tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86593176145234399222024-03-08T06:33:52.672-05:00The Writers of WrongsNews, notes and excerpts shared by crime-history authors.Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.comBlogger287125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-82933371079760336982024-01-16T14:25:00.003-05:002024-01-16T18:01:06.980-05:00William Flynn bio, 'Bulldog Detective'<p><b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bulldog-Detective-William-Americas-Terrorists/dp/1633888657?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=4583732ba5f0908a8b1df63466df809a&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank">The Bulldog Detective: William J. Flynn and America's First War Against the Mafia, Spies, and Terrorists</a></i></b> by Jeffrey D. Simon was released today (January 16, 2024). It is available in hardcover and ebook formats through popular booksellers <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bulldog-Detective-William-Americas-Terrorists/dp/1633888657?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=4583732ba5f0908a8b1df63466df809a&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a> and <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-bulldog-detective-jeffrey-d-simon/1142900342" target="_blank">BarnesandNoble.com</a>, as well as through academic nonfiction publisher, <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781633888654/The-Bulldog-Detective-William-J-Flynn-and-America's-First-War-Against-the-Mafia-Spies-and-Terrorists" target="_blank">Rowman & Littlefield</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyS8Ce9lbBC_hkwy0IRphC-Uap0ebba33TponWB08IPctZ6RFKsgwE4vraSI4yFC72hM8fxTewiLd-_X5IHbEGenw_tpEQF4OQVmItcbkBpj1THnXRHAfiJB9SkivyQobIqy84f_QghR1rKmX7h8P0CdKLI4MXNrOcuFx0f-tIZFCdvP9p5_IU5NOIkA/s737/bulldog.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="737" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyS8Ce9lbBC_hkwy0IRphC-Uap0ebba33TponWB08IPctZ6RFKsgwE4vraSI4yFC72hM8fxTewiLd-_X5IHbEGenw_tpEQF4OQVmItcbkBpj1THnXRHAfiJB9SkivyQobIqy84f_QghR1rKmX7h8P0CdKLI4MXNrOcuFx0f-tIZFCdvP9p5_IU5NOIkA/w271-h400/bulldog.png" width="271" /></a></div><br /><p><u>Publisher's description</u>: </p>
America in the early twentieth century was rife with threats. Organized crime groups like the Mafia, German spies embedded behind enemy lines ahead of World War I, package bombs sent throughout the country, and the 1920 Wall Street bombing dominated headlines. Yet the story of the one man tasked with combating these threats has yet to be told. <b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bulldog-Detective-William-Americas-Terrorists/dp/1633888657?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=4583732ba5f0908a8b1df63466df809a&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank">The Bulldog Detective: William J. Flynn and America’s First War Against the Mafia, Spies, and Terrorists</a></i></b> is the first book to tell the story of Flynn, the first government official to bring down the powerful Mafia, uncover a sophisticated German spy ring in the United States, and launch a formal war on terrorism on his way to becoming one of the most respected and effective law enforcement officials in American history.<div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidPoQkV0stck_0sAKGrQKziCM4bmu9U409WIqp9q9Ojlhp-01wf7D4PGuIkA4WcHQcIRSJJdWbQIijEroxfsRx5KrKqqSI8RuPoqdj_OA6rJssUfHalCgob3IZ4StkXHtAAgRfL-SjF3MVqCaWVRMUIRcaRhKb7FUeLXO1hhVu2EHvb-zl7ehJ9evKbQ/s260/jeffreysimon.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="260" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidPoQkV0stck_0sAKGrQKziCM4bmu9U409WIqp9q9Ojlhp-01wf7D4PGuIkA4WcHQcIRSJJdWbQIijEroxfsRx5KrKqqSI8RuPoqdj_OA6rJssUfHalCgob3IZ4StkXHtAAgRfL-SjF3MVqCaWVRMUIRcaRhKb7FUeLXO1hhVu2EHvb-zl7ehJ9evKbQ/s1600/jeffreysimon.jpg" width="260" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Author Jeffrey Simon</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table>Long before Eliot Ness and the Untouchables went after Al Capone and the Italian mob in Chicago, Flynn dismantled the first Mafia family to exist in America. Next stop for the indefatigable crime fighter would be Chief of the Secret Service where he would set his crosshairs on the country’s most notorious currency counterfeiters. Coined “the Bulldog” for his tenacity, Flynn’s fame soared as he exposed Kaiser Germany’s sophisticated spy and sabotage ring on the cusp of America’s entry into World War I. As the Director of the Bureau of Investigation (the forerunner of the FBI), the Bulldog would devise the first counterterrorist strategy in U.S. history. In this riveting biography, author Jeffrey D. Simon brings to life the forgotten saga of one of America’s greatest crime and terrorist fighters.</div>
<div><br /><hr></div><div><blockquote>Jeffrey Simon's other works include <a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2022/05/early-1900s-terrorism-is-focus-of-new.html" target="_blank"><i>America's Forgotten Terrorists</i></a>, <i>The Alphabet Bomber</i> and <i>Lone Wolf Terrorism</i>. </blockquote></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-79876472697775985022023-11-09T13:34:00.000-05:002023-11-09T13:34:27.595-05:00'In Our Blood' by Justin Cascio<p><b><i>In Our Blood: The Mafia Families of Corleone</i></b> by Justin Cascio is now available in hardcover, paperback and ebook editions.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=in+our+blood+mafia+families+justin+cascio&i=stripbooks&crid=34ZL024PAYIOH&sprefix=in+our+blood+mafia+families+justin+cascio%2Cstripbooks%2C91&linkCode=ll2&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=a6d46510eedcb72e574bdf519c89cd76&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="520" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx5WZSklOu5g-0cxOgJXjCrn-p2fFnl9KumDx2XmJSfBEuzArR-76PyIcIRovticmr_yy1KwFe2PhryXMwT-j0h7EV9XCUN8AL-6Dc7EdGQlxw8nY5ngF2QQ3ydB4sec0oNncS76jSKeAdEPiG_NPz9cVGHuxlE8bmscDxgc4o4Ct6XbBgp2TBwQMQYQ/w220-h320/front.png" width="220" /></a></div>
<p>While the Mafia criminal society is traditionally viewed as a hierarchical organization, author Justin Cascio argues in this book that Mafia networks are largely based on kinship ties. </p><p>The publisher of the <i>Mafia Genealogy</i> website and a frequent contributor to <i>Informer</i> journal, Cascio has channeled years of research into his first book-length project. He notes that pivotal figures in Mafia history, including present-day mafiosi, have direct genealogical ties to one another and to the earliest recorded gangs in Corleone, Sicily. In addition to bloodline and marriage connections, some mafiosi also linked through the significant religious/family role of godparent. </p><p>Cascio discusses dozens of gangland figures in the United States and Sicily as he analyzes family-based networks that include thousands of individuals. Along the way, he tackles some of the lingering questions about the Mafia: How old is the criminal society? Where was it formed? How did it spread from Sicily to the U.S.?</p><p>For the benefit of researchers, Cascio has provided references supporting his assertions. The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CMZZK5W9?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=def182a5fc9e473a4e16db8d05c332d8&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">hardcover</span></a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN12Q71B?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=498216daa534f563ca900460219fa211&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">paperback</span></a> editions of <i>In Our Blood</i> weigh in at 390 pages and can be ordered now through Amazon.com. The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Our-Blood-Mafia-Families-Corleone-ebook/dp/B0CLKXC3S2?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=e1dee94969fb879b580fd2d1d7c31fe1&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">Kindle ebook</span></a>, rated by Amazon at a print length of 532 pages, can be preordered now, with deliveries beginning November 12. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=in+our+blood+mafia+families+justin+cascio&i=stripbooks&crid=34ZL024PAYIOH&sprefix=in+our+blood+mafia+families+justin+cascio%2Cstripbooks%2C91&linkCode=ll2&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=a6d46510eedcb72e574bdf519c89cd76&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="520" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zX8ytNvt6d01Rp08XXlHz-K4KU85b-kFjE8gfKUPXTTuxjPV4odn_H-3spr5JRsD3_C8azwfZhRLpuoZ-SIQqCs6vbY0rU0nhbfe2ZfxTIbT2GexkhHHwgaYL1KukFdAessHPfzo2nlJdXJBti60cDX9OFBMK7FJcEKZnz-4C3tLjahw30Es8jxSDA/w220-h320/back.png" width="220" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-15592252485759059452023-10-24T14:33:00.000-04:002023-10-24T14:33:10.689-04:00'Mafia Dreams' by Frank Hayde<p><b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mafia-Dreams-Crime-Young-Kansas/dp/1667899759?crid=Z3N6R4OPFZLO&keywords=mafia+dreams&qid=1698171860&sprefix=mafia+dreams%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=fcaeac63dddb9594d001bfc41ff35443&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank">Mafia Dreams: A True Crime Saga of Young Men at the End of an Era in Kansas City</a></i></b> by Frank Hayde (BookBaby, July 2023). Paperback 228 pages. Also Kindle e-book.</p>
<p></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mafia-Dreams-Crime-Young-Kansas/dp/1667899759?crid=Z3N6R4OPFZLO&keywords=mafia+dreams&qid=1698171860&sprefix=mafia+dreams%2Caps%2C109&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=fcaeac63dddb9594d001bfc41ff35443&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBslyJhHHTeel9aWJbIrxfvBn7nizuwZMxAn95_iUsM8IGaiHloqZdcH5Qx4gth4fgH4uIlE9OpQXXO0b923qLPkDC6_R9B-TMNANWt01HJIiRGN3nHBfYxOG6UKaq666Fo8miFgCDjVLVSM8kSgNvCvOxXVonohvzT9axlFhJVbk9EnB7fAd6xrqR4Q/s16000/mdreams.png" /></a></div>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-38737606216436330142023-10-02T07:18:00.002-04:002023-10-02T07:18:39.389-04:00Gangsters of Lower East Side<p><b><i>Informer's</i></b> 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.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHNAuzHbamAEXDyr4tMMLVEoqew9PqcW_wMCajv4B4mpMXKgbBZ9WrM9JkZj0p5Dn8B6xKkDnYF2K-Ob0N-Q_65KbN8kgBz2P6BaWNk3s4llp5D5sWkhyUVpxyhChnMHPjgubF7urYXsZQspZ_8WMPtlgiPSmv26cS856rzJxcf0VTvLiPFYuvw71YSA/s500/mag-book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHNAuzHbamAEXDyr4tMMLVEoqew9PqcW_wMCajv4B4mpMXKgbBZ9WrM9JkZj0p5Dn8B6xKkDnYF2K-Ob0N-Q_65KbN8kgBz2P6BaWNk3s4llp5D5sWkhyUVpxyhChnMHPjgubF7urYXsZQspZ_8WMPtlgiPSmv26cS856rzJxcf0VTvLiPFYuvw71YSA/s16000/mag-book.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Magazine (left) and book covers.</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Thomas Hunt, Justin Cascio, Patrick Downey, Michael O'Haire, Steve Turner and Matt Ghiglieri contributed articles.</p><p>The <i>Informer</i> issue is available in seven formats. <a href="https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/2594552" target="_blank">Print magazine</a> and <a href="https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/2594552" target="_blank">electronic (PDF) magazine</a> editions can be obtained through the MagCloud service. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJBP1CSW?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1695122028&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=c53e8d96a2ebb0b137151a52e6ce6f29&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank">Hardcover</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CH26LB4L?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=392900fc7e60d48d55168a128536e1b2&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank">paperback</a> print book and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CH26LB4L?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=cb01f17eef159b3aac8907d90fca4951&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank">Kindle ebook</a> formats are listed with Amazon. <a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Thomas_Hunt_Gangsters_of_NYC_s_Lower_East_Side?id=Bk3UEAAAQBAJ" target="_blank">EPUB ebook</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Thomas_Hunt_Gangsters_of_NYC_s_Lower_East_Side?id=AQAAAEBiH2BfEM" target="_blank">abridged audiobook</a> editions are sold through Google Play Books.</p><p>Lower East Side history articles focus on the following subjects:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Whyos gang.</li><li>Bandits' Roost photograph.</li><li>John McGurk's "Suicide Hall." (Sidebar on gambling.)</li><li>Monk Eastman. (Sidebar on Eastman's killer.)</li><li>Mafia boss Nicola Taranto. (Sidebar on rumored Mafia headquarter on Mott Street.)</li><li>Paul "Kelly" Vaccarelli. (Sidebars on Irving Berlin, Sirocco and Tricker, Torrio and Vannella, Bellantonis of Broome Street.)</li><li>Chinatown Tong Wars.</li><li>Frank Lanza businesses.</li><li>"Johnny Spanish" Mistretta</li><li>Meyer Lansky's youth. (Sidebars on Mutty, Lucy and Kitty; Dutch Goldberg; Gurrah, Lepke, Curly and Bugsy; Red Levine.)</li><li>Killings on Second Avenue.</li><li>Narcotics racketeers.</li></ul><p></p><p>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.</p><p>For more information, <a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2023/10/october-2023-issue-of-informer.html" target="_blank">visit <i>Informer's</i> website</a>.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-45014738263148852812023-02-23T12:43:00.006-05:002023-02-23T12:57:47.038-05:00Los Angeles boss Dragna found dead in hotel<p> On this date in 1956:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56jew4DMBmbP2d9ldRwLoPleAwEUIpax44WjTBj_6wRtcCss4ZL_y_u-q3zAYKluu046dwijDRKw-DAjr2RQVo91M-hEUurPlnkHhG1bEaG-YZ0Kui4wMPFmKG2NcJPW5o-ib2K2dw2gG8s6juT66_nF6on8TAGudkq1_hEgZGDEwHtNBgZmf9Vc/s748/dragnajackdeath-SanBernardinoCountySun1956.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56jew4DMBmbP2d9ldRwLoPleAwEUIpax44WjTBj_6wRtcCss4ZL_y_u-q3zAYKluu046dwijDRKw-DAjr2RQVo91M-hEUurPlnkHhG1bEaG-YZ0Kui4wMPFmKG2NcJPW5o-ib2K2dw2gG8s6juT66_nF6on8TAGudkq1_hEgZGDEwHtNBgZmf9Vc/w514-h640/dragnajackdeath-SanBernardinoCountySun1956.png" width="514" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">San Bernardino County Sun</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-size: large;">Jack Dragna, longtime underworld boss of southern California, was found dead of an apparent heart attack in a Los Angeles hotel room on February 23, 1956. </span></p><p>Dragna appeared to rise to command a Los Angeles-based Mafia organization during the Prohibition Era. He was uncontested boss from about 1931 until the moment of his death and evidently had strong connections to underworld leaders in New York and Cleveland. The regional Mafia during his reign was noted for its involvement in luxurious off-shore gambling ships as well as its failures to secure control of nearby Las Vegas casinos and, despite several attempts, to eliminate rival gambling racketeer Mickey Cohen. Dragna was succeeded as boss by attorney Frank DeSimone.</p><p>Often suspected of wrongdoing but rarely convicted, Dragna managed to avoid serious legal jeopardy between Prohibition and the early 1950s. Then the attention of local, state and federal law enforcement fell on him. His first dramatic setback occurred in late June 1951, when he was convicted of "lewd vagrancy" and "resorting" for an affair with twenty-three-year-old "cigarette girl" Annette Eckhardt. The case involved tape recordings of Dragna and Eckhardt activities (including a nude canasta cardgame) inside a love-nest at 330 S. Mariposa Street. Dragna that July was initially sentenced to six months behind bars, but he was able to reduce the jail sentence to under a month, which he served in June of 1952.</p><p>A state crime commmittee report released in 1953 labeled him the chief of the southern California branch of the U.S. Mafia (referred to in the jargon of the time as "L'Unione Siciliano"):</p><p></p><blockquote>There can be little doubt that Jack Dragna and his gang of associates, such as the Sicas and the Adamos of Los Angeles, and the Matrangas, Dippolitos and Le Mandris of San Bernardino County, were all connected with the notorious L'Unione Siciliano. Certain papers seized by the Los Angeles police on February 14, 1950, from the Dragnas definitely tend to confirm this view. Several small address books were taken from the gangsters. The names listed read like a Who's Who of the Mafia in the United States. Some of them are regarded as among the most powerful and dangerous professional criminals in the Country. They also contained, of course, the usual sprinkling of names of police officers, district attorney's investigators, bail bond brokers, lawyers and lobbyists. That these acquaintances were business rather than social is indicated in many instances by Dragna's canceled checks, the payees of which were often known gangsters. The seized papers also showed that gangster funds are being invested in certain legitimate businesses, such as clothing, fruit, wine, olive oil and importing.</blockquote><p></p><p>Dragna was battling a U.S. deportation order at the time of his death. The government's case against him related to a Mexico vacation he took in 1932. When reentering the U.S. from Mexico, Dragna falsely claimed U.S. citizenship. (Dragna applied for citizenship in the 1940s, but his application was denied.) The false claim resulted in his arrest by federal authorities twenty years later. That arrest occurred December 8, 1952, at 3927 Hubert Avenue, Los Angeles, his home at the time.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFP-H8xZrZR8jwqn-JJzbxlrHDF33rsakajcDM98rvKD4-PSuPiIVXQicdTllh4EwqoxkL18bzKHnfWBjoCZDQPzSDd7GH1jr9cot-ro7-tftLsDTzIvy4f-7aNo4gd3Hlaz6NXcoweJDdeQQjwgEC2OoSQzWxanXIbPfV4aLN5Q_2vEHWZNqQ4NA/s986/dragnajack-latimes1952.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFP-H8xZrZR8jwqn-JJzbxlrHDF33rsakajcDM98rvKD4-PSuPiIVXQicdTllh4EwqoxkL18bzKHnfWBjoCZDQPzSDd7GH1jr9cot-ro7-tftLsDTzIvy4f-7aNo4gd3Hlaz6NXcoweJDdeQQjwgEC2OoSQzWxanXIbPfV4aLN5Q_2vEHWZNqQ4NA/s320/dragnajack-latimes1952.png" width="195" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>Dragna (LA Times)</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table>In the summer of 1953, he was held for deportation at a detention center on Terminal Island (Los Angeles Harbor Region) when his wife Frances passed away. Through legal maneuvers, he managed to delay deportation and to win release under $15,000 bond.<p></p><p>At about that time, he reportedly had a home at 4757 Kensington Drive in San Diego and apparently visited with his nephew Louis Dragna at 1429 Thelborn Street in the Los Angeles suburn of West Covina. On February 10, 1956, however, he became a resident of the Saharan Hotel, 7212 Sunset Boulevard (described in one newspaper as a $7 a day motel). According to hotel manager Alexander Germaine, he checked in under the alias of "Jack Baker."</p><p>On Thursday, February 23, hotel maid Mrs. Alice Charles (named "Alice Dick" in one account) found Dragna dead in his bed and summoned authorities. Reports stated that Dragna was dressed in a set of pink pajamas. Police found bottles of heart medication at his bedside, along with two sets of false teeth. They concluded that he suffered a heart attack sometime the previous night.</p><p>A total of $986.71, including nine hundred-dollar bills, was found in his possession. An identification card bore the name Jack Ignatius Dragna, accompanied by the address of nephew Louis. Dragna's late model Cadillac was found parked outside the hotel. In Dragna's luggage, police found a small statuette of Jesus.</p><p>While police were searching the hotel room, they received a call on the room telephone from Dragna's daughter Anna Niotta of San Diego. Mrs. Niotta reportedly had heard a report of her father's death on the radio.</p><p>In its report of the sixty-four-year-old Dragna's demise, the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> noted that the longtime gangland leader had always been conspicuously absent from incidents of bloodshed during his reign:</p><p></p><blockquote>The reputed top man of this area's Sicilian Black Hand society never turned up in the vicinity of violence. It was standing conversation in the underworld that whenever the shotguns began to go off, Dragna would be discovered peacefully undergoing a checkup in a hospital.</blockquote><p></p><p><u>Sources</u>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"Dragna, 66, dies of heart attack," <i>San Fernando CA Valley Times</i>, Feb. 24, 1956, p. 2.</li><li>"Dragna arrested for deportation by U.S.," <i>Hollywood CA Citizen-News</i>, Dec. 8, 1952, p. 1.</li><li>"Jack Dragna, Mafia gang figure, found dead in bed," <i>San Bernardino County CA Sun</i>, Feb. 24, 1956, p. 1.</li><li>"Jack Dragna," Findagrave.com, March 21, 2002, accessed Jan. 1, 2016.</li><li>"Jack Dragna behind bars," <i>Los Angeles Mirror</i>, June 5, 1952, p. 6.</li><li>"Jack Dragna found dead in Sunset Blvd. hotel," <i>Los Angeles Times</i>, Feb. 24, 1956, p. 1.</li><li>"Jack Dragna held guilty in vag case," <i>Los Angeles Mirror</i>, June 27, 1951, p. 12.</li><li>"Jack Dragna in move to quit jail," <i>Los Angeles Daily News</i>, June 13, 1952, p. 57.</li><li>"Jack Dragna sentenced to 180 days in jail," <i>Los Angeles Times</i>, July 27, 1951, p. 2.</li><li>"U.S. nabs Jack Dragna on illegal entry charge," <i>Los Angeles Times</i>, Dec. 9, 1952, p. 2.</li><li>Jack Ignatius Dragna, California Death Index, Los Angeles, Feb. 23, 1956.</li><li>Special Crime Study Commission, <i>Final Report of the Special Crime Study Commission on Organized Crime</i>, Sacramento: State of California, 1953, p. 64.</li></ul><p></p><div><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-49306790828005893412023-01-04T05:25:00.000-05:002023-01-04T05:25:04.950-05:00'Uncle Charlie' and the Jewish Mob<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<p>In <i><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Charlie-Killed-Dutch-Schultz/dp/057887735X?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=95f256ce7952fa1739fb82f555cd68ff&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl">Uncle Charlie Killed Dutch Schultz</a></b></i>, author Alan Geik tells of his family's connection to noteworthy Jewish-American gangsters of New York City. These eastern European immigrant outlaws, whose adventures were preserved through many years of Geik kitchen table discussions, became the foundation of a uniquely American organized crime network.</p>
<p>Determined to escape by any means the poverty and congestion of their Lower East Side slum neighborhood, when merely boys they turned to crime and combined into Prohibition Era gangs. They graduated from petty offenses to bootlegging and hijacking to labor racketeering and beyond. Eventually, they branched out into casino gambling, stolen goods fencing and professional murder. Along the way, they violently tangled with each other, with outside gangs, with strikebreakers and with American Nazis. Ultimately, they entered into a cooperative agreement with Italian-American gangsters and formed a monopolistic rackets syndicate, an entity Geik describes as "the biggest cash flow business in American history - organized crime."</p>
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The "Uncle Charlie" of the book title, refers to Charles "Charlie the Bug" Workman, a professional assassin. Linked with rackets boss Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and with Brooklyn killers later referred to as "Murder, Inc.," Workman eventually served twenty-three years of a life prison sentence for the October 23, 1935, murder of Arthur "Dutch Schultz" Flegenheimer. Workman was released from prison in March of 1964. Geik reports that his own first conversation with the man he knew as "Uncle Charlie" occurred about that time.
