I can understand why this might smell fishy, but I have been working on this for some years and I'm at the point where I either do something with it, or fold it up and forget about it.

I have identified 15 members of the Vancouver Mafia group through court documents and old press accounts. They include Joe Celona, Frank Casisa, Joe Gentile, Gerry di Salvo, James Sanseverino, Frank D'Angelo, Carlo Gallo, Joe Biasi, Frank Magasano, Joe Romano, and five others I can't name publicly yet as there names are not in court documents, and thus they or their estates could technically sue me for defamation until, or if, I can come up with more info.

I have also interviewed friends of mob boss Joe Gentile as well as former neighbours of his old house which is on Adanac Street in East Vancouver, where he lived for 30 years. I have spoken with the proprietor of the shop where Carlo Gallo had his night club and even a local celebrity chef whose first job was working in one of Gentile's two restaurants. Gentile by the way was the (Christian) Godfather to Montreal Boss Paolo Violi's daughter.

You can also google for "Mickey Smith" from Vancouver or "Lucian Mayer" who was murdered in Vancouver in January, 1969. Mayer imported heroin for Gentile. The murder took place outside La Botte - an Italian restaurant owned and operated by Nino Gentile - the Godfather's brother. Smith did the hit for Fats Robertson, a competing gangster who was known for once setting up an elaborate casino at a location accessibly only by boat - the Wigwam Inn, a hotel in the remote Canadian woods which once hosted John Jacob Astor.

Gentile's Calabrese Capo was Carlo Gallo, a Teamster Rep in the Vancouver local and owner of the Italian Melody nightclub on Commercial Drive, which is now the locally famous store Wonderbucks. I have spoken with the crown prosecutor who put Gallo in jail even after he escaped from custody during his trial, only to turn himself in when he was reassured by a corrupt judge that his case would be overturned on appeal. That judge was caught on wiretap and forced to resign by the time Gallo had turned himself in. Gallo lost the case and was sentenced to life in prison.

I have lots of great data to work with, but to fill out the story and turn it into a narrative I need to pay the Vancouver Sun archivist $80 per hour to pull every mob story in 30 years of newspapers, and I need to notarize affidavits from people I have spoken to before I can actually publish this without it being regarded as defamation. This will cost approximately $40 per letter.

So I suppose you can say that I'm doing all of this just to try rip you off for $20, or you can get a sense that I do have some info here and that I'm desperately trying to find a way to get the story out there, but that I can't without the benefit of the funding to get the news accounts and affidavits I need to proceed with this.

I'm at the point where this is my last shot. I have a day job and can't continue to spend my few free hours combing through micro fiche. Either I get some help with this, or I just go about my life as one of the few people to know about the now totally forgotten Gentile family, publicly referenced only in Stephen Schneider's book. I would love to tell this story, but I don't have four grand to spend on researching and self-publishing a book.

If you think the story might be worth hearing, contribute. If not, don't.

Personally, I give it one shot in ten. But it's my last shot.