tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34733715147997528012024-03-13T23:45:25.701-04:00The American MafiaA blog relating to The American Mafia history website (mafiahistory.us and www.onewal.com)Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-53854165896565194922021-04-04T05:07:00.000-04:002021-04-04T05:07:07.813-04:00New location for blog<p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>We have relocated the blog for American Mafia History Website (mafiahistory.us) updates and news. The new location is:</b></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://mafiahistory.us/mafiahistoryblog/">https://mafiahistory.us/mafiahistoryblog/</a></p><p>Items from the old blog, hosted by blogger.com, have been moved to the new location. And all new updates will be posted at the mafiahistory.us site.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-40940576864811336722018-01-30T06:49:00.001-05:002018-01-30T06:51:32.654-05:00When 'Lucky' was locked up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7lhvAlq-M0w/WnBajpfivyI/AAAAAAAAKGg/oWbDH_W4pAEb2hNY4E_2U_1YTkw4crgxwCLcBGAs/s1600/luckypris.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="288" data-original-width="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7lhvAlq-M0w/WnBajpfivyI/AAAAAAAAKGg/oWbDH_W4pAEb2hNY4E_2U_1YTkw4crgxwCLcBGAs/s1600/luckypris.gif" /></a></div>
Salvatore Lucania, widely known as Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, late in 1931 became the most powerful crime boss in the U.S. He personally commanded a sprawling New York-based Mafia organization, held one of seven seats on the Mafia's ruling Commission and maintained valuable alliances with non-Italian racketeering organizations across the country. <br />
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Less than five years after achieving gangland eminence, however, Lucania was taken into custody on compulsory prostitution charges. Due to the efforts of Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey, Lucania spent most of the next decade - from the prime years of his life into middle age - behind prison bars.<br />
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Held at Clinton State Prison beginning in the summer of 1936, he was largely out of touch with the rich criminal empire he assembled and remote from friends and family. He depended upon pennies earned through manual toil and occasional contributions from relatives and associates to finance his many purchases through prison commissaries. <br />
<br />
Yet, even during a lengthy and humiliating prison stay, Lucania found a way to make himself important. In the spring of 1942, Lucania convinced New York County prosecutors, New York State corrections officials and the United States Office of Naval Intelligence that he was indispensable to the U.S. war effort.<br />
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In the remaining years of World War II, Lucania arranged for a more convenient placement at Great Meadow Prison in the Lake George area and for suspension of visitation rules and recordkeeping. He managed in those few years to build a reputation for patriotic service that led to a 1946 commutation of sentence.<br />
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Very few official records remain of Lucania's long term in state prisons. From the period before 1942, only a small collection of documents is held at the New York State Archives. These include receiving blotter pages, health and psychiatric reports, visitor logs and financial transactions that shed some light on his brief time at Sing Sing Prison and his longer incarceration at Clinton Prison. From the period between his 1942 transfer to Great Meadow Prison and his 1946 parole and deportation, even less survives. Some details of these later years were pieced together when the State of New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Navy looked into Lucania's alleged contributions to the war effort. Wartime records of the Office of Naval Intelligence, which could have provided the most useful window into Lucania's service, were deliberately destroyed.<br />
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Available details of Lucania's time in prison and related events have been assembled into a 1936-1946 timeline on The American Mafia history website. These details range in excitement level from hum-drum to spectacular. Quotes from documents and links to documents - including all available pages of the Clinton Prison files - are included.<br />
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See: <span style="color: #990000;"><b><a href="http://mafiahistory.us/a004/f_prisonlucky.html">"When 'Lucky' was locked up."</a></b></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-78648869902129600082018-01-17T07:40:00.001-05:002018-01-17T07:40:35.235-05:00Historian reveals identities of Mafia informants<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">The FBI makes every effort to hide the identities of its confidential underworld informants, even long after the informants have passed away. Unlike the famous Joe Valachi and other Bureau cooperating witnesses, who exchange public testimony for government protection, confidential informants continue in their dangerous underworld roles while secretly feeding information to investigators.</span><br />
