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Showing posts from October, 2017

100 Years Ago The Black Hand's Ferocious (But False) Reputation Terrorized America's Little Italies

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The Black Hand and the Mafia (the pre-1931 organization) were distinct crime rings. The men on the left and right were caught with Black Hand letters. Man in the middle was an interpreter. The Mafia was much larger in size and power -- and was generally a lot more secretive than members of the so-called La Mano Nera. Huge waves of Italian immigrants crashed along the shores of America from around 1890 to 1900. During this period, one of several massive influxes of Europeans, some 655,888 Italian immigrants arrived in the United States; two-thirds were men. Many Italians arrived in the United States from the poorer rural villages in Southern Italy, including Sicily and Campania. They tended to have little cash and less education. Most had been peasant farmers in Italy, so they generally were forced into manual labor, lacking the skills to earn higher salaries in better-paying professions.

Stories of Lady Bartenders and Their Wiseguy Patrons Set Against NYC's Rocking '80s-90s Nightclub Scene

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REVISED  This Life Of Ours: Fairy Tales Of Mob Bartenders  is the first book in a female-centric series. Click book cover for more information. It tells the other side of the traditional mob love story about what it's like for a nice girl from New York to fall for a notorious mobster. D iane Morton-Gattullo  is the author of This Life Of Ours: Fairy Tales Of Mob Bartenders . Available now, the nearly 500-page book details the mobbed-up nightlife scene of New York City circa 1980s-1990s. An excerpt from Life of Ours: " This is an invitation only club and if you’re lucky you might be invited to the VIP section. This life is not for the faint of heart. Remember, you’ll never know if you have a real friend once you enter our world. My name is Dannie and I will be your guide on the Crazy Train Express! We break for no one but stop at fuck me, feed me and paying my bills way, the fun house, mob dens, nightclubs and jail. Please don’t sit near the windows; you could

Is NYPD Still Probing Luchese Mobster's Brutal Murder--And What of "Strange" OD Death in Rikers?

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A uniquely American subculture of lifelong outlaws, made members and associates of organized crime are the enemies of society; they kill and steal probably more indiscriminately than citizens believe. But we are a society based on the rule of law -- even the deaths of criminals, if not murderers themselves, is not something a lawful society countenances.  Two recent deaths -- one a homicide, another an overdose with unanswered questions that raise many unresolved issues -- took place in the past year. Based on all our efforts we find law enforcement has made little headway -- at least as per public information. Perhaps the investigations legitimately are stuck -- perhaps Riker's Island officials aren't interested. We write this simply to raise awareness of these deaths.   And the fact one is unsolved, the other unresolved.

Worst Tragedy of All Besets Family of Onetime Gambino Boss

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Longtime Gambino capo Joseph (Joe the Blond) Giordano Longtime Gambino capo Joe the Blond, about whom we look at now--note that we are not referring to Carlo Gambino's historic underboss, Joseph (Joe the Blond) Biondo, Gambino underboss in the 1960s. Fortunately, he died of natural causes -- just as Gambino was preparing to order his death. This Joe The Blond, aka Joseph Giordano, was a member of former Gambino boss John Gotti ’s inner circle. He is a nephew to former Gotti underboss Joseph “Joe Piney” Armone, and his brother, John “Handsome Jack” Giordano, was one of Gotti Sr.’s right-hand men. Like John Junior, Gotti had more than one right-hand man. (Why the young former Don claimed to be befuddled by his supposed surplus of confidants is in itself befuddling to us: we'd want as many close cohorts as possible if we ran a crime family in New York.)

View Philadelphia Complaint

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Case 1:18-mj-05510-KMW Document 1 Filed 03/13/18 Page 6 of 67 PageID: 6 Toggle Fullscreen Top Nonfiction on Scribd View More carousel next The Innovators Dispatches from Pluto Elon Musk Sapiens The Unwinding Yes Please The Prize A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius Grand Pursuit This Changes Everything The Emperor of All Maladies John Adams Devil in the Grove Rise of ISIS Smart People Should Build Things The Ha