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<p>While the title focuses on Workman and the earliest chapters are confined to the New York area, the book is more wide-ranging. Geik discusses crime figures Arnold Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, Abe "Kid Twist" Reles and others. And he ventures out to such places as Cleveland, Las Vegas and Havana.</p>
<p><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Charlie-Killed-Dutch-Schultz/dp/057887735X?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=95f256ce7952fa1739fb82f555cd68ff&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl">Uncle Charlie Killed Dutch Schultz: The Jewish Mob: A Family Affair</a></i> was released in November 2022. It is available in paperback (284 pages) and Kindle ebook editions <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Charlie-Killed-Dutch-Schultz/dp/057887735X?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=95f256ce7952fa1739fb82f555cd68ff&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl">through Amazon.com</a>.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-25731260227903369722022-12-27T12:16:00.002-05:002022-12-27T12:16:20.993-05:00'Ten Notches' examines Pretty Boy Floyd<p><i><b></b></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/TEN-NOTCHES-Murders-Committed-Pretty/dp/B0B9S3D9RC?crid=B6YR9P5HG18L&keywords=ten+notches&qid=1672160179&sprefix=ten+no%2Caps%2C810&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=520c38a7961f09f97e392bc48f43caa8&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="468" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT6CZoTifl76To-A4y3h0sOK_r9qugyNkd6n3FoRNQ-x9ZD0lAwQlnmsHHOqg5OTeqQHW9-BD4Mj41hVVJfRu2x6PQXDMfXfit74UUOvDHdqqDqrFlSVClYsz4qetwEDc5Z5qpGXu5jxh6OFF3F_NPsoChNE9aQhY_T4PtN7sc4-xu6alxbqc5vgY/s320/tennotches.png" width="219" /></a></b></i></div><i><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/TEN-NOTCHES-Murders-Committed-Pretty/dp/B0B9S3D9RC?crid=B6YR9P5HG18L&keywords=ten+notches&qid=1672160179&sprefix=ten+no%2Caps%2C810&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=520c38a7961f09f97e392bc48f43caa8&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl">Ten Notches: Murders Committed by Pretty Boy Floyd</a></b></i>, written by Jeffery S. King, tells the life story of Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, late Prohibition Era gangster and bank robber, through detailed accounts of the murders attributed to him. <p></p><p>The author notes that, after Floyd's death in a shootout with law enforcement, his watch was found to be marked with ten notches. The FBI felt the notches correlated with the number of men Floyd had killed during his criminal career. His ten victims, including seven members of law enforcement, were slain between March 25, 1931, and the infamous Kansas City Massacre of June 17, 1933.</p><p>The author pays special attention to the Kansas City Massacre and to the work of FBI agent Melvin Purvis, who led authorities on a successful hunt for Floyd.</p><p><i>Ten Notches</i> is 216 pages, including eight pages of photographs and four pages of bibliography. The work is footnoted. First released in late summer of 2022, it is available in paperback and Kindle e-book formats <a href="https://www.amazon.com/TEN-NOTCHES-Murders-Committed-Pretty/dp/B0B9S3D9RC?crid=B6YR9P5HG18L&keywords=ten+notches&qid=1672160179&sprefix=ten+no%2Caps%2C810&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=520c38a7961f09f97e392bc48f43caa8&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl">through Amazon.com</a>.</p><p>Author Jeffery S. King, a former reference librarian for the Bureau of the Census and for the Washington, D.C., Public Library, has also written <i>The Life and Death of Pretty Boy Floyd</i>, <i>The Rise and Fall of the Dillinger Gang</i> and other true crime books.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-3858085129043219312022-11-01T08:30:00.001-04:002022-11-01T08:35:57.272-04:00November 2022 issue of Informer<h1 style="text-align: center;">The Mob in Youngstown</h1><h3 style="text-align: center;"><i>Organized Crime in the Mahoning and Shenango Valleys</i></h3><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlVFZjDDGkUxzGHo1pqUCXb112wqitCq16ds2IGloZKaVwmcZhzDs1BkSQ54y-RhyJbisiHzCIQ6CILRAOUiwsHb3qVZX8jdVt4KlpBLDd_KFXxSsUo0L7pvqfp-82FzBqPhNcbMM9jIjNM0bkQbaBhIK5HALMntznmfQdwUwNmmSTpFENclp4C4M/s413/inf2022magfront-320x413c32.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlVFZjDDGkUxzGHo1pqUCXb112wqitCq16ds2IGloZKaVwmcZhzDs1BkSQ54y-RhyJbisiHzCIQ6CILRAOUiwsHb3qVZX8jdVt4KlpBLDd_KFXxSsUo0L7pvqfp-82FzBqPhNcbMM9jIjNM0bkQbaBhIK5HALMntznmfQdwUwNmmSTpFENclp4C4M/s320/inf2022magfront-320x413c32.png" width="248" /></a></div><i>Informer's</i> 32nd issue was released today (Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022). "The Mob in Youngstown" issue tracks the history of organized crime in the area of Youngstown, Ohio, from the earliest reports of the 1890s though the exposure and destruction of the Mob presence more than a century later. <div><br /></div><div>The Youngstown underworld was unusually complex, as four Mafia organizations - those from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit and Buffalo - a non-Mafia Calabrian criminal society and other gangs all had interests in the region, cooperating and competing with each other at different times. Sitting at the approximate midway point between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, assigned "open city" status by U.S. Mafia bosses and afflicted by intensely corrupt political and law enforcement leaders, Youngstown was an underworld frontier where the rules - even those made by outlaws to govern their own interactions - were widely ignored.<p></p><p>Readers of this issue will learn about the secret regional groups behind names like, "Society of Honor," "Sacred Circle" and "Society of the Banana." They will encounter crime figures like "Fats" Aiello, Ernie Biondillo, Frank Cammarata, "Cadillac Charlie" Cavallaro, Joe Cutrone, "Tony Dope" Delsanter, Vince DeNiro, "Wolf" DiCarlo, "Big Jim" Falcone, Mike Farah, "Red" Giordano, "Big Dom" Mallamo, Dominick Moio, "Two-Gun Jimmy" Prato, Rocco Racco, Rocco Strange, Lenny Strollo, "Zebo" Zottola, as well as the Barber brothers, the Carabbia brothers, the Naples brothers, the Romeo brothers and many more.</p><p>"The Mob in Youngstown" features the writing and research contributions of James Barber, Justin Cascio, Margaret Janco, Thom L. Jones, Michael A. Tona, Edmond Valin and Thomas Hunt.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH9AIYJgDQjXoEr4pO4WRvAXy9rX0RiFhzKVlQPDmN2x_PSLDPWw9d1TX9JHzHG8zgwHkDMtzyc-J9x-Zw7Q9CrCVm3rSxQPiQ9YPns4Wx7jXJUN8eoBVi7CtmXYr2eaWFvHhBg7y_dSPX9UaEkZoMkZgw5ZiUwTx8ernsIAmth_CXVvuEAnU-sfk/s1280/in-00.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH9AIYJgDQjXoEr4pO4WRvAXy9rX0RiFhzKVlQPDmN2x_PSLDPWw9d1TX9JHzHG8zgwHkDMtzyc-J9x-Zw7Q9CrCVm3rSxQPiQ9YPns4Wx7jXJUN8eoBVi7CtmXYr2eaWFvHhBg7y_dSPX9UaEkZoMkZgw5ZiUwTx8ernsIAmth_CXVvuEAnU-sfk/s320/in-00.png" width="320" /></a></div>The issue is available in <i>Informer's</i> traditional print magazine (188 pages, including covers) and electronic PDF magazine formats through <a href="https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/2305521"><span style="color: #990000;">the MagCloud service</span></a>.<p></p><p>Like recent issues, this one is also available as a paperback print book (378 pages) and Kindle-compatible ebook <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHRB3L52?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=835330882d9815a93e470e7f23533b75&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl"><span style="color: #990000;">through Amazon</span></a> and as an EPUB-compatible ebook <a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Thomas_Hunt_The_Mob_in_Youngstown?id=5L2HEAAAQBAJ"><span style="color: #990000;">through Google Play Books</span></a>.</p><p>This November 2022 issue is the first <i>Informer</i> issue to be made available as a hardcover print book (378 pages) <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHRFTR4X?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=3715108f4d1b2218eba1266f8f4f963e&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl"><span style="color: #990000;">through Amazon</span></a> and as an audiobook (10 hours: 22 minutes) <a href="https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details?id=AQAAAECC1weXlM"><span style="color: #990000;">through Google Play Books</span></a>.</p><p>For more information on the issue, summaries of its articles and details of the different format options, <a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/search/label/2022%20November%20issue"><span style="color: #990000;">visit the <i>Informer</i> website</span></a>. <i>Informer</i>, a journal of U.S. crime and law enforcement history, has been published since September 2008.</p><p><br /></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-44071713897275373192022-07-17T07:49:00.001-04:002022-07-17T07:49:50.196-04:00Car-bomb takes Youngstown rackets chief<p><span style="font-size: x-small;">On this date in 1961...</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: large;">Minutes after midnight on Monday, July 17, 1961, the "Uptown" (South Side) business district of Youngstown, Ohio, was shaken by the explosion
of a car-bomb. The blast claimed the life of rackets boss Vincent DeNiro.</span></span></p>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivenYV98TPghWCLCRgjTXiRtnwGenPQxBs5ZJMqFnc2hJicXFU7CECT18Zc-0Ea98HH8hwoPUpdqqHhPCDY2A6Oy5WJzG1LVywSHvzLSt4sikja7C-bhaecN4giMEesB4LDESg7HOoo58ke95EPGA_x0pV2NEdDeWVd5-4gBMj2tORMndi7dN4YO4/s520/denirobomb.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="520" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivenYV98TPghWCLCRgjTXiRtnwGenPQxBs5ZJMqFnc2hJicXFU7CECT18Zc-0Ea98HH8hwoPUpdqqHhPCDY2A6Oy5WJzG1LVywSHvzLSt4sikja7C-bhaecN4giMEesB4LDESg7HOoo58ke95EPGA_x0pV2NEdDeWVd5-4gBMj2tORMndi7dN4YO4/s16000/denirobomb.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Vehicle wreck removed from scene of explosion.</span></i> <br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>In addition to controlling vending machine, lottery and other rackets as the local representative of the Cleveland Mafia, the thirty-nine-year-old DeNiro co-owned Cicero's restaurant at Market Street and Indianola Avenue, across the street from the explosion.</p>
<p>Cicero's was closed on Sunday. DeNiro had a late dinner that night with friends at the Cafe 422 near Warren. At midnight, his companions - pizza restaurant owner Robert Parella and jeweler James Modarelli - drove DeNiro to a parked car on Market Street. The car belonged to a DeNiro girlfriend, Edith Magnolia. DeNiro's own car was parked behind Parella's pizza shop just a few blocks away, but he chose to drive Magnolia's car that night because he feared a car-bomb attack. (FBI was later told that DeNiro's enemies knew he was using different vehicles and had wired explosives to three different automobiles that night.)</p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEC_tBd8kb4mTDtbwK1nsct8aN1Ofejq2hN7LfcJKKUUx6pWHbR50gxWTfKP158jI7WfnLIcPN6Iv3upQVvdmMT1QKrMyMoEqRtc3FkfU3qGljOJ0bNhe3pQK14GhnDl0J2uKtTmSppgWWiZVEp1HWWSOxXRC8qOfXWyZNCUlKcSz6zTvvrWS5IM/s380/deniro.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="240" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHEC_tBd8kb4mTDtbwK1nsct8aN1Ofejq2hN7LfcJKKUUx6pWHbR50gxWTfKP158jI7WfnLIcPN6Iv3upQVvdmMT1QKrMyMoEqRtc3FkfU3qGljOJ0bNhe3pQK14GhnDl0J2uKtTmSppgWWiZVEp1HWWSOxXRC8qOfXWyZNCUlKcSz6zTvvrWS5IM/s320/deniro.png" width="202" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">DeNiro</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>The bomb erupted as he started the car at eleven minutes after twelve. The strength of the blast was said to be equivalent to ten sticks of dynamite. The hood of DeNiro's car was blown onto the roof of a nearby one and a half-story building. Windows around the business district were shattered. DeNiro's body was torn to pieces in the explosion. There was no autopsy.</p>
<p>The press reported that it was the seventy-fifth bombing in the Youngstown area in a decade and the fifth gangland murder in less than two years.</p>
<p>DeNiro was killed in retribution for the shotgun slaying of Youngstown's leading Pittsburgh-aligned racketeer, S. Joseph "Sandy" Naples in March 1960. Naples and DeNiro, once partners in the rackets, had become bitter rivals since the early 1950s. The brothers of Naples hired Dominick Moio of Canton, Ohio, to arrange the killing of DeNiro.</p>
<p>Moio was later hired by the Cleveland Mafia to set up the vendetta car-bomb murder of Billy Naples in 1962. Moio played for both sides in the feud until summer of 1963, when Cleveland bosses decided he was a liability. Moio's remains - shot and burned - were found in the trunk of his car outside of Canton.</p>
<br />
<p>Note: The <a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/search/label/2022%20November%20issue"><span style="color: #990000;">November 2022 issue of <b><i>Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement</i></b></span></a> will contain more on DeNiro, his associates and the underworld history of the Youngstown area.</p>
<br />
<p><u>Sources</u>:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"Bomb leads checked at Youngstown," <i>Dayton Daily News</i>, July 18, 1961, p. 7.<br />"Fifth gang killing in Youngstown," <i>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</i>, July 18, 1961, p. 1.</li><li>"Gangland bomb kills Vince DeNiro; DiSalle assigns Melillo to probe," <i>Youngstown Vindicator</i>, July 17, 1961, p. 1.</li><li>"Naples murder gun owned by Canton police," <i>Youngstown Vindicator</i>, March 16, 1960, p. 1.</li><li>"Police quiz associates of slain Ohio racketeer," <i>Chillicothe OH Gazette</i>, July 18, 1961, p. 5.</li><li>"Rackets figure blown to bits," <i>Sandusky OH Register</i>, July 17, 1961, p. 1.<br />"Won't enter Youngstown slaying probe yet -- Di Salle," <i>Akron Beacon Journal</i>, March 13, 1960, p. C1. </li><li>"Youngstown night club owner killed by bomb," <i>New Philadelphia OH Daily Times</i>, July 17, 1961, p. 1.</li><li>"Youngstown slaying stirs Di Salle action," <i>Akron Beacon Journal</i>, July 18, 1961, p. 17.</li><li>Perkins, Zach, "Remembering Uptown (Part One)," Urban Youngstown, urbanyoungstown.weebly.com.</li><li>Peterson, Stanley E., "Unknown subjects: Bombing - Murder, Charles Cavallaro...," FBI report from Cleveland office, file no. CR 157-742-498, NARA no. 124-10220-10492, Sept. 9, 1964, p. Cover-S.<br /></li></ul><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-70118124266779495662022-05-21T09:32:00.006-04:002023-05-21T05:39:15.276-04:00Agents arrest woman counterfeiter in 1902<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>‘Pretty Italian woman’ was ‘genius’</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>of Mafia-linked phony coin ring</i></span></div><p>On this date in 1902...</p><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgpwSSN87SvhEi6954tBWpXtogCA5iohGr0CL5pNFQqLPHcRLnNiBCY2Zp_C9FXrQR-_6Fu1ootfEaqbIF0Wv-1R5gm0UAsXgHN0BOjJESNS_StM96JpBzuMo8T_fhVCUBgzqowF8SjgsVuOjD8GcX4r0kRmXYzbpDJaDzWhpdFvoskJGwrB7Mic/s504/1902may23p11-PatersonNJMorningCall-Frauto.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzgpwSSN87SvhEi6954tBWpXtogCA5iohGr0CL5pNFQqLPHcRLnNiBCY2Zp_C9FXrQR-_6Fu1ootfEaqbIF0Wv-1R5gm0UAsXgHN0BOjJESNS_StM96JpBzuMo8T_fhVCUBgzqowF8SjgsVuOjD8GcX4r0kRmXYzbpDJaDzWhpdFvoskJGwrB7Mic/s16000/1902may23p11-PatersonNJMorningCall-Frauto.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Paterson NJ Morning Call</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: medium;">U.S. Secret Service agents on Wednesday evening, May 21, 1902, arrested Stella Franto (also often written "Frauto" and occasionally "Fraute") and her teenage son Antonio at their Manhattan apartment, 949 First Avenue. Agents regarded Franto as leader of a determined gang of Mafia-linked Sicilian coin counterfeiters operating in New York, New Jersey and Canada. </span><br /><br />Salvatore and Maddalena Clemente, husband and wife, also were arrested in the apartment, and agents led by William Flynn seized a quantity of phony 10-cent and 25-cent coins. Early Thursday morning, the Secret Service agents arrested Giuseppe Romano and Vito Cascio Ferro at Romano's barbershop, 969 First Avenue. (They did not realize it at the time, but Cascio Ferro was a visiting Sicilian Mafia leader and an organizer of left-wing radicals.) The accused counterfeiters, all Sicilian immigrants, were locked up in Ludlow Street Jail until they could be processed on Thursday.<br /><br />The arrests followed a raid by Flynn's men on a cottage at Dyatt Place and Hackensack Avenue in the Little Italy section of Hackensack, New Jersey. The cottage was being used as a counterfeiting plant and was found to contain tools, molds, machinery and counterfeit coins valued at several hundred dollars. <br /><br />Franto and her son were arraigned May 22 before United States Commissioner John A. Shields in Manhattan's Federal Building. The commissioner had the two held in $5,000 bail each for further examination. The other four suspects were taken before Commissioner Linsley Rowe in Jersey City, New Jersey, who held them under bond for examination.<br /><br />As the story of the arrests hit the New York press, Agent Flynn commented that Franto was one of the most persistent counterfeiters in the country and one of the cleverest passers of bad money. He noted that Franto had been arrested and convicted of counterfeiting in 1895, arrested but not convicted in 1898 and watched and warned by the Secret Service several times after that.<br /><br />While Flynn did not discuss the oddity of a Sicilian gang apparently under the command of a woman, the New York Press newspaper made it a point to describe Franto as "matronly looking."<div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Stella Franto's background</h3><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg0n0wpkTIPF4bcb0VwIleZXJ6OZwcntZ8FOkWdYDwT1pV0TK0NcyQXo36sWnSedbsV76KPTzsF4pZHDdEsVKtVHgSg-fOBTl-MPxkfWYtXObngqrgnlnIqCPULqWGxuwzBQBDkUzpwFxr82_pLjAuVIYit4P0Jghx3vHr_Mt2dpYqTpQdJ4yniSY/s329/1895feb17p5-nysun.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg0n0wpkTIPF4bcb0VwIleZXJ6OZwcntZ8FOkWdYDwT1pV0TK0NcyQXo36sWnSedbsV76KPTzsF4pZHDdEsVKtVHgSg-fOBTl-MPxkfWYtXObngqrgnlnIqCPULqWGxuwzBQBDkUzpwFxr82_pLjAuVIYit4P0Jghx3vHr_Mt2dpYqTpQdJ4yniSY/s16000/1895feb17p5-nysun.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">New York Sun</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Stella Franto was thirty-six at the time of her 1902 arrest. Born in Palermo, Sicily, in March 1866, she reached the U.S., along with four children, in 1892. (Her fifth child was later born in the U.S.) She and her husband Salvatore soon joined the Clementes in a closely knit counterfeiting operation. <br /><br />Their little ring began circulating phony dimes and quarters around January of 1895. Stella Franto was the primary passer of the counterfeit, brazenly using them in Manhattan shops for a month. The Secret Service caught up with her and walked in on an active counterfeiting operation in a top floor apartment at 307 East Seventieth Street. The suspects in that case included Franto's husband Salvatore and son Benjamin, as well as both Clementes and several others. In April 1895, Stella Franto, Salvatore Franto, Salvatore Clemente and several codefendants were convicted of counterfeiting offenses. Stella Franto was sentenced to two years in Erie County Penitentiary in Buffalo, New York. Other defendants, including Clemente and Salvatore Franto were sentenced to eight years. <br /><br />Salvatore Franto had become seriously ill and a physician estimated he had just three months to live. The physician's estimate was off by a couple of months. Salvatore Franto died in Erie County Penitentiary on May 29, 1895. <br /><br />Stella Franto was back on the streets and back to work counterfeiting coins in the spring of 1898. She and an accomplice referred to as Antonio Franko (possibly son Antonio Franto) were arrested by the Secret Service for passing phony coins. In this case, the government could not make the charges stick.</div><div><br /><h3>The 1902 case</h3><p>The Secret Service had better luck with the 1902 case against Stella Franto. On June 27, U.S. Judge Thomas sentenced Franto to three years and six months in Auburn Prison. Franto, thirty-six, entered the prison the following day. The prison admission register recorded that she stood just five-foot-one, weighed 126 pounds and previously worked as a housekeeper.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi50PMTsjgsaQ2sxrn7oXn1lHzoKTSUUSodL76N2gso9UMCb-uCIsHbQ3OF_WW62PFrDut6omB87Fom9S_HhY2Mp3KNRFMaRHIl54_uamKal208d_8SCXO3ua9_p0Ta01IaWOgyO6hHX-FF6P_ET_NfhdJh7B2A019X2-hz8aBhxtbT1JjkoGD0dsM/s705/1902may23-NewYorkTribune-frauto.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi50PMTsjgsaQ2sxrn7oXn1lHzoKTSUUSodL76N2gso9UMCb-uCIsHbQ3OF_WW62PFrDut6omB87Fom9S_HhY2Mp3KNRFMaRHIl54_uamKal208d_8SCXO3ua9_p0Ta01IaWOgyO6hHX-FF6P_ET_NfhdJh7B2A019X2-hz8aBhxtbT1JjkoGD0dsM/s16000/1902may23-NewYorkTribune-frauto.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">New York Tribune</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Some of the names of defendants in the 1902 counterfeiting case are difficult to track, but it appears little effort was made to prosecute either Antonio Franto or Vito Cascio Ferro. Cascio Ferro would linger in New York City until police began arresting suspects connected to the April 1903 Barrel Murder. Cascio Ferro was believed to be involved in that killing, but he could not be located. Months later, it was learned that he escaped to New Orleans and then crossed the Atlantic back to his native Sicily.<br /><br />A great deal more attention was paid to Salvatore Clemente and one Andrea Romano (possibly the same as the Giuseppe Romano mentioned in the initial arrests), who fled before they could be brought to trial. Clemente traveled north across the border into Canada but was captured by police in Toronto and was tried for circulating counterfeit in that country. He was convicted and sentenced to thirteen years in prison. Law enforcement finally caught up with Romano in Niagara Falls, New York, in November 1902.<br /><br />As Romano was returned to New York City for his trial, the press reflected on the history of the Franto organization that had just been dismantled: "A dozen years ago the Secret Service agents discovered the existence of the Frauto band. A pretty Italian woman of twenty appeared to be its genius." (She could not have been younger than twenty-six when the Secret Service first became aware of her.)</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Later</h3><div><br /></div><div>Stella Franto was released from Auburn on February 27, 1905, and apparently began a less adversarial relationship with the U.S. Secret Service. March 10, 1910, Secret Service records indicate that she contacted the New York office and noted that her former accomplice Clemente would soon receive an early release from prison in Canada. She said she did not know Clemente's plans but promised, "if he started to make cft. coin she would advise this office of same."</div><br />(Within a short time, Clemente reportedly became a law enforcement informant, providing details of activities within a New York Mafia organization led by Giuseppe Morello, recently imprisoned for counterfeiting paper currency.)<br /><br />Franto for decades lived with her children in Manhattan. In 1910, they resided at 406 West Eighteenth Street. In the mid-1910s, they moved a short distance away to 209 Tenth Avenue. That remained their home through the time of the 1930 U.S. Census, when sixty-four-year-old (the census recorded her age as sixty) Stella Franto made what seems to be her final appearance in government records.</div><div><br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sources: </h3>
<ul>
<li>"A woman caused their arrest," <i>New York Sun</i>, Feb. 19, 1895, p. 4.</li>
<li>"Alleged counterfeiters caught," <i>New York Times</i>, April 14, 1898, p. 9.</li>
<li>"Bad coins made in Hackensack," <i>Paterson NJ Morning Call</i>, May 23, 1902, p. 11.</li>
<li>"Big counterfeiter caught," <i>New York Tribune</i>, Nov. 28, 1902, p. 10.</li>
<li>"Bogus silver pieces found in counterfeit raid," <i>New York Times</i>, May 23, 1902, p. 2.</li>
<li>"Catch six counterfeiters," <i>New York Tribune</i>, May 23, 1902, p. 6.</li>
<li>"Caught eight counterfeiters," <i>New York Herald</i>, Feb. 17, 1895, p. 12.</li>
<li>"Clever counterfeiters at last run to earth," <i>Washington Evening Times</i>, Nov. 28, 1902, p. 5.</li>
<li>"Coin makers captured," <i>New York Times</i>, Feb. 17, 1895, p. 8.</li>
<li>"Counterfeiter caught and brought here," <i>Buffalo Evening News</i>, Nov. 28, 1902, p. 1.</li>
<li>"Counterfeiters caught," <i>New York Sun</i>, Feb. 17, 1895, p. 5.</li>
<li>"Counterfeiters convicted," <i>New York Evening Telegram</i>, April 8, 1895.</li>
<li>"Counterfeiters in the toils," <i>New York Evening Telegram</i>, Feb. 18, 1895, p. 10.</li>
<li>"Counterfeiters sent to prison," <i>New York Press</i>, June 28, 1902, p. 4.</li>
<li>"Gang led by woman is now completely broken," <i>St. Louis Republic</i>, Nov. 28, 1902, p. 6.</li>
<li>"Have got them all now," <i>Buffalo Morning Express</i>, Nov. 28, 1902, p. 1.</li>
<li>"Last of coining gang caught," <i>New York Sun</i>, Nov. 28, 1902.</li>
<li>"Makers of bad money caught," <i>New York Sun</i>, May 23, 1902, p. 4.</li>
<li>"Motherly look belied record," <i>New York Press</i>, May 23, 1902.</li>
<li>"She shoved the queer," <i>Auburn NY Bulletin</i>, June 28, 1902, p. 6.</li>
<li>"Spurious coins made by woman," <i>New York Evening World</i>, June 27, 1902, p. 4.</li>
<li>"Two counterfeiters arrested," <i>New York Sun</i>, April 14, 1898, p. 5.</li>
<li>"U.S. prisoners sentenced," <i>New York Sun</i>, April 18, 1895, p. 9.</li>
<li>"Women coiners captured in raid on gang and plant," <i>New York Evening World</i>, May 22, 1902, p. 3.</li>
<li>Antonio Franto World War I Draft Registration Card, no. 56. Precinct 18, New York County, New York, June 5, 1917.</li>
<li>Bagg, G. Ray, Daily Report, March 4, April 8, April 9, April 17, June 29, 1895, Department of the Treasury, United States Secret Service Daily Reports, R.G. No. 87, Roll 16, Vol. 6, National Archives.</li>
<li>Flynn, William J., Daily Report, April 16, 1903, Department of the Treasury, United States Secret Service Daily Reports, R.G. No. 87, Roll 109, Vol. 9, National Archives.</li>
<li>Flynn, William J., Daily Report, March 21, 1904, Department of the Treasury, United States Secret Service Daily Reports, R.G. No. 87, Roll 109, Vol. 11, National Archives.</li>
<li>Henry, John J., Daily Report, March 10, 1910, Department of the Treasury, United States Secret Service Daily Reports, R.G. No. 87, Vol. 29, National Archives.</li>
<li>Petacco, Arrigo, translated by Charles Lam Markmann, <i>Joe Petrosino</i>, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1974, p. 94.</li>
<li>"Names, etc., of Convicts Pardoned or Discharged from the Women's State Prison during the Fiscal Year Ending September 30th, 1905," Auburn Prison Records, registered no. 459, February 27, 1905.</li>
<li>"Names, etc., of Convicts Received in the Women's State Prison," Auburn Prison Records, registered no. 459, June 1902.</li>
<li>New York State Death Index, Department of Health, City of Buffalo, 1895-1896, p. 129.</li>
<li>Passenger manifest of <i>S.S. Letimbro</i>, departed Naples, arrived New York on Sept. 2, 1890.</li>
<li><i>Trow's General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, for the Year Ending August 1, 1911</i>, New York: Trow Directory, 1910, p. 480.</li>
<li>United States Census of 1900, New York State, New York County, Manhattan Borough, Enumeration District 334.</li>
<li>United States Census of 1910, New York State, New York County, Manhattan Borough, Ward 16, Enumeration District 860.</li>
<li>United States Census of 1930, New York State, New York County, Manhattan Borough, Enumeration District 31-284.</li>
</ul>
