Feature 6

November 2024 issue contents

'Little Apples'; big lie

We weren't told the truth about Valachi's early Mafia murder contract

By Patrick Downey

Reggione

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...

4 magazine pages / 7 book pages.
Images, documents, sources.

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Just One More Thing: Calabrian Organization

June 2015 Issue Contents
Column

Just One More Thing:

Just how ‘organized’ was 

Calabrian organized crime?

by Thomas Hunt

"There are a number of unanswered questions related to the American Mafia's incorporation of Calabrian gangsters - those who trace their origins to the southernmost portion of the Italian mainland. We may ask: How did this combination occur? Precisely when did it occur? Was it the result of a decision of the American Mafia as a whole or did it result from decisions of individual crime families? Were Calabrian gangsters welcomed on an individual basis or was a Calabrian crime network consumed by the Mafia en masse? This last question touches on a subject that I have found particularly interesting: Was there a distinct, organized Calabrian criminal network in the United States and Canada before Calabrian gangsters were absorbed into the known Sicilian-based Mafia crime families?"

Fifteen pages, including eight images.

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January 2014 Issue of Informer

January 2014 Issue Contents
Editorial

This periodical began back in September of 2008 as a sort of experiment. Readers and researchers appeared to have an appetite for solid, factual information on crime history, and writers of that history appeared to need a reliable means of getting their work to the public. But no one really knew if there was enough reader-appetite or writer-material to keep a quarterly journal going. 

The last five-plus years have been a pleasant surprise. Informer has benefited from a large and loyal readership and from a steady flow of quality article contributions. We are proud to note that we have helped disseminate numerous finds of historic importance, that we have established a reputation for excellent research and fine writing and that we have never missed a scheduled deadline (in fact, issues of Informer have always been released before their due dates). With the exception of a single scheduled break last January, Informer has churned out a new issue every quarter-year.

Maintaining the production pace for Informer hasn’t been easy. The publication has but one “employee” (whose time and energies are divided among a number of projects). After twenty-one issues, the moment has arrived to adjust that pace. In the future, the release of Informer issues will not be dictated by the calendar but by the quantity and quality of submitted materials. As articles become available, special issues of Informer will be scheduled, with announcements made through the Informer website and through Facebook and Twitter accounts. To describe this new publication policy, we borrow from the Latin terminology of the pharmacy profession: Informer will be published pro re nata (p.r.n.), as the need arises.

We understand that some readers and writers may not find this an ideal situation, but we hope they will understand that it allows Informer to continue to fulfill its purposes while permitting its sole employee to pursue some different challenges.

In this issue of Informer:

• Thomas Hunt pushes aside popular "Miracle of Brooklyn" legends to look at what really happened to the twice-stolen, twice-returned Regina Pacis crowns (PREVIEW).
• Lennert van`t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner examine the ascent of powerful Mafia boss Vito Genovese (PREVIEW).
• Bill Feather provides data on more than 100 known and suspected Detroit Mafia members active in the 1930s-50s (PREVIEW).
• Informer ventures back fifty years to explain a problem encountered by the Warren Commission that gave rise to multiple JFK conspiracy theories (PREVIEW).

116 pages including cover and advertisements.

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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.

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January 2014 issue preview

Here's a peek at the cover of the January 2014 issue of Informer. Scheduled release date is Jan. 27 (but it probably will be available earlier).

Contents:

• Brooklyn's twice-stolen and twice-returned Regina Pacis jeweled crowns, 
• The ascent of Neapolitan Vito Genovese within the traditionally Sicilian Mafia, 
• 50 years ago - Warren Commission considers Oswald's alleged relationship with the FBI, 
• Detroit Mafia membership chart,
• More.

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.

