Author: Samira Kawash
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0865477566
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
"A lively cultural history that explains how candy became more like food and food more like candy"--
Candy
Author: Samira Kawash
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0865477566
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
"A lively cultural history that explains how candy became more like food and food more like candy"--
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0865477566
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 417
Book Description
"A lively cultural history that explains how candy became more like food and food more like candy"--
CANDY
Author: Eric Santiago Martinez
Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
ISBN: 1662918704
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
Candy is a story about a young girl growing up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Candy is swept away by life forces beyond her control and understanding. This Suspense-Thriller-Love Story follows the people and events that lead-up to a life-or-death struggle between her brother Santiago, his childhood friends, and fellow veterans, with a burgeoning drug syndicate in New Mexico. Candy is caught in the middle. The action escalates as outside forces fuel the flames. As the flames grow higher, the excitement builds until it reaches a boiling point. The cauldron explodes and all hell breaks loose.
Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
ISBN: 1662918704
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Book Description
Candy is a story about a young girl growing up in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Candy is swept away by life forces beyond her control and understanding. This Suspense-Thriller-Love Story follows the people and events that lead-up to a life-or-death struggle between her brother Santiago, his childhood friends, and fellow veterans, with a burgeoning drug syndicate in New Mexico. Candy is caught in the middle. The action escalates as outside forces fuel the flames. As the flames grow higher, the excitement builds until it reaches a boiling point. The cauldron explodes and all hell breaks loose.
No Haven
Author: Paul Bleakley
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538192918
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 277
Book Description
With Boston to the north and New York City to the south, Connecticut’s history of organized crime is often overlooked. This is the untold story of New Haven’s illegal past. One of America’s most historic and enduring cities, New Haven has wrangled with a perpetual identity struggle, torn between worlds that occasionally converged in chaos and violence. In the 1930s, Connecticut became a region where Mafia families like the Genoveses, Gambinos, Colombos, and Patriarcas shared turf—working together with enough profits to go around or descending into open war to rival that experienced in any major city. Central to this conflict were three men who were, at different times, cautious allies or sworn nemeses. Representing the Genoveses, Midge Renault reigned supreme thanks to his reputation for wanton violence. Meanwhile, Colombo capo Ralph “Whitey” Tropiano maintained a lower profile, which belied his reputation as a vicious killer. But it was his lieutenant, Billy “The Wild Guy” Grasso, who ultimately rose to the top after joining the New England Patriarca Family, enjoying a short rule that ended with a murder plot that left him on the wrong end of a bullet.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538192918
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 277
Book Description
With Boston to the north and New York City to the south, Connecticut’s history of organized crime is often overlooked. This is the untold story of New Haven’s illegal past. One of America’s most historic and enduring cities, New Haven has wrangled with a perpetual identity struggle, torn between worlds that occasionally converged in chaos and violence. In the 1930s, Connecticut became a region where Mafia families like the Genoveses, Gambinos, Colombos, and Patriarcas shared turf—working together with enough profits to go around or descending into open war to rival that experienced in any major city. Central to this conflict were three men who were, at different times, cautious allies or sworn nemeses. Representing the Genoveses, Midge Renault reigned supreme thanks to his reputation for wanton violence. Meanwhile, Colombo capo Ralph “Whitey” Tropiano maintained a lower profile, which belied his reputation as a vicious killer. But it was his lieutenant, Billy “The Wild Guy” Grasso, who ultimately rose to the top after joining the New England Patriarca Family, enjoying a short rule that ended with a murder plot that left him on the wrong end of a bullet.
Mob Candy
Author: Frank DiMatteo
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780989123105
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Mob Candy Brooklyn Gangsters includes biographies of gangsters from New York City and how they started in a life of crime.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780989123105
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
Mob Candy Brooklyn Gangsters includes biographies of gangsters from New York City and how they started in a life of crime.