<p><br /></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-47085903704137712012022-05-02T05:22:00.000-04:002022-05-02T05:22:00.420-04:00Early 1900s terrorism is focus of new book<p>
<span style="font-size: medium;">About a century ago, an anarchist terrorist organization, devoted to the anti-capitalist principles of Luigi Galleani, orchestrated a series of bombing attacks in the U.S. The bombings culminated in the devastating Wall Street bombing of 1920. Jeffrey D. Simon examines this Galleanist movement in his new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Forgotten-Terrorists-Rise-Galleanists/dp/1640124047?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=ee173681242192cfa03872c99ddffc0e&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><i><b><span style="color: #990000;">America's Forgotten Terrorists: The Rise and Fall of the Galleanists</span></b></i></a> (published by Potomac Books).</span>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><i>A one-minute video trailer for the book is shown below.</i></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="400" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w7L609FewFY" width="480" youtube-src-id="w7L609FewFY"></iframe></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54zbbAjibN1a2o7THxgVLF_wrLsEvC-0Ipt87WqgQIyEBEoX9TtFGKxy_9pXgu7KrFDY_3ecmBpTFJfCxyS2LC_JF5UnIltKfGeyhTIbY3n-EsinAIBislus3z16H0tHXnIDS4HcPo3Ldj8M0mIlhKZAP05BZ8Pe5XvkJLbomlneBsr_Se9N613I/s348/simonjeffrey.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="240" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54zbbAjibN1a2o7THxgVLF_wrLsEvC-0Ipt87WqgQIyEBEoX9TtFGKxy_9pXgu7KrFDY_3ecmBpTFJfCxyS2LC_JF5UnIltKfGeyhTIbY3n-EsinAIBislus3z16H0tHXnIDS4HcPo3Ldj8M0mIlhKZAP05BZ8Pe5XvkJLbomlneBsr_Se9N613I/w138-h200/simonjeffrey.png" width="138" /></a></div><br />Jeffrey D. Simon, Ph.D., also author of <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JQHYM3R?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=359022f3fc805bbeef6166f253658ec2&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank">The Alphabet Bomber</a></i> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BEZ9UYM?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=a7368177aa995432584effa4ffa59fbf&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><i>Lone Wolf Terrorism</i></a>, is president of Political Risk Assessment Company, a security and terrorism research consulting firm based in Santa Monica, California. He is a visiting lecturer in the Department of Political Science at UCLA.<br clear="all" />
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To learn more about <i>America's Forgotten Terrorists</i> visit the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Forgotten-Terrorists-Rise-Galleanists/dp/1640124047?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=6107aaa3e482756ad7731b11ae73c1b9&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank">book's page on the Amazon.com website</a> or visit the author's website: <a href="http://www.futureterrorism.com/" target="_blank">futureterrorism.com</a>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Forgotten-Terrorists-Rise-Galleanists/dp/1640124047?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=c65509a4d5d326b8c43df605693dcc37&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl1TIfvtw-TwwmvJKgbnE0jUbGpt_UdJmGdqpvDXT6r4s8qBLEQWtWGMNaD7R-FiGZzAFsD2LYc7u3ISEA7H_JsK8-UNn0FcBdFPQXAKkfqgKhJlIQfCG2O-K2CS2UCCK5ro1d--GwdlW6F0VBprCXMVzCj480mXV0yPTm0PTsONET0a7vBdOBeSY/s320/forg.png" width="213" /></a></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-40937855154870523632022-03-15T10:36:00.003-04:002022-03-15T10:39:14.436-04:00Remote bomb shreds Philly boss Testa<p><span style="font-size: x-small;">On this date in 1981...</span><br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5fFtJwBjXLMM9L7vjpmwjskWla0nCedbGL0dcMux4f2uB_9g3LoFfQW6h8c7WSRatjOOjOhmhHA-vgekGqCfAPggJWnHxXrGJtrP9zgNb3X3HIMB9-7WIy8oKZ6We1YjYZKNN_G1w7BWcpVscrDV8ovMuuNK8k65MYSm2XryTmneRovCgvpCI7UU=s480" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="480" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5fFtJwBjXLMM9L7vjpmwjskWla0nCedbGL0dcMux4f2uB_9g3LoFfQW6h8c7WSRatjOOjOhmhHA-vgekGqCfAPggJWnHxXrGJtrP9zgNb3X3HIMB9-7WIy8oKZ6We1YjYZKNN_G1w7BWcpVscrDV8ovMuuNK8k65MYSm2XryTmneRovCgvpCI7UU=w400-h386" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Just before three o'clock on Sunday morning, March 15, 1981, an explosion shook the Girard Estates neighborhood of South Philadelphia. Patrol cars sped to the home of regional crime boss Philip C. "Chicken Man" Testa, 2117 West Porter Street. Officers found that the blast had thrown bricks, mortar and concrete from the home's front porch into the roadway - some bits of brick reached the grounds of Stephen Girard Park across the street. The porch roof, torn apart, had collapsed. The force of the explosion forced the home's front door fifteen feet into the residence. </span><br /></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuY8suFTnIlMbY8Mjj7zoeUI1uhUqDenaaamdjFxVKuAIIgYpbKPzekdWn2tVmg7juydOtXm-BH3c5icVZc3Gm5ciJPyy25f81RAhZNLXCjXPcMkxbwruJ6LT6bLhyoZ85bkHIz9_3mfxturX83i2i7JTx2s02nIX8HdJYkbu-2tDGcTXdNHAyvBQ=s800" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="520" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuY8suFTnIlMbY8Mjj7zoeUI1uhUqDenaaamdjFxVKuAIIgYpbKPzekdWn2tVmg7juydOtXm-BH3c5icVZc3Gm5ciJPyy25f81RAhZNLXCjXPcMkxbwruJ6LT6bLhyoZ85bkHIz9_3mfxturX83i2i7JTx2s02nIX8HdJYkbu-2tDGcTXdNHAyvBQ=s320" width="208" /></a></div>
<p>On the far side of a thirty-inch wide crater punched through the six-inch concrete porch floor, officers found fifty-six-year-old Testa, somehow still alive.[1]<br /><br />The explosion left Testa's body burned and as badly torn as the clothes he wore. His lower body was mangled. One of the officers told the press, "[Testa] looked like he went through a giant paper shredder."[2] Testa, unconscious, was rushed to St. Agnes Hospital, about a mile away at 1900 South Broad Street. Doctors did what they could to bring the bleeding under control. At four-fifteen, Testa died of his wounds.[3] <br /><br />Assistant Medical Examiner Halbert Filinger blandly reported that death had been caused by "multiple injuries" to Testa's "head, trunk, arms and legs."[4] Filinger could have added that a contributing factor was Testa's forty-year-old decision to pursue an underworld career.<br /><br />Philip Testa was the second Philadelphia crime boss to be murdered within a single year. (See <a href="https://mafiahistory.us/maf-b-ph.html"><span style="color: #990000;">Philadelphia Mob leaders</span></a> at mafiahistory.us.) His predecessor and close friend Angelo Bruno was fatally shot on March 21, 1980. Since the Bruno assassination, the dead bodies of Philly mobsters had been regularly turning up. Authorities wondered if the violence was the result of internal rivalries, frustration over crime family rules against narcotics trafficking or efforts by aggressive New York Mafia bosses to seize control of Philadelphia and southern New Jersey rackets.[5]<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_74d0_XtOC050sOUOuqp18HOuB12K2ZHMZrDQ8JNeoKoa4hSUBR6SZ0FJeMQ2XxRr8VZyMtVDL96P9sfbNbBiQ-34apuCuqnDgul2Rosrl74PA2bxr6QoVUhOxkzAI3uoLGn_AiJ0jJsbkwOLXYTRSVPoiGP7fzodg8nwpzSY9r2qC0Za8ertwzY=s480" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="246" data-original-width="480" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_74d0_XtOC050sOUOuqp18HOuB12K2ZHMZrDQ8JNeoKoa4hSUBR6SZ0FJeMQ2XxRr8VZyMtVDL96P9sfbNbBiQ-34apuCuqnDgul2Rosrl74PA2bxr6QoVUhOxkzAI3uoLGn_AiJ0jJsbkwOLXYTRSVPoiGP7fzodg8nwpzSY9r2qC0Za8ertwzY=w400-h205" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Angelo Bruno (l) and Philip Testa</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Investigators at Testa's residence concluded that a powerful bomb packed with nails exploded behind a short brick wall that edged the two-story duplex's front porch. <br /><br />Testa, who lived alone since the 1980 death of his wife, arrived there after finishing a night's work at his business, Virgilio's Restaurant, 5 Bank Street in the Old City District. He double-parked his black, Chevrolet Caprice Classic in the street, climbed the steps onto the porch, where the bomb was hidden in shadows. Testa opened the home's storm door and was beginning to put a key in the front door lock when the bomb was detonated.[6]<br /><br />The bomb must have been set off by a sort of remote control, investigators determined, and the person responsible must have been within sight of the porch at that moment.[7]<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQyYUbUWAQF7tXQkDv8Ti_S3mCm-VInkZ2iDZ6eAtSFKrA51E52OemMhvpVNTLMbieVPIhG6jg4QJ2jFE62oOiLh5AKHdiUirA7jSrf0_Z8_6XeFqs_qwkRXg6EY-U06RuCUOUUqJCzESYTY6xvlz2Ug8dFwCBzJWPsrguZFuXWfWRtww8-1Vvs64=s587" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="587" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQyYUbUWAQF7tXQkDv8Ti_S3mCm-VInkZ2iDZ6eAtSFKrA51E52OemMhvpVNTLMbieVPIhG6jg4QJ2jFE62oOiLh5AKHdiUirA7jSrf0_Z8_6XeFqs_qwkRXg6EY-U06RuCUOUUqJCzESYTY6xvlz2Ug8dFwCBzJWPsrguZFuXWfWRtww8-1Vvs64=w328-h400" width="328" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Testa's son Salvatore (center)</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Killings within the Philly Mob continued after Testa was laid to rest at Holy Cross Cemetery in the borough of Yeadon.[8] Some of the homicides were determined to be the result of a vendetta pursued by Testa's son Salvatore.</p>
<p>Salvatore reportedly concluded that his father's murder was planned by important rackets figure Frank "Chickie" Narducci possibly in conspiracy with Testa's underboss Peter Casella.[9] <br /><br />When Casella attempted to take over the organization, Nicodemo Scarfo and his allies in New York forced Casella out of Philadelphia and into a Florida retirement.[10]<br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEieAZObzu5-zCSqhoay-f7jOwBNhWslC9mxt0HtUkWma4MIGMK2U9pf0k5Wme2ErItYttwjBv1u3s9FOT6Z0TePifFi55kfBn0_6I6jfd0yzYFcsaCn2JzazOpG7TWJ78ffCuXq8gw16fr6i1sLbsPvQPlqUpZyY49klBSEO_QNnzd9zWNR3rDUyWE=s393" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="260" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEieAZObzu5-zCSqhoay-f7jOwBNhWslC9mxt0HtUkWma4MIGMK2U9pf0k5Wme2ErItYttwjBv1u3s9FOT6Z0TePifFi55kfBn0_6I6jfd0yzYFcsaCn2JzazOpG7TWJ78ffCuXq8gw16fr6i1sLbsPvQPlqUpZyY49klBSEO_QNnzd9zWNR3rDUyWE=w133-h200" width="133" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Marinucci</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Narducci, forty-nine, was shot to death in front of his South Philadelphia home on January 7, 1982. Informer Thomas DelGiorno later told authorities that Salvatore Testa was personally involved in the Narducci murder and made sure Narducci saw who was taking his life.[11] <br /><br />On the one-year anniversary of the Testa bombing, Rocco "Rocky" Marinucci, thirty, owner of Pop's Pizza in South Philadelphia, was found dead in a pile of debris left at a parking lot, South Eighth Street and Tasker Street. Marinucci, previously a driver for Casella, had been questioned after the bombing at Testa's home, as some witnesses reported seeing a black van like one he used speeding away from the scene just after the explosion. Police discovered that Marinucci had been beaten as well as shot. They found three large firecrackers stuffed in the mouth of his corpse and interpreted that as a symbolic link to the 1981 bombing.[12] <br /><br />In September 1983, Theodore DiPretoro, twenty-three, already serving a life prison sentence on another matter, confessed to participating in the Testa bombing with Marinucci.[13]<br /><br />A year later, reportedly on orders from boss Scarfo, twenty-nine-year-old Salvatore Testa was shot to death, his body dumped beside a road in southern New Jersey.[14]<br /><br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Notes</h4><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">1- Sutton, William W. Jr., Ray Holton and Marc Schogol, "Bomb blast kills Testa at his S.Phila. home," <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, March 16, 1981, p. 2; "Bomb kills mob boss Testa," <i>Philadelphia Daily News</i>, March 16, 1981, p. 3.<br /><br />2- "Hint N.Y. mob killed crime boss in Philly," <i>New York Daily News</i>, March 16, 1981, p. 8.<br /><br />3- Anastasia, George, <i>Blood and Honor: Inside the Scarfo Mob - the Mafia's Most Violent Family</i>, New York: William Morrow and Company, 1991, p. 108; Sutton, et al; "Bomb kills mob boss Testa."<br /><br />4- "Bomb kills mob boss Testa."<br /><br />5- Sutton, et al; "Hint N.Y. mob killed crime boss in Philly"; Culnan, Dennis M., and Margaret A. Scott, "Testa killed by bomb blast," <i>Camden NJ Courier-Post</i>, March 16, 1981, p. 1; "House bombing kills mob suspect," <i>Newsday</i>, March 16, 1981, p. 3.<br /><br />6- "Bomb kills mob boss Testa"; Sutton, et al; Lawlor, Julia, Jack McGuire and Joe O'Dowd, "Suspect in Testa slaying murdered," <i>Philadelphia Daily News</i>, March 16, 1982, p. 3. The Chevrolet was reportedly registered to his son. The restaurant was conducted in the name of his daughter. Testa and his son were the owners of the restaurant building, and Testa used a back room as his personal office.<br /><br />7- Cooney, Tom, "The Mob Chronicles: Part 2: Indictments begin to break up the family," <i>Philadelphia Daily News</i>, April 24, 1987, p. 6; Daughen, Joseph R., "The bloody battle for control of the Phila. Mob," <i>Philadelphia Daily News</i>, April 24, 1987, p. 36; <i>Pennsylvania Crime Commission 1984 Report</i>, presented to Pennsylvania General Assembly, p. 40; Lawlor, Julia, Jack McGuire and Joe O'Dowd, "Suspect in Testa slaying murdered," <i>Philadelphia Daily News</i>, March 16, 1982, p. 3.<br /><br />8- "Philip 'Chickenman' Testa," Memorial ID 18254, Find A Grave, findagrave.com, Nov. 2, 2000.<br /><br />9- Cooney; Daughen.<br /><br />10- Anastasia, p. 112.<br /><br />11- Cooney; Daughen. <br /><br />12- Cooney; Daughen; Lawlor, Julia, Jack McGuire and Joe O'Dowd, "Suspect in Testa slaying murdered," <i>Philadelphia Daily News</i>, March 16, 1982, p. 3; Shuttleworth, Ken, "Slaying may be tied to Testa killing," <i>Camden NJ Courier-Post</i>, March 16, 1982, p. 10. <br /><br />13- "Philadelphia man pleads guilty in Testa slaying," <i>New York Times</i>, Sept. 21, 1983, p. 18.<br /><br />14- Cooney; Daughen; Heneage, Bill, "Salvatore 'Salvy' Testa," Memorial ID 6529146, Find A Grave, findagrave.com, June 20, 2002.</span><br /><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-31778181762865608672021-12-15T07:10:00.003-05:002021-12-15T13:08:12.536-05:00Some JFK documents to be released today<p><span style="font-size: large;">The Biden Administration is expected to release a small number of secret JFK Assassination-related documents today (December 15, 2021). </span></p>
<p style="margin: 15px; padding: 12px; border: 1px solid black">Update: The just-released files can be accessed through <a target="_blank" href="https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/release2021" style="color: #990000;">this National Archives web page.</a></p>
<p>Thousands of partial and whole documents related to the November 22, 1963, assassination of President John Kennedy continue to be withheld from the public. A 1992 law (<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/senate-bill/3006" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">the JFK Act</span></a>) called for all records to be
released after twenty-five years unless the President decided that
postponement was necessary on the grounds of "identifiable harm to the
military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or foreign
relations... [that] outweighs the public interest in disclosure."</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxS8mTAQEaMtW9wlSHn1HL9CLPy8_C-z1486vfGTGmyGa7r3uUmWLGpoHx9h5lD3Aqq5LuiXdGNLEHQoeKERAbVV6FqwkNMaSBMtpVHkuwwozp8V5refBXmI8tDdAXe23e7K6EggmDTukyO_VoZ8KF5nVW5MehpLZAadqCbJF5HC80Due6MpHXKTk=s422" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhxS8mTAQEaMtW9wlSHn1HL9CLPy8_C-z1486vfGTGmyGa7r3uUmWLGpoHx9h5lD3Aqq5LuiXdGNLEHQoeKERAbVV6FqwkNMaSBMtpVHkuwwozp8V5refBXmI8tDdAXe23e7K6EggmDTukyO_VoZ8KF5nVW5MehpLZAadqCbJF5HC80Due6MpHXKTk=s320" width="243" /></a></div>
<p>The Trump Administration released a number of files and document redactions in the autumn of 2017. In spring 2018, it extended the wait for additional releases until autumn of 2021.</p>
<p>In October, the Biden Administration postponed until December 2022 the release of most of the files still held as official secrets. Government departments have indicated that releasing those documents could harm the national security or the foreign relations of the United States. With COVID-19-era processing backlogs, the National Archives and federal departments were said to be unable to fully evaluate the potential for harm in time to meet the October 2021 deadline.</p><p>President Joseph Biden set a December 15, 2022, deadline (one year from today) for completion of a security review and release of remaining files. He stated that any documents that have already passed their review should be released today.</p>
<p>See also:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2021/09/another-jfk-files-deadline-approaches.html"><span style="color: #990000;">Another JFK files deadline - Updated (Sept. 30, 2021)</span></a></li><li><a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2017/10/many-but-not-all-jfk-files-released.html"><span style="color: #990000;">Many, but not all, JFK files released (Oct. 27, 2017)</span></a></li><li><a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2017/10/cia-joins-with-mafia-in-effort-to-kill.html"><span style="color: #990000;">CIA joins with Mafia in effort to kill Castro (Oct. 30, 2017) </span></a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2018/04/jfk-wait-extended-three-and-half-more.html"><span style="color: #990000;">JFK wait extended three and a half more years (April 28, 2018)</span></a></li></ul><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-67774643805932290422021-12-05T23:04:00.004-05:002021-12-22T05:22:05.476-05:00<p> Debby Applegate</p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Excerpt from <i>Madam: The Biography of Polly
Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age</i> (Doubleday, 2021) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">From Chapter 6 - "Thumbs Up With The Mob"</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhH0ajhAHmN-lq2JPZCVjJj_W_xnGw1dcvO48DuqLQm1mq3ok6ux16t3JxVrfT4T7ggyWzQ0BPaxSgKzHG1FNWI_jyRp6GfmfrIE98VFcBR3JXFp24lHxHi0CWFugjsq8B_EBEOycdW4rdmr3JG3sdB3KzGxC2q-XeInwuOxnvQgnzuClirYK74mtqQ=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1472" data-original-width="2048" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhH0ajhAHmN-lq2JPZCVjJj_W_xnGw1dcvO48DuqLQm1mq3ok6ux16t3JxVrfT4T7ggyWzQ0BPaxSgKzHG1FNWI_jyRp6GfmfrIE98VFcBR3JXFp24lHxHi0CWFugjsq8B_EBEOycdW4rdmr3JG3sdB3KzGxC2q-XeInwuOxnvQgnzuClirYK74mtqQ=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Polly Adler wearing her first, fabulous mink
coat, strolling the boardwalk in Atlantic City in 1924 with a pal. Photo from
the Polly Adler Collection courtesy of Eleanor Vera.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span> A</span>fter three years of Prohibition, by the summer of
1923, New York City’s underworld was booming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“It was becoming increasingly fashionable to make money any way you
could – except by working for it,” remembered Polly Adler. “It wasn’t only
angle-shooters and corner-cutters and big-city sharpies who were on the
‘get-rich-quick’ kick.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[1] <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Nobody was raking in the chips like the bootleggers,
grifters, gamblers who orbited around Arnold Rothstein, aka the Big Bankroll,
the Big Jew Uptown, or the Brain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some were primarily bookmakers and game
runners, others had been thieves, drug dealers and strong-arms for hire before he
took them under his wing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in the
last three years, Rothstein’s proteges had become New York’s “hoodlum
aristocracy.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[2]</span> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Polly was always cryptic about how she met Arnold
Rothstein, saying only that he was “a man whom I was one day to know well.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[3]</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that winter of 1923 her brothel became a
favorite hangout of the Brain’s criminal cabinet. “My clientele consisted mostly
of gangsters and hoodlums,” she remembered, “some of whom were to become the
big shots of the day.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[4]</span><o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_Do1qTyLti5HrnykPJ58PQ3iMeoucsrww8ue3JpEUNnKRQqWtymi_H0SODZs48Rff3hJ8ZROCK8aCjtt_gOBAi1ubBJC10nI6FR0CckZAbYCCI0ke14uJPdeGqk59zgoDoRwHSglmA1Hhu3RddYmpmLyWeW8CgUq9sTRwdsVCaDyQSPqbF_lctJ3C=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1610" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg_Do1qTyLti5HrnykPJ58PQ3iMeoucsrww8ue3JpEUNnKRQqWtymi_H0SODZs48Rff3hJ8ZROCK8aCjtt_gOBAi1ubBJC10nI6FR0CckZAbYCCI0ke14uJPdeGqk59zgoDoRwHSglmA1Hhu3RddYmpmLyWeW8CgUq9sTRwdsVCaDyQSPqbF_lctJ3C=s320" width="252" /></a></div><div><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Arnold Rothstein, c. 1920-1928. New York
World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Collection (Library of Congress).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">It was as gamblers that Polly became intimate with the
bullet boys.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rothstein’s informal
syndicate of law-breakers ran private high-stakes poker games and floating
craps games, immortalized in the Broadway musical <i>Guys and Dolls</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To elude cops and stick-up men the games
shifted every night through empty garages, hotels, warehouses, and the back
rooms of speakeasies. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">The most important of these early patrons – her “benefactor,”
as one of Polly’s well-informed friends put it – was the rising “King of the
Bootleggers,” William V. Dwyer.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[5]
</span>“Big Bill” Dwyer was a roly-poly man, with a disarming smile and expressive
blue eyes behind horn-rimmed glasses. Rothstein had financed Dwyer when he
began expanding his operation from robbing industrial alcohol from government warehouses
into international smuggling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Big Bill
had, in one gangland lawyer’s description, “an easy way about him and a fine
sense of humor.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[6]</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was a glad-hander, who loved the theater
and saloon life and preferred grease to violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhT5pP3vvDAvVLWkeJh0I4FrRFfBjVfiSagzoTalLJhtOFZk1v_T2KKHmdIgcVFfYqgzvgnk8r1hyv5NLxFn9OKDb1q95xgubU5pHGXuyuOTh6pGeQjoDrKL4UxxJllkeWZ2KnkEVpe5EcponLOtnJQQv4eaXooVGaeaHflHgmgcXtTjSgwO3bUGulb=s320" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="224" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhT5pP3vvDAvVLWkeJh0I4FrRFfBjVfiSagzoTalLJhtOFZk1v_T2KKHmdIgcVFfYqgzvgnk8r1hyv5NLxFn9OKDb1q95xgubU5pHGXuyuOTh6pGeQjoDrKL4UxxJllkeWZ2KnkEVpe5EcponLOtnJQQv4eaXooVGaeaHflHgmgcXtTjSgwO3bUGulb" width="224" /></a></div><p></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">William Vincent “Big Bill” Dwyer when he
was known as “The King of the Bootleggers.” Photo in the public domain.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">Dwyer had recently joined forces with another of
Rothstein’s proteges, Francesco Castiglia, who went by the moniker of Frank
Costello. (It never hurt to have an Irish name when conversing with cops).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were joined that fall of 1923 by Owney
Madden, recently released from Sing Sing, who enjoyed a reputation as one of
the most vicious of the city’s Irish gang leaders. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">Big Bill and Owney were partners with another of
Rothstein’s proteges, “Smiling George McManus,” in a number of lucrative
gambling schemes.<sup> </sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George McManus
was a brawny, barrel-chested fellow, with a lantern jaw and a wide crooked grin
that lit up when he was in good spirits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His family had deep ties to the NYPD, which frequently came in handy. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">Big Bill and Owney were partners with another of
Rothstein’s proteges, “Smiling George McManus,” in a number of lucrative
gambling schemes.<sup> </sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>George McManus
was a brawny, barrel-chested fellow, with a lantern jaw and a wide crooked grin
that lit up when he was in good spirits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His family had deep ties to the NYPD, which frequently came in handy. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">Both were extroverted Irishman -- Dwyer from Hell’s
Kitchen, McManus from Harlem -- who relished the limelight and the role of
lavish host.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They also shared that most
valued of traits in a madam’s estimation: a total disregard for the value of
money.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dwyer was famous for never
allowing anyone to pick up a check, no matter high the bill, and McManus was
beloved by waiters, entertainers and gold diggers up and down the Avenue for
dropping $20 tips without blinking an eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3V5u9Si7ZGDakI5_iz1zVqW8x8eD4CYGeIEH9B71p_eBy0LcFCrxZT33day4EYX-mA53QXd5F9DSw0dVs5t1eleIVNtv0j6ukjwW5EpIi7KIl22rtz94eFcff6v05vSE0PRpqfxbwhgFeivHY9MZ5EvFC3ZoHGm04PcU1_k_U7GQE0FoWJhemh-oR=s2048" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1631" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi3V5u9Si7ZGDakI5_iz1zVqW8x8eD4CYGeIEH9B71p_eBy0LcFCrxZT33day4EYX-mA53QXd5F9DSw0dVs5t1eleIVNtv0j6ukjwW5EpIi7KIl22rtz94eFcff6v05vSE0PRpqfxbwhgFeivHY9MZ5EvFC3ZoHGm04PcU1_k_U7GQE0FoWJhemh-oR=s320" width="255" /></a></div><p align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">George McManus in 1929, when he was on
trial for murdering Arnold Rothstein. Author’s collection.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">That fall McManus and Dwyer, along with Owney Madden’s
brother Marty, were running the hottest regular crap game in New York, with
action running as high as $700,000 some nights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was nothing like shooting craps to
stoke the appetite for a prostitute, Polly soon discovered. “Money meant
nothing to these fellows,” she remembered with pleasure; “they sometimes spent
five hundred or more in an evening. Whoever won the crap game paid the bill.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[7]</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">The games didn’t start till nearly midnight and ran till
four or five in the morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Winners
looking to celebrate their good luck had to worry about muggings and
kidnappings, so providing a place that was safe, secret and always open into
the wee hours quickly made her joint the preferred after-hours clubhouse of the
late night dice-tossers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">“It had not occurred to me to sell drinks until one of the
bunch remarked that I was a sap to let them buy their booze from a bootlegger
and cart it up to my apartment,” recalled Polly. “Why didn’t I get smart and
sell them drinks at a buck a throw?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
took his advice, and, in his own words, cut myself in for a nice piece of
change.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[8]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">She encouraged the johns to buy drinks for the girls,
