Dorothy Janis (1910 - 2010)

Born as Dorothy Penelope Jones in Dallas, Texas, her short film career began when she was visiting a cousin, who was working on a film for Fox Film Corporation in 1927. Her beauty was noticed at once and she was asked to make a screen test. Janis went on to make five films: four silents […]

Alice Lake (1895 - 1967)

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Lake began her career as a dancer. She made her screen debut in 1912, and she appeared in a number of comedy shorts by Mack Sennett. Lake was often the leading lady of Roscoe Arbuckle in comedies like Oh Doctor! (1917) and The Cook (1918). Arbuckle directed both films and […]

Edna Oliver (1883 - 1942)

Born Edna May Nutter in Malden, Massachusetts, the daughter of Ida May and Charles Edward Nutter, Oliver was a descendant of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. She quit school at age fourteen in order to pursue a career on stage and achieved her first success in 1917 on Broadway in […]

Esther Ralston (1902 - 1994)

Ralston was born Esther Worth in Bar Harbor, Maine. She was the older sister of Howard Ralston who also appeared in silent pictures but never achieved the stardom of his sister. She began her career as a child actress in a family vaudeville act which was billed as “The Ralston Family with Baby Esther, America’s […]

Natalie Talmadge (1898 - 1969)

Talmadge was born in Brooklyn, New York to Margaret L. “Peg” and Frederick O. Talmadge. She was the younger sister of Norma Talmadge and the older sister of Constance Talmadge, both of whom became film actresses.  She appeared in D.W. Griffith’s Intolerance (1916), The Passion Flower (1921) with her sister Norma, and Buster Keaton’s Our […]

June Walker (1900 - 1966)

She appeared on Broadway in such plays as Green Grow the Lilacs, The Farmer Takes a Wife, and Twelfth Night. She was the first actress to portray the character of Lorelei Lee, in the 1926 Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She played Linda Loman to Thomas Mitchell’s Willy in the 1949 touring company of […]

Frank Scalice (1893 - 1957)

Scalice was born in Palermo, Sicily in 1893, and later emigrated to the US, settling in The Bronx. He operated his business from the Little Italy area in the Bronx. He also lived and raised his family in the City Island section of the Bronx. He was involved in many crimes, and became Capo in […]

Anthony Salerno (1911 - 1992)

Organized Crime Figure. He was the Boss of the Genovese Family from 1981 until 1986. Taking over after Frank Tieri’s death. Salerno and three other New York City Mafia Bosses were sentenced to 100 years in prison in the famous Commission trial in 1986. After Salerno went to prison Vincent (The Chin) Gigante became the […]

John Russo (1909 - 1978)

His nickname was Big Pussy and he was a powerful and respected member of the Genovese Organized Crime Family. New Jersey was the base of his operations all his life. His younger brother Anthony, who was a Captain in the Genovese Family, was nicknamed Little Pussy. During the 1960s, FBI wiretaps overheard New Jersey mobsters […]

Anthony Russo (1916 - 1979)

His nickname was Little Pussy and he was a Captain in the Genovese Organized Crime Family. New Jersey was the base of his operations all his life. His older brother John, who was also member of the Genovese Family, was nicknamed Big Pussy. During the 1960s, FBI wiretaps overheard New Jersey mobsters telling the story […]

Arnold Rothstein (1882 - 1928)

Arnold Rothstein Nothing gave a stronger boost to organized crime in America than Prohibition, which took effect on January 16, 1920. The ban on the manufacture and sale of drinking alcohol did nothing to dry up the demand for whiskey and wine. Some observers speculated, in fact, that banning alcoholic beverages made them more appealing […]

Frank Rio (1895 - 1935)

Organized Crime Figure. Al Capone’s personal bodyguard, he was also known as “Frankie Cline” and “Slippery Frank” because he was good at avoiding trials. While dining with Capone in the Hawthorne Hotel in September 1926, Rio threw himself on top of Capone to protect him from machine gun fire during a drive-by shooting courtesy of […]

Paul Ricca (1897 - 1973)

Chicago Gangster – ‘The Waiter.’

Abe Reles (1906 - 1941)

Organized Crime Figure. Known as “Kid Twist”, he was a member of the murder-for-hire group of mafia assassins that became known as “Murder Inc”. About to go to trial for his involvement, he instead became a government witness. Just prior to his scheduled testimony against crime boss Lepke Buchalter and other figures. he either fell, […]

Gaetano Reina (1889 - 1930)

Gaetano Reina was boss of the New York Mafia Family that today is called the Luchese Family from the 1920s until he was shot to death on a Bronx Street on Feb. 26,1930. After his death Joe the Boss Masseria inserted Bonaventura (Joseph) Pinzolo as the head of the Family. On Sept. 5,1930 men loyal […]

Philip Rastelli (2024 - 1991)

Organized Crime Figure. He took control of the Bonanno Organized Crime Family after the murder of Carmine Galante in 1979. He was sentenced to twelve years in a federal prison in 1986.

