Dennis Griffin, true crime author who chronicled the Mob in Las Vegas and elsewhere, dies
If there was a hall of fame for true crime authors, Dennis Griffin would be in it. He was a…
Year: 2021
Wife of drug kingpin El Chapo pleads guilty to drug trafficking
Standing in a federal court dressed in a green prison jumpsuit and white face mask, the wife of imprisoned Mexican…
Eighty-five years ago this week, Lucky Luciano convicted of pandering
A few years after the fall of Chicago’s Al Capone in 1931, a new recognizable face of organized crime emerged…
Historians of the underworld
When media outlets need an expert to explain what might have happened to former labor leader Jimmy Hoffa’s remains, they…
Former New York Mafioso shines light on syndicate ‘treachery’
When he was 20 years old, John Pennisi shot a man to death in a dispute over a girlfriend. “The…
The 10-week-long Commission trial played to full courtrooms
Last of two parts. The Commission trial continued through November and into December of 1986. The eight men on trial…
The Commission trial lifted the lid on the New York Mafia
First of two parts. In the annals of Mafia courtroom dramas, one case tends to stand above the rest, The…
The afternoon that Joe Masseria dined on bullets
The tale of Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria’s assassination on April 15, 1931, is one of many gangland legends that…
How Prohibition changed beer
For dedicated home brewers and beer snobs, the tale is familiar. Prohibition killed small and mid-sized breweries, and after repeal,…
A new look at Tony Spilotro in upcoming movie
When mobster Tony Spilotro was active in Las Vegas decades ago, doors opened for him in Hollywood. As the Chicago…