padding the bills further.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, a
tipsy girl was an uninhibited playmate, but a sloppy drunk was no use to
anyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So she employed an old trick of brothels,
serving the girls cold tea brewed to match the golden color of rye and
whiskey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a good night, her bar bills
dwarfed her profits on the bedrooms.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">McManus and Dwyer were two of the most popular men
on Broadway, and with their seal of approval her house quickly gained a
reputation among underworldlings as, in her words, “a sort of combination club
and speakeasy with a harem conveniently handy.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[9]</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">But the gangsters came at a high price.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“They were a wild bunch all right,” she
mused. Like most of the male half of Broadway, they all adored practical jokes
and pranks, the more elaborate the better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“They liked a joke all right -- when it was on someone else,” especially
George McManus.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[10]</span> “The
kids with him played the jokes and he would get a hell of a kick out of it at
my expense.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[11]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">Polly could tolerate the pranks, the chiseling and small
cons. Unpaid loans and bad checks – stiffs -- were regular thorns. “I have
enough stiffs to paper my garage,” she groused while going through a box of old
papers years later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was freshly
annoyed by one dated October 22, 1923.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[12]</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It was given to me by
one of the McManus gang telling me that he was president of the bank. I was
gullible enough to believe that,” she remembered. “It probably was the bastards
[sic] way to teach me not to believe everything told to me.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[13] </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">But it was the ever-looming threat of violence that really
wore on her nerves. The brass knuckle boys were notoriously unpredictable,
especially when they were on a losing streak or a drunken, coked-up spree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To prevent friendly arguments from turning
fatal, she requested the boys check their guns at the door, along with their
felt fedoras and bulky overcoats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I
usually hid them in the stove,” she remembered, “figuring it wasn’t likely
anyone would get a yen to bake a cake.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[14] </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">While that cut down on random gunplay, it didn't do much to
improve their manners. George McManus, in particular, was a dangerous wildcard.
“McManus was always quiet, and a gentleman when sober,” said Polly.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[15]</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when liquored up, his mood could suddenly
turn mean, and his jokes became cruel and dangerous. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">Nonetheless, it was a price she was willing to pay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The gamblers and bootleggers were spending
like mad and her reputation was spreading fast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She bought herself some swell clothes and showy jewelry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I had a big important project those days,”
said Polly. “I was saving up to buy a mink coat.”<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[16]</span> On Broadway, a full-length mink was the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sin qua non </i>of the fashionable flapper,
just as monogrammed silk-shirts and spotless white spats marked the new status
of the bootlegger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I talked about it so
much that when a guy was trying to make a point at craps, he’d holler, ‘Come
on, little Joe! This is for Polly’s mink coat,’” Polly recalled. “They told me
it brought them luck.”<sup>[17]</sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">Business was so brisk that it wasn’t long before she had
the cash in hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The night she brought
the coat home the fellows passed it around, while Polly chuckled gamely, playing
the good sport and watching nervously in fear they would spill cigar ashes or
drinks on the precious mink before she could safely stow it away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">Later that evening, as she’d returned from the kitchen, one
of the gang called out, “Put your coat on, Polly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’d like to see it again.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">But when she opened the closet, it had disappeared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Polly began to panic. The fellows made a show
of helping her search, clowning around as they bustled about the apartment.
Suddenly, one of them cried out, “You little dope, why did you put it out on
the fire escape?” The boys roared with laughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">“I laughed loudest and longest of all – with relief,”
remembered Polly.<span style="font-size: 8.0pt; line-height: 150%;">[18]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">But not every joke was so funny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Between answering the phones, keeping an eye
on the bedrooms, and serving drinks – “whiskey for the guys, tea in highball
glasses for the girls”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- it was
inevitable that there would be screw-ups.<sup> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></sup>One night, McManus picked up a glass,
took a deep gulp, and began gagging and sputtering.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I knew what had happened even before he
swiveled around and hurled the glass again the wall, splattering tea far and
wide,” remembered Polly. “Of course he knew he had got the drink meant for his
girl of the evening, and at the rate he was paying, each drink cost more than
several pounds of tea.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">Everyone in the room froze, awaiting his response. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">“Okay, Polly,” McManus said evenly, “so you got to make a
living…Well, fix me another drink.” <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">But McManus “couldn’t stand being played for a sucker,”
Polly remembered. “He had to get even.”<sup> [19]<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></sup>The next evening he doctored a tray of
drinks with Mickey Finns, a mild poison or emetic, usually a horse laxative
mixed with crushed ice that induced vomiting or diarrhea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Several of the johns spent the rest of the
night vomiting in the alley, and the girls were so sick they couldn't work for
three days. It could have been worse though; he could’ve used choral hydrate,
better known as knock-out drops, employed in clip joints to rob customers. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">It was a devil’s bargain, courting them as customers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as she put it, “there was nothing I could
do about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had chosen running a
house as my profession and whatever the customers did, I had to take it and
keep smiling.”<sup>[20]<o:p></o:p></sup></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><sup><o:p> </o:p></sup></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><sup><o:p> </o:p></sup></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><sup><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;">References </span></o:p></sup></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a name="_Hlk89632610"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">1. Polly Adler, <i>A
House is Not a Home</i> (Rinehart, 1953), 144. <o:p></o:p></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><a name="_Hlk60770255"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">2. Art <span style="color: black;">Cohn, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Joker is Wild: The Story of Joe E. Lewis</i>
(Bantam Books, 1957), 113.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk60770255;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">3. <span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i></span>,
32.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk60770255;"></span>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><a name="_Hlk89632507"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">4. <span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i>,</span></span></a></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;">
55. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">5. “Special
Adler Supplement,” 4, Virginia Faulkner’s Notes for <i>A House is Not a Home</i>;
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>New York Times</i>, February 2, 1934,
9.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">6.
Leonard Katz, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Uncle Frank: The Biography
of Frank Costello</i> (Drake, 1973), 63.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">7.
<span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i>,</span> 56.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">8. <span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i>, 56. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">9.
<span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i>, 96.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">10.
<span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i>,</span> 56.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">11.
Polly Adler to Virginia Faulkner, Dec. 10, 1951, Faulkner Notebook, 13, Faulkner’s
Notes for <i>A House is Not a Home</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">12.
Adler to Faulkner, Oct. 13, 1951, Faulkner Notebook, 17, Faulkner’s Notes for <i>A
House is Not a Home</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">13.
Adler to Faulkner, Oct. 13, 1951, Faulkner Notebook<span style="color: black;">,
13, </span>Faulkner’s Notes for <i>A House is Not a Home</i>.<span style="color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">14.
<span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i>, 56.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">15.
Adler to Faulkner, Dec. 10, 1951, Faulkner Notebook, 13, Virginia Faulkner’s Notes
for <i>A House is Not a Home</i>.<span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">16.
<span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i>, 57.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">17.
<span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i></span>, 57. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">18.
<span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i>, 58. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">19.
<span style="color: black;">Adler, <i>House</i>, 56.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">20. <span style="color: black;">Adler,
<i>House</i></span>, 58.</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk89632610;"></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">DEBBY
APPLEGATE is a historian based in New Haven, CT. Her first book, <i>The Most
Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher</i>, won the 2007
Pulitzer Prize for biography and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize
and the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography. Her second book <i>Madam:
The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age</i> was published by Doubleday
in November, 2021.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">https://debby-applegate.com/<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><o:p>
</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">https://www.facebook.com/Polly-Adler-Madam-The-Biography-of-Polly-Adler-Icon-of-the-Jazz-Age-105313019559817</span><o:p></o:p></p><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Debby Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03899493333334520368noreply@blogger.com0New York, NY, USA40.7127753 -74.005972812.402541463821152 -109.1622228 69.023009136178842 -38.849722799999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-12302788702594632172021-11-05T17:43:00.000-04:002021-11-05T17:43:09.986-04:00Author discusses Polly Adler bio, 'Madam'<p><span style="font-size: medium;">In this interview by Gerald Howard for CUNY's Leon Levy Center for Biography, biographer Debby Applegate discusses her just-released book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Madam-Biography-Polly-Adler-Icon/dp/0385534752?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=84f7e1873b01ff88ac00962d12ec60c9&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;"><i><b>Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age</b></i></span></a> (Doubleday). </span></p><p>Polly Adler operated New York City brothels during the Prohibition Era, becoming associated with well known gangsters (Dutch Schultz, Capone, Luciano), politicians, entertainers and literary figures. The former madam became a best-selling author when she released her tell-some autobiography in the 1950s.</p><p>Applegate won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for her 2006 book, <i><b>The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher</b></i> (Doubleday).<br /></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k4HYPUvnk80" width="320" youtube-src-id="k4HYPUvnk80"></iframe></div><p>
</p><p>See book excerpt: "<a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2021/09/polly-adler-as-al-capones-guest-at.html"><span style="color: #990000;">Polly Adler as Al Capone's guest at the 'Battle of the Long Count,' September 22, 1927</span></a>" (Writers of Wrongs, Sept. 27, 2021).<br />
</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-90971961044102036992021-09-30T08:28:00.001-04:002021-10-25T04:04:04.615-04:00Another JFK files deadline (Updated)<div style="background-color: #fdfbf4; border: 1px solid black; box-shadow: rgb(165, 153, 142) 5px 5px; margin: 10px 20px 20px; padding: 8px 12px;">
<h3 style="color: #703000; text-align: center; text-shadow: rgb(64, 16, 0) 0.6px 0.6px;">Update: Release postponed again</h3><p><i>Oct. 22, 2021: U.S. President Joe Biden has postponed until at least December of 2022 the legally required release of the remainder of federal JFK assassination documents. A <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/10/22/memorandum-for-the-heads-of-executive-departments-and-agencies-on-the-temporary-certification-regarding-disclosure-of-information-in-certain-records-related-to-the-assassination-of-president-john-f-k/" target="_blank">White House statement</a> indicated that the delay had been requested by National Archives, which is dealing with COVID-19 pandemic-related backlogs in document processing. According to the statement, the President has ordered National Archives to complete an intensive review of the remaining secret files by December 15, 2022, and to make electronic copies of all JFK files available to the public online. The statement suggests that some currently withheld documents - those already designated as suitable for release - could be provided by National Archives a year earlier, December 15, 2021. Our original Sept. 30 post follows:</i></p></div>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">About one month remains before President Joe Biden is due to decide if the remaining redactions will be lifted from federal Kennedy Assassination records.</span></p>
<p>During the Trump Administration, a number of CIA records were released and redactions were removed from many National Archives documents. These contained no "blockbuster" revelations about the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of President John Kennedy but <a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2017/10/many-but-not-all-jfk-files-released.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">some interesting details</span></a>. President Donald Trump decided at that time that other records should <a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2018/04/jfk-wait-extended-three-and-half-more.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">continue to be withheld</span></a> from public scrutiny for three years past the October 26, 2017, expected release date.</p>
<p>U.S. Chief Archivist <a href="https://www.archives.gov/about/archivist/archivist-biography-ferriero.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">David Ferriero</span></a> was scheduled to make a recommendation on the remaining records to President Biden this past Sunday (September 26, 2021). The following day, the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/files/pidb/recommendations/pidb-potus-letter-jfk-assassination-records.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">Public Interest Declassification Board wrote</span></a> to the President:<br /></p><blockquote>"We understand that agencies are asking you to extend the postponement of public disclosure... The Board unanimously recommends that you limit any further postponements of public disclosures of the Kennedy assassination records to the absolute minimum."</blockquote><p></p>
<p>A 1992 law (<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/senate-bill/3006" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">the JFK Act</span></a>) related to Kennedy assassination records called for all records to be released after twenty-five years unless the President decided that postponement was necessary on the grounds of "identifiable harm to the military defense, intelligence operations, law enforcement, or foreign relations... [that] outweighs the public interest in disclosure."</p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/processing-project" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">National Archives and Records Administration</span></a>, there are remaining redactions in 15,834 documents - most of these created by the CIA. NARA states that 520 full documents, still withheld and not identified by the agency, are not subject to the JFK Act.</p><p>Related posts:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2017/10/many-but-not-all-jfk-files-released.html"><span style="color: #990000;">Many, but not all, JFK files released (Oct. 27, 2017)</span></a></li><li><a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2017/10/cia-joins-with-mafia-in-effort-to-kill.html"><span style="color: #990000;">CIA joins with Mafia in effort to kill Castro (Oct. 30, 2017) </span></a><br /></li><li><a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2018/04/jfk-wait-extended-three-and-half-more.html"><span style="color: #990000;">JFK wait extended three and a half more years (April 28, 2018)</span></a></li></ul><p> <br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-58524342585951205622021-09-27T18:01:00.002-04:002021-09-27T18:16:40.329-04:00Polly Adler as Al Capone's guest at the "Battle of the Long Count", September 22, 1927 <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Debby
Applegate<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Excerpt
from <i>Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler, Icon of the Jazz Age</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Forthcoming
from Doubleday, November 2, 2021<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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Adler as the grand madam in Chicago for the Dempsey-Tunney heavyweight
championship, September 22, 1927. Photo from the Polly Adler Collection
courtesy of Eleanor Vera. </span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;">By the
fall of 1927, Polly Adler was not merely Manhattan’s most notorious madam. She had
earned a national reputation as the underworld’s preferred hostess and party-planner.
The gambler Arnold Rothstein and his proteges had been her first major patrons in
the flesh trade, and they introduced her to the rising crème of the criminal
classes. The gaudy mob-backed nightclubs had their charms, but for more
delicate negotiations – and less inhibited parties – the Broadway mob needed
someplace out of public view.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;">A deluxe bordello
was more private and more indulgent than a public watering hole, so when
visiting dignitaries came to New York, Polly’s parlor became a favorite spot to
entertain in style.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Her
stellar reputation won her a warm welcome anywhere bootleggers, grifters and
gamblers thrived, from Hot Springs to Miami, from Detroit to Los Angeles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In September of 1927 Polly made a whirlwind
trip to Chicago, to attend what was considered by many to be the last great
prize fight of the decade.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jack Dempsey,
fresh from his comeback victory over Jack Sharkey in July, was challenging the
Shakespeare-quoting Gene Tunney to regain the heavyweight championship in Soldiers
Field in Chicago on September 22, 1927.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Alphonse
“Scarface” Capone had come up in the world since his early days as bouncer in
Frankie Yale’s Coney Island saloon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over
the last few years, he’d parlayed his interest in a handful of Chicago brothels
into a multimillion-dollar criminal operation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In 1926, he catapulted to national notoriety as he battled rival Irish
gangs for control of the city’s rackets, terrorizing his foes with a gruesome
new weapon, the Thompson submachine gun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Capone’s “Outfit” was now a crucial hub in the movement of liquor among
Canada, the Eastern rum runners, and the distilleries and breweries of the
Midwest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">New
York’s racketeers and their friends in the press congratulated themselves on
their discretion compared to their western colleagues, but Capone’s ambitions
worried them. Big Al reveled in the limelight, and between the bloody street
battles and his personal appearances in the press, he was drawing unwelcome
attention to the bootlegging business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Like a
lot of women of the night, Polly rather enjoyed “Bighearted Al,” as he liked to
be called; “I make a habit of judging people only in their relationship to me
and such times as I happened to run into Al he was always very pleasant.”</span><sup> <a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">[1]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></a></sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Frank Costello had introduced Polly to Capone
early in the 20s, and she often entertained the Chicago boys when they were in
town on business. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Increasingly,
the business at hand was assassination, or as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i> called it, the “intercity murder trade.”<sup> <a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">[2]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></a></sup><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As competition for the New York markets
became more violent, the Broadway Mob and their syndicate partners began
importing killers from out of town to seize the element of surprise. It was a
sort of mutual exchange program for killers that evolved into the
murder-for-hire outfit dubbed “Murder Inc.” by the tabloids. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Polly
remembered distinctly the night that Lucky Luciano brought Capone’s trusted
hit-man, “Machine Gun Jack” McGurn, and some of the boys to the house.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> She recalled, with gratitude, Lucky’s
restraining hand when McGurn and Bugsy Siegel, as a practical joke, decided to
rearrange the furniture. They’d carried the sofa into the kitchen and were in
the process of hauling the stove into the living room, “when they noticed
Charlie Lucky looking at them – not saying anything, just looking. In two
seconds flat the furniture was back in place and there was no more horseplay
for the balance of the evening.”</span><sup> <a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">[3]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></a></sup><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">“I’ll not
forget the fight in Chicago, that was really something,” Polly later wrote.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><sup><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">[4]</span></span></sup><!--[endif]--></sup></a><sup style="font-size: 13.5pt;">
</sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> Every sports fan who could hitch a
ride was heading to Soldier’s Field for the fight, and wagering was reported to
be the heaviest anyone had seen in years.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">
“I bet a Big Five on Dempsey to win,” she remembered. “I followed the
smart money.”</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><sup> <a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;">[5]</span></sup><!--[endif]--></span></a></sup> </span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Capone,
who counted himself Jack Dempsey’s most ardent fan, had offered to fix the
rematch in the former champ’s favor. Jack graciously refused. Nonetheless, the
gangland czar intended to make this the social event of the season, snapping up
one hundred top-price seats and inviting every major mobster in the country to
fill them.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> “I remember thinking in 1927
that I was more afraid of who sat at ringside than of who was waiting for me
inside the ring,” confessed Dempsey.</span><sup> <a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">[6]</span></span></sup><!--[endif]--></a></sup>
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmp59mDYfvLECB-O2TtcwcI7bvywKunX3WvZO49CTo-IorDTfWy8IBRKuTvMPl1di87hjAiMAhXrFx3hdpJmltXyyPdOM1M3EH3t3vPKDg8OeipqGKfU4rhb10QK46i0m38zSeWZjsnc/s1660/1927+9-22-27+Tunney+v+Dempsey+-+DA.jpg"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="Picture_x0020_2" o:spid="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75"
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfmp59mDYfvLECB-O2TtcwcI7bvywKunX3WvZO49CTo-IorDTfWy8IBRKuTvMPl1di87hjAiMAhXrFx3hdpJmltXyyPdOM1M3EH3t3vPKDg8OeipqGKfU4rhb10QK46i0m38zSeWZjsnc/s1660/1927+9-22-27+Tunney+v+Dempsey+-+DA.jpg"
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--></span></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyheVvbcbPd2PeCC7t5gNLg5fCRCy7t8uj-BR3tLeX-uLermmGz3Ukeo6Hzy-5PDQoK_y27hNxFY7cNosGj1aTaa7xbd7ZVHDbdWpDYtmQYtdOj0VMPXtZ-S5UT6n7F1ZS4IQ1GW8-vM0/s1660/1927+9-22-27+Tunney+v+Dempsey+-+DA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1549" data-original-width="1660" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyheVvbcbPd2PeCC7t5gNLg5fCRCy7t8uj-BR3tLeX-uLermmGz3Ukeo6Hzy-5PDQoK_y27hNxFY7cNosGj1aTaa7xbd7ZVHDbdWpDYtmQYtdOj0VMPXtZ-S5UT6n7F1ZS4IQ1GW8-vM0/s320/1927+9-22-27+Tunney+v+Dempsey+-+DA.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left; text-indent: 0in;">"The
Battle of the Long Count" - Jack Dempsey's final attempt to reclaim the
heavyweight boxing title from Gene Tunney in Solders Field, Chicago, September
22, 1927. Photo from the author's collection.</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;">The Dempsey-Tunney
rematch would go down as one of the most controversial bouts in boxing history.
