Very often new historical data becomes available and causes our old assumptions to be revised or abandoned. Over time, many underworld legends appearing on these pages have given way to more defensible statements. Additional revisions are sure to be made in the months and years ahead. Articles presented here are the product of knowledge that was available to their authors at the time of their writing (article completion dates are noted below). Some of the articles - particularly older ones - may not reflect even the original author's current views on the subject matter.
By Thomas Hunt, 2020
A number of source documents - prosecutor files and copyright-expired newspaper clippings - along with some document transcriptions accompany this short article, in order that readers may discover for themselves details of this early event in the underworld career of Giuseppe Masseria. Years later, Masseria - by then known as "Joe the Boss" - became capo dei capi (boss of the bosses) of the U.S. Mafia.
By Thomas Hunt, 2019
Salvatore "Charlie Luciano" Lucania's position as a top man in Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria's organization appears to be supported by news of a police raid of a Miami Beach hotel in February 1930. The two crime figures and a number of others were caught in the gambling raid. The gamblers apparently had been lured to south Florida by a widely publicized but ultimately disappointing boxing match.
By Thomas Hunt, 2019
The FBI's "Donnie Brasco" undercover operation revealed that "Nicky Cigars" Santora (also known as "Nicky Mouth") was a leader in New York's Bonanno Crime Family. That revelation cost Santora his underworld position and his freedom, as he was sentenced to a long term in federal prison. Despite law enforcement scrutiny, Santora regained his status in the Bonanno organization following his release.
By Thomas Hunt, 2018
Mrs. Pasquarella Mussone Spinelli was fatally shot March 20, 1912, while checking on the horses boarded in her East Harlem stable, 334 East 108th Street. Spinelli was a relatively wealthy resident of the Italian colony and was suspected of criminal activity. Her murder was just one in a string of related killings that prompted the New York press to name her former business address, "the Murder Stable."
By Thomas Hunt, 2018
Salvatore "Charlie Lucky Luciano" Lucania reigned atop the American Mafia less than five years before being taken into custody. The underworld boss spent most of the next decade - from his prime into middle age - behind New York prison bars. A lengthy term in remotely located institutions could have cost Lucky his fame, but, as the U.S. entered World War II, he found a way to make himself important.
By Thomas Hunt, 2018
Thomas and Rosemarie Uva, married about five years, went out early Thursday, December 24, 1992, to complete their Christmas shopping. The Uvas, in a Mercury Topaz, were less than a mile from home when they stopped for a traffic light at 103rd Avenue and 91st Street. Bullets cracked in rapid succession through the Topaz's windshield. Three slugs struck Thomas in the head. Three others hit Rosemarie.
By Thomas Hunt, 2018
Life and underworld career of John "No Nose" DiFronzo, Chicago Outfit boss, who died in 2018 at his River Grove home. DiFronzo owed his nickname to wound suffered in a 1949 tangle with police. Trial testimony named him as one of the mobsters who beat to death the Spilotro brothers, but he was never charged. A criminal defense attorney said that DiFronzo's greatest achievement was, "Beating the G."
By Edmond Valin, 2018
One, Alfredo Santantonio, was murdered in a Brooklyn flower store in 1963. His Gambino bosses were concerned the 40-year-old mobster was cooperating with law enforcement, and they wanted to send a message to all considering a similar path. The other, Carmine Lombardozzi, passed away at age 79, and crime family leaders turned out to pay their respects. Documents show that both men were FBI informants.
By Edmond Valin, 2018
A Florida-based Bonanno mobster began to share information with the FBI in the late 1960s, discussing gangland murders, secrets about cosa nostra members and details about turmoil within the Bonanno Crime Family. His cooperation was never suspected by his associates, and he died a member in good standing. Clues found in recently declassified federal documents help us to finally reveal his identity.
