"He must have done something. They don't kill you for nothing." - Chicago Gangster Ted Newberry. Rubbed out January 7, 1933

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Just came across this on Amazon


Product Description


It remains one of the most enduring mysteries in gangland lore: in 1941, while Abe Reles and three other key informants were under round-the-clock NYPD protection, the ruthless and powerful thug took a deadly plunge from the window of a Coney Island hotel. The first criminal of his stature to break the underworld’s code of silence, he had begun “singing” for the courts—giving devastating testimony that implicated former cronies—with more to come. With cops around him day and night, how could Abe have gone out the window? Did he try to escape? Did a hit man break in? Or did someone in the “squealer’s suite” murder him? Here’s the gripping story, packed with political machinations, legal sleight-of-hand, mob violence—and, finally, a proposed answer to the question: How did Abe Reles really die?

Murder mysteries:
Why didn’t police investigate the mysterious sounds they heard on the night that Reles died?

Why did the lead investigator fail to gather crucial evidence at the hotel—or follow police procedure for interviewing witnesses and securing the crime scene?

What do previously classified FBI documents reveal about Brooklyn DA William O’Dwyer, who had plans to run for mayor of New York?

Why was the note “Withhold information by order of D.A.” scribbled on Reles’s autopsy report?

Why was Abe’s widow so bitterly opposed to reopening the case?

Why doesn’t the official story add up?



About the AuthorEdmund Elmaleh was born in New York City and currently works for the Chicago Board of Trade. He is affiliated with the International Association of Crime Writers and the Organization of American Historians. This is his first book.
has anyone read this yet? If so let us know how it is.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Perhaps he and the Big Bopper Jr. should have lunch


Al Capone's 'grandson' wants DNA samples
Man who claims to be mobster's relative may push for body to be exhumed

CHICAGO - The lawyer for a Boston man who believes he is Al Capone's grandson has filed a motion for an attempt to get DNA samples so he can prove his familial tie to the famous Chicago gangster. Attorney David M. Hundley filed a legal motion Thursday on behalf of Christopher Capone, formerly Christopher Knight, in Cook County Circuit Court asking that Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery and the Archdiocese of Chicago guarantee Al Capone's body remains undisturbed pending possible disinterment.


The 37-year-old Christopher Capone, author of "Son of Scarface: A Memoir by the Grandson of Al Capone," had his name legally changed six months ago.
The real estate investor has tried without success to obtain DNA samples from known male descendants of the man known as "Scarface." Capone said he may request exhumation of the mobster's remains from Mount Carmel in the Chicago suburb of Hillside.
"He hopes to proceed through less invasive means but wants to keep disinterment as a possible option should those fail," Hundley said.


Hundley said his client's quest was like a search for birth parents by an adopted person.
Capone's publicist, Jeremy Marin, said Capone never knew his paternal grandparents and that his father, William Knight, told his son conflicting stories about his parentage before his death in 1974. Knight's age at death was listed as 59, which would have meant Al Capone was 16 when his son was born. But William Knight's birth certificate is known to be a forgery, meaning his true age is unknown, Marin said.


Al Capone was suffering from syphilis when he had a stroke and died of cardiac arrest in 1947. He was first buried in a Chicago cemetery, but his body was transferred to Mount Carmel three years later.