Strange that you posted this on October 20 yet it just appeared late on October 31! Is there a poltergeist in the server? ________________________________ ...
<<Strange that you posted this on October 20 yet it just appeared late on October 31! Is there a poltergeist in the server?>> The same thing has been...
In the 30s, a Chicago gangster by the name of Byron Bolton exposed the secrets of the St Valentines Day Massacre in order to save his skin from kidnapping...
I think I suggest reading The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, by Bill Helmer and Arthur Bilek. It addresses this in great, and well researched, detail. ...
This is really nitpicky, but I started reading Mike Dash's book and he makes the claim that the Secret Service started off in the Treasury Department and...
Does anyone know of a book, article, etc. that addresses the conflict of a Mafioso's devotion to Catholicism while simultaneously being a crook (and possibly a...
Gavin, I don't know of any. But I'm not sure this is something unique enough to warrant attention. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of a religion that...
Another point is that the first generation of American mafiosi, if we should believe their accounts, viewed themselves as more protectors of their Sicilian...
For that matter, what about priests who were in the Mafia? Unfortunately there are no full-length articles or books on this topic. There is some material...
Well, no reason in particular to focus on them, I suppose. I just find it amazing that they can take their sons to confirmation and have a hitman be their...
A tribute to hypocrisy and cognitive dissonance. Aside from the silly propoganda peddled by Bonanno and Gentile for public consumption, I think most were...
In American Mafia, there is really no such thing as a hit man. All guys made prior to 1957 had to be part of a killing, most looked at it as same way...
Joe Profaci was a great churchgoer and gave money. But most of these guys were hardly practicing Catholics, nor did they follow the tenets of the Catholic...
I don't know if there's any basis in fact for it, but someone (sorry, I cannot recall who it was) observed that religion in Sicily is largely a woman-thing....
Bill Bonnano had a Papal Indulgence framed on the wall of his house, saying that upon death, he would go immediately to Heaven. So yeah. The "obey the tenants...
I am pretty sure that all of the mafiosi CONSIDERED themselves as good catholics. Especially in the old days when membership did not automatically require...
Has anyone ever come across any thing linking Joe Masseria to narcotics? I recently came across a tidbit about Thomas "The Bull" Pennochio supplying narcotics...
Never did. ________________________________ From: Ryan A <ryan_12177@...> To: americanmafia@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, 4 November 2011, 16:17 Subject:...
Yes, and that comes through in Bonanno and in Gentile. Of course, they are then wide open to the charge of hypocrisy, but I imagine they would argue that...
Do you think that when men like Tomossa "the Ox" Petto and Carmine Galante were sitting around with their men, planning murders, that they were waxing on about...
I suppose there are variations of personalities in all kinds of society. So Bonanno would argue that the likes of Morello et al weren't part of what he...
Well yes, that's what Bonanno does -- if you don't fit the mythology, then you weren't really part of "the Tradition." But if we have to start excluding the...
A large majority of Mafia memoirs that are out there came from informers and Mafia witnesses who said whatever the FBI and prosecuters wanted to hear. If...
The issue though is the first generation of Mafiosi, which is what Goran referred to. We only have a small handful of autobiographies from them to give us...
I don't recall anything more than a circumstantial link between Penacchio's drug activity and Joe Masseria. The two men are believed to have worked together in...
I would question the word devotion here. Going to church on Sunday and having your kids confirmed does not make you devoted. I would hazard a guess that their...
Ah yes, the vast majority of memoirs simply don't count. They're too "Americanized" or just tell the FBI what it wants. Not part of "the Tradition." Only Joe...
Well, you've once again moved the goalposts, by making out that I'm saying things I'm not. Do you really believe that Goran and myself actually believe that...
Yes, I think many people basically believe Bonanno's mythology. As for Valachi, you are changing what he said. Unlike Bonanno, Valachi never makes any...