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In reports, the FBI refers to its informants only by code numbers. Before any reports are made available to the public, revealing details about the informants are deleted. But subtle clues to their identities may remain within the text.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yvNIAs5HfU0/Wl9D1Pv6wwI/AAAAAAAAKFg/uhn_4V-Xp1cyTnVNW-p8eE6BOPPSFFA9gCLcBGAs/s1600/rattrap-oval-trans.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="128" data-original-width="366" height="112" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yvNIAs5HfU0/Wl9D1Pv6wwI/AAAAAAAAKFg/uhn_4V-Xp1cyTnVNW-p8eE6BOPPSFFA9gCLcBGAs/s320/rattrap-oval-trans.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
For years, Toronto-based crime historian Edmond Valin has been combing through publicly available information, including declassified files of the FBI, for these clues. He has shown a remarkable ability to discover the identities of some of the most important and most secret Mafia turncoats by comparing seemingly insignificant details from different documents.<br />
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Valin has consented to allow the American Mafia history website to publish a collection of his ground-breaking articles online. These articles, grouped under the heading of "Rat Trap," deal with informants from major U.S. Mafia organizations, including the Chicago Outfit, the Philly Mob, the Bonanno Crime Family and the Gambino Crime Family. Six articles are in the collection at this time, and more are on the way.<br />
<br />
Valin's often shocking conclusions are painstakingly defended through document citations (many of the related documents can be accessed online through links provided in the articles' endnotes).<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/rattrap-idx.html">Visit Edmond Valin's Rat Trap articles.</a></b><br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-56965184863324334972017-11-18T06:10:00.000-05:002017-11-18T06:10:32.887-05:00'Rat Trap'<span style="font-size: large;">The website recently added a collection of articles by writer (and history detective) Edmond Valin. </span><br />
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Based in the Toronto area, Valin's specialty is deducing the identities of confidential underworld informants through clues left in government documents, such as FBI files, and other sources. We are calling the article collection, "Rat Trap." At the moment, there are three articles, and we hope to add more soon.<br />
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Valin's articles all provide source citations. And we have tried to include web links to online source material and book purchase sites whenever possible.<br />
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<a href="http://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/rattrap-idx.html"><img alt="http://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/rattrap-idx.html" border="0" data-original-height="128" data-original-width="366" height="111" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e3RE7ymraQg/WhAUESR91lI/AAAAAAAAJ7s/O_Z_zWe4mpg2lRsCOT-yK7YBK6p1e04IACLcBGAs/s320/rattrap-oval-trans.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/rattrap-idx.html"><i>Click here to check out the Rat Trap articles on the site.</i></a></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-87258990096930793382017-04-17T10:38:00.000-04:002017-04-17T10:38:27.443-04:00The Writers of Wrongs blog<br />
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<a href="http://www.writersofwrongs.com/"><img border="0" height="304" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R99W4BY3U9g/WPTRgxRubbI/AAAAAAAAJiY/beKNtTorUz8a7-6DxZRTMq2DDVlhEs4fACLcB/s320/theWoW.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">If you are a reader of crime history, you are certain to find interesting items on <a href="http://www.writersofwrongs.com/">The Writers of Wrongs blog</a>. </span><br />
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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:<br />
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- <b>Christian Cipollini</b>, author of <i>Lucky Luciano: Mysterious Tales of a Gangland Legend</i>, <i>Murder Inc.: Mysteries of the Mob's Most Deadly Hit Squad</i>; <i>Diary of a Motor City Hit Man</i>.<br />
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- <b>Ellen Poulsen</b>, author of <i>Don't Call Us Molls: Women of the John Dillinger Gang</i>; <i>The Case Against Lucky Luciano: New York's Most Sensational Vice Trial</i>.<br />
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- <b>Patrick Downey</b>, author of <i>On the Spot: Gangland Murders in Prohibition New York City</i>; <i>Hollywood on the Spot: Crimes Against the Early Movie Stars</i>; <i>Legs Diamond: Gangster</i>; <i>Bad Seeds in the Big Apple</i>; <i>Gangster City</i>.<br />