The President Street Boys
Author: Frank DiMatteo
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 1496705483
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
“When Mom got out of jail, it was great having her home.” Mondo the Dwarf. Frankie Shots. Jospeh “Little Lolly Pop” Carna. Larry “Big Lolly Pop” Carna. Salvatore “Sally Boy” Marinelli. Johnny Tarzan. Louie Pizza. Sally D, Bobby B, Roy Roy, and Punchy. They were THE PRESIDENT STREET BOYS of Brooklyn, New York. Frank Dimatteo was born into a family of mob hitmen. His father and godfather were shooters and bodyguards for infamous Mafia legends, the Gallo brothers. His uncle was a capo in the Genovese crime family and bodyguard to Frank Costello. Needless to say, DiMatteo saw and heard things that a boy shouldn’t see or hear. He knew everybody in the neighborhood. And they knew him. . .and his family. And does he have some wild stories to tell. . . From the old-school Mafia dons and infamous “five families” who called all the shots, to the new-breed “independents” of the ballsy Gallo gang who didn’t answer to nobody, Dimatteo pulls no punches in describing what it’s really like growing up in the mob. Getting his cheeks pinched by Crazy Joe Gallo until tears came down his face. Dropping out of school and hanging gangster-style with the boys on President Street. Watching the Gallos wage an all-out war against wiseguys with more power, more money, more guns. And finally, revealing the shocking deathbed confessions that will blow the lid off the sordid deeds, stunning betrayals, and all-too-secret history of the American Mafia. Originally self-published as Lion in the Basement Raves For THE PRESIDENT STREET BOYS: Growing Up Mafia “Frankie D was born and raised in this life—and he’s still alive and still free. They don’t come any sharper then Frankie D. A real gangster story. Read this book!” —Nicky “Slick” DiPietro, New York City “I know Frankie D from when i was a kid living in South Brooklyn. It was hard reading about my father, Gennaro “Chitoz” Basciano, but I knew it was the truth. Frankie’s book is dead on the money—I couldn’t put it down.” —Eddie Basciano, somewhere in Florida “It’s been forty years since I’ve been with Frankie D doing our thing on President Street. This book was like a flashback, Frankie D nails it from beginning to the end. Bravo, from one of the President Street Boys.” —Anthony “Goombadiel” DeLuca, Brooklyn, New York “As a neighborhood kid I grew up around President Street and know firsthand the lure of ‘the life’ as a police officer and as a kid that escaped the lure. I can tell you the blind loyalty that the crews had for their bosses—unbounded, limitless, and dangerous. As the Prince of President Street, Frank Dimatteo, is representative of a lost generation of Italian Americans. If any of this crew had been given a fair shot at the beginning they would have been geniuses in their chosen field.” —Joseph "Giggy" Gagliardo, Retired DEA Agent, New York City “The President Street Boys takes me back as if it was a time machine. Its authenticity is compelling reading for those interested in what things were really like in those mob heydays; not some author’s formulation without an inkling of what was going on behind the scenes. I loved the book because I was there, and know for sure readers will love it too.” —Sonny Girard, author of Blood of Our Fathers and Sins of Our Sons
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 1496705483
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 287
Book Description
“When Mom got out of jail, it was great having her home.” Mondo the Dwarf. Frankie Shots. Jospeh “Little Lolly Pop” Carna. Larry “Big Lolly Pop” Carna. Salvatore “Sally Boy” Marinelli. Johnny Tarzan. Louie Pizza. Sally D, Bobby B, Roy Roy, and Punchy. They were THE PRESIDENT STREET BOYS of Brooklyn, New York. Frank Dimatteo was born into a family of mob hitmen. His father and godfather were shooters and bodyguards for infamous Mafia legends, the Gallo brothers. His uncle was a capo in the Genovese crime family and bodyguard to Frank Costello. Needless to say, DiMatteo saw and heard things that a boy shouldn’t see or hear. He knew everybody in the neighborhood. And they knew him. . .and his family. And does he have some wild stories to tell. . . From the old-school Mafia dons and infamous “five families” who called all the shots, to the new-breed “independents” of the ballsy Gallo gang who didn’t answer to nobody, Dimatteo pulls no punches in describing what it’s really like growing up in the mob. Getting his cheeks pinched by Crazy Joe Gallo until tears came down his face. Dropping out of school and hanging gangster-style with the boys on President Street. Watching the Gallos wage an all-out war against wiseguys with more power, more money, more guns. And finally, revealing the shocking deathbed confessions that will blow the lid off