barry, its true though, he was his driver. he laid it all out. looking now for the missing 8oo pps of [ the valachi papers]

benny3balls alfa romeo is looking. this thing wont open for me either. love to see it. do you hear Johnson stopped the publication of over 1100 pps.

I think you guys are seeing right then. You should see a screen that lists the contents. The contents might be available for research, but not by a click on the internet.

But I think this shows one thing: The government and/or Maas did not burn Joe Valachi's affidavit. It's there.

Those are the real Valachi Papers.

Just in case the link is malfunctioning, here is a cut and paste....

"The John F. Kennedy Library
Columbia Point
Boston, MA 02125
617-514-1629
www.jfklibrary.org

Administrative Information
Collection Overview
List of Series
Container List
Administrative Information

Abstract
Papers 1964. Organized crime figure. Handwritten and typewritten manuscript of The Real Thing, which served as source material for The Valachi Papers (1968) by Peter Maas.

Access
Open.

Usage Guidelines
Some of the archival materials in this collection may be subject to copyright or other intellectual property restrictions. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish. The copyright law of the United States..."

and

"Container List
/expand/collapse Expand/Collapse All


Series 1. The Real Thing: The Expose and Inside Doings of Cosa Nostra.

Extent: 2189 pages.

Arrangement: by type of material.

These papers document the life of Joseph Valachi from 1920 to 1964. They mainly consist of a manuscript which describes the beginnings of Valachi's life of crime and his experiences as a member of Cosa Nostra, commonly known as the Mafia. The manuscript details the inner workings of this organized crime group and the activities of many members of the New York unit of Cosa Nostra. The manuscript is unedited and is written as one would speak. For a more concise, easier to read version of Valachi's story, see The Valachi Papers, by Peter Maas, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1968.

Box 001
Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [1 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [2 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [3 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [4 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [5 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [6 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [7 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [8 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [9 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [10 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [11 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [12 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [13 of 14 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 1-810 [14 of 14 folders]


Box 002
Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 811-1180 [1 of 6 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 811-1180 [2 of 6 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 811-1180 [3 of 6 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 811-1180 [4 of 6 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 811-1180 [5 of 6 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier The Real Thing: Pages 811-1180 [6 of 6 folders]

Display/Hide Digital Identifier Correspondence: Peter Maas & Joseph Valachi"

So that's TWO BOXES of material. There's the 1,180 pages right there.

He might have stopped publication, but the access on the folders I linked here lists them as OPEN.

Therefore someone could read them. You just have to go through the procedures to get it, but you could. Living in Boston MA might help also. One thing is certain. You won't be reading the real Valachi Papers with a click of your mouse. I just wanted everyone to see that they (the papers) exist, somewhere, and that they are publicly accessible....in some way.

did he go to the port empedecole club on bath ave

alfa romero. good work. at least we know when we read the original valachi papers, we got spoon fed baby food, compared to what we could have had, thank you alfa. maybe we can still find a link somewhere. thank you again this is unique.

Thank you Binnie

If anyone is interested, they're in the process of putting up Valachi's original manuscript online on http://www.onewal.com/

Just click on articles-menu and scroll down to the 4th one.

thank you for the site sonnyd, ive been looking for it. read the first installment interesting but, missing over 100 pages or more. didn't read anything that I didn't now before from reading the valachi papers. maybe the next installments will be more to our interest.

Thanks, Sonny, that's some interesting stuff right there.

It's great to see that going up on Onewal, but the typeface is too fine. It's not an easy read unless you maximize the page size.

I'm also curious as to when they started putting Valachi's The Real Thing up on Onewal.

EDIT: I am reading it now and don't understand why so many connecting pages are omitted.

alfa, that's my thinking also. in the first three hundred pages it appears as though over a hundred pages are missing with no explanation as to why said pages are missing. if they release another section of pages and the result is the same with over a third of the pages missing. why release them at all? if their going to release only certain portions what good can they be to researchers?

That's a shame Binnie, because it really is good stuff.

The whole thing has been released and is open to anyone. The problem is that it's over 1000 pages long and that's a lot of money to spend at the photocopy machine. Copying at the National Archives isn't cheap. I copied maybe 300 or so of the most important pages because it was just getting too expensive.

faithful, what was the major difference between whats available now as to the original.. { valachi papers ] what if anything did you learn that wasn't in the original.

Then leave the end off? Why omit what's in the middle?

Something is wrong there.

I thought faithful had a feeble explanation. its been made obvious that their keeping 100s of pages from the public. evidently they think we are 6 year olds. and wont question their decisions.

What's feeble about my explanation? Have you ever been to the National Archives? They give access, but it's a process and they don't give you your own copies for free. It costs money that comes out of the researcher's pocket.

I don't know what you're talking about them keeping 100's of pages from the public. The Valachi manuscript is available at the JFK Library in Boston and the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. I looked thru the whole thing at was all there. Nothing was being kept from the public. If you want copies to bring home, then you gotta pay something like 10 or 15 cents a copy. Multiply that by a 1000 pages and you're talking $100 to $150, unless the price of copies went up.

ok, was there anything in those pages at the archives that you felt should have been in the book. or, were their any revelations concerning the cosa nostra that were not in the book. I guess I should say was it worth your while to go over the pages, and will what you read contribute to your research.

I know this opinion is not agreed with by many if not most, but I am going to have to say that Gaetano Gagliano probably did relinquish the boss' seat to Tommy Lucchese in 1953 and died shortly thereafter. The reason I say this is because I am reading Bill Bonanno and again he said it twice that Gagliano stepped down in 53.

Unlike us, he knew was Gagliano looked like. He said he called him "Uncle Tom". Anastasia was "Uncle Albert", and so on.

