Budding racketeer

October 2023 issue contents - Features

Racketeering future was molded in young Lansky's neighborhood

By Thomas Hunt

Meyer Lansky wasn’t originally from Manhattan and didn’t spend many years of his life there. But the borough’s Lower East Side was primarily where he became schooled in crime. It was also where he made many lasting connections that would help him along the way to becoming a notorious developer and financier of underworld rackets and a key figure in an international crime syndicate. This article examines available details from the little­ known formative years of Lansky’s life...

Book page count: forty eight pages.
Magazine page count: twenty three pages.
Images: twelve.
Sidebar articles: four.
Endnotes.

Learn more about Informer's October 2023 issue.

East Village bloodshed

October 2023 issue contents - Features

'Death Avenue,' 1910-1924

By Patrick Downey

Occupying the northern edge of New York’s traditional Lower East Side is the area known as the East Village. The main artery cutting through this section is Second Avenue. From the East Village’s southern boundary of Houston Street up to the northern border at Fourteenth Street, Second Avenue includes a total of fourteen blocks, which over the years have seen a vast number of murders.

The deadliest era on those fourteen blocks spanned almost exactly fourteen years, from 1910 to 1924. With all the gangland executions that took place on the thoroughfare, it just as well could have been called “Death Avenue”...

Book page count: thirteen pages.
Magazine page count: six pages.
Images: nine. 
Source list.

Learn more about Informer's October 2023 issue.

Government report

 October 2023 issue contents - Features

1964 narcotics report included mobster bios

A 1964 U.S. Senate report, “Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic in Narcotics,” included biographies of “high echelon narcotic traffickers who have been apprehended since 1951 as a direct result of investigations conducted by agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.” Just over two dozen of the mobsters discussed were connected with Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Book page count: twelve pages.
Images: nine. 
Endnotes.

Magazine page count: five pages.

Learn more about Informer's October 2023 issue.

Mob history

October 2023 issue contents - Columns

New facts about two 1928 conventioneers

By Steve Turner

An interstate network of Sicilian­-American mafiosi was revealed with the arrests of twenty ­three men at Cleveland’s Hotel Statler on December 5, 1928. The arrested attendees of this Mafia convention had traveled to Cleveland from Chicago, New York, Tampa, Buffalo and St. Louis.

Frank Abbate

The men were processed on “suspicion,” photographed and questioned. Investigators were certain that the gathering was for a sinister purpose and that the hasty Hotel Statler arrests frightened away other visiting mafiosi who were staying at other locations in the city. But they learned very little during interrogations of the prisoners – each had some sort of cover story for his visit to Cleveland – and eventually almost all were bailed out or released...

Book page count: nine pages. 
Magazine page count: four pages.
Images: nine. 
Source list.

Learn more about Informer's October 2023 issue. 

Just one more thing...

October 2023 issue contents - Columns

‘Butcher’ wasn't from the Five Points

Hollywood relocated notorious ruffian

By Thomas Hunt

Due in large part to Martin Scorsese’s popular 2002 film, Gangs of New York, many have mistaken impressions of Lower East Side gangland history. One of the movie’s (many) distortions was putting character William “Bill the Butcher” Cutting in command of a Civil War Era, Tammany­-employed, Five Points­-based gang of American­born thugs.

The Cutting character from Scorsese’s movie was based on the real “Bill the Butcher” Poole and had a number of similarities with Poole (possibly including the single disabled eye). However, Poole wasn’t around during the Civil War. And he certainly was not a Five Points underworld chief. He wasn’t from there. He wasn’t known to have spent any time there. According to some biographies, he wasn’t even originally from New York...

Book page count: twelve pages.
Magazine page count: six pages.
Source list.

Learn more about Informer's October 2023 issue.

Book news

October 2023 issue contents - Books

New/recent releases

Announcements for eight new or recently released books on crime history.

Book page count: six pages.
Magazine page count: two pages.
Images: eight.

(Note: Book news section is not included in audiobook version.)

Learn more about Informer's October 2023 issue.

2020 paperback gets new cover

"Better late than never"?

The first Informer issue released in trade paperback format (Nicola Gentile issue released in October 2020) was somewhat hastily assembled in response to printing problems (since fixed) with the print magazine format. The cover of that paperback was essentially a stretched out version of the magazine cover, and some of its spine text - black on a dark teal background - was difficult to read on a bookshelf.

It took a few years, but a new cover - simpler in design, but clear, proportional and featuring more readable spine text - has been put in place on the 2020 paperback edition (it has been added to the Kindle and EPUB ebook formats, as well), which remains available for purchase through Amazon.com. Issue content remains unchanged.

Preorder ebook, audiobook formats

October 2023 issue preorder

Ebook, audiobook formats can be preordered now

Ebook and audiobook editions of the October 2023 Informer issue entitled, Gangsters of New York's Lower East Side, are now available for preorder. These books become available for use on the publication date, October 3, 2023.

The ebook is available in both Kindle and EPUB formats, making it readable with popular ebook reader devices and software. The audiobook is accessed through Google Play Books. It can be used with the Google Play Books app for Android and Apple devices, as well as with Google Play's reader through computer web browsers.

(Sorry: Other formats - print and electronic magazines and hardcover and trade paperback print books - are not available for preorder. They will be available for sale on or before October 3.)

Three ebook / audiobook formats are available now for preorder. They will become available for use on the issue publication date, October 3, 2023. Select a format from the table below and click a a seller logo to visit the related preview/purchase website.