In round seven, Dempsey let loose a cascade of punches that sent Tunney
tumbling to the mat. But instead of retreating to a neutral corner while the
referee counted to ten as the rules required, Dempsey just stood there,
delaying the referee’s count, and giving the champion several seconds to catch
his breath before popping up just as the ref reached nine.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;"> When Tunney won, depriving the once-great
Dempsey of his last chance to be champ, those crucial seconds – “the Long
Count” it was dubbed – became a national scandal and the wellspring of a
million barroom arguments.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="text-indent: 0in;" title=""><sup><sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">[7]</span></span></sup></sup></a><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;">“Funny how I
remembered the Dempsey Tunney fight, perhaps it’s because I got a big lump on
my head attending the fight,” mused Polly. “When hot shot Dempsey put Tunney to
sleep on that historical long count I screamed my head off, you would think I
bet a million.”</span><sup style="text-indent: 0in;"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">[8]</span></span></sup></a></sup></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;">“Then when Tunney
kicked the hell out of Dempsey, which made him a winner, I was still screaming,
this time for Tunney.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;"> Who in the hell
cared who won as long as there was a winner.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;">
Suddenly I felt something on my noodle, probably a rock.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;"> The guy in back said, Hey lady, you must be
Nuts – your man is Dempsey.”</span><sup style="text-indent: 0in;"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn9" name="_ednref9" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">[9]</span></span></sup></a></sup></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;">Well, concluded
Polly, “for my money the guy was welcome to Dempsey, I knew him way back and
never liked him and still don’t.”</span><sup style="text-indent: 0in;"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn10" name="_ednref10" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">[10]</span></span></sup></a></sup></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;">The real fun came
after the fight was over, in her opinion. “Al Capone ran a party for one solid
week at the Metropole hotel, all the big politicians from everywhere attended
the party, Judges, Mobsters, yours truly included,” Polly recalled with
pleasure. “Capone was a grand host.”</span><sup style="text-indent: 0in;"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_edn11" name="_ednref11" title=""><sup><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">[11]</span></span></sup></a></sup><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;"> Senators, congressmen, show people,
journalists, society sportsmen, and gorgeous women, all downing top-shelf booze
and dancing to the city’s scalding-hot jazz bands. Capone himself took up the
conductor’s baton to direct a swinging version of “Rhapsody in Blue.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;">To commemorate the historic
occasion, Polly posed for a formal photograph, looking every inch the </span><i style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;">grande dame</i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;"> in her diamond sparklers and
fashionable fox stole.</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; text-indent: 0in;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXWY6AIiw6Zf65SD4T_Iw4yGTCdu3UHuBFvXtPImRPcRXwkYJusI8mCM-ItktvySjNeFmApLE3Clqzuvq9gzpkd70faq2bQmxwF7L4T0UdEp8NaEeC9I01d9xqFR3KC6lFvyVm2O190gM/s1172/1927+Dempsey+Tunney+ticket.jpg"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-no-proof: yes; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--></span></a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJP9YoeQrd5iMiAHfhP7MZx0keUsAT1uTTq_bo00yX-UppVUIKI_BY8lKEX7oM0yiBMhbfaA8dhecYC8B0H548D6QmasuQU0Sgg7qrtHX8QlCYr1f5fGQdSbmVtT_Xg60tczPidHBUCs8/s1172/1927+Dempsey+Tunney+ticket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1148" data-original-width="1172" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJP9YoeQrd5iMiAHfhP7MZx0keUsAT1uTTq_bo00yX-UppVUIKI_BY8lKEX7oM0yiBMhbfaA8dhecYC8B0H548D6QmasuQU0Sgg7qrtHX8QlCYr1f5fGQdSbmVtT_Xg60tczPidHBUCs8/s320/1927+Dempsey+Tunney+ticket.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Very
pleasant”: </b>HNH, 102. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“Murder trade”: </span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;">NYT,
</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;">July 8, 1928, </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">111<span style="color: black;">. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“Of the evening”: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;">HNH, 295. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Really
something”: </b>PA to VF, Oct. 13, 1941, VF notebook, 14, VF-HNH.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“Smart money”: </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">PA to VF, Oct. 13, 1941, VF notebook, 14, VF-HNH.<span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“Inside the ring”: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;">Dempsey, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dempsey</i>, 136.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“Long Count”: </span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;">Heimer, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Long Count</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[8]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“Bet a million”: </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">PA to VF, Oct. 13, 1941, VF notebook, 14, VF-HNH.<span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn9" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref9" name="_edn9" style="mso-endnote-id: edn9;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[9]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;">
</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“Your
man is Dempsey”: </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">PA to VF, Oct. 13,
1941, VF notebook, 14, VF-HNH.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn10" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref10" name="_edn10" style="mso-endnote-id: edn10;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[10]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“Still don’t”: </span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">PA to VF, Oct. 13, 1941, VF notebook, 14, VF-HNH.<span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
</div>
<div id="edn11" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><a href="file:///C:/Users/apple.RMTLT05/Documents/Adler/Marketing/Polly%20Adler%20as%20Al%20Capone's%20guest%20with%20footnote.docx#_ednref11" name="_edn11" style="mso-endnote-id: edn11;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">[11]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">“Grand host”:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> PA to VF, Oct. 13, 1941, VF notebook, 14, VF-HNH.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">DEBBY
APPLEGATE </span></b><span style="font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">is a historian based
in New Haven, CT. Her first book, <i>The Most Famous Man in America: The
Biography of Henry Ward Beecher</i>, won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for biography
and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize and the National Book Critics
Circle Award for biography. She is a graduate of Amherst College and was a
Sterling Fellow in American Studies at Yale University where she received her
Ph.D. She lives with her husband the workplace writer Bruce Tulgan
in New Haven, Connecticut.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: 0in;"><u><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="https://debby-applegate.com/">https://debby-applegate.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">https://www.facebook.com/Polly-Adler-Madam-The-Biography-of-Polly-Adler-Icon-of-the-Jazz-Age-105313019559817<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Labels:
Al Capone, Chicago, Broadway mob, Debby Applegate, Polly Adler, prostitution,
Jack Dempsey, boxing, Metropole Hotel<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormalCxSpLast" style="border: none; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-border-shadow: yes; mso-padding-alt: 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt 31.0pt;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Debby Applegatehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03899493333334520368noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-49054719763778896632021-09-27T02:30:00.012-04:002021-09-27T02:30:00.248-04:00October 2021 issue of Informer<h1 style="text-align: center;">Mafiosi of the West Coast</h1>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8C_CQCFtIq1bhaVB6GLefQDDumf5qpl68LJYvjQc9Figzu1I3DLb_uE4qJ3BvN6R_smx2sD1hWJTQ3fied30EL9sQ917ez6FiUmGtA-f3nMRa-pa0WQ5E8O_1v546spNNQ9ybl-7Dg/s309/pre-cover.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="240" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8C_CQCFtIq1bhaVB6GLefQDDumf5qpl68LJYvjQc9Figzu1I3DLb_uE4qJ3BvN6R_smx2sD1hWJTQ3fied30EL9sQ917ez6FiUmGtA-f3nMRa-pa0WQ5E8O_1v546spNNQ9ybl-7Dg/s0/pre-cover.png" width="240" /></a></div>
<p>Our look at mobsters who set up shop on America's West Coast begins with excerpts from a fact-based crime <i>noir</i> by J. Michael Niotta PhD. These excerpts relate to the escape to California of New York gangsters - a young Jack Dragna and his cousin Ben Rizzotto - implicated in the 1914 murder of wealthy Manhattan poultryman Barnett Baff (<a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2021/09/transcontinental-mafiosi.html"><font color="#900000">PREVIEW</font></a>). This is Dr. Niotta's first article in <i>Informer</i>. A brief biography of Baff is provided as a sidebar.</p>
<p>Dragna and Rizzotto also make appearances in Justin Cascio's study of the legendary “San Pedro Gang” and Corleone Mafia transplant Sam Streva (<a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2021/09/mafia-spreads-its-talons.html"><font color="#900000">PREVIEW</font></a>).</p>
<p>The San Francisco gangland murder of Nick DeJohn, found stuffed into the trunk of his car in 1947, and that killing's possible relationship with Chicago's so-called “Cheese War” are considered by Thomas Hunt (<a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2021/09/chicago-outfit-hit-in-san-fran.html"><font color="#900000">PREVIEW</font></a>). The article is accompanied by a sidebar story on early Chicago shootings linked with the DeJohn family and by a collection of other car-involved murders of crime figures who settled in California.</p>
<p>Michael O'Haire reveals that San Francisco crime boss Francesco Lanza played important roles in the development of the Mafia in Colorado (<a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2021/09/linking-golden-state-and-centennial.html"><font color="#900000">PREVIEW</font></a>). Lennert van 't Riet explores connections between the early San Francisco and New Orleans Mafia organizations, focusing on 1898 murder victim Francesco DiFranchi (<a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2021/09/golden-city-crescent-city-connection.html"><font color="#900000">PREVIEW</font></a>).</p>
<p>In addition to the California-related material, we look into reports of another, “other Gentile family” (<a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2021/09/nick-had-cleveland-kin.html"><font color="#900000">PREVIEW</font></a>) and Jeffery King describes the career of Reinhold Engel, who led “one of the cleverest and most efficient” bank robbery gangs (<a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2021/09/bank-heists.html"><font color="#900000">PREVIEW</font></a>).</p>
<p>In our “Just One More Thing” column, Thomas Hunt considers the rare appearance of law enforcement officers on United States postage stamps (<a href="https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2021/09/cops-on-stamps-sticky-subject.html"><font color="#900000">PREVIEW</font></a>). This issue also includes “Hundred Years Ago” notes on a crime boss desperate to leave the country and the murder of a St. Louis political boss, as well as a new book announcement for <i>Rogues' Gallery</i> about the Gilded Age revolution of policing in New York City. </p>
<p></p>
<p><i>This issue is available in five formats: Print magazine, electronic PDF magazine, paperback book, EPUB-compatible e-book and Kindle-compatible e-book. Kindle e-books can be "preordered" immediately, but Kindle downloads will not be available until Sept. 29. The e-books and the electronic magazine are priced at $9.49 (USD). The print paperback retails for $14.95 (USD). The color-printed magazine retails for $25.50 (USD).<br /></i></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/2055798" target="_blank"><b>MagCloud</b> - print and PDF electronic magazine formats (color).</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Informer-History-American-Enforcement-California-ebook/dp/B09FYJKJZS?dchild=1&keywords=%22Informer%3A+The+History+of+American+Crime+and+Law+Enforcement+-+October+2021%3A+The+Mafia+in+California%22&qid=1632563046&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=33dcf75aa41bf39871cc50e59166fa5e&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><b>Amazon</b> - print paperback and Kindle e-book formats (B&W).</a></li>
<li><a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Thomas_Hunt_Informer_The_History_of_American_Crime?id=GmBCEAAAQBAJ" target="_blank"><b>Google Play Books</b> - EPUB e-book format (B&W).</a></li>
</ul>
<p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-75131663353616846192021-09-01T07:55:00.002-04:002021-09-01T08:00:36.675-04:00NYC revolutions in policing and in crime<p>Press release:</p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Chilling and thought-provoking, John Oller's <i>Rogues' Gallery</i> (available September 21, 2021, in hardcover and ebook formats) is an epic saga of two revolutions playing out on the streets of New York City during the Gilded Age, each one dependent on the other.</span></p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rogues-Gallery-Modern-Policing-Organized/dp/1524745650?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=66b015f284a3218919bb8cee22073539&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="240" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0bW_atXrUALz_UdOScLJ5LrpTg0Lk40HDk10z1iP5gu191h9DipdiirESRz7VGlTjj3jS585H-AJW6xUjIhPwqE0Hzk-qAAX6dSVfq2O-IBg2J30iXcralQoLKkSBe5mJ7O1ttFlygvY/s320/roguesgallery-sm.png" width="213" /></a></div>For centuries, New York had been a haven of crime. A thief or murderer not caught in the act nearly always got away. But in the early 1870s, an Irish cop by the name of Thomas Byrnes developed new ways to catch criminals. Mug shots and daily line-ups helped witnesses point out culprits; the fames rogues' gallery allowed police to track repeat offenders; and the third-degree interrogation method induced recalcitrant cooks to confess. Byrnes worked cases methodically, interviewing witnesses, analyzing crime scenes, and developing theories that helped close the books on previously unsolvable crimes.<p></p><p>Yet as policing became ever more specialized and efficient, criminals found new ways to ply their trade. Robberies became bolder and more elaborate, murders grew more ruthless and macabre, and the street gangs of old transformed into hierarchical criminal enterprises, giving birth to organized crime, including the Mafia. As the decades unfolded, corrupt cops and clever criminals at times blurred together, giving way to waves of police reform at the hands of leaders like Theodore Roosevelt.</p><p><i>Rogues Gallery</i> encompasses unforgettable characters such as:<br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Marm Mendelbaum, a matronly German-immigrant woman who paid off cops and politicians to protect her empire of fencing stolen goods.</li><li>"Clubber" Williams, a sadistic policeman who wielded a twenty-six-inch club against suspects, whether they were guilty or not.</li><li>Danny Driscoll, the murderous leader of the Irish Whyos Gang and perhaps the first crime boss of New York.</li><li>Big Tim Sullivan, the corrupt Tammany Hall politician who shielded the Whyos from the law.</li><li>The suave Italian Paul Kelly and the thuggish Jewish gang leader Monk Eastman, whose rival crews engaged in brawls and gunfights all over the Lower East Side.</li><li>Joe Petrosino, a Sicilian-born detective who brilliantly pursued early Mafioso and Black Hand extortionists until a fateful trup back to his native Italy.</li></ul><p>With impeccable research that leaves no stone unturned, Oller dispels the many myths that have survived with these stories, while proving that truth is often stranger than fiction. <i>Rogues Gallery</i> is a colorful and captivating history in the bustling streets of Old New York, from the beginnings of big-city police work to the rise of the Mafia. With its extremes of plutocratic wealth, tenement property, and rising social unrest, the story of crime and punishment in New York's Gilded Age echoes for our own time.</p><p>John Oller is a retired Wall Street attorney, and author of critically acclaimed biographies of figures such as Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion, Hollywood actress Jean Arthur, and Civil War socialite Kate Chase Sprague. He lives on New York's Upper West Side.</p><p>The principle text, maps and images of <i>Rogue's Gallery</i> consume about 400 pages. An additional 80-plus pages is used for endnotes and bibliography. The index runs 19 more pages. The book is being released through the Dutton imprint of Penguin Random House. As of this writing, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rogues-Gallery-Modern-Policing-Organized/dp/1524745650?&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=66b015f284a3218919bb8cee22073539&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">preorder price on Amazon.com is $27.99 for hardcover and $16.99 for Kindle-compatible ebook</span></a>.<br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-44353267415903414062021-07-28T09:40:00.001-04:002021-07-28T09:40:43.948-04:00FBI gives post-Brasco warning to 'Sonny Black'<p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">On this date in 1981...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">FBI Special Agents Doug Fencl, Jim Kinne and Jerry Loar visited Motion Lounge, a nightclub and Bonanno Crime Family headquarters at 420 Graham Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in late July of 1981 (the specific date is in doubt). They pulled Bonanno capodecina Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano aside and revealed that Special Agent Joseph D. Pistone had successfully infiltrated Napolitano's organization as part of the "Donnie Brasco" undercover operation.</span><br /><br />
</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVvE9dlSceGVm_aXjqdPQUlQbK6rx9Mheptr3rTxdrmAOIu7wyKlBjbVLSo4uf3HTU1NQ-I2UMZ2QhJu65P4mAFv_T3rhq7spR6TjapngkZIucqrF3dL4i2M3euDQmMKLDP0iwLljqUZk/s520/agentsloar-kinne-fencl-motionlounge.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="520" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVvE9dlSceGVm_aXjqdPQUlQbK6rx9Mheptr3rTxdrmAOIu7wyKlBjbVLSo4uf3HTU1NQ-I2UMZ2QhJu65P4mAFv_T3rhq7spR6TjapngkZIucqrF3dL4i2M3euDQmMKLDP0iwLljqUZk/w400-h356/agentsloar-kinne-fencl-motionlounge.png" width="400" /><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span></i></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">FBI agents Loar, Kinne and Fencl (left to right)<br /> leaving Motion Lounge.</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<br />According to Pistone's book, <i>Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia</i>, the encounter occurred on July 28. Pistone wrote that the agents showed Napolitano a photograph of Pistone in the company of several fellow federal agents. As the photograph was shown, the agents asked Napolitano, "Do you know this guy? He's an FBI agent. We just wanted to tell you."<br /><p>Napolitano had known and confided in Pistone - believing him to be jewel thief Brasco - for months. But he remained poised in front of the other agents and replied, "I don't know him, but if I meet him, I'll know he's an FBI agent."<br /><br />Pistone could only have heard of this encounter second-hand. Fencl, who was actually there, recalled it differently for his testimony in the 2004 trial of Bonanno boss Joseph Massino. He placed the encounter two days later, July 30.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuhv-Jf7NtMBxsMg90LSWdwlHQeJxTQYepdyZ2cXX_5ei2qfHIWXj4i-f6J1IufNFARBnWDtghMNcChAZL1XYLhzWFHdK4Em7BljoOy0Y_qS2BRacLcPW1NfGQiiSkkJlPKqQgRazvGTo/s482/motionlounge-brooklyn.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuhv-Jf7NtMBxsMg90LSWdwlHQeJxTQYepdyZ2cXX_5ei2qfHIWXj4i-f6J1IufNFARBnWDtghMNcChAZL1XYLhzWFHdK4Em7BljoOy0Y_qS2BRacLcPW1NfGQiiSkkJlPKqQgRazvGTo/s320/motionlounge-brooklyn.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Motion Lounge</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />"I asked [Napolitano] if he knew Donnie Brasco and Tony Rossi, and he said that he did, and I told him they were FBI agents," Fencl testified. "I told him I wanted to make sure of his safety and that he was going to have a potential problem with the Bonanno Crime Family" <br /><br />Fencl offered Napolitano his business card, hoping that he would contact Fencl and agree to cooperate with law enforcement. Napolitano refused, saying, "You know better than anybody that I can't take that, but I know how to get a hold of you." <br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZGyytXC0QLBaSfQ9vbnFczAh1TjPRdhqn2ifZzRKMNZTUvNq0pIfuZQvFZugeoZs3Xfk4YnMDQga2b_W_exbL95g2Kxdcki7kv5rfU10AJE4Tym2YxXCMVU3QBqJfZ6qgL5mEoFKzXm4/s301/napolitanodominick-nybon.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZGyytXC0QLBaSfQ9vbnFczAh1TjPRdhqn2ifZzRKMNZTUvNq0pIfuZQvFZugeoZs3Xfk4YnMDQga2b_W_exbL95g2Kxdcki7kv5rfU10AJE4Tym2YxXCMVU3QBqJfZ6qgL5mEoFKzXm4/w146-h200/napolitanodominick-nybon.png" width="146" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Napolitano</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table>According to Fencl, he brought along a photograph of Pistone and several other agents just in case Napolitano needed proof that the man he knew as Brasco was actually an agent. In his testimony, Fencl did not indicate whether the photograph was actually used.<br /><br />Despite the government warning, Napolitano made no effort to protect himself. After Fencl, Kinne and Loar left the lounge, he scrambled to inform Mafia higher-ups of the possible infiltration and to locate the man he knew as Brasco. Napolitano was soon murdered by his underworld colleagues - under orders from rapidly rising Bonanno leader Massino - for taking the undercover agent into his orbit as a crime family associate. Late in the year, Napolitano was called to a meeting with bosses. He did not return. <br /><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbIZI-zdIl5TRPriMvck5zXSbaBx7Ggs_Gl1-WooWmEA5mlKsJdkOR80NA_rt0gqh4LI-0Odv_MiLXkIzq-MPYdJRxmrWp6-ayg2tucgw8SoIUwRGVavAQTOTuCFg0yvHQVl0XmXrVDHI/s230/baghed.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="230" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbIZI-zdIl5TRPriMvck5zXSbaBx7Ggs_Gl1-WooWmEA5mlKsJdkOR80NA_rt0gqh4LI-0Odv_MiLXkIzq-MPYdJRxmrWp6-ayg2tucgw8SoIUwRGVavAQTOTuCFg0yvHQVl0XmXrVDHI/w191-h200/baghed.png" width="191" /></a></div>Picked up in Brooklyn by mobster Frank Lino, he was driven to a house in Staten Island and murdered in the cellar. According to later testimony, two gunmen were assigned to perform the killing. One fired a less-than-fatal shot, and the other's gun jammed. Before a fatal shot was fired, Napolitano was heard to say, "Hit me one more time, and make it good." In the summer of 1982, Napolitano's badly decomposed body, minus its hands, was found wrapped in a city mortuary bag in woods near a creek in western Staten Island. Identification of the remains took considerable time because of the decomposition. A medical examiner reporting to the scene of the body's discovery was unable even to determine its sex.<br /><br />The Brasco operation began in 1976 as an effort to penetrate the "fences" who processed stolen goods for organized crime families in New York. Special Agent Pistone first encountered Bonanno members in front of a mob social club on Madison Street in lower Manhattan. He gained the trust of Manhattan-based Bonanno soldier Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero and his immediate superior Napolitano. <br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI6VelU_BqjvyEpTNVrmRXHl8Xm2em5mYHf_4MQmO4DrX811v8q2XF5BCZF7tNDfgVP0hqFcG8-sKQrbDfWAWD9M6azUsJyNYzoN8muxHpZ5EbjHlmvkXc7w7KDW9ViaNLyItepv0kWXA/s303/pistonejoseph-fbi.