The First and Second Colombo Wars August 18, 1956; a wedding is held in New York City with over 3000 guests that would later inspire the beginning of the Godfather novel and movie. It was an event of mafia royalty with Salvatore Bonanno, son of Joe, the head of one of New York’s five families…
June 11th, 1970, 2:17 a.m. A shallow grave on secluded land in upstate New York, far from Queens, Jimmy Burke and Tommy Desimone are burying a body wrapped in tablecloths. The body belongs to William Bent Fenner, a maid member of the Gambino crime family. Everyone called him Billy Bats. He’d been beaten with fists,…
March 8th, 1855. A cramped bedroom somewhere in lower Manhattan. William P, 33 years old, 6 feet of muscle and fury, lay dying on sweat- soaked sheets, while a crowd of hard-faced men stood around his bed like pbearers who had arrived too early. A bullet was lodged in his heart. It had been…
On the night of March 13th, 2019, a little after 900 p.m., the quiet on Hilltop Terrace in Staten Island broke with the sound of metal striking metal. Then gunfire, a black SUV sat in the street with fresh damage. A man lay bleeding on the pavement outside…
While Sam Jen Conana got his brains blown out in his basement, while Tony Spelotro was beaten to death in a Bensonville basement, while Jimmy Hawa disappeared into history, one man ruled the Chicago outfit for longer than any boss in American mob history. And he died exactly the way no gangster ever does….
For years, the Chicago outfit operated like a ghost. Everyone in law enforcement knew the mob ran the city. They knew it ran Las Vegas. They knew it had its hooks in politicians, judges, union bosses, and police commanders. But knowing and proving are two entirely different things. That changed on the morning a…
May 1980, a split level house on a quiet suburban street in Rockville Center, Long Island. Federal agents pull up to the curb. Inside, Henry Hill is packing. Not for a trip, for the rest of his life. The man who spent 20 years as a Lucasi crime family…
Somewhere in America right now, an 86-year-old man is living under a name that is not his. His neighbors have no idea who lives next door. His mailbox carries a name he invented. He travels with multiple forms of identification, none of them real. He has armed security. He wears sunglasses in every public appearance….
May 26th, 1999. Staten Island, New York. William Cout leaves his house in the morning to meet a friend. His wife watches him walk out the door. He has a coffee in his hand. He turns back at the end of the driveway and waves. He never comes home. Not that night, not that year,…
Celebrated for her enduring elegance, generous philanthropy, and profound appreciation for the arts, Cecile Zilka amassed a jewelry collection that was as extraordinary as the woman herself. Every piece she acquired was a reflection of her refined taste. In 2020, the world had the rare opportunity to witness the magnificence of her collection when it…
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