'The Writers of Wrongs' blog

If you are a reader of crime history, you are certain to find interesting items on The Writers of Wrongs blog. 

Launched in the fall of 2016, the blog now has four steady contributors, with more on the way. Sixty-four posts have been written to date by these true crime authors:

- Christian Cipollini, author of Lucky Luciano: Mysterious Tales of a Gangland Legend; Murder Inc.: Mysteries of the Mob's Most Deadly Hit Squad; Diary of a Motor City Hit Man.

- Ellen Poulsen, author of  Don't Call Us Molls: Women of the John Dillinger Gang; The Case Against Lucky Luciano: New York's Most Sensational Vice Trial.

- Patrick Downey, author of On the Spot: Gangland Murders in Prohibition New York City; Hollywood on the Spot: Crimes Against the Early Movie Stars; Legs Diamond: Gangster; Bad Seeds in the Big Apple; Gangster City.

- Thomas Hunt, author of Wrongly Executed?; coauthor of Deep Water, DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime; contributor to Mafia: The Necessary Reference to Organized Crime; editor of Informer.

Visit the blog at www.writersofwrongs.com

Book Review: Legs Diamond

July 2012 Contents
Book Review

Legs Diamond bio well-served

by Downey wit, eye for detail

By Ellen Poulsen

"In this targeted biography, Downey perfects his unique style of prose, which points out the ironies of cops, gunmen, molls and the jailhouse through witty one-liners. His writing harkens back to a time when crime books had personality..."

Two and a half pages.

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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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Interview: William Helmer

January 2011 Contents
Interview
By Ellen Poulsen

Gangster-Era Historian

William J. Helmer

By Ellen Poulsen

"...The original account [of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre] has been virtually carved in stone and perpetuated by every writer and filmmaker since... The idea of the trap being laid by a shipment of Old Log Cabin was an elaboration on one talkative Prohibition official’s goofy hijack theory...The idiot Prohibition official got a bunch of these ideas into headlines that day and the next before he was transferred out of Chicago for implicating even the police, and then lost his job. But his speculations have gone down as history."

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Eight and a half pages including one image.

Book news and reviews

Vol. 1, Issue 1, Sept. 2008 Contents
Book news and reviews

The First Vice Lord: Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee
by Art Bilek.

Frank Nitti: The True Story of Chicago's Notorious 'Enforcer'
by Ronald Humble.

The Mafia and the Machine: The Story of the Kansas City Mob
by Frank R. Hayde.

The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia: 1891-1931
by David Critchley.

The Complete Public Enemy Almanac
by William Helmer and Rick Mattix.

The Case Against Lucky Luciano
by Ellen Poulsen.

Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia
by Thomas Hunt and Martha Macheca Sheldon.

(CORRECTION: The Informer review of Frank Nitti By Ronald Humble - Page 29 - repeats Humble's assertion that Nitti was a Sicilian. However, Nitti was born on the Italian mainland, in the village of Angri not far from Naples.)

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