Type	Identifier	Dimensions	Color?	Seller	Price (USD)
EBOOKS
Kindle EBook1	ASIN: B0CH26LB4L	N/A	No	Amazon	$9.95
EPUB EBook2	GGKEY: 15L2PWLZWP4	N/A	No	GooglePlay	$9.95
AUDIOBOOK
Audiobook3	GGKEY: 48QRTHAQBHN	8hrs:32mins	N/A	GooglePlay	$12.95
1 - Kindle device or Kindle reader software required. 2 - EPUB device or reader software - such as Calibre - required. 3 - Abridged audiobook edition created through Google Auto-Narrated Audiobook Beta program.

New advertisements

 The following advertisements will be appearing for the first time in the October 2023 issue of Informer. (The images are clickable links.)

Promote your true crime book

Crime History Authors:

  If your non-fiction book on crime history was recently published (2022 or 2023) or is soon to be published (2023 or 2024), please email a press release about it to informerjournal@gmail.com . 

  (Include a description of the book's subject, how your handling of it is different from other works on the subject and a few notes about you. If a photo of the cover is not available online, you should send one of those as well.)

  Informer will publish a collection of brief book announcements - as space permits - in the upcoming October 2023 issue.

Small price hike on book editions

Due to the KDP printing service's escalating costs for materials and labor, the list prices of Informer paperback (Oct 2020, Oct 2021 and Nov 2022 issues) and hardcover (Nov 2022 only) book editions recently increased slightly. 

For example, the October 2022 "Mob in Youngstown" issue in paperback form was originally priced at $19.95 (U.S. dollars). After the price increase, it is now for sale at $20.20 (USD).

The pricing for Informer's magazine format and for electronic magazine and electronic book formats have been unaffected by this price increase.

Colorado Mafia discussed on podcast

Our friend Sam Carlino, author of Colorado's Carlino Brothers and contributor of an article in the October 2020 issue, was featured on a recent episode of The Members Only Podcast. Interviewed by Jacob Stoops, Sam discussed his family's historic involvement in the Mafia of Colorado and the process that led him to write his book. Sam had some very kind words for Informer and its editor/publisher. The podcast's Youtube video is linked here:

Learn more about Colorado's Carlino Brothers:

• Book's website (carlinobrothers.com) includes news, reviews and a link to purchase signed copies.
• Book's sell page on Amazon.com.

Lower East Side is focus of 2023 issue

The October 2023 issue of Informer will focus on the gangsters of New York City's Lower East Side.

Journalists Craig Thompson and Allen Raymond, writing back in 1940, stated that "...the lower East Side of Manhattan in the first twenty years of the twentieth century was the greatest breeding ground for gunmen and racketeers, since risen to eminence, that this country has ever seen..." (Gang Rule in New York)

The pre-Prohibition Twentieth Century Lower East Side, discussed by Thompson and Raymond, certainly experienced an explosion in gangs and racketeering. But that was just a small part of the exciting and bloody underworld history of the region. In its 2023 issue, Informer will examine the gangland figures and stories from the Civil War Era through the end of the Prohibition Era.

We are currently seeking researchers/writers to help define and tell these stories. If you'd like to contribute to the issue, contact Informer (ASAP) with your article ideas at informerjournal@gmail.com.

The deadline for article submission is August 1, 2023.

The advertising deadline for the issue is August 22, 2023.

The issue will be released before October 3, 2023.

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. 

Audiobook price reduced

Sale price has dropped for Informer's 2022 audiobook, 

The Mob in Youngstown. 

Originally listed for $27.50 (USD), the audiobook is now listed on Google Play Books for $18.00 (USD).

Click here to visit the audiobook sale page.

Available now: Nov. 2022 Informer

November 2022 Issue Announcement

INFORMER:
THE MOB IN YOUNGSTOWN

All print and electronic formats of the November 2022 issue of Informer are now available for preview / purchase. View the issue introduction for an overview and a summary of included articles. Or use the table below to find the format that best suits you.

This issue is available in seven formats. Use the table below to determine the appropriate format for you. Clicking a seller logo will take you to the related preview/purchase website.

Type	Identifier	Dimensions	Color?	Seller	Price (USD)
MAGAZINE LAYOUTS
Print Magazine	ISSN: 1943-7803	8 1/4" x 10 3/4" 188 pg incl covers	Yes	MagCloud	$44.70
PDF EMagazine1	ISSN: 1944-8139	N/A	Yes	MagCloud	$10.95*
BOOK LAYOUTS
Print Hardcover2	ISBN5: 9798849815220	6" x 9" 378 pages	No	Amazon	$26.85
Print Paperback2	ISBN6: 9798351244709	6" x 9" 378 pages	No	Amazon	$19.95
Kindle EBook3	ASIN: B0BDFT9C9C	N/A	No	Amazon	$9.95
EPUB EBook4	GGKEY: EYCX505E9B9	N/A	No	GooglePlay	$9.95
AUDIOBOOK
Audiobook7	GGKEY: 48QRTHAQBHN	10hrs:22mins	N/A	GooglePlay	$27.50 $18.00
1 - PDF document reader - such as Acrobat Reader - required. 2 - The printed books are indexed. (Ebooks/Emagazines can be searched.) 3 - Kindle device or Kindle reader software required. 4 - EPUB device or reader software - such as Calibre - required. 5 - Print hardcover also has ASIN: B0BHRFTR4X. 6 - Print paperback also has ASIN: B0BHRB3L52. 7 - Audiobook created through Google Auto-Narrated Audiobook Beta program. * - PDF e-magazine is free with print magazine purchase.