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January 2011 issue of Informer

January 2011 Contents

Recently reorganized under the Commission system favored by Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, in 1932 the American Mafia reacted quickly to a bloody revival of old underworld rivalries. Luciano's underboss Vito Genovese called together an underworld convention in Brooklyn and ordered Pittsburgh Mafia boss John Bazzano to appear and answer for the recent murders of the Neapolitan Volpe Brothers.
(preview)

The notorious Brady Gang traveled to Bangor Maine in autumn of 1937. The FBI was waiting. Richard Shaw tells the tale of the Brady Gang's last days. (preview)

Much of what we believe we know about the Mafia's "Joe the Boss" Masseria turns out to be untrue. In his first column for Informer, underworld researcher Richard Warner sets the record straight. (preview)

Interviewed by Ellen Poulsen, true crime author William Helmer reflects on Dillinger, Nelson, Capone and a career at Playboy. (preview)

Bill Feather provides a membership chart for the Genovese Crime Family based in New York. (preview)

On October 27, 2010, the Mattix family of Iowa lost a beloved patriarch, the community of true crime writers lost a treasured friend and the Informer journal lost its editorial director. Rick Mattix's death was keenly felt by both of his families - the one related to him by blood and marriage and the other tied to him by professional appreciation and admiration. While we gave some consideration to closing Informer following the tragic news, it seemed a far better choice to use the journal as a means for his second family to assist his first family. (preview)

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1932 Murder of John Bazzano

January 2011 Contents
Feature Article
By Thomas Hunt and Michael A. Tona

Recently reorganized under the Commission system,

in 1932 the American Mafia reacted quickly to a

bloody revival of old underworld rivalries

A Test of Resolve

By Thomas Hunt

and Michael A. Tona

   "As a member of the Mafia criminal network in the United States and a veteran of Prohibition Era gang wars, Pittsburgh underworld boss John Bazzano surely knew he was in jeopardy when he received a summons from higher-ups in mid-summer of 1932.
   "Vito Genovese wanted to see him in New York City. Second in command of Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano’s massive underworld empire, Genovese was one of the elite criminal leaders in the country, certainly the most powerful Neapolitan gangster.
   "An order to appear before a more senior gang boss did not come with an explanation. It did not need one. Mafiosi understood that attendance was mandatory. Though the call to such a meeting often preceded the harshest form of underworld discipline, refusal of the summons surely meant death."

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Thirty-nine and a half pages including eight pages of notes, thirty-eight images and three maps.

Genovese Mafia Chart

January 2011 Contents
Membership Charts
By Bill Feather

The January issue includes a 1930s-1970s Genovese Crime Family membership chart by Bill Feather. The Seven and a half-page chart includes more than 150 documented and suspected Mafiosi along with birth, death, immigration, relationship, rank and other information.

Seven and a half pages.

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In the News

Vol. 3, Issue 1, January 2010 Contents

In the News:

• Fourth Gotti trial ends with hung jury.
• New England Mafia under new management.
• Massachusetts man charged with being Colombo boss.
• Genovese capodecina sentenced to 16 years.
• Police round up 22 Gambino, Lucchese suspects.
• Grand jury indicts alleged member of Bonanno leadership.
• Gambino capodecina Gregory DePalma dies at 78

Two pages

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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.

The Mob's Worst Year: 1957 - Part Two

Vol. 2, Issue 1, Jan. 2009 Contents
Feature Article
Part 2 of 2

Fifty years ago, lawmakers, enforcement officials

and the American public finally became aware

of the depth and breadth of the Mafia underworld.

The Mob's Worst Year

by Thomas Hunt

First paragraph:
"Albert Anastasia’s death in 'the chair' might have been preordained. The legendary Mafia boss and accomplished murderer managed to escape death in Sing Sing Prison’s electric chair in 1921, only to meet his end in a barber chair 35 years later."


Seven and a half pages article body
Two pages of endnotes
Seven images.

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The Mob's Worst Year: 1957

Vol. 1, Issue 1, Sept. 2008 Contents
Feature article
Part 1 of 2

Fifty years ago, lawmakers, enforcement officials

and the American public finally became aware

of the depth and breadth of the Mafia underworld.

The Mob's Worst Year

by Thomas Hunt

Introduction:
"A single year changed everything for the American Mafia.
"Aided by vice and extortion income, by the arrival of vast numbers of Sicilian and southern Italian victims already practiced in deference to an outlaw class and by periodic rejuvenating shake-ups of its organization, the Mafia in the United States rapidly grew in wealth and power from its 19th Century origins through the first half of the 20th Century. The organization's resources and influence might have continued to grow unchecked but for the events of 1957."

Eight and a half pages article body
Three and a half pages of endnotes
13 grayscale photos.

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