Nearing the finish line for my latest project. Oct. 3 is the release date of Informer's 2023 issue, "#Gangsters of New York's Lower East Side." Contributors include Justin Cascio, Patrick Downey, Michael O'Haire, Matt Ghiglieri, Steve Turner.

It will be available in 7 formats - magazine, e-mag, hardcover book, paperback, Kindle & EPUB ebooks, audiobook. (Ebooks & audiobook can be preordered now.)

https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/search/label/2023%20October%20issue

#NYC #gangs #mafia #MafiaHistory #CrimeHistory #Histodons #NewYork

Taking a moment to glance back at the start of this #CrimeHistory / #MafiaHistory journal experiment. Issue 1 was released fifteen years ago this month.
... OK, moment over.
Back to work on the October 2023 #Informer issue!
https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2023/02/lower-east-side-is-focus-of-2023-issue.html

#OTD in 1902: #Brooklyn boys heading to the shore for a summer swim found the body of "Joe the Grocer," a nearly beheaded #Mafia murder victim. Authorities were later informed that Joe the Grocer was killed in order to protect the #Morello - #Lupo #counterfeiting operation.

Read about this here:
https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2017/07/brooklyns-1902-sack-murder-1-of-4.html

#Histodons #MafiaHistory #NYC #CrimeHistory

Giving a presentation about this later this week at the Tuscarawas County Public Library in New Philadelphia, Ohio. Should be a lot of fun.

http://noel-poirier.com/2022/02/02/torch-murder-of-1934/

#TrueCrime #MurderMystery #Gangsters #1930s #OhioHistory #CrimeHistory #Bootlegging #NewPhiladelphia #Ohio @histodons

#CrimeHistory #Authors:
If your #crime history book was recently published ('22-'23) or will soon be published ('23-'24), email a press release about it to informerjournal@gmail.com .

(Include a description of the subject, how your handling of it is different from other works and something about you. If a photo of the cover isn't online, send one of those too.)

Informer will publish book announcements - as space permits - in the upcoming Oct 2023 issue.
https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/

#Histodons

#OTD in 1938: A jury finds Charles #Sberna and Salvatore #Gati guilty of the first-degree #murder of #NYPD Officer John Wilson. The jury makes no recommendation for mercy, ensuring the two men will be sentenced to die.
During the trial, Gati admitted his involvement in the robbery that resulted in the killing of Wilson but insisted Sberna was not present.

http://mafiahistory.us/wronglyexecuted/

#CapitalPunishment #CrimeHistory #Histodons

#OTD in 1938: Renowned defense attorney Samuel #Leibowitz tried his best to wriggle free of a hopeless capital #murder case.

Read about it:
https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2018/06/attorney-cannot-free-himself-from.html

#CapitalPunishment #CrimeHistory

#OTD in 1961: Regional racketeer Mike Farah, while practicing golf swings on the lawn of his #WarrenOH home, was mortally wounded by shotgun blasts from a passing car. #Farah was closely associated with the #Mafia -linked #JungleInn #Casino just outside #YoungstownOh
Read about it:
https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2017/06/youngstown-racketeer-farah-killed-at.html

#OrganizedCrime #MafiaHistory #CrimeHistory #Histodons

Notice for those who follow #Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement.
The printing service's labor and materials costs have climbed. As a result, sale prices are rising slightly for Informer's paperback book (Oct 2020, Oct 2021 & Nov 2022) and hardcover book (Nov 2022 only) editions. Magazine, e-magazine, e-book, audio-book formats are unaffected by this increase. #CrimeHistory
https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2023/05/small-price-hike-on-book-editions.html

#OTD in 1965: Former #NewYork underworld leader Owen "The Killer" Madden died of natural causes at #HotSprings Arkansas. Once associated with #NYC West Side street gang wars, #Prohibition bootlegging and #CottonClub entertainment, Madden for decades had lived a quiet retirement in the popular resort community. #CrimeHistory #Histodons
Read more about Madden here:
https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2020/04/owney-madden-dies-at-hot-springs.html

Today in 1935, Thomasina Sarao was put to death by hanging for killing her husband.
The hangman had been given the wrong weight & she was decapitated in the hanging.
Due to this, the public (by invitation only) was no longer allowed to watch hangings happen.

#Crime #TrueCrime #CrimeHistory #Canada #Canadian #Montreal #History #Histodon #Histodons

#OTD in 1959: Longtime #NewJersey rackets boss Abner "Longie" #Zwillman was found dead in his #WestOrangeNJ home, an apparent suicide. #CrimeHistory #Histodons
https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2019/02/longie-zwillman-takes-his-life.html

In his recently released book, Ten Notches, historian Jeffery S. King tells the life story of Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, while examining ten killings attributed to the #Prohibition Era #BankRobber.
#CrimeHistory #Histodons #PrettyBoyFloyd
https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2022/12/ten-notches-examines-pretty-boy-floyd.html

#OTD in 1939: Charles #Sberna and Salvatore Gati were executed at Sing Sing Prison for the 1937 killing of Patrolman John Wilson, though many believed Sberna was innocent of the crime. (Authorities may have prejudged Sberna, who was the son of a wanted #anarchist terrorist and the son-in-law of an infamous #Mafia boss.) #CapitalPunishment #CopKillers #CrimeHistory #Histodons
http://mafiahistory.us/wronglyexecuted/

I've been giving some thought to a focus for the 2023 issue of Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement. Front-runner idea of the moment: #Gangsters of Manhattan's Lower East Side. I am interested to hear what people think of it (particularly those who like to read and/or write about #CrimeHistory ).
#Histodons #NYC #TrueCrime
https://informer-journal.blogspot.com/2022/12/gangsters-of-nycs-lower-east-side.html

To all #CrimeStories fanatics I say read about "la banda della uno bianca" (the white uno gang). It is one of the most absurd stories in post-war Italy. Without spoiling it, we are talking about a gang of robbers who have something to hide.

#crime #crimehistory

#OTD in 1911, first known robbery in the world with the use of a car by members of the “bande à Bonnot”, a French criminal anarchist group. They attacked a Société Générale bank in Paris. #crimehistory #crime #Gangsters #histodons @histodons

#OTD in 1911, first known robbery in the world with the use of a car by members of the “bande à Bonnot”, a French criminal anarchist group. They attacked a Société Générale bank in Paris. #crimehistory #crime #Gangsters #histodons @histodons

One time I started a blog that was going to be posts about what I style 'folk history': little essays on the stories I've uncovered in my (entirely hobbyist) researches into folk belief, local history, and the more interesting bits of my family history, against a background of social history of the times.

Typically of me, I set it all up, got one post in, and never wrote anymore. But since people seem to like that sort of thing on here, maybe I'll resurrect it?

For what it's worth, this is that one post, a story of my direct ancestor and the convict transports of the 1830s (which I optimistically styled 'part 1 of 2'): https://pastpathways.wordpress.com/2021/07/12/a-transportation-story-part-1-the-cattle-thief/

#ancestry #genealogy #FamilyHistory #SocialHistory #FolkHistory #EnglishHistory #AustralianHistory #ConvictTransports #CrimeHistory #CrimeAndPunishment #19thCentury #Geneadons #PatrickFamily #Norfolk #NorfolkHistory

#OTD in 1929: The murder of #StJoseph #Michigan Police Officer Charles #Skelly.
#CrimeHistory #Histodons
https://www.writersofwrongs.com/2020/02/a-killing-in-capones-playground-true.html