Feature 13

November 2024 issue contents

DOJ vs FBI

Government agencies squabbled over the release of Valachi's information

Robert Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and its parent Department of Justice had very different ideas of what to do with informant Joseph Valachi and the organized-crime data he provided. In a feud that lasted a year, each agency worked to block and undermine the other and eventually made its own secret publicity arrangements...

8 magazine pages / 14 book pages.
Sidebar articles on Courtney Allen Evans, Miriam Ottenberg
Images, documents, endnotes.

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June 2015 Issue of Informer

June 2015 Issue Contents
Editorial

Often neglected in discussions of United States Mafia history, Calabrian-American organized criminals take center stage in this issue of Informer. Our feature article is a biography of Albert Anastasia, researched and written by Lennert van`t Riet, David Critchley and Steve Turner. The bloody early years of Calabria-born Anastasia’s underworld career and his supervision of the activities of the Murder Incorporated enforcement arm are the focuses of the piece. (Preview)

In a much lengthier-than-usual column at the back of the issue, Thomas Hunt considers the possibility that the Calabresi themselves formed an extensive criminal network in the U.S. and Canada before they were absorbed into the American Mafia’s Sicilian dominated crime families in the early years of the Prohibition Era. (Preview)

Also in this issue:

• Edmond Valin clears up the questions of how, when and why the American Mafia became known as “La Cosa Nostra,” and he shows that Mafiosi themselves were strongly influenced by the official nomenclature of J. Edgar Hoover’s Federal Bureau of Investigation. (Preview)
• Richard N. Warner examines the ironic role played by America’s white racism (and Hoover’s FBI) in the founding and growth of African American street gangs. (Preview)
• Warner also reviews Gary Krist’s most recent work, Empire of Sin. (Preview)

We expect that our regular readers already have noticed our change in format — a return to the full magazine size we formerly used from September 2008 through June 2012. While there were benefits to the more compact “digest” size we used from October 2012 through November 2014, the move back to a full magazine format was made due to the same irresistible force that lies behind all changes in the publishing world: the publisher likes it better.

Seventy-six pages, including covers and six pages of advertisements.

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How 'Mafia' became 'La Cosa Nostra'

June 2015 Issue Contents
Feature article

How ‘Mafia’ became ‘La Cosa Nostra’

by Edmond Valin

"In the early 1960s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) developed information that indicated the criminal organization commonly known as the Mafia was in fact called La Cosa Nostra by its members. Mafia turncoat Joseph Valachi would go on to make La Cosa Nostra (LCN) a household name through testimony at the McClellan Hearings in 1963. Some critics at the time said the new term was 'fabricated,' since no one else in law enforcement had ever heard of it. Now, declassified FBI documents can show how this obscure Italian phrase entered the lexicon of American crime..."

Thirteen and a half pages, including six and a half pages of endnotes, an appendix and a sidebar article.

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October 2011 Issue of Informer

October 2011 Contents

Though Gaspare Messina was one of a very small number of American Mafiosi ever to occupy the position of boss of bosses, few remember his name today. There are a number of reasons—including timing, background and overshadowing by more dynamic and tragic figures—that even true crime aficionados have found Messina forgettable.

In the lead feature in this issue, Richard Warner helps make Messina memorable by exploring his origin, his reign in New England, his brief tenure as supreme arbiter of the American Mafia and his quiet retirement in a Boston suburb (preview).

Acquaintances reportedly believed Tommy Carroll was always destined for a violent end. A gangster and bank robber, Carroll lived life on the edge, as he partnered with better known outlaws like “Baby Face” Nelson and John Dillinger. Carroll is the focus of Jeffery S. King’s feature article in this issue (preview).

Informer returns to the New England Mafia for its third feature, the initial article in Thomas Hunt’s series on Providence-based crime boss Raymond “the Man” Patriarca (preview). Also in this issue: Bill Feather provides a membership chart for the early Profaci/Colombo Crime Family (preview). Ed Valin takes another look at the FBI informants in the Chicago Outfit (preview). Patrick Downey deals with gangster combustion (preview). Richard Warner follows up on his July column by addressing additional J. Edgar Hoover rumors (preview). Thom L. Jones tells readers how an interest in sea otters sparked many years of research into the Mafia (preview). Informer reviews Al Capone and His American Boys by William Helmer (preview).