the sordid deeds, stunning betrayals, and all-too-secret history of the American Mafia. Originally self-published as Lion in the Basement Raves For THE PRESIDENT STREET BOYS: Growing Up Mafia “Frankie D was born and raised in this life—and he’s still alive and still free. They don’t come any sharper then Frankie D. A real gangster story. Read this book!” —Nicky “Slick” DiPietro, New York City “I know Frankie D from when i was a kid living in South Brooklyn. It was hard reading about my father, Gennaro “Chitoz” Basciano, but I knew it was the truth. Frankie’s book is dead on the money—I couldn’t put it down.” —Eddie Basciano, somewhere in Florida “It’s been forty years since I’ve been with Frankie D doing our thing on President Street. This book was like a flashback, Frankie D nails it from beginning to the end. Bravo, from one of the President Street Boys.” —Anthony “Goombadiel” DeLuca, Brooklyn, New York “As a neighborhood kid I grew up around President Street and know firsthand the lure of ‘the life’ as a police officer and as a kid that escaped the lure. I can tell you the blind loyalty that the crews had for their bosses—unbounded, limitless, and dangerous. As the Prince of President Street, Frank Dimatteo, is representative of a lost generation of Italian Americans. If any of this crew had been given a fair shot at the beginning they would have been geniuses in their chosen field.” —Joseph "Giggy" Gagliardo, Retired DEA Agent, New York City “The President Street Boys takes me back as if it was a time machine. Its authenticity is compelling reading for those interested in what things were really like in those mob heydays; not some author’s formulation without an inkling of what was going on behind the scenes. I loved the book because I was there, and know for sure readers will love it too.” —Sonny Girard, author of Blood of Our Fathers and Sins of Our Sons
Candy Barr
Author: Ted Schwarz
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publications
ISBN: 1589796950
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 318
Book Description
Born Juanita Slusher in Edna, Texas, in 1935, the entertainer who became Candy Barr was perhaps the last great dancer in burlesque, a stripper who insisted on live, improvisational music and who at one time commanded $2,000 a week in 1950s Las Vegas. But as Juanita she had started life as a prematurely well-developed thirteen-year-old runaway victimized by a Dallas ritual known as "the capture" that enslaved her into prostitution, for a time turning over 4,000 tricks a year before she was able to escape. A lover of Mickey Cohen's and friend to Jack Ruby, Barr's tumultuous life included a period of imprisonment on trumped-up drug charges, an appearance in a crude, 20-minute stag film, and unlikely role in the investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Based on over 100 hours of exclusive interviews with Barr, this book is not just the story of Juanita and Candy, but also paints an unflattering picture of all those who sought to exploit her.
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publications
ISBN: 1589796950
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 318
Book Description
Born Juanita Slusher in Edna, Texas, in 1935, the entertainer who became Candy Barr was perhaps the last great dancer in burlesque, a stripper who insisted on live, improvisational music and who at one time commanded $2,000 a week in 1950s Las Vegas. But as Juanita she had started life as a prematurely well-developed thirteen-year-old runaway victimized by a Dallas ritual known as "the capture" that enslaved her into prostitution, for a time turning over 4,000 tricks a year before she was able to escape. A lover of Mickey Cohen's and friend to Jack Ruby, Barr's tumultuous life included a period of imprisonment on trumped-up drug charges, an appearance in a crude, 20-minute stag film, and unlikely role in the investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Based on over 100 hours of exclusive interviews with Barr, this book is not just the story of Juanita and Candy, but also paints an unflattering picture of all those who sought to exploit her.
A Savage Place
Author: Robert B. Parker
Publisher: Dell
ISBN: 0307569985
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Book Description
TV reporter Candy Sloan has eyes the color of cornflowers and legs that stretch all the way to heaven. She also has somebody threatening to rearrange her lovely face if she keeps on snooping into charges of Hollywood racketeering. Spenser's job is to keep Candy healthy until she breaks the biggest story of her career. But her star witness has just bowed out with three bullets in his chest, two tough guys have doubled up to test Spenser's skill with his fists, and Candy is about to use her own sweet body as live bait in a deadly romantic game--a game that may cost Spenser his life.
