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The fall of Salvatore Maranzano, and the rise of the new Mafia

September 12, 2023

The autocratic reign of self-proclaimed boss of all bosses Salvatore Maranzano came to a bloody end 92 years ago this month. A progressive faction of underworld gangsters were setting the stage for a violent preemptive strike against the last of two warring criminal overlords. The young turks had already successfully deposed Giuseppe Masseria in April. It was an inside job carried out by members of his inner circle. Maranzano also had to be dealt with, but the plot took time and careful planning. Maranzano suspected his new minions might contemplate a coup against him, and thus laid down secret plans of his ...

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Body farms unravel mysteries of human decomposition

The University of Tennessee’s Forensic Anthropology Center is one of seven taphonomic research facilities, or body farms, in the United States. Remains are laid out for researchers to observe the natural decomposition process. Getty Images

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‘When Spilotro got greedy, the end was written’

Since 1980, award-winning reporter Chuck Goudie has covered the Mob and much more for ABC7 News in Chicago. He’s been…

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Meyer Lansky’s 1953 jail stint

Seventy years ago, Meyer Lansky took a legal hit in an upstate New York gambling rackets crackdown that concluded with…

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Bugsy Siegel death house for sale in Beverly Hills

The Beverly Hills, California, mansion where Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was shot to death in 1947 is on the market for…

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Spado’s ‘Accidental Gangster’ story headed to silver screen

After a childhood in upstate New York, Ori Spado embarked on a criminal career that took him from Manhattan to…

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The Las Vegas misadventures of Russian Louie

By the time he was 11 years old, he was arrested for burglary in San Francisco. By the time he…

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Fearless Las Vegas journalists Jeff German, Ned Day left lasting legacies

Las Vegas reporters Jeff German and Ned Day had more in common than a dogged approach to digging out major…

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