Informer

Informer advertisers to date

2012-01-24T14:59:00.000-05:00

We wish to thank the following advertisers who have supported Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement:

The American Mafia website (www.onewal.com, mafiahistory.us);
Bad Seeds in the Big Apple: Bandits, Killers and Chaos in New York City 1920-1940 by Patrick Downey;
Balls: The Life of Eddie Trascher, Gentleman Gangster by Scott M. Deitche;
Bonnie and Clyde: The Lives Behind the Legend by Paul Schneider;
But He Was Good to his Mother: The Lives and Crimes of Jewish Gangsters by Robert A. Rockaway;
The Case Against Lucky Luciano: New York's Most Sensational Vice Trial by Ellen Poulsen;
The Company She Keeps: The Dangerous Life of a Model Turned Mafia Wife by Georgia Durante;
The Complete Public Enemy Almanac by William J. Helmer and Rick Mattix;
Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia by Thomas Hunt and Martha Macheca Sheldon;
The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder and the Birth of the American Mafia by Mike Dash;
The First Vice Lord: Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee by Art Bilek;
Gangsters Incorporated website (www.gangstersinc.ning.nl);
King of the Sunset Strip by Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood;
Knokaround Apparel (www.knockbacks.com);
Knokaround Apparel & Gorilla Convict Publications;
Legs Diamond: Gangster by Patrick Downey;
The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd by Jeffery S. King;
The Mafia and the Machine: The Story of the Kansas City Mob by Frank Hayde;
The MobTours of Niagara Falls;
A Murder in Tulsa: The Sherrill Murder Case & The Rise of the Barker-Karpis Gang by Michael Koch;
On the Rock by Robert Livesey;
On the Spot Journal of Crime and Law Enforcement in the Twenties through the Thirties;
The Origin of Organized Crime in America by David Critchley;
The Rise and Fall of the Dillinger Gang by Jeffery S. King;
Running with Dillinger: The Story of Red Hamilton and Other Forgotten Canadian Outlaws by Edward Butts;
The Silent Don: The Criminal Underworld of Santo Trafficante by Scott M. Deitche;
The Starker: Big Jack Zelig, the Becker-Rosenthal Case and the Advent of the Jewish Gangster by Rose Keefe;
Superthief by Rick Porrello;
Uncle Al Capone by Deirdre Marie Capone.

Informer contributors to date

2012-01-24T14:53:00.000-05:00

We wish to thank the following individuals, who have provided articles/research data or granted extended interviews to Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement:

Ryan Artis, Arthur Bilek, Deirdre Marie Capone, David Critchley, Scott Deitche, Patrick Downey, Justin Dugard, Bill Feather, Sandra Harmon, William J. Helmer, Alex Hortis, Thom L. Jones, Jeffery S. King, Chriss Lyon, Rick Mattix, Arthur Nash, Gregory Peduto, Rick Porrello, Ellen Poulsen, Marina Riggio, Richard Shaw, Martha Sheldon, Steve Stevens and Craig Lockwood, Michael A. Tona, Edmond Valin, Richard N. Warner.

January 2012 Issue of Informer

2012-01-20T12:37:00.000-05:00

January 2012 Contents
Editorial

Numerous questions remain about Joseph Profaci and the Brooklyn-based crime family associated with his name. We are left to guess, for example, how Profaci rose to the leadership of the organization, how the independence of the relatively small Mafia clan was secured and how the organization managed to wield a level of influence that far exceeded its apparent numerical strength. In some Mafia histories, the Profaci Family seems to appear instantaneously in Prohibition Era Bath Beach and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, already with Profaci at the helm and already a major player in underworld events.

While details of the origin of the Profaci Mafia are elusive, in this issue Thomas Hunt strives to provide a foundation for future research by noting Profaci’s kinship and Sicilian hometown ties to underworld figures whose presence in the U.S. predated his own (see preview).

In a collection of biographical essays, Justin Dugard sheds light on a few of the more shadowy figures of the Profaci-Colombo organization (see preview). Dugard also adds a Colombo Crime Family violence timeline (see preview). Bill Feather provides a Colombo Family membership chart (see preview).

Additional Profaci-Colombo coverage includes relevant portions of the House Select Committee on Assassinations report (see preview), an interview with Sandra Harmon, author of Mafia Son (see preview), and a book review of FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio’s book, We’re Going To Win This Thing (see preview).

We also review a new book on James "Whitey" Bulger and other gangsters who have called Boston, Massachusetts, their home, The Boston Mob Guide (see preview).

This issue also marks the beginning of a series of articles by David Critchley on the Gunmen of the Castellammarese War. In the first installment, Critchley examines the enigmatic Maranzano hit man, “Buster from Chicago” (see preview).

Sixty-eight pages. Published January 20, 2012.

