A must watch for True Crime fanatics like me. This documentary crime series charts the rise of the Irish Mob in America/Canada, from urban immigrant poverty to political power and wealth. I watched this last night and it is really good. Compelling stories and very well researched and re-enacted. 4.5 stars
Northern Michigan has for decades drawn millions each year to its beautiful lakes and rivers. Gangsters Up North adds a new and exciting dimension to the colorful lore of those lands. What were gangsters doing in Michigan’s vacationlands during the Prohibition years?
Like many ordinary folks of the time, they often traveled Up North for rest and relaxation—and for more nefarious activities. Al Capone, the Purple Gang, Fred “Killer” Burke, other Public Enemies, and many other hoodlums found their way north in fact or in fiction.
They became heavily involved in the gambling and bootlegging that was pervasive in up-scale resorts in Charlevoix, Little Traverse Bay, and Mackinac Island.
They kidnapped and murdered. But most usually, they just hung out with everyone else. Gangsters were front-page stories in those years, their leaders were household names, their faces easily recognizable. Up North, people far and wide claimed to recognize those faces in their various backyards.
They said they saw Big Al Capone in this hotel or at that lake or in that cabin. Rumors of John Dillinger coming to town threw citizens into a frenzy of fear. Black Cadillacs pulling up to a rural place had to hold Mafiosi.
So imaginary sightings interwove with actual criminal activity throughout the tip of the mitt and Upper Peninsula. Gangsters Up North draws on newspaper accounts, numerous interviews, rare images, and much-unpublished material to paint the real picture of mobsters and their associates in Michigan’s northland.
Robert Knapp unweaves the tangle of tales and truth. Gangsters come to life Up North.
Gangsters Up North appeals to the wide audience of vacationers, local historians, and anyone intrigued by gangsters. It will be available at presentations and sold in local stores.
Author Robert Knapp was born and raised in the central Michigan area. During a thirty-year career at the University of California, Berkeley, he published extensively on topics in ancient history including, most recently, Invisible Romans and Dawn of Christianity.
In retirement, his interests turned also to the local history of Clare, Michigan, where he is restoring the log home built by his pioneering great-grandfather.
His previous books include Small-town Citizen Minion of the Mob—Sam Garfield’s Two Lives—The Purple Gang Meyer Lansky and Life in Clare Michigan (2018), Mystery Man—Gangsters, Oil, and Murder in Michigan (2014) and Clare, 1865-1940 (Arcadia Images of America series) (2012).
March 21, 1963 Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay closed down and transferred it's last prisoners. At it’s peak period of use in 1950s, “The Rock, or “”America’s Devil Island” housed over 200 inmates at the maximum-security facility. Alcatraz remains an icon of American prisons for its harsh conditions and record for being inescapable.
Fernando Moledero Photography
The twelve-acre rocky island, one and a half miles from San Francisco, featured the most advanced security of the time. Some of the first metal detectors were used at Alcatraz. Strict rules were enforced against the unfortunate inmates who had to do time at Alcatraz. Nearly complete silence was mandated at all times.
Alcatraz was first explored by Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775, who called it Isla de los Alcatraces (Pelicans) because of all the birds that lived there. It was sold in 1849 to the U.S. government. The first lighthouse in California was on Alcatraz. It became a Civil War fort and then a military prison in 1907.
Former Colombo crime family underboss John “Sonny” Franzese is back on the streets after being released from prison on Friday. The longtime wiseguy was welcomed home with open arms by his family at his daughter’s place in Brooklyn, New York.
John "Sonny" Franzese center
At 100 years old, Franzese was the oldest inmate in the federal prison system in the United States. He now will be looking to enjoy his last days in freedom surrounded by his loving family.
Newsday reports John "Sonny" Franzese left the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts, in a wheelchair just before noon Friday. He was serving a 50-year sentence for bank robbery.
He was around when Joe Profaci was the boss. He was a capo in the mid-1950s and by 1964 he had been promoted to underboss. In the mid-1960s, he was convicted of masterminding several bank robberies. John "Sonny" Franzese, Michael Franzese's father, 100 years old, came out of prison on June 23, 2017. If he ever decide to write a book about his life in the Colombo family, it COSA NOSTRA FACEBOOK PAGE
His son, Michael, says the elder Franzese is planning to live with a daughter in Brooklyn. Franzese was accused of being involved in loan sharking and extortion. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirms he was the oldest prisoner until his release. He was paroled at least six times since his 1967 conviction, but each time ended back in prison.
(CNN) Witnesses talk about wiseguys, rats and hiding bodies, and list the do's and don'ts of organized crime. A tattoo on the defendant's arm reads "Death before dishonor." Peppered into riveting testimony are nicknames like Skinny Dom, Vinny Gorgeous, Louie Haha and Tommy Shots.
If it sounds like a Hollywood movie script, it kind of already is.
But this is real life and at the center of it all is 80-year-old Vincent Asaro -- the alleged former Bonanno crime family captain who's on trial in federal court to face charges in a string of crimes over 40 years. Among them: murder, racketeering and the famed 1978 Lufthansa heist at JFK International Airport that helped inspire part of the plot in the 1990 film "Goodfellas."
Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro from Goodfellas
In recordings made by the government's key witness and played in court Thursday, Asaro appears to bemoan not getting a larger cut of the Lufthansa score.
Henry Hill grew up in Brooklyn, New York and at an early age ran errands for the local Lucchese crime family. Being of Italian and Irish decent, Hill was never "made" into the crime family, but was a soldier of capo, Paul Vario, and participated in hijacking trucks, loan sharking, bookmaking and took part in the infamous 1967 Air France heist among others.
The heist is memorable for its sheer audacity, and the oddness of the target, particularly in that an airline should keep such sums in storage at an airport: Air France was the carrier for American currency that had been exchanged in France by tourists and military personnel.
After Hill's close friend Tommy DeSimone vanished and he ignored warnings from his associates to stop dealing drugs, Hill became paranoid that he would soon be killed and became an F.B.I. informant. His testimony aided in the conviction of 50 criminals