By Thomas Hunt, 2009
Jack Ruby, a well-connected nightclub owner in Dallas, appears to have played a role in the flight of American racketeers and the removal of some mob money from Cuba in 1959. The level of his participation remains uncertain. Some believe he negotiated with the new government of Fidel Castro to win the release of Mafia boss Santo Trafficante and later participated in a Castro-Mafia plot against JFK.
By Thomas Hunt, 2017
Government releases of long-hidden John F. Kennedy assassination files in July and October of 2017 exposed CIA cooperation with U.S. mobsters - particularly Tampa boss Santo Trafficante, Chicago boss Sam Giancana and Johnny Rosselli - in an effort to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Giancana and Rosselli later attempted to use their connection with CIA to achieve their personal ambitions.
By Edmond Valin, 2017
The Federal Bureau of Investigation was able in the early 1960s to turn two inducted members of the Philadelphia Crime Family. The informants both were sons of prominent cosa nostra leaders and possessed knowledge of underworld activities dating back to early Prohibition days. Federal agents used their information to assemble an inside look at the crime family's history, structure and membership.
By Edmond Valin, 2017
The FBI was unable to acquire informants within the Chicago Outfit by 1965. The situation changed abruptly after Sam Giancana, targeted by law enforcement, was deposed as boss and fled the U.S. for Mexico. Declassified documents show that more than ten Outfit members began cooperating by 1967. The difference seems to have been due to more aggressive law enforcement and a breakdown in underworld morale.
By Thomas Hunt, 2017
The August 2017, death of Venero Frank "Benny Eggs" Mangano severed the Genovese Crime Family's strongest remaining link to its historic Lower West Side foundation. Mangano passed away in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. The neighborhood had been a stronghold of the crime family since the Prohibition Era, when young Neapolitan gangster Vito Genovese joined forces with Sicilian chief "Joe the Boss" Masseria.
By Edmond Valin, 2017
FBI Agent William Roemer graded three Chicago Outfit informants as his "best." In his writings, he revealed that one of these was Richard Cain, shot to death in 1973. He referred to the other two only by codenames "Sporting Goods" and "Romano." Examining declassified FBI documents alongside some of Roemer’s books provides compelling clues to the long-hidden identities of these underworld informants.
By Thomas Hunt, 2015
During the Prohibition Era, the Sicilian Mafia absorbed Calabrian organized criminals in a number of U.S. regions. But it is uncertain how organized the Calabrians had been on their own and what prompted the merger. However, there are hints that Calabrian gangsters already had a well developed interstate and international smuggling network in place by the time the Mafia entered bootlegging rackets.
By Thomas Hunt, 2017
A look at the life and underworld career of the cigar-chewing Frank "Bomp" Bompensiero. Born in Milwaukee in 1905, Bompensiero relocated to southern California by the Prohibition Era and became a powerhouse for the Los Angeles Mafia, controlling underworld rackets in the San Diego area. His gangland bosses ordered his execution in 1977 after learning that he was aiding federal law enforcement agents.
By Thomas Hunt, 2015
The first known capo dei capi (boss of bosses) of the U.S. Mafia, Morello served as both a unifying and a dividing force in the underworld. After working early on to establish interstate gang relationships, rackets and policies, he was later immersed in two gang conflicts and became a Castellammarese War casualty. His Terranova half-brothers and brother-in-law Ignazio Lupo all became leading Mafiosi.
By W.J.Flynn, 1919
We present the entirety of The Barrel Mystery book by William J. Flynn, a useful window into the operations of the early Mafia organization of Giuseppe Morello as well as the tactics used by the U.S. Secret Service and other enforcement agencies to bring Morello and his band of counterfeiters to justice. Flynn, who led the Secret Service in New York in the period, vividly recalls the 1903 Barrel Murder.
By Thomas Hunt, 2014
One of the more powerful and influential New Jersey underworld figures of the Prohibition Era and beyond, Abner "Longie" Zwillman was known as the "Al Capone" of his state. A Newark-area political powerhouse, Zwillman amassed a fortune through rum-running, gambling and coin-operated devices. He was known to be generous with friends and gangland associates. But his downfall was his stinginess with Uncle Sam.
