise of Italian immigrants to positions of political influence in the United States, Giuseppe 'Diamond Joe' Esposito was a legendary mediator between organized criminals and political interests in Chicago. Rarely involved directly in criminality and seldom held legally accountable for his follies, Esposito was accused of using old-style political beneficence to enhance his own power and expand the influence of bootleggers and racketeers. The causes of his 1928 murder remain something of a mystery, but probably relate to the violent intersection of organized crime and organized politics in the Windy City..."

Thirty-two pages, including five pages of notes, sixteen photographs and one map.

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

Tweet

Bootleg Poison

July 2013 Contents
Feature Article

A raid by Prohibition agents set in motion

events that led to deaths, blindings

Poison

By Thomas Hunt and 

Michael A. Tona

"One of Prohibition’s more severe unintended con-sequences was a wave of deaths and blindings among residents in western New York and nearby Canada that lasted through the early summer of 1926. Reports of the casualties followed closely behind a successful law enforcement raid of an alcohol redistilling operation in mid-spring..."

Fourteen pages, including two pages of notes and ten images.

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

Tweet

Gangland Profile: Bonomo

July 2013 Contents
Feature Article

Gangland Profile: Frank Bonomo

By J. Dugard

"Frank Bonomo was a long-time member of the Bonanno Crime Family, who briefly may have served as a capodecina (group leader) during the late 1970s. Equally adept at avoiding the attention of law enforcement and the wrath of rivals, he survived the New York gangland 'Banana War' and lived to the age of 86..."

Eight pages, including two pages of notes and six photographs.

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

Tweet

Asbury: 'Chronicler of Sin'

April 2013 Contents
Feature article

An informal biography of Herbert Asbury

America's 'Chief Chronicler of Sin'

By Thomas Hunt

"It has been fifty years since Herbert Asbury, journalist, editor and author, passed from this world at the age of seventy-three, leaving behind both a collection of regional crime histories that would fill a fair-sized bookshelf and a vast army of readers hungry for more. His works, published and republished over the years, often have been derided by the academics as 'popular' history. Asbury personally acknowledged the claim but clearly preferred the term 'informal history.'"

Twenty pages, including two and a half pages of notes and twelve photographs.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Preview/purchase electronic edition through Scribd.

Preview/purchase this single article 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

Capone in St. Pete

October 2012 Contents
Feature article

Al Capone in St. Petersburg

By Scott Deitche

"In January of 2009, a home in the Shore Acres neighborhood of St. Petersburg, Florida, went on sale for $262,000. From the front, the 2,350-square-foot, ten-room house was guarded by two stone lions. Sold for more than half a million dollars at the height of the regional real estate boom a few years earlier, the house entertained some lookers but no buyers. What made the house unique was the claim that it was built by Al Capone for his mother Teresa."

Seven pages, including four photographs, sidebar and one page of notes.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Preview/purchase electronic edition through Scribd.

Tweet

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

Last Word on 'Last Testament'

April 2012 Contents
Feature Article

The Last Word on 

'The Last Testament'

By Richard N. Warner

"In 1975 the publishing house of Little, Brown and Company released The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, penned by movie producer Martin A. Gosch and former New York Times journalist and author Richard Hammer. The book became a near-bestseller, and a paperback edition soon was published by Dell....
"Although Last Testament was positively received by the public, it came under heavy fire by journalists who had years specializing in organized crime research. The first negative criticism was offered by New York Times organized crime specialist Nicholas Gage. It was followed by a scathing review from former New York Post writer Tony Scaduto. The harshest criticism, however, came from an official government source – the Federal Bureau of Investigation..."

Twenty-nine and a half pages
Including twelve images and four and a half pages of notes.

Preview/purchase electronic and print editions through MagCloud.

Tweet