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Giuseppe Profaci's Rise

2012-01-20T12:21:00.001-05:00

January 2012 Contents
Feature Article
By Thomas Hunt

Giuseppe Profaci steps from obscurity

to leadership of an influential

New York Mafia family

Profaci's Rise

By Thomas Hunt

"Little information exists on the earliest days of the underworld organization known today as the Colombo Crime Family. In some United States Mafia histories, the crime family simply (though somewhat ridiculously) springs to life, already fully grown and with Giuseppe Profaci as its boss, in Prohibition Era Brooklyn. While it is impossible at this time to fill in all of the blanks of the crime family history, it appears that the roots of the Profaci-Colombo organization stretch back to a network of influential families in the region of Villabate, Sicily."

Twelve pages including one and a half pages of notes, a family tree and four images.

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Colombo Family Profiles

2012-01-20T12:14:00.001-05:00

January 2012 Contents
Feature Article
By Justin Dugard

Benedetto D'Alessandro,

Simone Andolino,

Vincent Mangano

By Justin Dugard

"...D’Alessandro is believed to have been formally inducted into the Profaci Crime Family by the late 1920s. Like many others in the underworld organization, he had family connections with the Profaci clan going back to Sicily. His first run-in with the law occurred on July 9, 1928, when he was picked up in Baltimore, Maryland, for attempting to fraudulently obtain a motor vehicle title. At the time of his arrest, he gave an alias, Benny Castelli, and claimed residence in Baltimore via a false address. The case ended in acquittal..."

Eight and a half pages including nine photographs.

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Colombo Violence Timeline

2012-01-20T12:09:00.000-05:00

January 2012 Contents
Timeline
By Justin Dugard

Colombo Violence Timeline

Summaries are provided for more than forty gangland killings associated with the Profaci-Colombo Crime Family based in Brooklyn, New York.

Four and a half pages.

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Profaci-Colombo Mafia Chart

2012-01-20T12:04:00.000-05:00

January 2012 Contents
Membership Chart
By Bill Feather

The January issue includes a Profaci-Colombo crime family membership chart compiled by Bill Feather. The five-page chart lists more than one hundred known and suspected members of the organization from the period of 1950s-1960s, along with birth, death, relationship, rank and other information.

Five pages.

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Congress Examines Profaci-Colombo

2012-01-20T11:59:00.001-05:00

January 2012 Contents
Feature Article

Kennedy assassination investigators

turn their attention to Profaci-Colombo

In the late 1970s, as it reexamined the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the House Select Committee on Assassinations explored what it considered to be relevant events in organized crime. Two of those events were the 1971 assassination of crime boss Joseph Colombo and the failed 1962 attempt by Giuseppe Magliocco to eliminate important underworld rivals.

Two pages including one photograph.

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Gunmen of the Castellammarese War- Part 1

2012-01-20T11:55:00.001-05:00

January 2012 Contents
Feature Article
First of a Series
By David Critchley

'Buster from Chicago' revealed

to be Sebastiano Domingo

By David Critchley

"Until recently, a prolific Maranzano gunman could be identified only by the mysterious moniker of 'Buster from Chicago.' 'Buster was undoubtedly the number one killer in the Maranzano organization,' Chandler underscored, 'and he drew all the important hits.'"

Nine pages including seven photographs, a family tree and one page of notes.

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Interview: Author Sandra Harmon

2012-01-20T11:49:00.001-05:00

January 2012 Contents
Author Interview
By Ryan Artis

'Mafia Son' author

Sandra Harmon

“Greg [Jr.] offered to trade information on [Ramzi] Yousef with the government in exchange for leniency, ultimately providing detailed intelligence on what would eventually result in the September 11 attacks. His warnings were ignored...”

Nine pages

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Review: We're Going To Win This Thing

2012-01-20T11:42:00.001-05:00

January 2012 Contents
Book Review
By Thomas Hunt

Peer inside the mind of an

FBI informant-handler

"We’re Going to Win This Thing is billed as 'the riveting front-page news story of an FBI agent falsely accused of ordering four mob hits.' However, what this book mostly is in fact is a disturbing look inside the mind of an FBI informant-handler who spent too much of his career in a legal 'Twilight Zone' and as a consequence may have lost touch with the fundamental principles of right and wrong. The book also provides a window into the shockingly dysfunctional relationships among federal law enforcement and local and federal prosecutors within New York City."

Four pages

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Review: The Boston Mob Guide

2012-01-20T11:35:00.003-05:00

January 2012 Contents
Book Review
By Thomas Hunt

A quick-moving tour of

Boston's underworld history

"Inspired by the capture of longtime fugitive racketeer James "Whitey" Bulger, authors Beverly Ford and Stephanie Schorow have assembled a quick-moving 160-page book that puts Bulger into his historic and geographic context. In addition to Bulger and his underworld cronies in the infamous Winter Hill Gang, the authors examine the major players and events in the New England Mafia, as well as various Irish mobs, Jewish crime figures and some other shady characters who have called the Boston region their home."

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Two pages.

Ad: Urban Gangland Series

2012-01-19T07:26:00.000-05:00

A new True Crime-inspired collaboration from Knokaround Apparel and Gorilla Convict Publications. Organized Crime history, folklore and pop art collide.

Ad: Uncle Al Capone

2012-01-18T15:10:00.000-05:00

Uncle Al Capone: The Untold Story from Inside His Family by Deirdre Marie Capone is an intimate biography of the Windy City's most notorious gang boss.