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="303" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI6VelU_BqjvyEpTNVrmRXHl8Xm2em5mYHf_4MQmO4DrX811v8q2XF5BCZF7tNDfgVP0hqFcG8-sKQrbDfWAWD9M6azUsJyNYzoN8muxHpZ5EbjHlmvkXc7w7KDW9ViaNLyItepv0kWXA/w145-h200/pistonejoseph-fbi.png" width="145" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pistone</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table>During the operation, Pistone participated in underworld rackets - fencing of stolen goods, gambling, loansharking - and learned of gangland murders. When pressure was put on him to participate in a murder, the FBI ended the operation. Through his undercover work, the FBI gained information on a Bonanno Crime Family civil war that included the assassination of leader Carmine Galante and the later killings of three rebellious group leaders, Alphonse Indelicato, Philip Giaccone and Dominick Trinchera. The Bureau also learned of relationships between elements of the Bonanno organization and crime families as far off as Florida and Wisconsin.<br /><br />Donnie Brasco's true identity was publicly revealed for the first time in the federal racketeering conspiracy trial of Ruggiero and four other defendants in the summer of 1982. Judge Robert W. Sweet refused a prosecution request to allow the agent to testify only under his code name, finding that doing so would hamper defendants' ability to cross examine the primary witness against them. Pistone took the witness stand on August 2, 1982. His testimony focused on four of the five defendants. All four were convicted on August 27. The fifth defendant - charged on the basis of informant testimony - was acquitted. Ruggiero, then fifty-six, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for racketeering conspiracy including three murders.<br /><br /><u>Sources</u>:<p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>DeStefano, Anthony M., "Hardened felon chokes up on stand," <i>Newsday</i>, May 27, 2004, p. 22.</li><li>Lubasch, Arnold H., "3 of 5 convicted of conspiracy in 'Bonanno Family' rackets," <i>New York Times</i>, Aug. 28, 1982, p. 1.</li><li>Lubasch, Arnold H., "6 get jail terms in rackets case tied to mobsters," <i>New York Times</i>, Nov. 16, 1982, p. B1.</li><li>Lubasch, Arnold H., "Defense assails agent's actions in Mob inquiry," <i>New York Times</i>, Aug. 6, 1982, p. B1.</li><li>Lubasch, Arnold H., "F.B.I. agent, dropping disguise, tells court of life inside the Mob," <i>New York Times</i>, Aug. 3, 1982, p. 1.</li><li>Lubasch, Arnold H., "F.B.I. infiltrator says Mob chief told of slayings," <i>New York Times</i>, Aug. 4, 1982, p. B1.</li><li>McPhee, Michele, "'Brasco's long wait," <i>New York Daily News</i>, Jan. 19, 2003, p. 10.</li><li>Pistone, Joseph D., with Richard Woodley, <i>Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia</i>, New York: NAL, 1987, pp. 363-368.</li><li>Schmetterer, Jerry, and Paul Meskil, with D.J. Saunders, "Victim was mobster who let fed agent in," <i>New York Daily News</i>, Nov. 16, 1982, p. 3.</li><li>Smith, Kati Cornell, "Brasco fiasco," <i>New York Post</i>, June 5, 2004.</li><li>Weiss, Murray, "Find body in a bag," <i>New York Daily News</i>, Aug. 13, 1982, p. 29.</li></ul><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-7786709542570244922021-06-14T08:57:00.006-04:002023-06-14T07:08:35.269-04:00Spilotro bros killed by underworld colleagues<p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">On this date in 1986...</span></p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-z_BRkLK7J_0jfvw2-1ONHaG1FOor1cWkcXfTL0-qDXIC8wTr20piuhkQXODYT6wsB2DWh9G90pKiwXdGJY9WGR6yNKYWbhSZU-p1NsGvGxZEncbggpf9Hwlv3s0r5gXF0VTik1o_W0Y/s800/spilotomichael-anthony-chilv.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Michael and Anthony Spilotro" border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="800" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-z_BRkLK7J_0jfvw2-1ONHaG1FOor1cWkcXfTL0-qDXIC8wTr20piuhkQXODYT6wsB2DWh9G90pKiwXdGJY9WGR6yNKYWbhSZU-p1NsGvGxZEncbggpf9Hwlv3s0r5gXF0VTik1o_W0Y/w400-h295/spilotomichael-anthony-chilv.png" title="Michael and Anthony Spilotro" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Michael and Anthony Spilotro</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">Brothers Anthony "the Ant" Spilotro, forty-eight, and Michael Spilotro, forty-one, were murdered by underworld colleagues in the basement of a Bensenville, Illinois, home on Saturday, June 14, 1986. The brothers' remains were discovered buried in an Indiana cornfield nine days later.</span></p>
<p>Nicholas Calabrese, an Outfit member who later turned informant, told authorities that the Spilotros were called to a June 14 mid-afternoon meeting with Chicago bosses. The brothers left Michael's Oak Park, Illinois, townhouse (1102 S. Maple Avenue) at about two o'clock and traveled in Michael's 1986 Lincoln Continental to their appointment. Reports indicate they were met by James Marcello, who brought them to the basement in Bensenville, a suburban DuPage County village adjacent to O'Hare International Airport.</p>
<p>The pretext for the meeting reportedly was the promotion of Michael Spilotro from Outfit associate to full member. The brothers had schemed against Outfit bosses and were apprehensive about the meeting. Michael told his wife if he wasn't back home by nine o'clock that night, "it was no good." But they went to their appointment unarmed.</p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqM-WwMpnG9NfUdYPwb2H_peCqV8cbc5TPuLBcZXOC4Z_87K5mbE-EJXOWpfVP3xkgq_-te3n-8diRNoQ_8-Ewe5InkOqLFZsoIg0nupZuFMlMYrkQNzrQi2e7eXjlKi8yv3pFMyuWF2Q/s622/calabresenicholas-chisp.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="622" data-original-width="420" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqM-WwMpnG9NfUdYPwb2H_peCqV8cbc5TPuLBcZXOC4Z_87K5mbE-EJXOWpfVP3xkgq_-te3n-8diRNoQ_8-Ewe5InkOqLFZsoIg0nupZuFMlMYrkQNzrQi2e7eXjlKi8yv3pFMyuWF2Q/w135-h200/calabresenicholas-chisp.png" width="135" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Nicholas Calabrese</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>When the brothers arrived, they were attacked by Nicholas Calabrese and other mobsters. Years later, Calabrese recalled that James LaPietra, John Fecarotta, John "No Nose" DiFronzo, Sam "Wings" Carlisi, Louie "the Mooch" Eboli, James Marcello, Louis Marino, Joseph Ferriola and Ernest "Rocky" Infelise were present at that time. Calabrese asserted that he tackled Michael Spilotro and held his legs, while others beat and strangled him. Anthony Spilotro made a last request: for a moment to say a prayer. No one responded to his plea, and he was mercilessly beaten until he was dead.</p>
<p>Fecarotta and others were responsible for disposing of the brothers' remains. They drove the bodies about seventy-five miles southeast of Bensenville (sixty miles south of Chicago) to the outskirts of Enos, in Newton County, Indiana. There, the brothers' bodies, stripped down to their underwear, were buried on top of each other in a shallow grave in a recently planted corn field.</p>
<p>When Michael did not return home that night, his wife called police to report him missing. On the sixteenth, the Lincoln Continental was located at a Schiller Park motel near O'Hare. There was no indication that any struggle or violence had occurred within the car, and its doors were found locked. The next day, federal agents joined the search, as a fugitive arrest warrant was issued by a U.S. magistrate in Las Vegas for Anthony Spilotro. "The Ant" had been due to appear in a Las Vegas court on the seventeenth in preparation for a retrial on a burglary ring case.</p>
<p>Farmer Michael Kinz discovered a patch of freshly turned earth within his corn field at the Willow Slough wildlife preserve on June 23. He first thought that a poacher had covered up the carcass of a deer killed out of season. Kinz contacted Dick Hudson of the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, and they began digging. They discovered the human remains about three feet down. The Newton County Sheriff's Department was summoned.</p>
<p>Law enforcement reportedly identified the bodies using dental records. Autopsies on June 24 revealed that the Spilotros died of blunt force trauma to head, neck and chest, which the medical examiner attributed to punches and kicks, and asphyxiation due to hemorrhage. (The listing of asphyxiation as a cause of death prompted some in the news media to incorrectly conclude that the brothers had been buried alive. The medical examiner could not precisely relate the time of death to the time of burial but noted that asphyxiation was caused by the lungs filling with blood.) Toxicology reports indicated that they had consumed alcohol shortly before their deaths, giving rise to the speculation that they may have had drinks with the men who killed them.</p>
<p>On June 26, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago determined that the brothers should be denied church funeral services. That decision was made after the Rev. Thomas Paprocki, vice chancellor of the archdiocese, reviewed criminal information supplied by an undisclosed source. Father Paprocki indicated that the church refused to grant funerals to crime figures in order to avoid public scandal. But the denial itself turned into a scandal, as many in Chicago protested it and called attention to the church's willingness in the past to accept large financial contributions from Michael Spilotro. (Father Paprocki argued that cash contributions from known crime figures were sometimes rejected by the church and that donations generally did not result in public scandal as they were made privately.)<br /></p>
<p>A service was conducted the next morning at the non-denominational Salerno Galewood Chapel funeral home on North Harlem Avenue. Numerous floral offerings filled the chapel and surrounded the two bronze coffins. The Rev. John Fearon of St. Bernardine's Roman Catholic Church in Forest Park, of which Michael was a member, delivered a homily. About 300 people attended the service. The chapel was closed to the press, but observers noted the presence of Anthony Spilotro's Vegas lieutenant Herbert Blitzstein and actor Robert Conrad. Following the service, the Spilotro brothers were buried at Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois.</p>
<p><i><b>Background</b></i></p>
<p>The motives for the Spilotro murders were fairly well understood in 1986 and became more clear with the passage of time. As soon as their bodies were found, former FBI Special Agent William Roemer told the press, "[Anthony] Spilotro wasn't doing his job in Las Vegas. He maintained too high a profile there... He was under the glare of the harshest spotlight."</p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0CmgX5HG-jvIl7RAGaN8QwX6_X6lCkEhbeo9MBHJHy-TokZI5XnAZgp-xKF8mcEviRY3AqJK3UGPPOf6inlPU7rUZe8RYpFba_OQb-6e-6a7Kz91rnSaDFVmv4Zuf0NaF5UnY34E-sgk/s576/spilotroanthony-chismile.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="368" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0CmgX5HG-jvIl7RAGaN8QwX6_X6lCkEhbeo9MBHJHy-TokZI5XnAZgp-xKF8mcEviRY3AqJK3UGPPOf6inlPU7rUZe8RYpFba_OQb-6e-6a7Kz91rnSaDFVmv4Zuf0NaF5UnY34E-sgk/w127-h200/spilotroanthony-chismile.png" width="127" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Anthony Spilotro</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>Anthony Spilotro, a "made" member of the Chicago Outfit since 1963, mismanaged Outfit affairs in Las Vegas and drew excessive attention upon himself, while attempting to enhance his own wealth and power. Rather than focus on quietly maintaining order and ensuring a lucrative and smoothly run skim operation, Spilotro insisted on engaging in more conventional and order-threatening rackets, such as extortion, burglary, loan sharking. His obvious criminal activity got him banned from Vegas casinos. His violent tendencies - he was linked with a number of murders but never convicted - caused some of his Vegas underlings, including Frank Cullotta, to seek protection from federal agents and become witnesses against Spilotro and Chicago underworld bosses. Outfit leader Joseph "Doves" Aiuppa was convicted and sentenced to prison in connection with skim operations, in large part because of scrutiny triggered by Spilotro. Reportedly, "the Ant's" fate was sealed when Aiuppa learned that Spilotro was having an affair with the wife of Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal.</p>
<p>An accomplished and innovative gambler, Rosenthal was responsible for managing Outfit investments in the Stardust and other Las Vegas casinos and maximizing the underworld's illegal "skim" siphoned off pretax casino income. Spilotro endangered important underworld relationships through the affair with Rosenthal's wife, and reportedly went so far as to plot the murder of Rosenthal himself. (<a href="https://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/infachilles.html" target="_blank">Rosenthal also became a government informant</a>, though his role, hidden by the codename "Achilles," was not exposed until after his 2008 death.) Spilotro and Rosenthal had been close friends in Chicago - "Lefty" reportedly once talked Fiore "Fifi" Buccieri out of murdering Spilotro - but their relationship quickly soured after their early 1970s arrival in Las Vegas.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, Spilotro became a favorite target for prosecutors. He faced charges of directing a burglary ring in 1980-1981. Prosecutions relating to his "Hole in the Wall Gang" continued for years. He was due to be retried on the matter in Nevada on the same day his body was discovered in the corn field. A 1986 prosecution for racketeering ended in an April 8, 1986, mistrial, but more charges loomed. He faced federal trial in Kansas City, Missouri, in connection with casino skimming operations and another federal case in Las Vegas, relating to the 1979 murder of a police informant. Before the end of April, a federal grand jury in Chicago indicted Michael Spilotro, owner of Hoagies restaurant in Chicago, for extortion.</p>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQajBfbfF5xbaqItw4JgZrvZ0DbnYscyY9Z5ot1w_Vs4kjHrU_1cObodgeHPRTx8jTk28O4RQJaTCjGI-8aaQIhuKJW-48oC67ueCjbmeAmIEOSxEHYug5FMjL65EozmQNjDOx8Ol6EQ0/s800/spilotroanthony-1974chimug.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="800" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQajBfbfF5xbaqItw4JgZrvZ0DbnYscyY9Z5ot1w_Vs4kjHrU_1cObodgeHPRTx8jTk28O4RQJaTCjGI-8aaQIhuKJW-48oC67ueCjbmeAmIEOSxEHYug5FMjL65EozmQNjDOx8Ol6EQ0/w320-h237/spilotroanthony-1974chimug.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Anthony Spilotro</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><i><b>'Family Secrets'</b></i></p>
<p>Outfit bosses were brought to trial for the Spilotro killings and many other offenses in the "<a href="https://mob-news.blogspot.com/search/label/family%20secrets" target="_blank">Family Secrets</a>" case of 2007, which resulted in plea deals and guilty verdicts. Turncoat Nicholas Calabrese testified for five days. While Calabrese listed the mobsters present at the time of the Spilotros' murders, he could not say who specifically was responsible for the fatal beatings given to the brothers. He testified that he, with help from Louie Eboli, was holding down Michael Spilotro and had his back toward Anthony Spilotro.</p>
<p>Though the Calabrese account of the killings included <a href="https://mafiahistory.us/a034/f_difronzo.html" target="_blank">John "No Nose" DiFronzo</a>, DiFronzo was not charged in the case.</p>
<p>Five of the original fourteen Family Secrets defendants remained at the close of the trial. The others had been removed through plea deals. After the ten-week trial, jurors deliberated for four days before finding the defendants - Frank "the Breeze" Calabrese, Sr. (brother of government witness Nicholas Calabrese), Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo, James Marcello, Paul "the Indian" Schiro and Anthony "Twan" Doyle - guilty on all counts on September 10, 2007.</p>
<p>The jury separately considered the issue of whether Marcello, Frank Calabrese, Lombardo and Schiro used murder to advance the interests of their criminal conspiracy. Eighteen murders and one attempted murder had been charged against the defendants. On September 27, the jury reported that Marcello, Calabrese and Lombardo were guilty of racketeering murders. (The panel deadlocked on the charge against Schiro.) Marcello specifically was convicted of participating in the killings of the Spilotro brothers, as well as in the 1981 beating death of Nicholas D'Andrea.</p>
<p>Government witness Nicholas Calabrese was sentenced March 26, 2009, to serve a term of twelve years and four months in prison. He admitted involvement in a number of mob murders, including the killing of the Spilotro brothers.</p>
<p></p><p><br /></p><p><u>Sources</u>:<br /><br /></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/iln/chicago/2005/pr0425_01.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">"14 defendants indicted for alleged organized crime activities...,"</span></a> press release of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, U.S. Department of Justice, April 25, 2005.</li><li>Anthony Spilotro Certificate of Death, Indiana State Board of Health, signed by coroner on July 25, 1985.</li><li>Cawley, Janet, "Spilotro a 'nice boy' who grew up tough," <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, March 13, 1983, p. B1. </li><li>Chicago Tribune, "Did reputed mob brothers run or were they killed?" <i>Elyria OH Chronicle-Telegram</i>, June 19, 1986, p. B2.</li><li>Dwyer, Bill, "Details of Spilotro murders revealed in mob trial," <i>Oak Park Journal</i>, oakpark.com, Aug. 14, 2007, updated Feb. 11, 2021.</li><li>Goudie, Chuck, "The last family secret: 30 years after the Spilotro hit," ABC-7 Chicago, abc7chicago.com, June 24, 2016.</li><li>Hidlay, William C., "Mourners weep at funeral for Spilotro brothers," Associated Press (AP), apnews.com, June 27, 1986.</li><li>Houston, Jack, "Secrets led to Spilotro rites denial," <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, June 27, 1986.</li><li>Hunt, Thomas, <a href="https://mob-news.blogspot.com/search/label/family%20secrets" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">"Family Secrets" coverage</span></a>, Mob-News, mob-news.blogspot.com, 2007-2009.</li><li>Hunt, Thomas, <a href="https://mafiahistory.us/a034/f_difronzo.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">"Outfit boss DiFronzo fought the law, and the law lost,"</span></a> The American Mafia, mafiahistory.us, 2018-2021.</li><li>Koziol, Ronald, and Edward Baumann, "Spilotros found beaten to death," <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, June 25, 1986.</li><li>Koziol, Ronald, and John O'Brien," "Spilotros may have had drinks with killers," <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, July 25, 1986.</li><li>Manning, Mary, "Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal dies at age 79," <i>Las Vegas Sun</i>, lasvegassun.com, Oct. 14, 2008.</li><li>Michael Spilotro Certificate of Death, Indiana State Board of Health, signed by coroner on July 25, 1985.</li><li>Schumacker, Geoff, "Tony Spilotro's last act," Nevada Public Radio Desert Companion, May 23, 2016.</li><li>Valin, Edmond, <a href="https://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/infachilles.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">"'Lefty' Rosenthal was high-level FBI source</span></a><span style="color: #990000;"> </span><a href="https://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/infachilles.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #990000;">into activities of Chicago Outfit,"</span></a> The American Mafia, mafiahistory.us, 2018.</li></ul><p> </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-85944535123809122772021-06-06T14:04:00.000-04:002021-06-06T14:04:00.233-04:001962: Cancer claims mob boss Profaci<p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">On this date in 1962...</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">Brooklyn-based crime boss Joseph Profaci died at ten minutes to eleven o'clock in the evening of Wednesday, June 6, 1962. The cause of death for the sixty-four-year-old leader of the Profaci Crime Family (later known as the Colombo Crime Family) was cancer.</span></p>
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<p>Profaci was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital in East Islip, Suffolk County, New York, on March 27, intending to have cancer surgically removed. Doctors found the cancer inoperable. He was released from Good Samaritan on April 5 and became a guest at the secure fifteen-room East Islip estate of his brother-in-law and second-in-command Giuseppe Magliocco. He remained there for two months.</p>
<p>Profaci's own home at 8863 Fifteenth Avenue in Brooklyn was largely avoided in that time. It was considered vulnerable to attack by the Gallo brothers faction, then in open revolt against the Profaci administration. Friction between Profaci and the Gallos dated back to the late 1950s, when the Gallos felt they had been inadequately rewarded for performing murders at the boss's orders. The Gallos forced early-1961 concessions by kidnapping several top Profaci leaders. But Profaci went back on the coerced promises and attempted to have the Gallo leaders murdered, making use of young mobsters who had betrayed the Gallo cause. Blood was spilled on both sides beginning in August 1961.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, June 5, 1962, Profaci was taken to Southside (subsequently renamed South Shore) Hospital in Bay Shore, Suffolk County, New York. Though he passed away the following night, Southside Hospital made no announcement until Thursday.</p>
<p>Newspaper reports published on June 8 described Profaci as a vicious and treacherous mob boss who, more or less successfully, portrayed himself as a businessman, a faithful churchgoer and a family man.</p>
<p>A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated by Monsignor Francis P. Barilla for Profaci on the morning of Monday, June 11, at St. Bernadette's Roman Catholic Church, 8201 Thirteenth Avenue between Eighty-second and Eighty-third Streets. Profaci's remains were held within a bronze coffin placed at the altar rail between rows of floral tributes.</p>
<p>More than a dozen police detectives and FBI agents scanned the two-hundred attendees for known crime figures. They reportedly found none.</p>
<p>Following a service of forty-five minutes, in which there was no eulogy, the remains were interred at St. John Cemetery, Middle Village, Queens, New York.</p>
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<p><u>Sources</u>:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"Profaci, reputed Mafia leader, dies of cancer," <i>Scranton PA Times</i>, June 8, 1962, p. 1.</li><li>"Profaci dies of cancer; led feuding Brooklyn mob," <i>New York Times</i>, June 8, 1962.</li><li>"S'long, Joe, the cops wonder wacha know," <i>New York Daily News</i>, June 12, 1962, p. 2.</li><li>Director FBI, "Criminal Intelligence Digest," Letter to FBI SAC New York, Nov. 8, 1961, NARA #124-10220-10084, p. 6.</li><li>Doty, Robert C., "16 in Gallo Gang seized to halt war on Profacis," <i>New York Times</i>, Dec. 11, 1963, p. 1.</li><li>Federici, William, and Neal Patterson, "Profaci rubbed out by cancer," <i>New York Daily News</i>, June 8, 1962, p. 5.</li><li>House Select Committee on Assassinations, U.S. House of Representatives, 95th Congress, 2d Session, Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Appendix to Hearings, Report Volume IX, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979.</li></ul>
<p><br /></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-4943192436324639842021-05-25T15:05:00.008-04:002021-05-25T17:53:36.060-04:00Journalist, crime writer Schmetterer, 77<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoVGhZXC8_wOwfhqEuDdwg06uTUk6wyxs0NBQUXL3eEPB7yvv57MYI0qexdhUxBuq9GPXbVXVncsxn5o0kGdTzjNPlGMQTjMPAca_e7IcWn_zpPtQslHYCXnbBP4qpQxukirRQSHfErDo/s435/jsportrait.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoVGhZXC8_wOwfhqEuDdwg06uTUk6wyxs0NBQUXL3eEPB7yvv57MYI0qexdhUxBuq9GPXbVXVncsxn5o0kGdTzjNPlGMQTjMPAca_e7IcWn_zpPtQslHYCXnbBP4qpQxukirRQSHfErDo/s320/jsportrait.png" /></a></div>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">Jerry Schmetterer, author of <i>The Coffey Files</i>, <i>Crooked Brooklyn</i>, <i>Behind the Murder Curtain</i> and other true crime books, passed away at his Manhattan home Monday, May 24, 2021, after a battle with cancer. His wife of forty-five years Emily and their son David were at his side. He was seventy-seven.<br /></span></p>
<p>Schmetterer was an award-winning print and broadcast journalist and <a href="https://www.nypressclub.org/about/#past-presidents" target="_blank">past-president of the New York Press Club</a> (1984). He worked for twenty-three years with the <i>New York Daily News</i>, serving in reporter, bureau chief, assistant city editor and metropolitan editor roles. He also served as managing editor for the CNN news network and for WPIX-TV in New York. He was spokesman for the Kings County, New York, District Attorney's Office for twelve years.</p>
<p>In his days with the <i>Daily News,</i>, Schmetterer covered crime boss <a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2017/04/mafia-boss-leads-protests-at-fbi.html">Joseph Colombo's protests against federal law enforcement</a>, the Son of Sam case, the New York Guardian Angels group, the murder of John Lennon and many other important news items.</p>