Bill Bonanno was married in 1957, therefore it follows that he was probably mature enough and clear headed enough to not only remember who Gagliano was, but also when specific Commission meetings occurred, and who was present. The only way he could have gotten the date wrong for the moment Gagliano stepped down is if he thought a Commission meeting that occurred in 1951 actually occurred in 1953.

Now remember, each Commission meeting was supposed to be spaced 5 years apart unless it was an extraordinary session. The first was 1931, then 1936, then 1941, then 1946, then 1951. Bill records a meeting in 1951, as well as the minutes. But then he says there was another distinct meeting in 1953 that he called an "extraordinary" meeting. It was there and then that Bonanno says Gagliano resigned.

I'm sorry, but I do not buy that that Tommasso Gagliano was Tommy Lucchese's old boss.

Bill Bonanno got the dates wrong, Gagliano stepped down in 51' and died in 53'. Some sources say that he was semi retired after 1946 and let Lucchese run things before he retired.

Yes, there's some interesting things in Valachi's manuscript. I don't recall if I used much of it. Dave Critchley used some for what he wrote about Buster from Chicago. There's a few more details in the manuscript than what was found in the Maas book. Alex Hortis may have used some things for his book too.

Modern researchers can make more sense of the extra details in the manuscript than writers from the 1960s because we have learned so much since then. A few things that I remember that were interesting was that when he was a kid he lived on 108th Street in East Harlem. In 1912 a lady named Pasquarella Spinelli was killed in her stable (you can read about the infamous Murder Stable online); he went over there and spat on her dead body because once she kicked him out when he tried to sleep there. Later on he talked about a top guy to Ciro Terranova named Big Dick Amato (in the 1920s I don't think there was a sexual meaning to his name) who was killed in 1930, and he had some run-ins with him. There's a few more details about Buster from Chicago. Toward the end of the book he goes on a rant why bosses like Vito Genovese are unfair to soldiers like Joe Valachi.

Since you haven't read the manuscript I can tell you that it's not an easy read. A single paragraph can go on for several pages. So can a single sentence. Valachi did some crazy page numbering, like he could go from pages 1 to 10, then go page 10a, 10b, 10c and so on before going to page 11.

Tommy Lucchese supposedly testified that Gagliano died in 51, not 53.

Bill Bonanno said that the 53 extraordinary Commission meeting was called by Gagliano himself to name Tommy Lucchese and step down. That is very specific.

"Now remember, each Commission meeting was supposed to be spaced 5 years apart unless it was an extraordinary session. The first was 1931, then 1936, then 1941, then 1946, then 1951. Bill records a meeting in 1951, as well as the minutes. But then he says there was another distinct meeting in 1953 that he called an "extraordinary" meeting. It was there and then that Bonanno says Gagliano resigned."

When the Commission was created in 1931, it was decided that they have to meet every five years so the chairs could be ratified for the next five year period. In between, the Commission met every time there was a cause for them to meet.

I´ll say this again, Gagliano´s first name was Tommaso, not Gaetano. He died in Feb of 1951. Bill Bonanno got the year wrong when he said 1953 in his book. Camarel posted in this same thread I believe, photos of his tombstone. I have posted his obituary found in NY Times dated Feb 16th, 1951 (in another thread). I don´t understand the confusion about Tommaso Gagliano´s name and death. It´s like trying to explain what the capital of Canada is to someone who thinks it´s Toronto.

Hairy, please stop bringing your facts into this conversation! :-)

Will do. I hate killing a perfectly sane and healthy discussion.

Having read the stuff you put up online, I think it's fair to say Valachi was a world class rambler! And I don't mean he liked to walk! Not really surprising that Peter Maas cut a lot of it out of the book to make it read better. No conspiracy, just good book editing.

Just to get back to the opening post, I would say Charlie Luciano, Ciro Terranova, Tony Bender, Joseph Pinzola, Sam Pollaccia, Rocco Pellegrino and Gaetano Ricci are good contenders for Masseria capo's, with Frankie Yale a possible(although I tend to think not) but certainly Little Augie Pisano after Yale and Frankie Marlow's death.

I don't think that's the only point. The point is that if you are doing a public service, you do it in its entirety. To tell the public what is or is not useful information for their consumption, from a document meant to be an expose, is unacceptable and a failure.

Peter Maas was forbidden by some nazi thought police from publishing the entirety of Valachi's rambling. No doubt to protect someone on the law enforcement side of the corruption equation. What is the excuse now?

Some of the gaps occur at very interesting parts of Valachi's story.

Here is a good example...

"First they told me that Joe the Boss Masseria had sentenced them all to death because they were Castellamarise. Now I will try to explain just what this meant. It is a certain small country in Italy and as everyone knows that there are all difference dialects in the Italian language, in other words, I will tell the difference between the Sicilian and myself.
I am from Naples that is my people were, and I don't understand the Sicilian language as I do my own. They didn't tell me why they were sentenced to death but they tell me that the little that they were they......"

Then the rest is omitted. That's crazy. I think at a minimum, certain parts are being omitted because people are writing books based on them.

Here is another stunning omission...

"Now we had to get the furniture right away so we went to a guy that we know and we went 106 Street, Third Ave., because we knew that he will deliver it right away. Now the other mob have connection with the police after all they are nobody's fools so when they went 106 Street the guy got scared and told them that I was the guy that went in there and bought the furniture and he even told them that my sister was with me. Then I...."

And just as it touches on police having corrupt ties to a mob, it trails off right there.

That's wonderful.

I have no dog in this hunt but check this out. Also has pics of his stone.

http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?pag...amp;df=all&