Ad: Legs Diamond - Gangster

2012-01-18T15:03:00.000-05:00

Brains, cunning and daring helped Legs Diamond become one of the top gangsters in the East. Treachery, stubbornness, and poor decisions cost him everything: his friends, his money and, finally, his life.

Ad: Origin of Organized Crime in America

2012-01-18T14:59:00.000-05:00

David Critchley examines the Mafia recruitment process, relations with criminal societies in Sicily, the role of non-Sicilians in New York's organized crime families, kinship connections, the Black Hand, the impact of Prohibition, and allegations that a "new" Mafia was born in 1931. This book will interest criminologists, historians and all fascinated by the American Mafia.

October 2011 Issue of Informer

2011-10-14T13:02:00.001-04:00

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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Gaspare Messina and the Boston Mafia

2011-10-14T12:50:00.000-04:00

October 2011 Contents
Feature Article
By Richard N. Warner

Part Two of a History of the New England Mafia

Gaspare Messina and the Rise

of the Mafia in Boston

By Richard N. Warner

"Only a very small number of American Mafiosi ever rose to the exalted position of capo dei capi – boss of bosses. The short list of those who have served as supreme leader of the Sicilian criminal society in the United States includes illustrious names: Giuseppe Morello, Salvatore 'Toto' D’Aquila, Giuseppe 'Joe the Boss' Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. Though this list of underworld czars is by no means unwieldy, one name is almost always omitted from it.
"Perhaps because he differed in a number of important ways from the other occupants of the high office, Gaspare Messina’s short but important term as Mafia capo dei capi is generally neglected..."

Fifteen and a half pages including two pages of notes and twelve images.

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Crimes of Tommy Carroll

2011-10-14T12:41:00.000-04:00

October 2011 Contents
Feature Article
By Jeffery S. King

‘He was spotted for a bullet

the day he was born, although he

never believed that he himself would get it.’

The crimes of

Tommy Carroll

By Jeffery S. King

"A friend of Thomas Leonard Carroll once said, 'Tommy told his friends when he was driving a cab that someday he would be called ‘Terrible Tommy.’ He was spotted for a bullet the day he was born, although he never believed that he himself would get it. He had one great failing, and that was love for the spotlight and the desire to show off…'"

Fourteen pages including one page of notes and eleven images.

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Patriarca Becomes 'The Man'

2011-10-14T12:30:00.002-04:00

October 2011 Contents
Feature Article
By Thomas Hunt

A native of Massachusetts and longtime resident

of Rhode Island, Raymond Patriarca rose to

command the Mafia in New England

The Man

By Thomas Hunt

(Part 1) "Though often in trouble with the law and constantly plagued by turncoats, surveillance and underworld factional quarrels, Raymond Patriarca was the longest tenured and arguably the most successful ruler of the New England Mafia. A native of Massachusetts and a longtime resident of Providence, Rhode Island, Patriarca’s reign as underworld boss continued through parts of four decades.
“'The Man' presided over a golden age of the Providence-based criminal organization and brought it a level of clout on the national scene that it had never before experienced. Unwittingly, he also provided authorities with much of the information that would lead to the decimation of the crime family leadership and a long period of instability and decline."

Sixteen and a half pages including three and a half pages of notes and ten images.

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Profaci Mafia Chart

2011-10-14T12:22:00.000-04:00

October 2011 Contents
Membership Chart
By Bill Feather

The October issue includes a chart of early Profaci Crime Family membership compiled by Bill Feather. The three and a half page chart lists more than 70 documented and suspected Mafiosi along with birth, death, immigration, relationship, rank and other information.

Three and a half pages.

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Identifying Underworld Informants

2011-10-14T12:11:00.001-04:00

October 2011 Contents
Column
By Edmond Valin

Post-Giancana Outfit was
fertile soil for FBI informants

"A careful examination of declassified documents shows the penetration of the Chicago Outfit by the FBI in the 1960s was greater than is commonly recognized. Taking advantage of the turmoil within the Outfit during boss Sam Giancana’s imprisonment and subsequent departure from Chicago, the FBI appears to have persuaded more than ten made members to share confidential information."

Five pages including a half page of notes and three photographs.

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Dead Guys in Suits: Flaming finales

2011-10-14T12:07:00.001-04:00

October 2011 Contents
Column
By Patrick Downey

"What to do with a guy after you kill him? Over the course of the last few issues, we have discussed guys being shot and left on the spot and guys being stuffed in sacks. I could say that there were no other ways for gangsters to dispose of each other but, well, you know that it would be untrue. In fact, you know that I would be a liar, if I was to say to you, gangsters were never lit on fire."

Three pages.

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

2011-10-14T12:02:00.001-04:00

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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Mob Corner: Sea otters and Mafia research

2011-10-14T11:58:00.001-04:00

October 2011 Contents
Column
By Thom L. Jones

"I found out about the Mafia from reading about sea-otters. I don’t expect anyone to figure out the link, but like most convoluted scenarios, the explanation is really quite simple."

Two pages.

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