'Mafia Dreams' by Frank Hayde

Mafia Dreams: A True Crime Saga of Young Men at the End of an Era in Kansas City by Frank Hayde (BookBaby, July 2023). Paperback 228 pages. Also Kindle e-book.

Kansas City’s historically powerful Mafia crime family appeared to be on its last legs in the 1990s. But “the life” still beckoned to a group young men with gangster ambitions. 

The FBI was still battling the Mafia remnants that would stubbornly survive into the next millennium. Federal agents in Kansas City also pursued a massive insurance fraud enterprise run by the Riley family. The Rileys were a criminal organization unto themselves. Their youngest member, Joseph Riley, had dreams of gangster glory. Big-time white-collar crime soon collided with the gritty underworld in a deadly drug sting that attracted nationwide attention and tested the limits of a controversial legal doctrine. 

Through copious research and interviews with principal participants, author Frank R. Hayde has pieced together an epic true crime tale with surprising connections and startling events.

Gangsters of Lower East Side

Informer's October 2023 issue, entitled "Gangsters of New York's Lower East Side," includes twelve feature articles and eleven sidebars related to the gangland history of the area known as the "greatest breeding ground for gunmen and racketeers... this country has ever seen." The issue also includes several articles on other subjects.

Magazine (left) and book covers.

Thomas Hunt, Justin Cascio, Patrick Downey, Michael O'Haire, Steve Turner and Matt Ghiglieri contributed articles.

The Informer issue is available in seven formats. Print magazine and electronic (PDF) magazine editions can be obtained through the MagCloud service. Hardcover and paperback print book and Kindle ebook formats are listed with Amazon. EPUB ebook and abridged audiobook editions are sold through Google Play Books.

Lower East Side history articles focus on the following subjects:

• The Whyos gang.
• Bandits' Roost photograph.
• John McGurk's "Suicide Hall." (Sidebar on gambling.)
• Monk Eastman. (Sidebar on Eastman's killer.)
• Mafia boss Nicola Taranto. (Sidebar on rumored Mafia headquarter on Mott Street.)
• Paul "Kelly" Vaccarelli. (Sidebars on Irving Berlin, Sirocco and Tricker, Torrio and Vannella, Bellantonis of Broome Street.)
• Chinatown Tong Wars.
• Frank Lanza businesses.
• "Johnny Spanish" Mistretta
• Meyer Lansky's youth. (Sidebars on Mutty, Lucy and Kitty; Dutch Goldberg; Gurrah, Lepke, Curly and Bugsy; Red Levine.)
• Killings on Second Avenue.
• Narcotics racketeers.

The issue is illustrated with numerous photographs and a dozen maps. It runs 174 pages (including covers and ads) in magazine format and 370+ pages in print book format. The auto-narrated audiobook omits some material unrelated to the main subject. It runs about eight and a half hours. This is the thirty-third issue of the journal, first published in 2008.

For more information, visit Informer's website.