Angelo Annaloro, aka Angelo Bruno, aka The Gentle Don came to the U.S. from Sicily when he was in his teens in the late 1920s. He didn’t take long to get involved in criminal activity. At that time, the boss in Philly was Salvatore Sabella. He had started the Philadelphia family in 1911. Angelo set up gambling and bootlegging operations under Sabella. This is also when Bruno met Carlo Gambino. There are a couple of…
While there was a time when people were reluctant to pronounce the word “Mafia” … nowadays people have gone so far in the opposite direction that it has become an overused term … I am no longer willing to accept the habit of speaking of the Mafia in descriptive and all-inclusive terms that make it possible to stack up phenomena that are indeed related to the field of organised crime but that have little or nothing in…
Installment 7: The Senator and the Shield RICO, the infamous Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970, is credited as one of the most effective tools in the fight against the national crime syndicate. It’s aim for the prosecution of top mob members over mere soldiers, is no doubt largely responsible for its level of success. Earlier introduced and lesser known, was another controversial legislative weapon; one which arrived on the law books not…
Episode 2: The Secret Reading Time: As the limo slowed down, Carmine felt his heart begin to race. His hands were clammy and he felt himself sweating under his suit. Feeling such anxiety and nervousness was foreign to him. Usually he was a model of composure. It was an odd sensation. But something had recently changed. For the first time in his young life, he felt the early pangs of love. Although, it was more…
Another polarizing figure in the world of the Mafia is John Gotti. John is either the worst mob boss of all time or the second coming of Al Capone. There is no in-between with him. Well with most people anyway. John is a Bronx kid. His family moved to Brooklyn because the neighborhood they live in was too rough. They were also a very poor family. This seemed to drive John once he grew up….
Installment 6: Prelude to the Kefauver Hearings In April of 1950, the Senate Gambling Investigating Committee gathered in Washington DC. On the table, was a new bill that they expected would put “a ban on interstate transmission of race horse information.” Chairmen McFarland and his men were on a crusade to rid the nation of the racing wire service which “the country’s thousands of bookies” relied on. Though top officials from such major cities as…
The Italian Mafia had two separate Crime Families in Boston in the early 1900’s. One based in Boston, Massachusetts and the other based in Providence, Rhode Island. The Boston Faction was formed in 1916 by Gaspare Messina and the Providence Faction was formed in 1917 by Frank Morelli. The two families ended up merging together forming the New England Mafia also known as the Patriarca Crime Family. They had a seat on the Mafia’s National…
Reading Time: Episode 16: Miami Ice So, after my Jane Street weed monopoly imploded, it was back to the streets. There were always plenty of petty scams and hustles, and I’ll get into some of them later on, but today I’m going to talk about Florida. Why, you ask? Well, because I recently made a post at our sister page, Classic Gangster Society, about Detroit’s historic presence in Florida, particularly Miami. While putting it together,…
I admittedly know very little about Joe Colombo prior to him being given the contract on Carlo Gambino and Tommy Lucchese. Anybody want to fill me in, I’d appreciate it. His father was a member of the Profaci family and was killed in 1938 when Joe was 15. Joe had some legitimate jobs and also spent some time in the U.S. Coast Guard. At some point Joe followed in his father’s footsteps and got with…
Episode 1: The Life Reading Time: Follow the footsteps of Carmine Contello, a handsome Sicilian teenage boy, as he is slowly indoctrinated into the secretive world of “The Syndicate,” Detroit’s little-known faction of La Cosa Nostra. Carmine, a brilliant straight-A student and star athlete, has decided college and the life of a “straight shooter” is not the life for him. Instead, he wants to be like his Uncle Salvatore, who is his idol and one…
I’ll give you two words and you tell me what first comes to you mind. Vito Genovese………. Don Vitone is one of those polarizing figures. People either love him or hate him. If you love him, he was a tough street guy who commanded respect and left his family in great shape with guys who would lead long into the future. If you hate him, he’s a treacherous, jealous sociopath. Of course us mob nerds…
Similar to the way movie stars are fawned over and followed, a certain mystique also clings to the criminal element. And in rare instances, the celebrity and the gangster are even balled into one. Dillinger, Capone, and Bugsy are but a few examples of well-dress killers who reached media heights and fame during their lifetimes. And nearing a century later, the luster of the gangster genre hasn’t faded. Decades after the demise of each crime…
A week ago we asked you if you had to chose one New York Crime Family to join, which one would it be? The results are in… Genovese Crime Family – 55% Gambino Crime Family – 26% Bonanno Crime Family – 11% Lucchese Crime Family – 5% Colombo Crime Family – 3%
Umberto Anastasio was born September 26, 1902 in Tropea, Italy. He was one of 9 brothers and 3 sisters. In 1919 Umberto and 3 of his brothers working a freighter deserted the ship in New York and soon started working as longshoreman on the Brooklyn docks. On March 17, 1921 Umberto was convicted of murdering fellow longshoreman George Turino and Albert “Lord High Executioner” Anastasia was born. Rising in power quickly on the waterfront Albert…