News and notes relating to the American Mafia History website
The unpublished autobiography of turncoat New York Mafioso Joseph Valachi is an important primary source of information on American Mafia history. The document, which runs 1,201 pages, was written by Valachi while in federal custody in 1964. Used as source material for The Valachi Papers by Peter Maas, Valachi’s document has been available to the …
Edmond Valin’s recent addition to the Rat Trap section involves a New York mobster who relocated to the Windy City and deceived and betrayed the Chicago Outfit. See: “The Italian mobster who wasn’t.”
UPDATE (Oct. 25, 2020): The first 1,045 pages (and 1,078 pages in all) are available online. There are just 122 pages of Valachi’s text left to digitize and format. Part 1 – Complete, 313 pgs, numbered 1 thru 299*. Part 2 – Complete, 307 pgs, numbered 300 thru 599*. Part 3 – Complete, 300 pgs, …
Salvatore Lucania, widely known as Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, late in 1931 became the most powerful crime boss in the U.S. He personally commanded a sprawling New York-based Mafia organization, held one of seven seats on the Mafia’s ruling Commission and maintained valuable alliances with non-Italian racketeering organizations across the country. Less than five years after …
In his book on The Barrel Mystery, legendary crime-fighter William Flynn discussed what he viewed as the two great organized outlaw elements in American society: violent political radicals or “Reds” and a growing Sicilian underworld organization he knew as “The Black Hand.” Flynn feared that the Red and the Black might someday combine to form …
A biography of Vincent “Jimmy Blue Eyes” Alo has been added to the website’s Who Was Who section. Alo, a longtime pal of Meyer Lansky, was the inspiration for a number of fictional underworld characters, including “Johnny Ola” of the movie, The Godfather Part II. In real life, Alo was born in Harlem and became …
After his retirement, former NYPD Homicide Bureau leader Arthur A. Carey penned an autobiographical book called, Memoirs of a Murder Man. A chapter in that book looked back at the 1903 Barrel Murder and police efforts to put the early Mafia organization of Giuseppe Morello out of business. Carey’s account is noticeably different from the …
Several biographies have been added to the Who Was Who section of the website (click on a name to jump to the bio): Antonio “Tony Bender” Strollo (1899-1962) – longtime leader in the Genovese Crime Family. Tomasso “the Ox” Petto (1879-1905) – Enforcer for the early New York Mafia organization of Giuseppe Morello. Salvatore “Charlie …
A brief biography of early New York Mafia boss and U.S. Mafia boss of bosses Giuseppe Morello has been added to the website. Entitled, “Sinistro: The Underworld Career of Giuseppe Morello (1867-1930),” the article includes more than 40 endnotes containing references to numerous sources.
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