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- <b>Thomas Hunt</b>, author of <i>Wrongly Executed?</i>; coauthor of <i>Deep Water</i>, <i>DiCarlo: Buffalo's First Family of Crime</i>; contributor to <i>Mafia: The Necessary Reference to Organized Crime</i>; editor of <i>Informer</i>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.writersofwrongs.com/"><b><span style="color: #990000;">Visit the blog at <i>www.writersofwrongs.com</i></span></b></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-18599678233016071912017-01-05T06:39:00.000-05:002017-01-05T06:39:29.828-05:001939: Sberna goes to The Chair<span style="font-size: large;">On this date in 1939: Charles Sberna was executed in Sing Sing Prison's electric chair. Though convicted of participating in the killing of an NYPD officer, many to this day insist that he was innocent. </span><br />
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As the son of a fugitive wanted for orchestrating a series of bloody anarchist-terrorist bombings and the in-law of a family of Mafia leaders, could Sberna possibly have received a fair trial?<br />
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'Wrongly Executed?' provides the details and historical background of the Sberna case. The story is a complex and controversial one, involving celebrity attorneys, underworld bosses, violent political radicals, media giants and ruthless establishment figures, all set in a period in which Americans sought stability and government-imposed order after years of political upheaval, economic depression and Prohibition Era lawlessness.<br />
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<a href="http://mafiahistory.us/wronglyexecuted/"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VYUhYFmU6nc/WG4wHOD1NYI/AAAAAAAAHsM/3mYxX_9fsTgeh1__6n2uwDXF7US0XhwzgCLcB/s320/frontcover-1.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-9048609091369357462016-12-19T08:43:00.000-05:002016-12-19T08:43:12.763-05:00Chance to win a copy of 'Wrongly Executed?'<div>
Three author-signed trade paperback copies of <b><i>Wrongly Executed? The Long-Forgotten Context of Charles Sberna's 1939 Electrocution</i></b> will be awarded through a promotional drawing on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/215195">Goodreads.com</a>. No purchase is necessary to enter. Entries will be accepted until Jan. 5, 2017, the anniversary of Charles Sberna's meeting with the Sing Sing Prison electric chair. Details are available <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/215195">on the Goodreads.com website</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/" target="_new">Goodreads</a> Book Giveaway
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33266989"><img alt="Wrongly Executed? - The Long-Forgotten Context of Charles Sbe... by Thomas Hunt" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481064414l/33266989.jpg" title="Wrongly Executed? - The Long-Forgotten Context of Charles Sbe... by Thomas Hunt" width="100" /></a>
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33266989">Wrongly Executed? - The Long-Forgotten Context of Charles Sberna's 1939 Electrocution</a>
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by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/146163.Thomas_Hunt" style="text-decoration: none;">Thomas Hunt</a>
</h4>
<div class="giveaway_details">
Giveaway ends January 05, 2017.
<br />
See the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/215195" style="text-decoration: none;">giveaway details</a>
at Goodreads.
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<script charset="utf-8" src="https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/widget/215195" type="text/javascript"></script><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-17693315174153578872016-11-26T07:35:00.000-05:002016-11-26T07:35:00.917-05:00'Wrongly Executed?' book now available<span style="font-size: large;">In his book on <i>The Barrel Mystery</i>, legendary crime-fighter William Flynn discussed what he viewed as the two great organized outlaw elements in American society: violent political radicals or "Reds" and a growing Sicilian underworld organization he knew as "The Black Hand." Flynn feared that the Red and the Black might someday combine to form "a mixed brand of terrorism... that would bring every decent citizen to shudder..."</span><br />
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The two elements did combine in the person of Charles Sberna. Son of a leftist radical who fled the U.S. to avoid punishment for orchestrating a series of bloody terrorist bombings, Sberna became the son-in-law of former U.S. Mafia boss of bosses Giuseppe Morello. Given that background and his own history of criminal and anti-social behavior, is it possible that Sberna was viewed with impartiality and a presumption of innocence when brought into court accused of killing a New York City police officer?<br />
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Sberna claimed to have had no role in the 1937 killing of Patrolman John H.A. Wilson or in the criminal activity related to that killing. Co-defendant Salvatore Gati admitted his own participation but insisted that Sberna was not present. Their jurors were unconvinced. Sberna and Gati were convicted of first-degree murder. Each took his turn in the Sing Sing Prison electric chair.<br />
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But there was something odd about the case: Sing Sing Warden Lewis Lawes had no doubt on the evening of January 5, 1939: He had just presided over the execution of an innocent man. The prison chaplain and many guards also felt that Sberna had been sent to his death unjustly.<br />