<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3WVRwyGmwCFJo8oyXJ5cg-vOhu_pwLnCf6xgLe4oJuWyhw1Kloh7xx4BHxtlhV2a41D6sEgqSBbV1CsCIVCpnpvyVFimaCDO7fVHd7lx0VHjdteXoWZq0Bvg3X4QkEsJbeX3euaTeUig/s640/1971mar23-nydn.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="285" data-original-width="640" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3WVRwyGmwCFJo8oyXJ5cg-vOhu_pwLnCf6xgLe4oJuWyhw1Kloh7xx4BHxtlhV2a41D6sEgqSBbV1CsCIVCpnpvyVFimaCDO7fVHd7lx0VHjdteXoWZq0Bvg3X4QkEsJbeX3euaTeUig/w400-h178/1971mar23-nydn.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Daily News, March 23, 1971.</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifth6IDRpOdwxqr0OvS-VWNIOXEfwgxVuvzp970IVqr4yWq5k_yFCHWLT_RqCqRG2I7XCQEY2NuH7zOfg6ClNLAJws1qV9UTgo5f-FDXN1W8DRTgzaxJpEAN3zAe5-SN2pzhh7YydSdOk/s367/1982may23-nydn.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="367" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifth6IDRpOdwxqr0OvS-VWNIOXEfwgxVuvzp970IVqr4yWq5k_yFCHWLT_RqCqRG2I7XCQEY2NuH7zOfg6ClNLAJws1qV9UTgo5f-FDXN1W8DRTgzaxJpEAN3zAe5-SN2pzhh7YydSdOk/w279-h320/1982may23-nydn.png" width="279" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Daily News, May 1982</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/NYPressClub/status/1397160461410488321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1397160461410488321%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FNYPressClub2Fstatus2F1397160461410488321widget%3DTweethttps://twitter.com/NYPressClub/status/1397160461410488321?s=20" target="_blank">New York Press Club tweeted</a> on Tuesday morning, May 25: "The @NYPressClub mourns the passing of longtime member, past president and current trustee Jerry Schmetterer. Jerry was a journalist, author and former spokesman for the #Brooklyn DA's office. He was a good man who knew how to tell a good story. Our condolences to Jerry's family." </p><p>A <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-obit-jerry-schemetterer-20210525-zmkqbnrhxnenlo3b7elirg5g7y-story.html" target="_blank"><i>New York Daily News</i> obituary</a> by Larry McShane was published early Tuesday afternoon. The <i>Daily News</i> stated that Bronx-born Schmetterer reported on the French Connection case and the 1993 terror attack on the World Trade Center and other matters.<br /></p><p>Ex-journalist and public relations counselor Edward Hershey posted on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jerry.schmetterer" target="_blank">Schmetterer's Facebook profile</a> late Monday night: "Deepest condolences to Jerry Schmetterer's family and friends. He was one of the very good guys." <br /></p><p>Schmetterer and Jay Bildstein coauthored <i>The King of Clubs: The Story of Scores, the Famed Topless Club and the Lurid Life Behind the Glitter</i>, released in 1996 (Barricade Books). The book explored the challenges of Bildstein's climb to success in the sex industry despite government restrictions and the hazards of the AIDS era.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">'<span style="color: #990000;">He was a good man<br />who knew how to tell a good story.</span>'</span> <br /></p>
<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Coffey-Files-One-Cops-Against-ebook/dp/B01GR10MR6?dchild=1&keywords=the+coffey+files+schmetterer&qid=1621968831&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=c0324e325a770e82a1222b13b0e6c184&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><i>The Coffey Files: One Cop's War Against the Mob</i></a>, coauthored by Schmetterer and Joseph Coffey (1938-2015), former head of the NYPD organized-crime squad, was released in 1992 (St. Martin Press). The book recounted the highlights of Coffey's exciting career, which included arresting John Gotti, interviewing Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz and assisting on the <a href="https://www.writersofwrongs.com/search/label/Commission%20Case">Commission Case</a>.</p>
<p>The 2009 release (iUniverse), <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Man-Life-NYPD-Emergency-Service/dp/1935278266?dchild=1&keywords=E-Man+schmetterer&qid=1621968751&s=digital-text&sr=1-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=df7d174abc39552e43451e4124ce0555&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><i>E-Man: Life in the NYPD Emergency Service Unit</i></a>, coauthored by Schmetterer and retired detective Al Sheppard, recalled events in Sheppard's career on the special unit called in when police officers were in need of help.</p>
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1opvK2B8FwlRH1pS7rpP-rHY9a2kMHp6xpQSEYuoRFezG5QVRqSDPlLxT18AOkLmiFdctlN9zrotg3qMQYgrCdfo9tk5ypjrWYWt2iYHhr_8Th3FmxSSxcq1BmX-Dc0Bmsaw2IizQOKE/s484/crooked.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="320" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1opvK2B8FwlRH1pS7rpP-rHY9a2kMHp6xpQSEYuoRFezG5QVRqSDPlLxT18AOkLmiFdctlN9zrotg3qMQYgrCdfo9tk5ypjrWYWt2iYHhr_8Th3FmxSSxcq1BmX-Dc0Bmsaw2IizQOKE/w133-h200/crooked.png" width="133" /></a></div>For <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WRESHCU?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=65fedb60f080f90ccdb16f9c2bab1c3b&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><i>Crooked Brooklyn: Taking Down Corrupt Judges, Dirty Politicians, Killers and Body Snatchers</i></a>, released in 2015 (Thomas Dunne Books), Schmetterer worked with Michael Vecchione, former chief of the Brooklyn DA's Rackets Division, to present Vecchione's career battling organized crime and corruption.<p></p>
<p>In 2018 (Post Hill Press), Schmetterer teamed once again with Vecchione, and Special Agent Bruce Sackman, to author <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Murder-Curtain-Special-Veterans-ebook/dp/B07GVRJYYF?dchild=1&keywords=behind+the+murder+curtain+schmetterer&qid=1621968789&s=digital-text&sr=1-2&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=244daca11d4173f3f8e9dd27844aa6a5&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><i>Behind the Murder Curtain</i></a>, which revealed Sackman's efforts to expose and put behind bars "medical serial killers" - trusted doctors and nurses who murdered their patients.</p>
<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-61083552621378004412021-02-27T09:39:00.002-05:002021-02-27T09:39:28.040-05:00Jury complete, 1891 Mafia trial begins<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">On this date in 1891...</span> <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">A lengthy jury selection process concluded Friday, February 27, 1891, and the trial of nine men accused of the assassination of New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy began with the reading of the indictment by Court Clerk Richard Screven.</span><br /> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixOIszvrQH_t15PbJK2MwOkcP0pMTgiDEpSuG4LkUrFMIpavpqw6CbBdnwiNyW7Oz0Sp4E1SY2IygMd9jJIpaMPphTt3nYlF-ip68Z2qoZXpgtbMw4sCDdaIvodESXENNpag3XQ56kSQ/s548/1891feb28nodp-jury.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="530" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixOIszvrQH_t15PbJK2MwOkcP0pMTgiDEpSuG4LkUrFMIpavpqw6CbBdnwiNyW7Oz0Sp4E1SY2IygMd9jJIpaMPphTt3nYlF-ip68Z2qoZXpgtbMw4sCDdaIvodESXENNpag3XQ56kSQ/w386-h400/1891feb28nodp-jury.png" width="386" /></a></div><br />Screven read: <p></p><p></p>
<blockquote>
The grand jurors of the State of Louisiana, duly impaneled and sworn in and for the body of the Parish of Orleans, in the name and by the authority of the said state, upon their oath, present:<br />
That one Peter Natali, one Antonio Scaffidi, one Antonio Bagnetto, one Manuel Politz, one Antonio Marchesi, one Pietro Monastero, one Bastian Incardona, one Salvador Sinceri, one Loretto Comitz, one Charles Traina and one Charles Poitza, late of the Parish of Orleans, on the 16th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety, with force of arms,... feloniously did shoot and murder one David D. Hennessy with a dangerous weapon, to-wit, a gun, with felonious intent willfully, feloniously and of their malice aforethought, to kill and murder him...<br />
And the grand jurors aforesaid, upon their oath foresaid, do further present that one Asperi Marchesi, one Joseph P. Macheca, one James Caruso, one Charles Matranga, one Rocco Geraci, one Charles Patorno, one Frank Romero and one John Caruso, before the said felony was committed in form aforesaid... did feloniously and maliciously incite, move, procure, aid, counsel, hire and command the said Peter Natali, the said Antonio Scaffedi, the said Antonio Bagnetto, the said Manuel Politz, the said Antonio Marchesi, the said Pietro Monastero, the said Bastian Incardona, the said Salvador Sinceri, and the said Loretto Comitz, one Charles Traina, and one Charles Poitza, the said felony in manner and form aforesaid...</blockquote>
<p>Though the indictment contained charges against nineteen men, just nine of those were going on trial. District Attorney Charles H. Luzenberg handled the prosecution. The lead defense counsel was Lionel Adams.</p>
<p>Court adjourned at just after five o'clock in the afternoon. The start of testimony was scheduled for 10:30 the next morning, Saturday, February 28.</p>
<hr width="40%" />
<p>Through a period of twelve days, the court had summoned 1,221 prospective jurors. Of that number, 780 had been examined before the twelfth man of the panel could be placed.</p>
<p>A total of 557 men were prevented from jury service in the case for causes such as objecting to capital punishment, objecting to conviction based on circumstantial evidence, holding a fixed opinion in the case and exhibiting extreme prejudice against Sicilian-Americans. Physical disability excused ninety-five of those examined. The defense used 100 of its 108 peremptory challenges (twelve per defendant) against prospective jurors, while the prosecution used twenty-eight of its fifty-four peremptory challenges (half the total allowed to the defense).</p>
<p>The completed jury consisted of Jacob M. Seligman, jeweler, of 636 Carondelet Street; Solomon J. Mayer, real estate dealer, of 500 Franklin Street; John Berry Jr., flour company solicitor, of 137 Gravier Street; Walter D. Livaudais, Southern Pacific Railroad clerk, 209 1/2 Magazine Street; Henry L. Tronchet, cotton company clerk, of 411 Dauphine Street; William H. Leahy, machinist, of 439 Constance Street; Arnold F. Wille, grocer, of Lafayette and Franklin Streets; Edward J. Donegan, molder, of 299 1/2 St. Thomas Street; William Mackesy, bookkeeper, of 235 1/2 Julia Street; Charles Heyob, jewelry repairer, of 242 Royal Street; William Yochum, grocer, of Fourth and Dryades Streets; Charles Boesen, shoe company clerk, of 402 Customhouse Street.</p>
<hr width="40%" />
<p>The trial continued until Friday, March 13, when the jury returned with its verdicts. It found Bagnetto, Incardona, Macheca, the Marchesis and Matranga not guilty and could not reach a verdict on Politz, Scaffedi and Monastero. Suggestions that the jury had been bribed by agents employed by the defense were already being discussed in the community. The failure to convict anyone for the killing of the local police chief further incited the community.</p>
<p>Though not convicted, the nine case defendants could not be released until a related charge was dismissed. They were held overnight at Orleans Parish Prison, along with their untried indicted co-conspirators. Release of the acquitted defendants was expected to occur the next morning.</p>
<p>Overnight, however, political leaders hastily arranged a community mass meeting. On the morning of March 14, they stirred up a large crowd and swarmed the prison. A squad of gunmen penetrated the prison and murdered eleven of the prisoners held there, including six of the trial defendants. </p>
<p><u>See also</u>:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><a href="https://jpmacheca.blogspot.com/2017/10/1890-new-orleans-police-chief-ambushed.html"><span style="color: #a00000;">"1890: New Orleans police chief ambushed, murdered."</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://jpmacheca.blogspot.com/2017/01/5000-to-lynch-victims-family.html"><span style="color: #a00000;">"$5,000 awarded to family of lynch victim."</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://jpmacheca.blogspot.com/2015/03/124-years-ago-eleven-prisoners-killed.html"><span style="color: #a00000;">"Eleven prisoners killed."</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://jpmacheca.blogspot.com/2018/05/grand-jury-defends-killers.html"><span style="color: #a00000;">"Grand jury defends killers."</span></a></li>
<li><a href="https://jpmacheca.blogspot.com/2015/03/124-years-ago-none-convicted.html"><span style="color: #a00000;">"None convicted in Mafia murder trial."</span></a></li>
</ul>
<p></p>
<p><u>Sources</u>:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"A jury at last," editorial, <i>New Orleans Daily Picayune</i>, Feb. 28, 1891, p. 4.</li><li>"The jury complete," <i>New Orleans Daily Picayune</i>, Feb. 28, 1891, p. 1.</li><li>"The Hennessy Trial," <i>New Orleans Daily Picayune</i>, March 4, 1891, p. 1.</li><li>"None guilty!," <i>New Orleans Daily Picayune</i>, March 14, 1891, p. 1.</li><li>"The mass meeting," editorial, <i>New Orleans Times-Democrat</i>, March 14, 1891, p. 4.</li><li>"What next?" editorial, <i>New Orleans Times-Democrat</i>, March 14, 1891, p. 4.</li><li>"Juror Seligman and the state's attorney," editorial, <i>New Orleans Daily Picayune</i>, March 15, 1891, p. 4.</li><li>"Avenged," <i>New Orleans Times-Democrat</i>, March 15, 1891, p. 2.</li><li>"The dead buried," <i>New Orleans Times-Democrat</i>, March 16, 1891, p. 2.</li><li>State of Louisiana versus Peter Natali, et al, indictments, no. 14220, Nov. 20, 1890; no. 14221, Nov. 20, 1890; no. 14231, Nov. 22, 1890. <br /></li></ul><p><u>Read more</u> in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Water-Joseph-Macheca-American/dp/1453732691?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=mobhistory-20&linkId=ad1a4c1bf074fd455b7b489e85b60af0&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl" target="_blank"><span style="color: #a00000;">Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia</span></a></i> by Thomas Hunt and Martha Macheca Sheldon.
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</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Thomas Hunthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09562045051995673935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659317614523439922.post-67351068942855198592020-12-18T04:41:00.029-05:002021-01-09T15:21:42.525-05:00Capone-Johnson photo: A new identification<p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The Atlantic City Al Capone - Nucky Johnson Photo: A New Identification?</span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjceBiy4xicagxbUS1SfhSg2h5iaTe5Q17Z0mwzqTy-qPDhjNBKHyetQvUUz3HsS8hBR_OHUQoHmp5rpaqNqQCVix3cq_xIPk_L_eWiFXDzehzfaNyNjtrsEMfNK5lYALEKTdjxPSD1s7M/s559/D%2527Andrea+-+David+Palter+%2528Dan+Serritella%2529+-+Charles+T+Green+%2528Mops+Volpe%2529+-+Capone+-+Nucky.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="353" data-original-width="559" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjceBiy4xicagxbUS1SfhSg2h5iaTe5Q17Z0mwzqTy-qPDhjNBKHyetQvUUz3HsS8hBR_OHUQoHmp5rpaqNqQCVix3cq_xIPk_L_eWiFXDzehzfaNyNjtrsEMfNK5lYALEKTdjxPSD1s7M/w367-h232/D%2527Andrea+-+David+Palter+%2528Dan+Serritella%2529+-+Charles+T+Green+%2528Mops+Volpe%2529+-+Capone+-+Nucky.jpg" width="367" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;">Updated January 9, 2021</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">The Conference</span></b></p><p>On May 13, 1929, Al Capone and several of his associates - along with several of his gangland enemies - converged on Atlantic City, New Jersey, for a conference with the stated goal of bringing peace between the powerful bootlegging gangs of Chicago. It was at least the third peace conference that we know of. Ever since the photo was published in 1930 there have been questions over the identities of the men with Al Capone and Enoch L. "Nucky" Johnson. After an evaluation of the available evidence it may now possible to narrow down the mystery to one person.</p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Chicago Gang Conferences Before Atlantic City</span></b></p><p>On October 8, 1926, the <i>Chicago Daily News</i> reported that the Windy City held its first big gangland peace conference. According to information supplied by "an important official and a policeman" (later identified as a police lieutenant and an official of the Italo-American National Union) who sat in on the grand meeting held at the Hotel, one of the city's premier hotels. The <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i> adds that Maxie Eisen, a labor racketeer associated with the late Samuel "Nails" Morton (some sources believe the friend of Morton and the labor racketeer were two different people), joined with Antonino "Tony" Lombardo, the <i>rappresentante</i> of the Chicago Mafia, to bring together the leaders of the Cicero-based organization headed by Capone, the North Side gang led by Hymie Weiss, Vincent "the Schemer" Drucci and George "Bugs" Moran, and their second-tier allies.</p><p>Preliminary to the meeting, Eisen met with the Mafia boss in Lombardo's office, and ideas were then passed from Eisen to Drucci and Moran, and Lombardo to Capone. They then agreed to send delegates to appear in person for the conference. The Cicero group was represented by Lombardo, Capone, Frank Nitto and Jack Guzik; the North Siders by Drucci, Moran, Eisen, Barney Bertsche and William Skidmore; and the minor racketeers included members of the North Side-friendly Myles O'Donnell and McErlane-Saltis gangs, and the Capone allies Ralph Sheldon and Danny McFall gangs. Sheldon was one of the participants. </p><p>Reportedly both sides agreed to cease killings and beatings, consider past killings and shootings to be closed, disregard malicious gossip, and have leaders responsible for violations by the rank and file. However, a snag hit when Weiss and Drucci insisted that Capone put two of his men "on the spot" in retaliation for an ambush shooting a month prior. Lombardo refused the demand. When the Mafia boss told the Big Fella he supposedly said, "I wouldn't do a thing like that to a yellow dog." One of the two men whose death was demanded by Weiss and Drucci (and the only one named), Frank Clemente, was reportedly wounded by machine-gun fire in Cicero. A follow-up piece identified the second potential victim as "Mops" - but not Anthony "Mops" Volpe. (This writer is unaware of any other Outfit member with that nickname. Later sources identify the two men as Volpe and Frank Rio, or Albert Anselmi and John Scalise.)</p><p>Later, the conference attendees were whittled down to five men sitting around a table: a prominent attorney, a police lieutenant, an official of the Italo-American National Union (known as the Unione Siciliana until 1925), and presumably Eisen and Lombardo. Not long after the conference, on October 11, Hymie Weiss and associate Paddy Murray gunned down in the street. Three others with them were hit by gunfire.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBSq35iIf3qJuWlsWWWTSM0P-zaGTLjU4LlraI08ZdgfX23eGVECLSiKhiUrdu5bd0kUMkF7VPkkPWorOZF6PyrROcSPe1H_Qgnta75dQ4tSa3yoC7A2T1fLBIAt7DTpYTiqL9HKgIlg/s595/FBI+Su+LCN+-+Capone+Aiello+Guardalabene+conference.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="161" data-original-width="595" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqBSq35iIf3qJuWlsWWWTSM0P-zaGTLjU4LlraI08ZdgfX23eGVECLSiKhiUrdu5bd0kUMkF7VPkkPWorOZF6PyrROcSPe1H_Qgnta75dQ4tSa3yoC7A2T1fLBIAt7DTpYTiqL9HKgIlg/w501-h136/FBI+Su+LCN+-+Capone+Aiello+Guardalabene+conference.jpg" width="501" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">FBI HSCA Subject file LCN, MI 92-262</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>A second meeting was held in Milwaukee between 1926 and 1927, or maybe even 1928, in a nightclub owned by that city's boss, Pete Guardalabene. According to a member of the Milwaukee borgata (and confidential informant), Chicago Mafia underboss Joseph Aiello, regularly lost large sums of money gambling in Capone-owned joints. Afterward, Aiello sent his men to raid the games to take back what he lost - and more. The peace conference consisted of members of both factions, as well as leaders of other crime families from across the country. "The meeting ended with everybody throwing fruit and vegetables at each other," the source said. Aiello, who led a renegade faction of the Chicago Mafia allegedly over Lombardo's friendliness to Capone, was machine-gunned to death by Outfit killers while hiding out at a friend's home in 1930.</p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Lead-Up To A Third Conference</span></b></p><p>The third mobster conference, held in Atlantic City, followed the attempts on the life of top Capone gunman Jack McGurn (born Vincenzo Gibaldi in Licata, Sicily), first on March 7, 1928, and then barely a month later on April 17. The first attempt left McGurn with serious injuries after gang rivals fired off a Tommy gun in a drive-by shooting. The second shooting was also a drive-by using a machine gun. The Gusenberg brothers, James Clark and Billy Davern - all North Siders - were suspected of the brazen attacks.</p><p>It followed the assassination of Mafia chief Lombardo on September 7, 1928, and his successor Pasqualino Lolordo on January 8, 1929. Lombardo, who had been an ally of Capone, was reportedly killed either by Aiello or Frankie Yale of Brooklyn. Insider sources, however, gave a different story. Informants Nick Gentile and August Maniaci reported that Capone was actually inducted into the Mafia by Joe "the Boss" Masseria, head of what is now the Genovese crime family, as a <i>capodecina</i> (equivalent to captain or boss of a street crew) in 1928 with the authority to "make" ten men into his crew. Masseria told him that if he eliminated Lombardo he would recognize him as the head of the Chicago <i>borgata.</i> It was Al Capone, not Aiello or Yale, who was responsible for killing Lombardo. </p><p>Mob turncoat Joe Valachi also supports this version. He recalled attending a lecture given by Salvatore Maranzano of what is now the Bonanno crime family in early 1931 after he was made the <i>Capo di Capi</i> (Boss of Bosses). At a large meeting celebrating his victory over Masseria, Maranzano recited the crimes committed by his enemy Masseria, including the murder of a "big boss" named Don Antonio, who was undoubtedly Lombardo.</p><p>It followed a national Mafia gathering in Cleveland on December 5, 1928, that featured a large contingent from Chicago. Local police were suspicious of the outsiders entering the swank Hotel Statler early in the morning and soon it was raided. Police arrested 23 men, most of whom were armed. Among those arrested were Tampa Don Ignazio Italiano, future Brooklyn bosses Vincenzo Mangano and Joseph Profaci, and from Chicago came Mafia chief Pasqualino Lolordo, Joseph Giunta, Frank Alo, James Intravia, Sam Oliveri, Giuseppe Sacco, and Phil Bacino (AKA Tony Bello). It was rumored that Al Capone was due to arrive but turned around when he heard of the raid, however, his presence probably wasn't necessary. Lolordo was said to be Capone's "puppet."</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbhZr3CYS8yI1_p4Bs-BeLlHBUsCDLhVWE-WWXJHcN7V_sv8RZsGw4QWVzh8p4-5P03YSPhXD5qDB92GSwBJCjzIOEF5FK04w-VBjcZfvtmWnTDoqTxT1CoFZMPp85PXl1EcRRMV4BtEM/s500/1928+Cleveland+meeting.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="500" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbhZr3CYS8yI1_p4Bs-BeLlHBUsCDLhVWE-WWXJHcN7V_sv8RZsGw4QWVzh8p4-5P03YSPhXD5qDB92GSwBJCjzIOEF5FK04w-VBjcZfvtmWnTDoqTxT1CoFZMPp85PXl1EcRRMV4BtEM/w449-h281/1928+Cleveland+meeting.JPG" width="449" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arrested Mafiosi after meeting in Cleveland on December 5, 1928</td></tr></tbody></table><p>It followed the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre, which resulted in the deaths of seven members and associates of the North Side Gang, then headed by Moran after Drucci was slain in a shoot-out with police. Among those killed was Moran's second-in-command Albert Kachellek and his top gunmen Pete and Frank Gusenberg.</p><p>It also followed the brutal killings of Joseph "Hop Toad" Giunta - Lolordo's replacement - and mob executioners Anselmi and Scalise by beating and gunfire. Giunta, who attended the Cleveland meeting with Lolordo, allegedly connived with Aiello, Anselmi and Scalise to eliminate Capone until their plot was discovered. Al Capone, who had been staying at his Florida home, returned to the Windy City on May 7, 1929, narrowly avoiding two Moran gunmen who just happened to be picked up by police.</p><p>A banquet was held in Capone's honor, and the guests included the aforementioned three Mafiosi. Depending on the source the dinner was either held in a Hammond, Indiana, roadhouse called The Plantation, or the Chicago Heights nightclub Miami Gardens. Jesse George Murray, a columnist for the <i>Chicago American</i>, imagined a ruse concocted by Frank Rio and Capone to expose the plotters. However it happened, they suffered a painful death. An inside source associated with Accardo's original crew told this writer that future Outfit boss Anthony Accardo did indeed earn his moniker "Joe Batters" by beating the men at a dinner before they were shot on May 8, and their bodies left in a vacant section of Hammond, Indiana. (It should be made clear that this triple homicide remains officially unsolved and that the Moran gang was also suspected of the killings.)</p><p>Five days after the deaths of the three traitors Al Capone found himself in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The city, which was considered the gambling mecca of the East Coast, thrived under the rule of Republican political boss Enoch "Nucky" Johnson. The two had known each other since 1921, when Capone's mentor John Torrio took him to see the Dempsey-Carpentier fight in Jersey City. They met again for the 1927 Dempsey-Tunney bout at Soldier Field in Chicago, known as the Long Count. Nucky was welcomed by entourages from fellow GOP leaders, such as Illinois States' Attorney Robert E. Crowe. Capone made sure the visiting dignitary had a fleet of limousines at his disposal.