Articles by Ronald Rawson

One of the first things I did when Craig and Casey were kind enough to offer me a bit of space on NCS, was to put down some New Orleans stories, one being a piece titled where New Orleans Buries it’s Dead Mobsters. It was right around Halloween as well, a couple years back. Been meaning to get a second part up for some time now but guess Halloween is the right time. The last time…

If you’re anything like me you probably always figured that the guys writing these books on the Mafia that we all enjoy, really know their shit. Right? Wellllll……! I’ll take what I read at face value. After all, I’m no expert. I’ll take it at face value until I find something contradictory. Now, that doesn’t mean the new, contradictory, info is correct. Just that it’s something to look into. Sometimes it may just be a…

On July 29 1942 at around 6:30 AM a woman’s body was discovered on the side of the road near Tucker’s Corner in upstate New York near Poughkeepsie. The body was that of Mrs. Yolanda Stroncone. She had been viciously stabbed 14 times with what was later determined to be a knife with a 5″ blade and an ice pick. Her car, money and a diamond ring was missing. Robbery was clearly a motive but…

A mixture of New Orleans and Marcello stories, factoids, rumors and sayings. Everyone knows that Mosca’s Restaurant was Carlos’s favorite place to eat. It became Mosca’s in 1946 and is still in operation today. Prior to 1946 it was called Willswood Tavern. The story goes that Carlos liked the cooking of Provino Mosca so much that he gave the place to him and his wife and even built a small house for them to live…

When we last left New Orleans it was April 1st 1869 and New Orleans first Godfather, Raffaele Agnello, had been shot down on Toulouse Street in The French Quarter, or as it was called at the time, Little Palermo. His brother Joseph, known as Peppino, would take over his spot as ruler of the Italians of New Orleans but it would be short lived and Peppino was never quite as effective as his brother. Another…

Niccolo sold pots and pans from his pushcart. Well, not only pots and pans but other useful items as well. But he made his best money on those pots and pans. Since coming from Monreale to New Orleans two years earlier he had done moderately well for himself. First fishing and oystering in a lugger with a friend and then buying his own cart and supplies with the money he had saved up from that….

Two armed men entered the shop of Debilia Liacola as Vito DiGiorgio was sitting in the barber chair and James Casaio was playing pool. The gunmen drew pistols. “You take the one in the chair and I’ll take the one playing pool” one yelled. ~ Police believe the slayers trailed the men over the country to assassinate them. ~From the Freeport Journal-Standard in Freeport Illinois, Saturday May 13 1922~ Vito Di Giorgio, arguably the first…

So, as promised, I’ve found some new information on Silver Dollar Sam and want to pass it on to everyone. First, regarding the story on Sam and Al Capone meeting at the New Orleans train station and Sam sending him packing back to Chicago with his bodyguards nursing broken fingers. It appears more likely that the source for this myth would likely be that, yes, a Capone was in New Orleans but it was Ralph…

The young woman sat outside her father’s bar on Rue Bienville. She sat in one of several chairs lining the narrow walkway under the window of the bar that had Zimmerman’s Coliseum Saloon painted in red letters on it. The July heat was bad enough out here but it was much worse inside the bar. Add the exertion of serving customers, cleaning up and moving the crates of bottles around and it just made it…