Vol. 2, No. 3: July 2009

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents

July 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of a still unsolved murder in the City of Danbury, Connecticut. While the killers of Giovanni Zarcone remain unknown, history has linked them to the New York Mafia organization of Giuseppe Morello. In this issue, we examine the known details of the Zarcone murder and follow the links between the victim and other organized criminals of the era.

What did Mafia boss of bosses Salvatore Maranzano look like? If you believe you know, author David Critchley says you’re mistaken. According to Critchley, a photograph often presented as a likeness of Maranzano is actually someone else’s mug shot. Read more about it and take a look at some actual images of Maranzano—plus Informer’s own approximation of a Maranzano mug shot.

Also in this issue: Researcher Bill Feather provides us with background data on scores of Pittsburgh-area Mafiosi and Informer tackles a question about the “Teflon Don,” John J. Gotti, late boss of the Gambino Crime Family.

Books coverage includes an excerpt from King of the Sunset Strip: Hangin’ with Mickey Cohen and the Hollywood Mob by Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood; an interview with Patrick Downey, author of Gangster City and Bad Seeds in the Big Apple; in addition to reviews of Mike Dash’s The First Family and Sandra Harmon’s Mafia Son.

1909 Mafia murder in Danbury, Connecticut, by Thomas Hunt. After a fruit farmer is shotgunned to death at his home, authorities connect him to the infamous Barrel Murder six years earlier. Eighteen pages. (Preview)

Maranzano Muddle by David Critchley, Ph.D. You may think you know what Salvatore Maranzano looked like, but a widely disseminated photo isn't Maranzano at all. Two pages. (Preview)

My First Dinner with Mickey by Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood. A young Hollywood actor finds himself palling around with California racketeer Mickey Cohen. Four and a half pages.(Preview)

Pittsburgh Mafia Membership Chart, 1900-2000, by Bill Feather. Four pages. (Preview)

Interview: Patrick Downey. Two and a half pages.

Book Review of The First Family by Mike Dash. One and a half pages.

Book Review of Mafia Son by Sandra Harmon. One and a half pages.

Books: New Releases: One half page.

Ask the Informer: The Teflon Don's conviction. One page. (Preview)

A Look Back: 100 years, 75 years, 50 years. One half page. (Preview)

Current Events: DiNunzio reaches plea deal, 11 indicted as Bonanno crew in Florida, deputy U.S. marshal leaked witness info, Nicholas Corozzo sentenced for murder. (Preview)

Deaths: Alfonso Tornabene, Donato Angiulo.

48 pages including cover and advertisements
Published July 15, 2009.

1909 Mafia murder in Danbury, CT

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents

Feature Article

1909 Mafia murder in

Danbury, Connecticut

By Thomas Hunt

(July 27, 2009, marks the 100th anniversary of this unsolved murder.)

"A halo of artificial light surrounded Danbury Hospital, a complex Victorian-style structure located at the intersection of Locust and Hospital Avenues near the official city limits. Light also emanated from the city's almshouse at Broadview farm, a third of a mile further east on Hospital Avenue. In between, the avenue was illuminated only by the quarter moon overhead. Moonlight was sufficient to provide visibility on the roadway itself, but it could not penetrate the tree branches and shrubs growing along the north side of the street."

Fourteen and a half pages article body

including sidebar story.

Three and a half pages of endnotes.

Twelve images.

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Maranzano muddle

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents
Feature article

Though many believe they've seen a picture of him,

very few know what he really looked like

Maranzano muddle
By David Critchley, Ph.D.

"An apparent photograph of 'Salvatore Maranzano' (at right) has appeared in varied venues, ranging from books to the Internet. What those who print it fail to mention is that it's not of Maranzano at all. The mistake made is a classic case of the much broader problem of inaccuracies plaguing accounts of the American Mafia, which spread myths and misunderstandings."