By J.Dugard, 2013
A longtime member of the Bonanno Crime Family, Frank Bonomo proved himself equally adept at avoiding the attention of law enforcement and the wrath of his underworld rivals. He was born in the crime family's ancestral home of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, in 1901. A survivor of New York's "Banana War," he gained stature and briefly may have commanded a Bonanno capodecina. He lived to the age of 86.
By Thomas Hunt, 2013
Frankie Yale was a Brooklyn gangster and businessman with ties to Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Al Capone. His 1928 assassination coincided with dramatic changes in the Brooklyn underworld and the Mafia of the United States. Yale apparently was born Jan. 22, 1893, in Longobucco, a town in the southern mainland Italian region of Calabria. The original spelling of his surname was probably "Ioele".
By Joe Valachi, 1964
The famous Mob informant's life story in his own words. Valachi recalls his early career as a burglar, his participation in the Castellammarese War, his induction into the American Mafia and more. Valachi's recollections, originally written at the urging of the United States government, formed the basis of the Peter Maas book, The Valachi Papers, but differed significantly from the Maas account.
By Edmond Valin, 2018
As the FBI entered the fight against organized crime on a national level, it benefited from membership data and history obtained through confidential informants from a small Mafia family in northern California. Briefly in the 1960s, there may have been more member-informants active in San Jose than any other crime family ,and the FBI may have been better informed about the Bay Area underworld than its boss.
By Edmond Valin, 2017
During the 1960s "Banana War" in New York City, law enforcement benefited from a stream of data provided by a knowledgeable informer within the Bonanno Crime Family. Researcher Edmond Valin argues that, based upon the timing, the circumstances and the information conveyed to the authorities, the informer could only have been crime family boss Joseph Bonanno's son, Salvatore "Bill" Bonanno.
Edited By J.Dugard, 2010
A gruesome murder in a reportedly haunted, old, Staten Island hilltop mansion provided a window into the operation of the Bonanno Crime Family. Turncoat witness Stefan Cicale testified about the April 2005 Kreischer Mansion murder of Robert McKelvey in an October 2008 trial. According to Cicale, two mobsters stabbed and drowned McKelvey at the site and then had Cicale and another man help dispose of the body.
By Clarence Walker, 2010
Billions of dollars will be gambled worldwide on a single Super Bowl, much of it will be wagered online. Last year, the Internet gambling industry generated an estimated $10-$12 billion, according to a gaming analyst. About half of those revenues came from Americans. The quantity of cash involved makes the industry irresistible for organized criminals, and gambling sites are targeted for cyberattacks.
By David Critchley, 2008
Historians have generally neglected the role played by Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, cities in Berrien County, Michigan, in the history of Chicago and New York organized crime. Berrien communities were quite familiar with Outfit boss Al Capone, a regular visitor. And a prolific Castellammarese War gunman referred to as "Buster," can now be identified as one-time Berrien County resident Sebastiano Domingo.
By J. Dugard, 2007
A chambermaid at Miami's Ocean Shore Motel made the grisly July 14, 1976, discovery of a shooting and stabbing victim left in a bathroom. Police used motor vehicle registration data to identify the victim as George "Dickie" Byrum. They learned of Byrum financial problems and his dealings with a loan shark, but it took until 1983 to link the murder to the Roy DeMeo crew of the Gambino Crime Family.
By T. Hunt and L. Cafiero, 2008
A little known crime figure of Brooklyn and the Bronx, Saverio Pollaccia was a close aide to two gang leaders who successively occupied the position of Mafia boss of bosses, Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila and "Joe the Boss" Masseria. In addition, Pollaccia was a close ally to Brooklyn's Frankie Yale. Once an influential organized crime leader, Pollaccia was killed due to an old grudge held by Vito Genovese.
