Cosa Nostra News

July 2018 marked the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Sicily, aka Operation Husky... American troops advancing to Messina, 1943. The summer 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily was an unmitigated success, what historians term as one of World War II's major turning points. After defeating Italy and Germany in the North African Campaign (November 8, 1942-May 13, 1943) of World War II (1939-45), the United States and Great Britain, the two leading Allied powers, decided to liberate Italy, to accomplish the vital goals of removing Benito Mussolini's fascist regime, securing the central Mediterranean, and destroying the Axis bulkhead and driving the remaining Italian and German forces to either surrender or retreat. The Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943. After 38 days of fighting, the U.S. and Great Britain drove German and Italian troops off of Sicily and prepared to continue to assault them on the Italian mainland. Setting the stage for Operation Husky...

Click on image to see on Amazon Yes, Montagna part two and a lot of other things in the works -- just saw this, thought it might interest some of you. Good historical Mafia fiction is hard to find.... "War makes patriots of us all — even Mafia capos. Albert Anastasia, a big deal in Murder Inc., enlisted in the Army. Joseph (Socks) Lanza, who controlled the rackets at the Fulton Fish Market, let naval officers work undercover on his fleet. And Long Island mobsters were said to have helped capture saboteurs who came ashore from a German submarine. These and other real-life gangsters appear in THE LETTER WRITER (Knopf, $26.95), Dan Fesperman’s dynamic novel set in New York during World War II." The New York Times today includes a story about this fictional book that takes place during WW2 and includes real Mafia figures among its characters. Among them is Meyer Lansky, "who arranged for Mafia dons to coordinate their war efforts with Frank Hogan, the New York...

Sherman tanks refueling at Normandy, 1944. Yes, mobsters are criminals, but some of them are heroes, too, or at least damn good Americans. Before you shake your head in befuddlement, understand we refer here to gangsters who fought in American wars and were decorated for their valiant efforts. John "Johnny Green" Faraci, a Bonanno crime family member, was described as "a large-scale loanshark with numerous loanshark victims," who, by one law enforcement estimate, had half a million dollars in loans out on the street. He died in January 2011 at age 88. Ten years before his death, the aging Bonanno soldier and three underlings faced federal loansharking charges after a would-be victim went to the FBI and agreed to wear a wire. "I got a nice baseball bat in my trunk; bust your legs up," one of Faraci's crew members said to the cooperator, according to the arrest complaint. In another taped conversation, the same guy bragged about ...

Not under my purview, but while researching something, I came across this: Rare photo suggests Nazis used Italians in Normandy defenses - English - ANSA.it : "Rome, June 6 - A rare photograph of Italian troops evidently surrendering to American soldiers on a Normandy battlefield has fuelled speculation about possible Italian military involvement against Allied forces after D-Day. Also surrendering with the Italians in the picture are German soldiers. The Italians in the photo wore military uniforms but some of them wore typical Sicilian "coppola" flat caps favoured by shepherds.