Two pages
Five images

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In the News

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents

In the News:

• Carmen DiNunzio reaches plea deal in Boston.
• 11 indicted as Bonanno crew in Florida.
• Deputy U.S. marshal leaked prisoner info.
• Nicholas Corozzo sentenced for murder.
• Chicago's Alfonso Tornabene dies at 86.
• New England's Donato Angiulo dies at 86.

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Ask the Informer: The Teflon Don

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents

Ask the Informer

Question: When and on what charge was John "Teflon Don" Gotti finally locked away for good?

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A Look Back

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents
A Look Back

100 years ago:
A New York Barrel Murder suspect is shot to death in Connecticut.

75 years ago:
A future New York crime boss is arrested for robbing a store.

50 years ago:
A Brooklyn racketeer and his female companion are killed.

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'My first dinner with Mickey'

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents
Feature Article

My first dinner with Mickey

by Steve Stevens

and Craig Lockwood

(Show business veteran Steve Stevens reflects on his early encounters with California underworld figure Mickey Cohen in this excerpt from King of the Sunset Strip by Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood.)

"I pushed the doorbell. And the door opened. As if someone had been waiting, just inside. Before I could stop myself, I lurched back.
"'Yeah?' The voice and the guy were both scary. His heavy black eyebrows looked like they'd been applied by the Lon Chaney School of makeup design."


Four and a half pages
Five photos


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Pittsburgh Mafia Membership, 1900-2000

Vol. 2, Issue 3, July 2009 Contents

Membership Chart

Researcher Bill Feather provides a chart of dozens of known and suspected Pittsburgh Mafia members from 1900 through 2000. Names, aliases, birth-death-immigration data, birthplaces and ranks are provided.

4 pages

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July's print edition available now

The print edition of Informer's July issue (Vol. 2, No. 3) is available for purchase through the MagCloud service. See: informer.magcloud.com

The lead feature looks back one hundred years to the murder of an Italian fruit farmer in Danbury, Connecticut, who was linked to powerful Mafiosi in New York City. Also in the issue, we speculate on what boss of bosses Salvatore Maranzano looked like, we sit down to dinner with Mickey Cohen, we look over the known and suspected membership of the Pittsburgh Mafia, we interview author Patrick Downey, and we review Mike Dash's The First Family and Sandra Harmon's Mafia Son.


The electronic edition of the journal will be available soon.

Bad news / good news

Informer is sad to report that another crime history periodical, On the Spot, has suspended publication. On the Spot, published since fall 2006, has focused on crime and law enforcement history of the gangster era - 1920s and 1930s. On the Spot CEO Rick Mattix tells Informer that he hopes to resume publication of the journal in the future and he notes that back issues of On the Spot remain available for purchase. (Click to visit the On the Spot website.)

A far more positive development: Rick has agreed to become a regular columnist for Informer. An accomplished crime historian, he will write on subjects of personal interest to him. We look forward to featuring his column in upcoming issues.

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Vol. 2, No. 3: July 2009

In the July issue (Vol. 2, No. 3) of Informer: The Journal of American Mafia History, we look back 100 years to an unsolved Mafia-related murder in western Connecticut. The murder victim had been among the suspects in the New York Barrel Murder of 1903 and had blood ties to underworld characters across the United States.

What did Mafia boss of bosses Salvatore Maranzano look like? If you believe you know, author David Critchley says you’re mistaken. According to Critchley's article in Informer's July issue, a photograph often presented as a likeness of Maranzano is actually someone else’s mug shot. Read more about it and take a look at actual images of Maranzano —plus an Informer approximation of a Maranzano mug shot

Also in the July issue: Researcher Bill Feather provides us with background data on scores of Pittsburgh-area Mafiosi and Informer tackles a question about the “Teflon Don,” John J. Gotti,
late boss of the Gambino Crime Family.

Books coverage includes an excerpt from King of the Sunset Strip: Hangin’ with Mickey Cohen and the Hollywood Mob by Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood; an interview with Patrick
Downey, author of Gangster City and Bad Seeds in the Big Apple; in addition to reviews of Mike Dash’s The First Family and Sandra Harmon’s Mafia Son.

