Decades of temperance activism led to passage of Prohibition 100 years ago
All the tumult of 2020 makes it easy to forget that it is a huge anniversary in the history of…
Year: 2020
‘Goodfellas’ still going strong after 30 years
In the painting, a man with white hair and beard, his left hand steering an outboard motor, is piloting a…
Capone, Torrio and the Sunshine City, St. Petersburg, Florida
Ninety-five years ago, during the summer of 1925, Florida was in the midst of a massive land boom. Real estate…
Frank Cullotta, Chicago Outfit associate who led the Hole in the Wall Gang burglary ring in Las Vegas, has died
Frank Cullotta, leader of the infamous Hole in the Wall Gang burglary ring in Las Vegas, died early Thursday in…
Mobsters in the military
Historically, the U.S. military has alternated in size between small standing armies in peacetime and vastly expanded forces during war….
Netflix’s ‘Fear City’ reveals how FBI, prosecutors built the Mafia Commission case
The Netflix documentary series Fear City: New York vs. the Mafia tells the story of the investigation and prosecution of…
Frank Sinatra’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year
In a gift shop at the Sands hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Sammy Davis Jr., practicing with a golf putter by…
Following the facts to possible Hoffa hit house
In the fall of 2019, as a mentor of mine out East closed in on where Jimmy Hoffa’s body is…
Culling out the card sharks
Gambling was always a backdrop in the nascent years of Las Vegas, a popular if illicit activity for railroad workers,…
‘White Boy Rick’ seeks new life after more than 30 years behind bars
The gates couldn’t swing open soon enough. Former Detroit teenage drug boss and illegal underage FBI mole Richard “White Boy…