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Lawes made his feelings known in a published book a short time later. Syndicated Broadway columnist Walter Winchell called attention to flaws in the case against Sberna in the summer of 1939 and again early in 1942. According to Winchell, the government knew that District Attorney Thomas Dewey's office had sent an innocent man to the chair and was providing "hush money" payments to Sberna relatives. Since then, opponents of capital punishment have included Sberna's name in collections of those deemed "wrongly executed" and have used the case as a somewhat vague example of the possibility of death penalty error. Still, little is known about Sberna or the circumstances that led him to the electric chair.<br />
<br />
The story is a complex and controversial one, involving celebrity attorneys, Mafia bosses, violent political radicals, media giants and ruthless establishment figures, all set in a period in which Americans sought stability and government-imposed order after years of political upheaval, economic depression and Prohibition Era lawlessness.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mB0z5958Kiw/WDl_gSPTNbI/AAAAAAAAHm0/yQ-iyVMxHl0dzvAnhkFKbm8YY1LySp7XACLcB/s1600/coveronepiece.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mB0z5958Kiw/WDl_gSPTNbI/AAAAAAAAHm0/yQ-iyVMxHl0dzvAnhkFKbm8YY1LySp7XACLcB/s320/coveronepiece.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dust jacket for the 'Wrongly Executed?' hardcover.</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I first became aware of Charles Sberna's story during research into U.S. capital punishment errors. Archived newspaper columns by Winchell revealed a tale worthy of retelling. Email conversations with publisher Rick Mattix relating to the startup of the On the Spot Journal of "gangster era" crime history led me to assemble an article on the Sberna case for the journal's December 2006 issue. My decision to fully explore the Sberna case soon followed.<br />
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I examined court documents, the careers of prosecutors and elected officials, the history of law enforcement efforts against the early Mafia and the American anarchist movement, the questionable philosophies and courtroom tactics of D.A. Thomas Dewey and his assistants, and the known and suspected crimes of the men who might have participated with Gati in the murder attributed to Sberna. Much of what I found was deeply troubling.<br />
<br />
A fair trial may have been denied to Charles Sberna. Given the mood of the time, the background of the defendant and the circumstances of the case, a truly fair trial may have been impossible.<br />
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The product of my research, <b><i><a href="http://mafiahistory.us/wronglyexecuted/">Wrongly Executed? - The Long-Forgotten Context of Charles Sberna's 1939 Electrocution</a></i></b>, is now available in hardcover, paperback and ebook formats. For more information and purchase options, visit the <a href="http://mafiahistory.us/wronglyexecuted/"><i>Wrongly Executed?</i> website</a>: <a href="http://mafiahistory.us/wronglyexecuted/">mafiahistory.us/wronglyexecuted/</a><br />
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(I wish to express my appreciation to Christian Cipollini, C. Joseph Greaves, Ellen Poulsen and Robert Sberna for their support and assistance on this project.)<br />
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-43742062295214399822016-09-23T11:16:00.000-04:002016-09-23T11:16:07.550-04:00Expanding early Mafia timeline<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HP524uqdEts/V-VHEFKmlUI/AAAAAAAAHXo/bUcxuSaEMowN8NbDBkhzq1eSWx97YRztQCLcB/s1600/Captured001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HP524uqdEts/V-VHEFKmlUI/AAAAAAAAHXo/bUcxuSaEMowN8NbDBkhzq1eSWx97YRztQCLcB/s320/Captured001.jpg" width="286" /></a></div>
A great deal of information, along with source citations, has recently been added to <a href="http://mafiahistory.us/maf-chr1.html">Timeline Part 1, 1282-1899</a>. Later parts of the Timeline - largely neglected for more than a decade - will soon receive similar attention.<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-17994011975253361052016-09-17T10:51:00.000-04:002016-09-17T10:51:48.880-04:00Additions to Who Was Who<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Recent additions to the Who Was Who collection of American Mafia biographies:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2016/09/morelli-frank-1896-1965.html"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-E37eKBdnrpg/V91ODKtQiOI/AAAAAAAAHV8/WzFw0eu__TcxPxI-3BOpyq9ufmBRzEIggCPcB/s1600/morelli-frank-ri.gif" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2016/09/morelli-frank-1896-1965.html">Frank "Butsey" Morelli</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2016/09/morelli-frank-1896-1965.html">(1896-1965)</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-indent: -12px;">Frank "Butsey" Morelli was an early leader of Italian organized crime in Rhode Island, mentoring a number of later Mafiosi, including Raymond Patriarca and Henry Tameleo. Morelli and some of his brothers long have been suspected of involvement in the April 1920 South Braintree, Massachusetts, robbery-murders for which Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in August 1927.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-indent: -12px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></span>
