Jr Reynolds: 516 books

Raymond Patriarca became the head of a powerful five state crime syndicate which reached throughout New England. By 1938 Patriarca had already served a stint in the Atlanta Federal Prison. In his formative years as a criminal he worked for Warwick, Rhode Island based Carl Rettich. Patriarca was indicted...

Salvatore Polisi was an associate of Gambino crime boss John Gotti for many years. He managed the Sinatra Club, which was a frequent hangout for Gambino crime family members. Gotti and his brother were among these individuals. The moniker "Crazy Sal" was given Polisi for his unique ability...

Harold Giles Hoffman was elected governor of New Jersey in 1935. A gregarious, popular politician he was a former assistant chemist and banker. His supporters touted him as a prospective Republican Presidential candidate for the upcoming 1936 election. Unbeknownst to his backers, however, Hoffman...

Angelo Bruno was a Mafia don in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey until he was shot dead as he arrived home one evening from an Italian restaurant. It was when competitors encroached on Angelo's dominance in the more lucrative Atlantic City rackets that he found trouble. Also Bruno had divulged...

Around 1903 the Italian Mafia in New Orleans experienced a rash of dissension involving grocery merchants. Rivals attacked the family of Antonio Luciano, resulting in the murder of his brother Salvatore Luciano. The violence occurred in the aftermath of Mafia investment in a Donaldsonville, Louisiana...

Philip "Little Farvel" Cohen was a rackets collector for Murder Inc. and its head Louis Lepke Buchalter. In September 1949 Cohen's body was dumped on the Southern Parkway in Valley Stream, New York. Authorities discovered it laying on the side of an access road. The corpse had 3 bullets...

Murder, Inc. was a Brooklyn based criminal organization that dealt in murder, protection rackets, loan sharking and coercion. Headed by Louis Lepke Buchalter, the group of gangsters turned to Albert Anastasia as leader when Buchalter was imprisoned for heroin smuggling. There were also small players...

Lupe Velez was a vibrant star of motion pictures from the late 1920s until her untimely death in December 1944. Silent film stalwart Douglas Fairbanks gave Lupe her first break in the role of the wild mountain girl in The Gaucho (1927). Velez had little trouble breaking into sound movies when they...

Montreal became a fulcrum for a drug distribution ring organized by Charles "Lucky" Luciano after his exile to Sicily. Imprisoned on a 30-year sentence for forced prostitution in 1936, Luciano was paroled specifically to organize mobsters to watch for Nazi saboteurs in the New York City...

The New York Playboy Club in Manhattan opened in December 1962. The new venue interviewed around 3,000 young women before selecting 135 mostly 18-25 year olds. Playboy Magazine founder and editor Hugh Hefner's brother Keith was in charge of training novice Bunnies. Among the most essential requirements...

Auguste Joseph Ricord was the most important foreign national to be convicted of drug crimes on United States soil. Convicted in New York in December 1972, he was sentenced in January 1973. Ricord had immigrated to Argentina from France in the years after World War II. He became an Argentine citizen...

Lenny Bruce pioneered the way for freedom of speech for a multitude of comedians who came after him. Beginning in 1962 Lenny faced charges for drug possession and obscene language every year until his untimely death four years later. Way ahead of his time he was barely able to get work by the time...

Angelo Caruso was a criminal who was involved with numerous rackets such as prostitution, kidnapping and shaking down and coercion of merchants. Caruso was handpicked as underboss by Salvatore Maranzano who succeeded Giuseppe Masseria in 1931 as Mafia boss of bosses. Caruso lived in Manhattan, the...

Kid Gavilan was a fixture in the boxing world of the early 1950s. He fought on television more than thirty times, in bouts for championships and non-title fights. From Camaguey, Cuba, the Kid was named by his first manager, who had a restaurant called El Gavilan or The Little Hawk. Kid Gavilan fought...