Publisher: Dell
ISBN: 0307569985
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 194
Book Description
TV reporter Candy Sloan has eyes the color of cornflowers and legs that stretch all the way to heaven. She also has somebody threatening to rearrange her lovely face if she keeps on snooping into charges of Hollywood racketeering. Spenser's job is to keep Candy healthy until she breaks the biggest story of her career. But her star witness has just bowed out with three bullets in his chest, two tough guys have doubled up to test Spenser's skill with his fists, and Candy is about to use her own sweet body as live bait in a deadly romantic game--a game that may cost Spenser his life.
How to Use a Meat Cleaver
Author: Renee Graziano
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 110163863X
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Book Description
Food this good should be illegal. "Mob Wives," VH1's wildly successful hit show, follows the lives of six women affiliated with the mob. Now, show creator and Executive Producer Jennifer Graziano, star Renee Graziano, and their restaurateur sister, Lana Graziano, reveal their best-kept secrets yet. The Grazianos invite you into their world but this time through the kitchen door, with this full color cookbook featuring 100 of their favorite and most-coveted family recipes. From Lana's famous meatballs to Sunday Gravy to Lobster Arriagiatta, the secret recipes are on the table. Plus, the book is spiced throughout with personal never-before-told stories that will let you get to know the most famous real mob family a little better. Experience the Grazianos' lives from inside their kitchen where food and family are never far apart. Funny, outrageous, sentimental, and always authentic, the Grazianos leave you with the skills to talk the talk, cook pasta like there's no tomorrow, stir up a mean marinara—and use that meat cleaver to back it up.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 110163863X
Category : Cooking
Languages : en
Pages : 295
Book Description
Food this good should be illegal. "Mob Wives," VH1's wildly successful hit show, follows the lives of six women affiliated with the mob. Now, show creator and Executive Producer Jennifer Graziano, star Renee Graziano, and their restaurateur sister, Lana Graziano, reveal their best-kept secrets yet. The Grazianos invite you into their world but this time through the kitchen door, with this full color cookbook featuring 100 of their favorite and most-coveted family recipes. From Lana's famous meatballs to Sunday Gravy to Lobster Arriagiatta, the secret recipes are on the table. Plus, the book is spiced throughout with personal never-before-told stories that will let you get to know the most famous real mob family a little better. Experience the Grazianos' lives from inside their kitchen where food and family are never far apart. Funny, outrageous, sentimental, and always authentic, the Grazianos leave you with the skills to talk the talk, cook pasta like there's no tomorrow, stir up a mean marinara—and use that meat cleaver to back it up.
The Cigar
Author: Frank Dimatteo
Publisher: Citadel Press
ISBN: 080654239X
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 343
Book Description
From real-life "Mafia Survivor" Frank Dimatteo, the gripping account of the life and crimes of the most feared mafia boss of all time: Carmine “Lilo” Galante, the prime mover behind the legendary French Connection. HIS WAR CRY: “I RULE EVERYTHING.” FOR HALF A CENTURY HE ALMOST DID. The brutal and blood-stained true story of one of the most feared bosses in American Mafia history, who rose from tenement street thug to notorious hit man to a prime mover behind the legendary French Connection. And the bodies piled up. The son of Sicilian immigrants, Camillo Carmine Galante was raised in Manhattan’s Little Italy and by all accounts born bad. At age ten his home away from home was juvenile detention. By fifteen he was terrorizing the streets of New York’s Lower East Side, scoring high marks for the “errands” he was running for his La Cosa Nostra elders. When he turned twenty, Galante was already one of the mob’s top enforcers–a sadistic thrill killer and clinically diagnosed psychopath with big dreams: whack his way into controlling organized crime the world over, vowing to kill Mafia chieftans Tommy Lucchese and Carlo Gambino and take control of their mob families. Carmine “Lilo” Galante’s rise to Mafia star was infamous: hit man for the Luciano and Genovese crime families; named consigliere by Joseph Bonnano; he wiped out eight members of the Gambinos; on behalf of Mussolini he assassinated the publisher of an anti-Fascist newspaper. “The biggest dope peddler in the country” according to law enforcement, Galante helped orchestrate one of the largest heroin trafficking operations on record—a power move too dangerous for his rivals in the narcotics trade. The heads of the five New York families decided that the psychotic Galante had to be stopped. On July 12, 1979, finishing his lunch in a Brooklyn restaurant, Galante got what he’d dished out his whole life: a shotgun blast to the face, his trademark cigar still clenched in his teeth . . . Frank Dimatteo is a lifelong Brooklynite, Mafia “survivor,” and publisher of Mob Candy magazine. He is the author of the acclaimed memoir, The President Street Boys: Growing Up Mafia, as well as Mob Candy’s Brooklyn Gangsters and Manhattan Gangsters. Michael Benson is the author of more than sixty books, including the true crime titles Betrayal in Blood, Killer Twins, and Mommy Deadliest. He also wrote Who’s Who in the JFK Assassination, and most recently, The Devil at Genesee Junction. He regularly appears on ID: Investigation Discovery channel, including On the Case with Paula Zahn, and Deadly Sins. He is the recipient of the Academy of American Poets award.