By T. Hunt and M. Sheldon, 2008
The stunning murder of Little Messina community leader Litero Barba in October of 1868 - initially blamed on an African-American state legislator - quickly led to the eruption of a gangland war in New Orleans. An alliance of underworld figures originally from Messina and Trapani, Sicily, battled a Palermo Mafia organization led by Raffaele Agnello. Bloodshed in the war continued until April of 1872.
By Thomas Hunt, 2007
After completing an evening meal at the Cafe Oreto on March 12, 1909, Joseph Petrosino walked into the wooded public square at the Piazza Marina, just south of the docks of Palermo, Sicily. Petrosino, a police lieutenant and founder of NYPD's Italian Squad, was shot to death in the dark piazza. His overseas assassination was the most moving moment in the distinguished history of the Italian Squad.
By T. Hunt and M.A. Tona, 2007
"Diu miu!" The shout drew Michael Fiaschetti's attention to the figure silhouetted in the dim gray light passing through the hotel window. Fiaschetti was on self-imposed guard duty, ostensibly protecting barber Bartolo Fontano from gangsters who wished him dead.
Feb. 2006 testimony of Michael DiLeonardo
Paul Castellano had sent some emissaries to talk to me about it. My brother Robert was with the Colombo family, and being he was with that family, we have no say and no influence on their politics or anything that they do. So this is a way to tell me this is Cosa Nostra. This is the way the rules are. Your brother was there. They killed him and that's it. There's no questions to be asked.
By Thomas Hunt, 2006-07
Patrolman John H. A. Wilson, an 11-year member of the New York Police Department, was on strike-duty in front of the E. J. Barry drug warehouse at 54 Fulton Street in lower Manhattan. Employees of the warehouse had walked off the job, and Wilson was sent to ensure picketers behaved themselves.
By Thomas Hunt, 2006
Despite running one of New York's smaller underworld units, Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese was one of the more successful American Mafia bosses of the post-Prohibition era. Abundant evidence of his business acumen suggests he was among the few mob chiefs who could have succeeded in life without underworld ties.
By Thomas Hunt, 2005
Few gangsters have cast a greater shadow on American society than Albert Anastasia of Brooklyn. For much of three decades, the man who was called "The Mad Hatter" and "The Lord High Executioner" helped to shape the organized underworld in the United States
By Thomas Hunt, 2006
Anthony Spilotro wasn't much to look at. His build certainly wasn't threatening. He stood just five feet, six inches tall and weighed in the neighborhood of 160. His small stature led underworld colleagues to call him "Tony the Ant" and "The Little Guy."
By Thomas Hunt, 2005-06
The disappearance of former Teamster President James Riddle Hoffa in 1975 sparked a public debate that continues to this day. Despite claims to the contrary, no one knows for sure what became of Hoffa or who was responsible.
By Parry Desmond, 2003
Max "Boo Boo" Hoff was born in 1893 in South Philadelphia, a son of poor Russian-Jewish, immigrants. After quitting school, Boo Boo worked for several years as a cigar store clerk. His salary allegedly was raised from $12 a week to $15 after the proprietor noticed how Boo Boo's amiable personality appealed to customers.
By Thomas Hunt, 2010
"Al Capone's ten-month imprisonment in Philadelphia gave rise to a number of conspiracy theories. The most complex theory was advanced by Real Detective magazine in 1931. That periodical charged that the real Al Capone was dead and the man who had served time for carrying a deadly weapon in Philadelphia was an imposter. Real Detective charged that, at the time of his imprisonment, Capone's eye color changed from brown..."
By Edmond Valin, 2018
Samuel Mannarino was a prominent La Cosa Nostra figure in Western Pennsylvania for decades until his death in 1967. He met with FBI agents throughout the mid-1960s after being forced into retirement from the rackets. He engaged in conversation with the agents mostly out of boredom and a slight sense of disappointment over the abrupt end to his criminal life. His revelations to the agents never went very far, but he did shed light...