Plus... A Look Back, Book Notes, and Current Events.

The July issue of Informer will be available for sale by July 27.

Vol. 2, No. 2: April 2009

Vol. 2, Issue 2, Apr. 2009 Contents

The Sicilian Mafia in Chicago has been so overshadowed by the post-1930 Capone Outfit and so universally ignored by crime historians that some have reached the erroneous conclusion it did not exist at all. However, abundant evidence exists for the presence of a large and powerful Mafia in the Windy City from about 1900 through Capone’s Neapolitan-dominated consolidation of the Chicago underworld in 1930-31. In fact, there are indications that Chicago’s Mafia once dominated the Italian criminal societies of the American Midwest.

We are happy to devote much of this issue to the historical evidence left by the once-powerful Chicago Mafia. Our featured article is Richard N. Warner’s detailed biography of Anthony D’Andrea, once the supreme underworld authority in Chicago.

Researcher Bill Feather provides us with a membership chart for a later stage of the Chicago Outfit. We commemorate the 80th anniversary of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre by looking at how the Massacre has been preserved in historical works. Our Chicago history coverage finishes up with a discussion of the early Sicilian Mafia leadership in that city.

Books coverage in this issue includes an interview with Art Bilek, author of The First Vice Lord: Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee, and a review of David Critchley’s The Origin of Organized Crime in America.

The Dreaded D'Andrea by Richard Warner. A former priest, once jailed for counterfeiting, became Chicago's most feared Mafia boss. Twenty-eight pages including notes. (Preview)

80 Years Since the Massacre. We look at what has been learned of the North Clark Street killings over the past eight decades. Four pages. (Preview)

Chicago's Early Mafia Bosses by Thomas Hunt. Long forgotten, several Sicilian families once reigned over the underworld of northwest Chicago. Two and a half pages including notes. (Preview)

Chicago Outfit Membership Chart, 1920s-1940s, by Bill Feather. Five and a half pages. (Preview)

Interview: Art Bilek. Three pages.

Book Review of The Origin of Organized Crime in America by David Critchley. One and a half pages.

Books: New Releases. One half page.

Ask the Informer: Chicago Heights; Capodecina. One page. (Preview)

A Look Back: 1 year ago; 50 years ago. One half page. (Preview)

Current Events: Family Secrets defendants sentenced, Carneglia convicted, Morgentha to retire. Two pages. (Preview)

56 pages including cover and advertisements.
Published April 20, 2009.

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The dreaded D'Andrea

Vol. 2, Issue 2, Apr. 2009 Contents Feature article

A former priest, once jailed for counterfeiting

became Chicago's most feared Mafia boss

The Dreaded D'Andrea

By Richard N. Warner

"Shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, 1921, Chicago Mafia boss Anthony D’Andrea went to dinner with two male companions at a Neapolitan restaurant, the Amato Cafe at Taylor and Halsted Streets. They ate, socialized and played cards for hours.

"At about 1:15 Wednesday morning, D’Andrea’s friend Joseph Laspisa drove him home. For two weeks Laspisa had been acting as the underworld leader’s bodyguard and chauffeur.

"D’Andrea needed the protection..."

Twenty-five pages article body including sidebar story. Three pages of endnotes. Eight images

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80 years since the Massacre

Vol. 2, Issue 2, Apr. 2009 Contents

Feature article

80 years since the Massacre

"On the morning of Feb. 14, 1929, seven men were killed at the S.M.C. Cartage Company garage at 2122 North Clark Street in Chicago. The killings were the result of an effort by the Capone Outfit to eliminate rival gang boss George “Bugs” Moran. Capone’s gunmen, disguised as raiding police officers, succeeded in decimating the Moran gang, but they missed their primary target. Moran was late in getting to the garage and survived the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. On the 80th anniversary of the Massacre, we look at various accounts of that bloody event..."

Four pages

One image

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