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<a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2016/08/messina-gaspare-1879-1957.html"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6JkoekVj6m8/V72dcokeukI/AAAAAAAAHVM/TCBcwmsxQRkIdwhpATDxZhhgwt1cjGP1gCPcB/s1600/messina-gaspare-ne.gif" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2016/08/messina-gaspare-1879-1957.html">Gaspare Messina</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2016/08/messina-gaspare-1879-1957.html">(1879-1957)</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-indent: -12px;">Gaspare Messina was one of just two men known to have served as temporary boss of bosses of the American Mafia. He is also distinguished among Mafia leaders by his lack of arrests and apparent competence as a legitimate businessman.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2016/03/lepore-vincenzo-1899-1931.html">Vincenzo LePore</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2016/03/lepore-vincenzo-1899-1931.html">(1899-1931)</a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-indent: -12px;">Vincenzo "Jimmy Marino" LePore was one of a small number of Salvatore Maranzano loyalists murdered following Maranzano's Sept. 10, 1931, assassination. His killing helped to give life to the "Night of Sicilian Vespers" legend in the U.S. Mafia.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.61px; text-indent: -12px;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-58274122291617558712016-04-05T17:52:00.001-04:002016-04-05T17:55:58.980-04:00Hoffa / Teamsters timeline<i>Currently under construction:</i><br />
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We are adding an extensive timeline relating to Jimmy Hoffa and his involvement in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union. At this moment the timeline features nearly 200 events up through the year 1959. All timeline items provide source information. Click on the document icon in an item to acquire source reference details.<br />
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You can access the timeline through this link: <a href="http://mafiahistory.us/a028/f_hoffatime.html">http://mafiahistory.us/a028/f_hoffatime.html</a><br />
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As always, we welcome your comments / criticisms.<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-64318563645375012502016-03-09T06:42:00.001-05:002016-03-09T06:42:11.535-05:00Alo biography added<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KHpxb6tI3Go/VtxqysU7O7I/AAAAAAAAHPM/wHYOFBDJPKQ/s1600/alo-vincent-ny-fl3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KHpxb6tI3Go/VtxqysU7O7I/AAAAAAAAHPM/wHYOFBDJPKQ/s1600/alo-vincent-ny-fl3.jpg" /></a></div>
A biography of Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo has been added to the website's Who Was Who section. Alo, a longtime pal of Meyer Lansky, was the inspiration for a number of fictional underworld characters, including "Johnny Ola" of the movie, <i>The Godfather Part II</i>. In real life, Alo was born in Harlem and became an important figure in the Genovese Crime Family, organizing rackets in Bronx and Westchester Counties, as well as in eastern Florida. He helped to link the crime organization led by Frank Costello, and later Vito Genovese, with Lansky. (Three dozen sources are listed following the article.)<br />
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<a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2016/03/alo-vincent-1904-2001.html">Click here to jump to this biography.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-55569908458684273772016-01-12T10:13:00.001-05:002016-01-12T10:13:41.239-05:00'Murder While You Wait'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a4NJLQVoBgI/VpUPkNdpf5I/AAAAAAAAHOI/w5n_Az34Ngw/s1600/carey.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-a4NJLQVoBgI/VpUPkNdpf5I/AAAAAAAAHOI/w5n_Az34Ngw/s1600/carey.gif" /></a></div>
After his retirement, former NYPD Homicide Bureau leader Arthur A. Carey penned an autobiographical book called, <i>Memoirs of a Murder Man</i>. A chapter in that book looked back at the 1903 Barrel Murder and police efforts to put the early Mafia organization of Giuseppe Morello out of business. Carey's account is noticeably different from the <a href="http://mafiahistory.us/a027/f_flynn.html">better known story</a> told by William Flynn of the U.S. Secret Service (significant when you note that Flynn's was published first in book and serial forms and was certainly available to Carey at the time he wrote his book). That chapter, entitled "Murder While You Wait," has been added to the website.<div>
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<a href="http://mafiahistory.us/a030/f_carey.html">Click here to jump directly to the chapter.</a></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-38784974228763688792015-12-30T09:59:00.000-05:002016-01-12T10:06:17.755-05:00Additions to Who Was WhoSeveral biographies have been added to the Who Was Who section of the website (click on a name to jump to the bio):<br />
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<li> <a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2015/12/antonio-strollo-1899-1962.html"><b>Antonio "Tony Bender" Strollo (1899-1962)</b></a> - longtime leader in the Genovese Crime Family.</li>