Seventy-six pages. Published October 13, 2011.

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Warner Files: More Hoover myths... or maybe not

October 2011 Contents
Column
By Richard N. Warner

"In the last issue we dealt with some false claims made by Anthony Summers in his book Official and Confidential. Summers also suggested that Hoover may have had black ancestry and was a secret part-African American who “passed” to advance in the white world."

Two and a half pages.

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July 2011 Issue of Informer

July 2011 Contents

Crime historians have puzzled for decades over FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover’s long denial of the existence of organized crime. Following the Apalachin Mafia convention of 1957 and Joe Valachi’s revelations in the early 1960s, Hoover and his Bureau joined the war on organized crime. Hoover, however, never explained his earlier reluctance , and various theories—some baseless and cruel—have emerged to fill the void in the historical record.

In this issue, author Alex Hortis shares with us a recently discovered handwritten Hoover memo from 1970 that serves as a window into the director’s earlier position (preview). Hortis and Informer columnist Richard Warner (preview) double-team many of the myths that have circulated about Hoover.

The New England Crime Family receives special attention in this issue. We begin with Part 1 of Richard Warner’s history of the Mafia in Boston (preview). A look at some of the better known underworld meeting places on Federal Hill in Providence, Rhode Island (preview), and Bill Feather’s New England Mafia Membership Chart (preview) follow.

In his first article for Informer, historian Ed Valin puts together historical clues to track down two of the FBI’s best confidential informants (preview).

Author Patrick Downey devotes his quarterly Dead Guys in Suits column to a discussion of siblings eliminated by their underworld rivals (preview). Then, in the issue’s final pages, Informer editor/publisher Thomas Hunt looks at an extremely early prediction of the Sicilian Mafia’s demise (preview).

Fifty-six pages. Published July 22, 2011.

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Hoover: 'Plagued Ever Since..."

July 2011 Contents
Feature Article

Nearing the end of a long career as the director of the

Federal Bureau of Investigation, J. Edgar Hoover

reflected upon his early denials of the

existence of the American Mafia.

'I have been plagued ever since...'

By Alex Hortis

Hoover

"One of the enduring mysteries about J. Edgar Hoover is why he resisted going after the American Mafia. For his first thirty-three years as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 1924 to 1957, Hoover engaged in few sustained actions against organized crime.
"Absent any personal explanation from Hoover for his reluctance, others have filled the void with speculation. Their theories have ranged from plausible to wildly conspiratorial.
"A newly discovered handwritten note by the late FBI director provides fresh insight into this controversy..."

Fifteen and a half pages including nine photographs and two and a half pages of endnotes.

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Warner Files: Hoover myths

July 2011 Contents
Column
By Richard N. Warner

Anger and greed lurk
behind Hoover myths
"Since Anthony Summers came out with his book Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover, the lightly spoken claims made about Hoover suddenly gained a veneer of legitimacy. While the FBI under his directorship clearly engaged in a number of questionable activities, some of his detractors have made a number of claims about Hoover personally to explain his decisions..."

Three pages.

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Nemesis of counterfeiters: William Flynn

Vol. 3, Issue 1, April 2010 Contents

Feature article

The dismantling of the Morello Mafia leadership

was one highlight in a long law enforcement career

Nemesis of Counterfeiters:

William J. Flynn

By Thomas Hunt

In 1910, much of the early Mafia network in New York was dismantled through the efforts of a tenacious and resourceful Secret Service agent named William J. Flynn. Flynn had spent years building a counterfeiting case against Mafia boss of bosses Giuseppe Morello and his henchmen. While Flynn won great notoriety for the successful conclusion of the Morello counterfeiting trial and related prosecutions, that case was just one highlight in a law enforcement career that spanned a quarter-century and included all levels of government.

Twenty-three pages

including four and a half pages of notes

Thirteen images

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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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