Vincent Rao (1898 - 1988)

Organized Crime Figure. Consigliere of the Luchese Organized Crime Family during the reign of Family Boss Thomas (Three Finger Brown) Luchese. He operated out of 107th Street in Manhattan, New York from the 1920’s until the early 1970’s. He retired to Florida and died there of natural causes in 1988, at the age of 90.

Giuseppe Profaci (1897 - 1962)

Organized Crime Figure. He headed the Profaci Organized Crime Family, which became the Colombo Family upon his death.

Jackie Presser (1926 - 1988)

Labor Leader. He was President of the Teamsters Union from 1983 to 1988. He was indicted on federal charges in 1986 of racketeering and embezzlement but never stood trial. Presser said that he was an FBI informant. Died from complications after brain cancer surgery. Was a staunch supporter of Ronald Reagan and assisted him in […]

Bonaventura Pinzolo (1887 - 1930)

During the Castellammarese war Joe the Boss Masseria chose Joseph Pinzolo to head the Reina Family in the Bronx after the February 26, 1930, murder of Gaetano Reina. On September 9, 1930, members of the Reina Family loyal to Salvatore Maranzano shot Pinzolo to death in his Manhattan business office. After Pinzolo’s death Tommaso (Tommy) […]

Thomas Pence (1842 - 1880)

Outlaw and Member of the James Gang. During the Civil War, he rode with William C. Quantrill. He was in Samuels Depot, Kentucky with Quantrill when he was killed. On July 26, 1865, Bud, Frank James and some members of Quantrill’s Raiders surrended to Union forces at Samuels Depot and later on, he escaped from […]

Raymond Patriarca (1908 - 1984)

Organized Crime Figure. He was born on Shrewsbury Street to Italian immigrant parents. When he was 3, his father, Eleuterio, moved the family to Atwells Avenue in the Federal Hill section of Providence RI where he operated a package store. Raymond left school after the 8th grade and worked at the Biltmore Hotel, in Providence, […]

Jacob Orgen (1893 - 1927)

Born to a middle class Orthodox Jewish family in the city of Minsk in the old Tsarist Russian Empire, Orgen became a well known labor slugger for Benjamin “Dopey Benny” Fein by the early 1910s. Being ambitious, he had formed his own gang, “The Little Augies” c. 1911. He operated his labor rackets diligently for […]

Charles O’Banion (1892 - 1924)

O’Banion was born to Irish Catholic parents in the small town of Maroa in Central Illinois. The O’Banion family moved to Aurora, Illinois, when Dean was a small child. In 1901, after his mother’s death, he moved to Chicago with his father and one of his brothers (a second brother, Frank, remained in Maroa). The […]

August Nykiel (1896 - 1928)

Organized Crime Figure. He was one of the most popular and successful Detroit bootleggers during the early days of Prohibition. In addition to his illegal activities he financed and maintained a semi-professional football team, the Detroit Tigers. His territory was confined to Detroit’s Southwest Side, and his headquarters was a saloon at 8824 W. Jefferson […]

Frank Nitti (1888 - 1943)

Organized Crime Figure. The number 2 man for famed gangster Al Capone, he was born about 1883 in Italy. He started as a barber, but became involved in the Chicago gang started by Capone when he was asked to fence some stolen jewelry. He quickly became a favorite of Capone by his ability to do […]

James Napoli (2024 - 1992)

Organized Crime Figure. He was a Capo in the Genovese Organized Crime Family. He controlled one of the largest gambling operations in the United States from the 1950s though the 1980s.

Guarino Moretti (1894 - 1951)

Organized Crime Figure. He was the Underboss of Frank Costello (1936-1951). A close friend of Lucky Luciano and Joe Bonanno, he ruled illegal gambling in the New Jersey area. By 1950, he was in the latter stages of syphilis which began to affect his mind. Fearing that he would talk too much the Mafia commission […]

Giuseppe Morello (1870 - 1930)

Giuseppe Morello (AKA: The Clutch Hand, Peter, Don Petru) was born in Corleone, Sicily in 1870. Morello was underboss to Joe the Boss Masseria in New York City during the early part of the Castellammarese War of 1930-1931. On Aug. 15, 1930, Morello and two of his men were shot to death in his business […]

George Moran (1893 - 1957)

Gangster. The way he got his nickname is disputed. It is believed it comes for his imaginative but impractical plans for robbing banks and kidnapping millionaires in Chicago during the 1920s or from those who thought he was nuts or “buggy”. He is most known for trying to murder Al Capone. Capone was after Moran […]