<li> <a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2015/12/tomasso-petto-1879-1905.html"><b>Tomasso "the Ox" Petto (1879-1905)</b></a> - Enforcer for the early New York Mafia organization of Giuseppe Morello.</li>
<li> <a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2016/01/lucania-salvatore-1897-1962.html"><b>Salvatore "Charlie Luciano" Lucania (1897-1962)</b></a> - perhaps the most-talked-about New York Mafia boss.</li>
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All of these biographies have source listings at the end.</div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-48845819187256397242015-09-27T09:48:00.000-04:002016-01-12T09:57:51.084-05:00Morello articleA brief biography of early New York Mafia boss and U.S. Mafia boss of bosses Giuseppe Morello has been added to the website. Entitled, "Sinistro: The Underworld Career of Giuseppe Morello (1867-1930)," the article includes more than 40 endnotes containing references to numerous sources.<br />
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<a href="http://mafiahistory.us/a029/f_morello.html">Click here for a direct link to the article.</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-56942068105939201392015-08-10T09:27:00.000-04:002015-08-10T09:27:42.907-04:00'Frankie Shots' AbbatemarcoA biography of Brooklyn Mafioso Frank "Frankie Shots" Abbatemarco has been added to the American Mafia site's Who Was Who. Abbatemarco, brother of Mike Abbatemarco, became a powerful and independent-minded capodecina in the Profaci Crime Family. His 1959 murder appeared to be intended to restore discipline in the Profaci organization but, instead, triggered a determined revolt by the Gallo group in South Brooklyn.<br />
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Read more: <a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2015/08/abbatemarco-frank-1899-1959.html">Abbatemarco, Frank (1899-1959)</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-85460499748749274222015-08-06T09:10:00.001-04:002015-08-06T09:10:49.824-04:00'Mike Shots' AbbatemarcoA biography of Brooklyn gangster Michael "Mike Schatz (or Shots)" Abbatemarco has been added to the American Mafia site's Who Was Who. Abbatemarco reportedly was a close associate of Frank Yale, who met his end at about the same time and in about the same manner as Yale.<br />
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Read more: <a href="http://mob-who.blogspot.com/2015/08/abbatemarco-michael-1894-1928.html">Abbatemarco, Michael (1894-1928)</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-59345294768105801792015-07-22T14:35:00.000-04:002015-07-28T07:09:36.044-04:00Flynn's 'The Barrel Mystery' (1919)<span style="font-size: large;">About one hundred pages of <i>The Barrel Mystery</i> by William J. Flynn can now be accessed on the American Mafia history website. </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oStZQ_ztcQs/Va_iHhtZmRI/AAAAAAAAG30/vwSYIGzdtkQ/s1600/barrel.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oStZQ_ztcQs/Va_iHhtZmRI/AAAAAAAAG30/vwSYIGzdtkQ/s320/barrel.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>The Barrel Mystery</i>, published in 1919 (copyright has expired), is the story of U.S. Secret Service efforts to help solve the "barrel murder" of 1903 and to dismantle Mafia counterfeiting operations supervised by Mafia boss of bosses Giuseppe Morello and his brother-in-law Ignazio Lupo. Author Flynn was head of the New York office of the Secret Service when Morello and his men were finally brought to justice.<br />
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Portions of the book were previously published on our Caged Wolves website. It is our hope to soon have the entire book available online.<br />
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<a href="http://mafiahistory.us/a027/f_flynn.html">Click here to read <i>The Barrel Mystery</i>.</a><br />
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<i>Update 23 July 2015: The available portions of this book now total almost 130 pages.</i><br />
<i>Update 26 July 2015: About 175 pages of the book, plus an index, are now available.</i><br />
<i>Update 27 July 2015: More than 225 pages of the book, plus photos, are now available.</i><br />
<i>Update 28 July 2015: The entire book text is now available.</i><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-74347757023481261162015-04-17T11:22:00.001-04:002015-04-17T11:23:38.466-04:00Mobile-friendly adjustments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dwhf41yCE_w/VTEkrrmBcVI/AAAAAAAAGpo/qJy8Oj1rqqc/s1600/mCaptured001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Dwhf41yCE_w/VTEkrrmBcVI/AAAAAAAAGpo/qJy8Oj1rqqc/s1600/mCaptured001.jpg" height="320" width="274" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">We have been working on a number of adjustments to the website in order to make it more "friendly" to mobile device users. </span><br />
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Changes include less reliance on table formatting, scalable images and typesizes, and larger link buttons. These were prompted by Google's announcement that sites deemed unfriendly to mobile users would be ranked poorly in web searches from mobile devices. But we believe the site generally benefits from a cleaner, more streamlined look.<br />