Publisher: Citadel Press
ISBN: 080654239X
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 343
Book Description
From real-life "Mafia Survivor" Frank Dimatteo, the gripping account of the life and crimes of the most feared mafia boss of all time: Carmine “Lilo” Galante, the prime mover behind the legendary French Connection. HIS WAR CRY: “I RULE EVERYTHING.” FOR HALF A CENTURY HE ALMOST DID. The brutal and blood-stained true story of one of the most feared bosses in American Mafia history, who rose from tenement street thug to notorious hit man to a prime mover behind the legendary French Connection. And the bodies piled up. The son of Sicilian immigrants, Camillo Carmine Galante was raised in Manhattan’s Little Italy and by all accounts born bad. At age ten his home away from home was juvenile detention. By fifteen he was terrorizing the streets of New York’s Lower East Side, scoring high marks for the “errands” he was running for his La Cosa Nostra elders. When he turned twenty, Galante was already one of the mob’s top enforcers–a sadistic thrill killer and clinically diagnosed psychopath with big dreams: whack his way into controlling organized crime the world over, vowing to kill Mafia chieftans Tommy Lucchese and Carlo Gambino and take control of their mob families. Carmine “Lilo” Galante’s rise to Mafia star was infamous: hit man for the Luciano and Genovese crime families; named consigliere by Joseph Bonnano; he wiped out eight members of the Gambinos; on behalf of Mussolini he assassinated the publisher of an anti-Fascist newspaper. “The biggest dope peddler in the country” according to law enforcement, Galante helped orchestrate one of the largest heroin trafficking operations on record—a power move too dangerous for his rivals in the narcotics trade. The heads of the five New York families decided that the psychotic Galante had to be stopped. On July 12, 1979, finishing his lunch in a Brooklyn restaurant, Galante got what he’d dished out his whole life: a shotgun blast to the face, his trademark cigar still clenched in his teeth . . . Frank Dimatteo is a lifelong Brooklynite, Mafia “survivor,” and publisher of Mob Candy magazine. He is the author of the acclaimed memoir, The President Street Boys: Growing Up Mafia, as well as Mob Candy’s Brooklyn Gangsters and Manhattan Gangsters. Michael Benson is the author of more than sixty books, including the true crime titles Betrayal in Blood, Killer Twins, and Mommy Deadliest. He also wrote Who’s Who in the JFK Assassination, and most recently, The Devil at Genesee Junction. He regularly appears on ID: Investigation Discovery channel, including On the Case with Paula Zahn, and Deadly Sins. He is the recipient of the Academy of American Poets award.