</p><p>Despite Nucky Johnson's influence his control over the city was not absolute. Capone and his bodyguard were seen at a nightclub and a boxing match, and there was a rumor that he was staying as a guest "who has a palatial home in the [center] of the fashionable Chelsea district." When Director of Public Safety W. S. Cuthbert found out about the gangster's presence he ordered the police "to pick up Al Capone if he is found in the city and arrest him as an undesirable." </p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Conference Details</span></b></p><p>After the Atlantic City conference concluded, Capone and his entourage drove for Philadelphia to board a train bound for Chicago. Unfortunately, their vehicle broke down near Camden and they did not arrive in Philadelphia until the evening. Capone made arrangement for a later train and decided to take in a movie. He and bodyguard Frank Rio were promptly arrested as soon as they exited the theater. They were charged with carrying concealed weapons and rushed before a judge and jury, where they were convicted and sentenced to a year in prison. The speed of the entire process was mind-blowing. Capone and Rio arrived in Philadelphia at approximately 6:30 pm, they were arrested at 8:30 pm, brought before a grand jury at 10:15 am, tried at 12 noon, then pleaded guilty and sentenced at 12:21 pm.</p><p>Fortunately for us, however, Capone was interviewed by Philadelphia Director of Public Safety Lemuel B.. Schofield, and the director shared his conversation with the press. Capone, Moran, and several other Chicago gang leaders signed a "peace pact" during his brief stay in Atlantic City. "With the idea in mind of making peace among the gangster in Chicago I spent the week in Atlantic City, and I have the word of each of the men participating that there shall be no more shootings," the crime lord said.</p><p>Capone added a few details of the conference. "We stopped at the President Hotel, where I registered under an assumed name. Bugs Moran, the leader of the West Side gang, seven of whose men were killed in the St. Valentine's Day massacre, and three or four other Chicago gang leaders whose names I don't care to mention participated. We talked over our troubles for three days. We all agreed at the end of that time to sign on the dotted line to bury the past and forget warfare in the future for the general good of all concerned," he said. The only names he provided besides his own were Rio and Moran. He also implied that the parley was small with only a handful of attendees.</p><p>The local newspaper, the <i>Atlantic City Daily Press</i>, reported that "the past few nights found him making whoopee, boom-boom, or what have you in several of the resort's best known night clubs." <i>Look</i> magazine wrote that Tony Accardo got a blue dove tattoo on the back of his left hand between the thumb and index finger during the trip to Atlantic City when he was acting as one of Capone's bodyguards.</p><p>Guesses as to the names of the other conference attendees began immediately. The <i>Tribune</i> believed that Joe Aiello, [Frank] McErlane, Joe Saltis, and John Torrio were there "either in person or by proxy." George Wolf, a criminal defense attorney who represented Lucky Luciano and Frank Costello, claimed in his biography of Costello that the two New York mob leaders organized the conference. Their guest list included Jewish and Italian mobsters from all over the country, such as "Lou Rothkopf and Moe Dalitz from Cleveland, King Solomon from Boston, John Lazia from Kansas City, Joe Bernstein and others from Detroit, Sam Lazar from Philadelphia...and Al Capone and his boys from Chicago." Luciano and Costello brought Joe Adonis, Lepke Buchalter, and Torrio. In this account not only do Torrio and Costello tell Capone to turn himself in for prison, but that they were forming the Commission, which we know from other sources was not created until 1931.</p><p>Some journalists, like Robert T. Loughran of the United Press, created an imaginary tale that stretched out the few points of agreement Capone spoke of into a fourteen-point plan. Among the points in Loughran's plan, Aiello was to be the head of the "Unione Siciliano," but subject to Torrio; and Torrio was to be the "king" of the rackets over Chicago. These and other points simply had no basis in reality.</p><p>The <i>New York Evening Journal</i>, owned by William Randolph Hearst, an FDR-supporting Democrat who drooled at embarrassing the Republican political boss, was the first to publish the photo. The authenticity of the photo was confirmed in 1941 when Elmer Irey of the IRS Intelligence Unit was targeting Johnson for tax fraud. Irey not only took down Capone in 1931, but his mentor John Torrio in 1939. In July 1941, newspapers all across the country reported Johnson's admission that he was with Capone when a New York photographer grabbed his image.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-BIYBavh4nFu09KP2sXRqMrK-_him6J67k3Qec-xraEK6mc89k8Xnzt0bRy1e0CZ7U9mjquc3-BZ7nHsXJ2X9n7650Jom59djHIBek3ugGL0r6PjycOxi4T81giPS8T6Av6_Y2pVp6s/s2048/Arizona+Republic+1941Jul13+Nucky+%2526+Capone.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1475" data-original-width="2048" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-BIYBavh4nFu09KP2sXRqMrK-_him6J67k3Qec-xraEK6mc89k8Xnzt0bRy1e0CZ7U9mjquc3-BZ7nHsXJ2X9n7650Jom59djHIBek3ugGL0r6PjycOxi4T81giPS8T6Av6_Y2pVp6s/w409-h230/Arizona+Republic+1941Jul13+Nucky+%2526+Capone.jpg" width="409" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Arizona Republic</i>, July 13, 1941</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The Chicago beer baron admitted that he and all of his mobster guests registered using false names. Rio, for example, gave his name as Frank Cline. In the caption underneath only four of the five men are identified. The man on the far left was the man not ID'd, but next to him was David Palter, then Charles T. "Chuck" Greene, Capone, Johnson, and Lou Irwin. Palter and Greene were said to have been "high pressure" men, a euphemism for gangsters. Greene is also very likely an alias. All three men to Capone's left were underworld figures from Chicago.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU-pxed31THochvmTasJgsfXdujehijKEChEsNDxwJaarq8YVBkM4ZZGBPlpQKeV1ac8JiGLnWMnUxHCYOgVEkGGKC5-xi4EIs_Hwi7kwmSkzlQlnb-obDrGSg07vXDKi_0gSnngsiI6g/s896/NY+Evening+Journal+1930Jan17+Capone+NuckyJohnson+w+text.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="759" data-original-width="896" height="445" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU-pxed31THochvmTasJgsfXdujehijKEChEsNDxwJaarq8YVBkM4ZZGBPlpQKeV1ac8JiGLnWMnUxHCYOgVEkGGKC5-xi4EIs_Hwi7kwmSkzlQlnb-obDrGSg07vXDKi_0gSnngsiI6g/w525-h445/NY+Evening+Journal+1930Jan17+Capone+NuckyJohnson+w+text.jpg" width="525" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>New York Evening Journal</i>, January 17, 1930</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Mystery Man Number One: David Palter</span></b></p><p>The man second to the end to the left of Capone (from the viewer's perspective) is identified by the <i>New York Evening Journal</i> as David Palter, who "admitted paying $65,000 to avoid a year vacation in Atlanta, Ga. Federal Penitentiary after being convicted of mail fraud." This matches the David Palter listed as a defendant in a 1927 story from the Associated Press. Twelve individuals and a corporation were convicted of "using the mails to defraud in the sale of stock of the Glass Casket Corporation of Altoona, Pa." On March 7, 1927, the convictions were upheld by the Circuit Court of Appeals. Gaston B. Means, an ex-Secret Service agent, and the late attorney Thomas B. Felder had promised to "fix things" for $65,000. In a separate case from 1938, a 46-year-old David Palter was described as a "former associate of 'Jake the Barber' Factor." Jake the Barber was known to be a crony of Capone and Nitto.</p><p>David Palter was born in New York on June 12, 1893, and worked as a jewelry salesman before serving in the military. He is probably the same person who in early 1924, along with his wife, was robbed by two armed burglars who forced their maid to lead them to his bedroom in a Manhattan high-rise. They forced Palter, a broker, and his wife, to hand over $5,400 worth of cash and jewelry. In the summer of 1930 a Mr. and Mrs. David L. Palter celebrated their niece's fourth birthday at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood. In 1933 Palter and his partner Martin Lederer, who owned a stock brokerage at 82 Wall Street, were charged with conspiracy and threatened with a permanent injunction for selling worthless gold stock.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbcfdCG3ctW1iAabyzRTMFYEPkK8JwJZsSY9I-PCLssA9WydVIc-Hs91hOFs6hzuzFMkqEXT1KggwRk34kLr2Xh7GnEpiZ-LfbQ0CZzMGYVUhpQgFmSUghNejlZQsdSWpZJdA3D60XdmA/s564/Palter%252C+David+%2528Los+Angeles+Daily+News+1938Jan12%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="345" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbcfdCG3ctW1iAabyzRTMFYEPkK8JwJZsSY9I-PCLssA9WydVIc-Hs91hOFs6hzuzFMkqEXT1KggwRk34kLr2Xh7GnEpiZ-LfbQ0CZzMGYVUhpQgFmSUghNejlZQsdSWpZJdA3D60XdmA/s320/Palter%252C+David+%2528Los+Angeles+Daily+News+1938Jan12%2529.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Palter</td></tr></tbody></table><p>On January 11, 1938, the <i>Hollywood Citizen-News</i> reported that David Palter, alias David Hunter, 46, who was indicted the previous October in New York for a bait and switch of $14,200 worth of whiskey warehouse receipts, was arrested at his apartment on the Sunset Strip. Another friend of Palter's was J. Richard "Dixie" Davis, mobster Dutch Schultz's former attorney. "In Palter we have one of the cleverest stock racketeers who ever operated in New York," Gang buster John A. Klein said.</p><p>Later it was reported that the fraud case was in Reading, Pennsylvania, not New York. On February 10, 1938, the case against him was dismissed for lack of evidence. On March 15 he was exonerated after it was shown that Palter had separated from the warehouse company before the fraud took place. Palter returned to New York and passed away on April 15, 1965.</p><p><b><span style="font-family: arial;">Mystery Man Number Two: Charles T. Greene</span></b></p><p>The man to Capone's immediate left (from our viewpoint) is more problematic than Palter. Due to the constant threat of death, Capone did not venture out in public without a bodyguard unless circumstances ruled it out. None of the men in the famous photograph, however, are identified as being one of his bodyguards. If the Chicago mob boss did have a bodyguard he most likely would have been walking next to him, and the person next to him was reportedly one Charles T. Greene. So who was Charles T. Greene? Could he have been a local gangster?</p><p>A search of newspapers in that time period using the newspaper databases at Newspapers.com, GenealogyBand.com, and Fulton Post Cards do not make a single reference to a mobster, gangster, or criminal named Charles T. Greene or Charles Greene in either New Jersey nor the East Coast. However, there was one mobster who had an alias of Charles Green (not Greene), and that was Charles Entratter. Entratter was a top lieutenant of Jack "Legs" Diamond who was murdered in New York in 1931. This Charles Green, however, did not resemble the man in the photo.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-tjVpVm-ESGQi9FzisRtqG5ITrtKCOgkztoURiPaGWrxuyQch2pSGtLXL7tv_THENaFI9a6SfbChOWN5cSg_dCy6lUOY6oTF-OphgdQ3K_wp3AYyxkZ4f3Q-m92A2RkDQU1SiIEahaI/s2048/Entratter%252C+Charles.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP-tjVpVm-ESGQi9FzisRtqG5ITrtKCOgkztoURiPaGWrxuyQch2pSGtLXL7tv_THENaFI9a6SfbChOWN5cSg_dCy6lUOY6oTF-OphgdQ3K_wp3AYyxkZ4f3Q-m92A2RkDQU1SiIEahaI/w181-h241/Entratter%252C+Charles.jpeg" width="181" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charles Entratter (AKA Charles Green)<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>When Capone was arrested in Philadelphia he readily admitted to registering at an Atlantic City hotel using an alias, as did the other men who attended the conference. So perhaps Charles T. Greene was an alias for one of Capone's other bodyguards. We know that Capone traveled with Frank Rio, who was one of his many bodyguards (who often tended to be high-ranking lieutenants), since they were arrested together in Philadelphia. Yet, Rio does not resemble anyone in the photo.<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNR6_CznmWN8yNSJfK_BJ1qyvOwFVDttT4PzBqEkxt-QT_68AF4e_NClu8Rax8XwCXJqcxWq56qzR40lfQVDgUtUb8N7kvEu7H5DWk3jrLJU18Ysh9Zi6ttag7vb2-RLLSuAm4Yrpy2-Q/s165/Rio.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="165" data-original-width="122" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNR6_CznmWN8yNSJfK_BJ1qyvOwFVDttT4PzBqEkxt-QT_68AF4e_NClu8Rax8XwCXJqcxWq56qzR40lfQVDgUtUb8N7kvEu7H5DWk3jrLJU18Ysh9Zi6ttag7vb2-RLLSuAm4Yrpy2-Q/w159-h209/Rio.JPG" width="159" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frank Rio, 1929</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>His other bodyguards were well known. Gunmen such as Jack McGurn, Louis Campagna, Willie Heeney, Phil D'Andrea, Mike Spranze, and Tony Accardo were all known bodyguards who accompanied him at various times. Yet none of them resembles the mysterious man in the photo.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9ecx9WcDAm66qwi3xgm69w1XBVbSkm03-5jV-sKyeN5cXReEE0JwjtgvWxdUsdAeh97AI3KmP4ozWwhwINsVAJUDgHa6dUuENaPNXBYCUg_Ui36LG_X83T5m04q0hyphenhyphenxsPy_OiMBGEyw/s371/Accardo%252C+Anthony+1930+portrait-side.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="257" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh9ecx9WcDAm66qwi3xgm69w1XBVbSkm03-5jV-sKyeN5cXReEE0JwjtgvWxdUsdAeh97AI3KmP4ozWwhwINsVAJUDgHa6dUuENaPNXBYCUg_Ui36LG_X83T5m04q0hyphenhyphenxsPy_OiMBGEyw/s320/Accardo%252C+Anthony+1930+portrait-side.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony Accardo, 1930</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Another candidate is Anthony "Mops" Volpe, whose features appear to very closely match the man in the photo. The height of the man in the photo is between the height of the Palter, who stood 5'6," and the nearly 5'11" tall Al Capone. Volpe's height ranges between 5'7" and 5'10," which averages to 5'8.5" and accords with Greene.</p><p></p><p>Who was Volpe? "Mops" was born in Argentina to Italian parents and worked in Chicago Mafia-affiliated Giuseppe "Diamond Joe" Esposito's Italian restaurant before joining Capone's Outfit. When the press first became aware of his existence back in 1916, he was a gang leader arrested for a shooting that was apparently ruled self-defense. Arrested with him was a gang member nicknamed Nickelodeon, whose real name was Nick Circella. Later known as Nicky Dean, Circella would become a close friend of Capone and involved in extorting the Hollywood studios with labor racketeer Willie Bioff in the 1930s.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipjMGeDjnlwxlStOErJw7VnuXqE2Scq8cYhcrNJqj-H0zmwRmf3GWrBnvRJDS48s1KPGLq0QV-rv_HyUSwyo-vWVQzDLt-EdiR4gHRvFtCDevKwU4gWe71p7F3gSWVQ-AumXtG60oupG8/s499/Volpe%252C+Tony+Mops+mugshot.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="499" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipjMGeDjnlwxlStOErJw7VnuXqE2Scq8cYhcrNJqj-H0zmwRmf3GWrBnvRJDS48s1KPGLq0QV-rv_HyUSwyo-vWVQzDLt-EdiR4gHRvFtCDevKwU4gWe71p7F3gSWVQ-AumXtG60oupG8/s320/Volpe%252C+Tony+Mops+mugshot.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anthony "Mops" Volpe, 1930</td></tr></tbody></table><p>In 1921, Volpe was a Cook County deputy sheriff and a secretary to (and brother-in-law of) Diamond Joe, a Republican committeeman in the old Nineteenth Ward. In 1925 Volpe was described as a "notorious gun fighter," and by 1928 he, along with Rio, Nitto and a Joe Kelly, was noted to be one of Capone's bodyguards. In 1930 he joined Capone, Rio, Moran and twenty-four others on the first list of Public Enemies.</p><p>On December 15, 1930, the Secretary of Labor had Volpe arrested by immigration agents to deport him to Italy. Several months later it was confirmed that he was born in Santa Fe, Argentina, sometime in October between 1890 and 1892, but his Italian-born parents had taken him back to their home country to be naturalized as a child. He came to the U.S. at age 15 and became a citizen in 1920. Italy and Argentina, however, refused to accept him, asserting that he lost his right to return when he was naturalized in America. Nevertheless the government did not give up its fight to deport him until 1953. As for his mob status, Volpe remained a fixture in Cicero as an old-timer in the crew headed by Joseph Aiuppa until his death in January 1965.</p><p>So was Volpe the mysterious Charles T. Greene? John Binder, who teaches at the University of Illinois and has written two books on the Chicago Syndicate, followed-up this question. Using Biometric Vision's FaceMatch software, which claims a success rate of 99.9% accuracy, Binder compared four photos of Volpe taken between 1930 and 1945 with a high quality scan of the Atlantic City photo contributed by researcher Mario Gomes. The result was that the man identified as Greene did not match Anthony "Mops" Volpe. So for now the definitive identification of the man next to Al Capone in the 1929 photo remains an unsolved mystery.</p><p><i>This essay will be updated if new information becomes available.</i></p><p><b>Sources</b></p><p>"3 Slain; Scalisi [sic], Anselmi?" <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, May 8, 1929.</p><p>"Al Capone's Machine Runs Rackets As He Hides From Police." <i>Chicago Daily News</i>, September 22, 1930.</p><p>"And This Completes The Picture." <i>New York Evening Journal</i>, January 17, 1930.</p><p>"Asserted N.Y. Racketeer Seized Here." <i>Los Angeles Daily News</i>, January 12, 1938.</p><p>"Atlantic City Calls Capone 'Undesirable." <i>New York Times</i>, May 16, 1929.</p><p>"Al Capone Suns Held In Roller Chair," <i>Atlantic City Daily Press</i>, May 16, 1929.</p><p>Binder, John J. <i>Al Capone's Beer Wars: A Complete History of Organized Crime in Chicago During Prohibition.</i> New York: Prometheus Books, 2017.</p><p>"Broker And Wife In Bed Forced At Gun Point To Give Up Gems Concealed Under Her Pillow." <i>New York Evening Telegram</i>, January 8, 1924.</p><p>"Capone Considers Starting To Prison." <i>New York Times</i>, October 30, 1931.</p><p>"Capone Moves; Fails To Report His New Address." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, August 8, 1928.</p><p>"Capone Takes Cover In Jail." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, May 18, 1929.</p><p>"Chicago's Own 'Scarface' Held In $35,000 Here." <i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, May 17, 1929.</p><p>"Capone's Pal 'Mops' Volpe Dies In Cicero." <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, January 21, 1965.</p><p>"Colorful Atlantic City Republican Boss Awaits Tax Trial." <i>Arizona Republic</i>, July 13, 1941.</p><p>"Conspiracy Charged." <i>New York Evening Post</i>, October 17, 1933.</p><p>"Conviction of 12 in Glass Casket Case Is Upheld." <i>Tampa Tribune</i>, March 8, 1927.</p><p>"Cops On West Coast Arrest David Palter." <i>Pottstown (PA) Mercury</i>, January 12, 1938.</p><p>Critchley, David. <i>The Origin of Organized Crime in America.</i> New York and London: Routledge, 2008.</p><p>"Diamond Aide Slain, Capone Hand Seen." <i>The Morning Post</i> (Camden, NJ), July 7, 1931.</p><p>Eghigian, Mars. After Capone: The Life and World of Chicago Mob Boss Frank "the Enforcer" Nitti. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House, 2005.</p><p>"Fake Gold Stock Is Flooding City, Says Bennett Aid." <i>New York Evening Post</i>, October 31, 1933.</p><p>FBI HSCA Subject file LCN, MI 92-262, Report of SA Alexander P. Le Grand, Milwaukee, May 28, 1964, NARA Record Number 124-10287-10189.</p><p>Ferry, Frank J. <i>Nucky: The Real Story of the Atlantic Boardwalk Boss.</i> Margate, NJ: ComteQ Publishing, 2012.</p><p>"Fraud Charge Against Stock Broker Dropped." <i>Hollywood Citizen-News</i>, February 10, 1938.</p><p>"Gang Chief To Be Deported." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, December 16, 1930.</p><p>"Gangland Expose Is Near." <i>Chicago Daily News</i>, October 12, 1926.</p><p>"Gangland Lays Its Guns Aside; Peace Declared." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, October 21, 1926.</p><p>Gentile, Nick. <i>Translated Transcription of the Life of Nicolo (E) Gentile.</i> Washington, D. C.: Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 1947?</p><p>Gomes, Mario. "Albert Anselmi and Giovanni Scalise." <i>My Al Capone Museum</i>, June 2009. http://www.myalcaponemuseum.com/id132.htm (Accessed December 6, 2020).</p><p>"Gun Fighter Taken As Fake Stamp Seller." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, January 14, 1925.</p><p>"Gunmen Kill One, Wound Another, In Saloon Fight." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, February 3, 1916.</p><p>Heise, Kenan. "Jesse George Murray, 86, Wrote For Chicago Papers and Theater." <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, September 19, 1996.</p><p>Helmer, William J. <i>Al Capone and His American Boys: Memoir's of a Mobster's Wife.</i> Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2011.</p><p>Hoover, J. Edgar. Memorandum For Mr. Joseph B. Keenan, Acting Attorney General, August 27, 1936. FBI Subject file St. Valentines Day Massacre, Part 1.</p><p>Hunt, Thomas, and Michael A. Tona. "Cleveland Convention Was To Be Masseria Coronation." <i>Informer Journal</i> 3:1 (January, 2010).</p><p>Irey, Elmer, and William J. Slocum. <i>The Tax Dodgers.</i> Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing Company, 1949.</p><p>"List 28 As 'Public Enemies'." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, April 24, 1930.</p><p>"Machine Gun Roars; 2 Shot." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, March 8, 1928.</p><p>"McGurn Again Guns' Target; Escapes Unhit." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, April 18, 1928.</p><p>Mappen, Marc. <i>Prohibition Gangsters: The Rise and Fall of a Bad Generation.</i> New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2013.</p><p>Murray, George. <i>The Legacy of Al Capone: Portraits and Annals of Chicago's Public Enemies</i>. New York: Putnam, 1975.</p><p>Newman, Scott. "Hotel Sherman." <i>Jazz Age Chicago: Urban Leisure from 1893 to 1945.</i> https://jazzagechicago.wordpress.com/hotel-sherman/#:~:text=The%20Hotel%20Sherman%20was%20one,of%20the%20early%20twentieth%20century.&text=Sherman%2C%20a%20three%2Dtime%20mayor,Street%20between%20Clark%20and%20LaSalle. (Accessed December 16, 2020).</p><p>"Officials Probe Booze Deals In Gang Shooting." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, February 15, 1929.</p><p>Palter, David. U.S. Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940, Ancestry.com.</p><p>Palter, David. World War I Draft Registration Card, No. 11538, San Francisco, California, May 23, 1917.</p><p>"Peace Seen For Chicago." <i>Chicago Daily News</i>, May 17, 1929.</p><p>"Philadelphia Justice For Al Capone." <i>Literary Digest</i>, June 15, 1929.</p><p>"Phyllis Stille Honored On Birthday Anniversary." <i>San Pedro News-Pilot</i>, July 23, 1930.</p><p>"Publicity Annoys Capone, He Leaves." <i>Atlantic City Daily Press</i>, May 17, 1929.</p><p>"Rio Burke." Edwin's Roadhouse aka Capone's Miami Gardens. http://caponesmiamigardens.com/burke.htm. (Accessed December 16, 2020.)</p><p>Schweder, Hanna. "Have A Whiskey For Nucky." <i>Press of Atlantic City</i>, January 20, 2017. https://pressofatlanticcity.com/life/have-a-whiskey-for-nucky-jan-20-is-atlantic-city-racketeers-birthday/article_1912d46a-a727-560d-b8ae-3fd5ba030acf.html (Accessed December 16, 2020.)</p><p>"Slay Doctor In Massacre." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, February 15, 1929.</p><p>"Start Search For Aiello In Triple Killing." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, May 10, 1929.</p><p>"Stock Broker Here Cleared of Old Theft Charge." <i>Los Angeles Daily News</i>, March 16, 1938.</p><p>"Suspect Hunted On N.Y. Charges Arrested Here." <i>Hollywood Citizen-News</i>, January 11, 1938.</p><p>"Tony Accardo, The New Mr. Big In Crime, Al Capone’s Former Bodyguard, The Mob." <i>Look</i>, July 28, 1953.</p><p>"Triple Killing Laid To Gang Feud." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, May 9, 1929.</p><p>"Triple Slaying Bares Plot To Kill Capone." <i>Chicago Daily News</i>, May 9, 1929.</p><p>"U.S. Defeated In New Suit To Deport Volpe." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, July 31, 1953.</p><p>"U.S. Moves To Avert New Beer War." <i>Chicago Daily News</i>, October 8, 1926.</p><p>Valachi, Joseph. <i>The Real Thing</i>. Typed manuscript, 1963-1964. RG 60. National Archives, College Park, MD. (Also available online at http://mafiahistory.us/a023/therealthing.htm.)</p><p>Volpe, Anthony. Declaration of Intention, No. 165, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, March 24, 1924.</p><p>Volpe, Anthony. World War II Draft Registration Card, No. 1898, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, April 27, 1942.</p><p>"Volpe, Facing Deportation, Is Barred From Italy." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, July 8, 1933.</p><p>Warner, Richard N. "The Dreaded D'Andrea." <i>Informer Journal</i> 2:2 (April, 2009).</p><p>"Whiskey Runner Is Found Slain." <i>Chicago Daily Tribune</i>, April 30, 1921.</p><p>Wolf, George, with Joseph DiMona. <i>Frank Costello: Prime Minister of the Underworld</i>. New York: Morrow, 1975.</p><p><br /></p>
Thanks to John Binder for providing photo analysis, David Critchley for additional material, and to Edmond Valin for his editorial comments and suggestions.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Copyright © 2023, writersofwrongs.com</div>Richard N. Warnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09777076322853336532noreply@blogger.com1