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Even desktop users will find the site easier to use, as most pages will require no specific web browser width - the page contents should size to fit whatever area your browser window is sized to.<br />
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As always, we welcome your feedback on these changes and on any other issues you may have with the American Mafia history website.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-72778113039699244752015-01-30T16:20:00.002-05:002015-02-07T11:26:51.387-05:00Pages added to Valachi textAdditional pages of Joe Valachi's autobiography, <i>The Real Thing</i>, are now on the website ( <a href="http://www.onewal.com/a023/therealthing.htm" target="_blank">Click here</a> ). Readers are cautioned that groups of pages remain unavailable to us and some of the available pages have missing portions.<br />
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<i>Update 5 Feb 2015: About 150 full and partial pages of the Valachi manuscript are now available on the website.</i><br />
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<i>Update 6 Feb 2015: About 225 full and partial pages are now available. These represent the entirety of the pages available to us at this time. As we acquire additional pages, they will be added to the website.</i><br />
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<i>Update 7 Feb 2015: We are experimenting with an index to the available pages of the Valachi autobiography. </i><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-82115568825877806712014-11-06T06:01:00.000-05:002014-11-13T07:03:32.129-05:00Additional chapters of Hinchey reportA project begun four years ago is today significantly closer to completion. Additional chapters of the New York State Assembly report <i>Organized Crime's Involvement in the Waste Hauling Industry</i> have been brought online. The report is now available through Chapter 9 and includes a large chart illustrating the complex web of connections among waste disposal companies.<br />
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The report can be accessed through this link: <a href="http://www.onewal.com/maf-hinc.html">http://www.onewal.com/maf-hinc.html</a><br />
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[Update 13 Nov. 2014: Two additional chapters of this report are now available on the website. Remaining material still to be web-published includes a final report chapter, several appendices and some endnotes.]<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-69391245341180557952014-04-08T06:59:00.000-04:002014-04-08T06:59:13.741-04:00Membership charts online<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://mafiamembershipcharts.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6Ov-0Iijgrc/U0PWOSfPMjI/AAAAAAAAFbM/k8QVV1f06jY/s1600/ch1.jpg" /></a></div>
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Informer's longtime columnist Bill Feather is bringing his Mafia membership charts online. The charts provide data - birth, death, aliases, immigration, family relationships, active eras, etc. - on documented and suspected Mafiosi from crime families across the United States.<br />
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Visit:
<a href="http://mafiamembershipcharts.blogspot.co.uk/">http://mafiamembershipcharts.blogspot.co.uk/</a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-43392393576594950702013-12-04T09:44:00.000-05:002013-12-04T09:44:04.400-05:00Book Notes and BookstoreFound a few spare moments and made some long overdue additions to the website's Book Notes and Bookstore pages. The Book Notes page (<a href="http://www.onewal.com/ow-bookn.html">click here to visit</a>) now contains entries for 39 crime history titles released since the summer of 2005. The Bookstore (<a href="http://www.onewal.com/ow-bookm.html">click here to visit</a>) features more than 40 selections available for purchase through Amazon.com.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-14550884181808106452013-10-19T18:40:00.000-04:002013-10-19T18:40:22.262-04:00Profile: Frank BonomoJust added to the website:<br />
J. Dugard's profile of little-known but influential Bonanno Crime Family member <a href="http://www.onewal.com/a024/f_bonomo.html">Frank Bonomo</a>.<br />
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473371514799752801.post-46600774538755552632013-10-15T20:01:00.000-04:002013-10-15T20:01:10.807-04:00What do we know about Frankie Yale?It's a question that I've asked myself quite a bit over the years. It seems everyone who has written about the American Mafia has written <i>something</i> about Brooklyn gang boss Frankie Yale. But most of that material seems based on rumor or conjecture. Factual details about Yale's life and career are sorely lacking. It seemed time to take stock of what we actually know about Yale. After looking through the material I had accumulated on him, I assembled this article for the website (and linked to it from the Articles menu and the Who Was Who menu):<br />
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<a href="http://www.onewal.com/a025/f_yale.html" target="_blank">What do we know about Frankie Yale?</a></div>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, Thomas Hunt</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0