Thomas Hunt

The August 2019 issue of Informer will deal exclusively with Prohibition Era Mafia boss of bosses Salvatore Maranzano - life, career, assassination and post-assassination aftermath. We plan to reveal EVERYTHING about the Mafia boss! (Well..., everything we currently know.) Through articles (by organized crime historians Lennert van`t Riet, David Critchley, Richard N. Warner and Thomas Hunt), photos and maps, Informer will tackle many questions about Maranzano, including: Who was Salvatore Maranzano? What did he look like? (And what did he certainly NOT look like?) What does a recent discovery tell us about him? What was said about him by those who knew him in life? Where were the locations significant to his life and career? When did Maranzano-related events occur? Why was he important in U.S. Mafia history? How has he been portrayed by Hollywood? What do we know of Maranzano's life in Sicily? Was there really a post-Maranzano Mafia purge? The official releas...

My latest business venture is the sale of "You're Welcome" cards - perfect items for those times when you just can't let the matter drop. Think about it: So often you receive an invitation card you didn't ask for/didn't want to some silly event you couldn't possibly be persuaded to attend. What do you do? Largely out of an irrational sense of guilt, you send a gift and a card with your negative RSVP. Of course, then the inviters respond to your card and gift by sending you another card that says, "Thank you." That's where the scenario generally ends. But why should THEY always get the last word? After all, THEY'RE the ones that started the whole thing in the first place! A "You're Welcome" card allows you to put an end to the interaction on your own terms.

American Italian Center to host proclamation on April 12 Cantrell New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell will offer an "Official Proclamation of Apology" for the 1891 lynching of eleven Italian-American men, according to published reports. The apology is scheduled to be presented in a morning ceremony April 12, 2019, at the city's American Italian Cultural Center. The proclamation reportedly was set in motion by the Commission for Social Justice, Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America (OSDIA). The commission approached the mayor's office with the idea and found Cantrell receptive. The mayor appointed Vincenzo Pasquantonio, head of the city's Human Relations Committee, to coordinate with OSDIA. Cantrell, the first woman to serve as mayor of the Crescent City, was inaugurated in May 2018, replacing term-limited Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Commission Special Counsel Michael A. Santo told reporters the lynchings were "a longstanding wound" for the Ita...

I need a bunch of decals of the numeral, "8."  And a few with a ♠ symbol.  I have a sudden urge to do something special for  all the folks with bumper stickers that read, "I ♥ My Dog"

I recently received this as a gift. It was probably acquired through an auction in the Shoreham, Vermont, area. History of the Wright Family , edited by William Henry Wright and Gertrude Wright Ketcham, Copyright 1913 by Gertrude Wright Ketcham. It is an extensive genealogy and history of the Wright Family "who are descendants of Samuel Wright (1722-1789) of Lenox, Mass., with lineage back to Thomas Wright (1610-1670) of Wethersfield, Conn., and showing a direct line to John Wright, Lord of Kelvedon Hall, Essex, England." According to the book's introduction, the genealogical research began with a great-grandfather, Andrew Wright of Shoreham, Vermont. It was learned that Andrew Wright was a soldier in the Revolutionary War and left his home in Lenox, Mass. to settle in Shoreham in 1785. The physical book seems a product of considerable labor and expense. The cover appears to be suede or some similar soft material with gold lettering. (I do not know ...

Some Kennedy assassination-related documents released through the National Archives last week (October 26, 2017) and earlier this year (July 24, 2017) discussed CIA cooperation with American organized criminals in an effort to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. The documents revealed little about CIA-underworld interaction that was not already known to historians through other sources, but the release provides an occasion to reflect upon that interaction and its aftermath. Another release of documents is expected in six months' time. Any additional pages will likely be in general agreement with those we already have. The key features of the government-underworld conspiracy appear to be these: A small group of CIA officials decided to accomplish the assassination of Cuba's Communist President Fidel Castro by working with American Mafiosi, who had been deprived of Havana casino income by Castro's rise to power. No written approvals of the plan by top CIA adminis...

TIME photograph Last night, the U.S. National Archives publicly released 2,891 previously classified documents relating to the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The documents are accessible to the public through the National Archives website . National Archives The release was made in accordance with a law passed in 1992, which required that assassination records be made public after 25 years. Then-President George H.W. Bush signed the JFK Assassination Records Collection Act on Oct. 26, 1992, setting a final release date of Oct. 26, 2017. A batch of 3,810 documents were released July 24, several months before the deadline. A last remaining batch of at least 3,140 files - many thousands of pages - remained secret through the final day, waiting on a release authorization by President Donald Trump. In the evening, President Trump issued a memorandum approving the release of 2,891 of the remaining files but permitting an additional six months of revie...