By Edmond Valin, 2018
In 1965, Anthony Lima, former boss of the San Francisco Crime Family, began to share confidential information with federal law enforcement. The veteran LCN member provided an insider's view of organized crime from the highest levels. Lima told federal agents about his induction ceremony, provided details about the history of the Pittsburgh Crime Family, and identified LCN members, many for the first time.
By Arthur Carey, 1930
"Italians who came to this country at the beginning of this century had a penchant for grouping into small colonies. They came in great numbers to New York City and settled in districts which became known as Little Italys. The colonization laid them open to attacks by various criminal organizations from the Old World who brought with them much experience in murder and blackmail. In 1902 and 1903 members of these colonies were terrorized..."
By Edmond Valin, 2018
Vincent "Fat Vinnie" Teresa achieved notoriety in the 1970s after he became a cooperating witness against the mob. The former New England Crime Family mobster testified at more than a dozen mob trials and made a televised appearance before a United States Senate committee investigating organized crime. Teresa's tales of mob life and his distinctive appearance - a large head, massive frame and gravely voice...
By Edmond Valin, 2018
Salvatore Piscopo was a longtime member of the Los Angeles Crime Family and a close associate of mob legends Johnny Roselli and Jimmy Fratianno. Piscopo ran a large-scale gambling operation for the mob. Although he never rose higher than soldier, Piscopo had a front row seat to organized crime's infiltration of the movie industry and the gang wars that boiled over in Southern California in the 1940s and 1950s.
By Thomas Hunt, 2018
The force of Sicilian vendetta was observed in the United States between 1918 and 1921, during a long and bloody family feud in Texas and Missouri. It is uncertain whether the immigrant families involved, the Restivos and the Campanellas, were at all connected with the Mafia criminal society. However, their determination to destroy each other rivaled anything seen in Mafia history. It was reported that the families were bitter enemies in Sicily...
By Thomas Hunt, 2018
Sylvester "Sally Daz" Zottola, 71, was shot and killed Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, while waiting at a McDonald's drive-thru lane in the Bronx. Zottola, a reputed associate of the Bonanno Crime Family and once a trusted friend of former Bonanno boss Vincent J. "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, apparently had been targeted by rivals for the past year. Zottola, alone in his maroon Acura SUV, visited the McDonald's restaurant drive-thru, 1625 Webster Avenue...
By Thomas Hunt, 2019
The reputed boss of New York's Gambino Crime Family was shot to death Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in the street outside his Staten Island home, according to newspaper and broadcast reports. Shortly after nine o'clock that night, emergency dispatchers received a 9-1-1 call from No. 25 Hilltop Terrace off Four Corners Road in the Todt Hill section. Fire department medics and police responded. They found Francesco "Franky Boy" Cali, 53, had suffered multiple gunshot wounds...
By Edmond Valin, 2019
In 1967, Kansas City Outfit member Joseph Gurera began to share confidential information with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Gurera cooperated for only a few months before he passed away, but in that short time, he helped federal agents to identify La Cosa Nostra members in three states, provided Intel about organized crime history in Kansas City and Milwaukee going back decades and cleared up numerous mob murders...
By Thomas Hunt, 2018
"His deeds forgotten and his remains misplaced, 'Nine-Fingered Frank' Romeo is a mysterious figure in New Orleans underworld history. Recalled by history merely as one of eleven men murdered in an 1891 lynch mob assault on Orleans Parish Prison, Romeo, also known as Romero, actually served a key, longtime role in the evolution of organized crime in southern Louisiana, bringing together businessmen, labor, politicians and racketeers in the earliest days of the American Mafia....
By Edmond Valin, 2020
In the late 1920s, a young hoodlum from New York City moved to Chicago and became associated with the local Mafia organization called the 'Outfit.' He made a living as a 'confidence man,' a jewel thief, and a heroin dealer. He acted as 'muscle' for mobsters Fifi Buccieri and Ralph Pierce and rubbed elbows with bosses Frank Nitti and Paul Ricca. In 1963, he got jammed up and turned to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for help....