The Buffalo Mafia’s ill-advised art thefts
“Art Collection Is Looted; Loss Put at $1.3 million,” read a headline in the August 22, 1968, edition of the New York Times. In the middle of the night, burglars broke into the home of art collector T. Edward Hanley and walked off with 14 paintings and two statues while Hanley slept in his bed. Associates of the Buffalo Mafia orchestrated the theft under the oversight of crime boss Stefano Magaddino, whose reign was nearing its end. The theft gave the FBI the perfect opportunity to take down the Mafia in Buffalo, New York. Magaddino found his empire in danger from ...
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Mobsters blamed for Election Day violence in New York City 90 years ago
Before a hotly contested battle for the New York mayor’s office culminated in a big win for a “law and…
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Classic Mob movie ‘Mean Streets’ celebrates 50th anniversary
Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets, released in October 1973, is regarded as a classic crime drama, depicting a New York City…
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Defiance of Kefauver Committee put Frank Costello behind bars for 14 months
When New York underworld boss Frank Costello famously walked out while being questioned by the Kefauver Committee in 1951, he…
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Tod Goldberg’s Mob trilogy concludes with ‘Gangsters Don’t Die’
The third novel in a Mob trilogy by author Tod Goldberg was released in September, completing the tale of a…
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The fall of Salvatore Maranzano, and the rise of the new Mafia
The autocratic reign of self-proclaimed boss of all bosses Salvatore Maranzano came to a bloody end 92 years ago this…
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Ten years ago this month, Whitey Bulger was found guilty on 31 counts, including 11 murders
Whitey Bulger is depicted at the defense table during his 2013 trial in this courtroom sketch by Jane Flavell Collins. The Mob Museum Collection
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Joseph Valachi’s autobiography reveals Mafia’s inner workings
New York mobster Joseph Valachi sits at the witness table, bottom right, facing members of a U.S. Senate investigation subcommittee in Washington, D.C., on October 8, 1963. In the background are four charts of New York crime families with names and pictures of mobsters identified by Valachi. AP Photo
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