The Mob in Youngstown
Author: Thomas Hunt
Publisher: Thomas Hunt
ISBN:
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 367
Book Description
"Murdertown," "Bombtown," "Crimetown." Through decades, the City of Youngstown, Ohio, has been branded with such painful nicknames, due in large part to the rackets, violence and corruption of organized crime in the region. The streets of Youngstown and other communities in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys of northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania have been bloodied through numerous shootings and stabbings and, during an especially disturbing period, a series of gruesome car-bombings. In too many cases, public officials and officers of the law were complicit in the criminal activity, profiting through bribery and graft. Some authorities who resisted corruption and attempted to perform their public duties found themselves the targets of underworld violence. In this November 2022 issue of Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement, we tackle the history of organized crime in Youngstown region, from the earliest reports of the 1890s through the apparent dissolution of the Mob presence more than a century later. It is a complex subject, as elements of at least four regional Mafia organizations and a persistent non-Mafia Calabrian organization, in addition to other criminal elements, all collided, cooperated, combined and clashed with each other at different times. This resulted in a wealth of interesting but often uncoordinated stories and personalities. Our strategy for dealing with the subject is to present a number of individual standalone articles on the more interesting of these stories, bringing to light the significant personalities, groups, areas and eras. The effort might be compared to the photographic “stitching” of a collection of images into a panorama. Readers will discover the secret criminal organizations behind names like "Society of Honor," "Sacred Circle" and "Society of the Banana" and will encounter such characters as "Fats" Aiello, Ernie Biondillo, Frank Cammarata, "Cadillac Charlie" Cavallaro, Joe Cutrone, "Tony Dope" Delsanter, Vince DeNiro, "Wolf" DiCarlo, "Big Jim" Falcone, Mike Farah, "Red" Giordano, "Big Dom" Mallamo, Dominick Moio, "Two-Gun Jimmy" Prato, Rocco Racco, Rocco Strange, Lenny Strollo, "Zebo" Zottola, along with the Barber brothers, the Carabbia brothers, the Naples brothers, the Romeo brothers and many more. While it is our hope that a coherent image of the history of Youngstown-area organized crime (and its connections to criminal entities outside the region) will emerge, we are concerned by the fact that some of our individual historical “snapshots” do not overlap with or even touch each other while others may overlap quite a bit. We hope that the obvious voids and repetitions will not be a great distraction and that, with some patience, our readers will be able to “get the picture.” Contributors to this Informer issue: James Barber, Justin Cascio, Margaret Janco, Thom L. Jones, Michael A. Tona, Edmond Valin and Thomas Hunt
Publisher: Thomas Hunt
ISBN:
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 367
Book Description
"Murdertown," "Bombtown," "Crimetown." Through decades, the City of Youngstown, Ohio, has been branded with such painful nicknames, due in large part to the rackets, violence and corruption of organized crime in the region. The streets of Youngstown and other communities in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys of northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania have been bloodied through numerous shootings and stabbings and, during an especially disturbing period, a series of gruesome car-bombings. In too many cases, public officials and officers of the law were complicit in the criminal activity, profiting through bribery and graft. Some authorities who resisted corruption and attempted to perform their public duties found themselves the targets of underworld violence. In this November 2022 issue of Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement, we tackle the history of organized crime in Youngstown region, from the earliest reports of the 1890s through the apparent dissolution of the Mob presence more than a century later. It is a complex subject, as elements of at least four regional Mafia organizations and a persistent non-Mafia Calabrian organization, in addition to other criminal elements, all collided, cooperated, combined and clashed with each other at different times. This resulted in a wealth of interesting but often uncoordinated stories and personalities. Our strategy for dealing with the subject is to present a number of individual standalone articles on the more interesting of these stories, bringing to light the significant personalities, groups, areas and eras. The effort might be compared to the photographic “stitching” of a collection of images into a panorama. Readers will discover the secret criminal organizations behind names like "Society of Honor," "Sacred Circle" and "Society of the Banana" and will encounter such characters as "Fats" Aiello, Ernie Biondillo, Frank Cammarata, "Cadillac Charlie" Cavallaro, Joe Cutrone, "Tony Dope" Delsanter, Vince DeNiro, "Wolf" DiCarlo, "Big Jim" Falcone, Mike Farah, "Red" Giordano, "Big Dom" Mallamo, Dominick Moio, "Two-Gun Jimmy" Prato, Rocco Racco, Rocco Strange, Lenny Strollo, "Zebo" Zottola, along with the Barber brothers, the Carabbia brothers, the Naples brothers, the Romeo brothers and many more. While it is our hope that a coherent image of the history of Youngstown-area organized crime (and its connections to criminal entities outside the region) will emerge, we are concerned by the fact that some of our individual historical “snapshots” do not overlap with or even touch each other while others may overlap quite a bit. We hope that the obvious voids and repetitions will not be a great distraction and that, with some patience, our readers will be able to “get the picture.” Contributors to this Informer issue: James Barber, Justin Cascio, Margaret Janco, Thom L. Jones, Michael A. Tona, Edmond Valin and Thomas Hunt