Much is popularised of the Mafia in film, literature, music and urban legend. Some stories are inspired by and respectful of the facts, but many are presented through a creative lens distorting how organized crime began. References are often made to criminal activity in the infamous Prohibition Era, but few stories cover the preceding years, until now. This new book presents a graphic history of true crime. It examines the origins story of the American Mafia through the rise and fall of the first boss of bosses Giuseppe Morello and his powerful brother-in-law Ignazio Lupo.


This is a time before the Castellammarese War – a period of bloody power struggles for control of the Italian-American Mafia that took place in New York City. The important period preceding the war is considered murky and lacking historic documentation. This meticulously illustrated volume of Secret Societies shines a light on this fascinating time of American history and organized crime. It does so through research from primary sources, richly illuminating the period of the 1890s–1920s using photos, documents, contemporary articles and illustrations. Starting with a look at the “Black Hand” phenomenon and its relationship to organized crime.

Black Hand letters became synonymous with crime in Italian communities across the US. Recipients were threatened with bombs, arson, or murder unless a demand was satisfied. At the height of the crime wave New York City recorded 110 Black Hand bombings in just eight months. The book also examines the story of the “Barrel Murder” in which Giuseppe Morello, the first boss-of-bosses of the US Mafia, was arrested following a brutal murder in the heart of New York’s “Little Italy.” Soon followed by the tragic story of NYPD officer Joseph Petrosino who became a pioneer in the fight against black handers and Mafiosi alike. In 1909, while a secret mission, Petrosino became the only NYPD officer to be killed while on foreign soil after he was assassinated in Palermo. Petrosino was so influential he is portrayed in three biographical films and was remembered by President Theodore Roosevelt “as a great man and a good man who did not know the name of fear.”

In this important stage of history, the hierarchies of crime families were established and reinforced; Mafia organizations found new recruits and new resources by spreading across the US; national structure and conflict-resolution mechanisms were put in place; and the criminal society's most serious rivals were defeated and absorbed. Through a combination of period photographs, government records, news clippings, graphic design and fully annotated text, Secret Societies permits the reader to witness the important moments and trends in the development of Sicilian-American organized crime in the United States.

CONTENTS:

ARRIVAL IN AMERICA

THE BLACK HAND (1903–1915)
- Kidnapping Gangs
- Fighting the Black Hand

ORGANIZED CRIME
- The Organized Criminals of New York
- The Barrel Murder
- Giuseppe Morello
- Ignazio Lupo

JOE PETROSINO (1909)

THE CAPTURE OF LUPO & MORELLO (1909)
- William J. Flynn

GANG RULE IN NEW YORK (1910+)
- Giosue Gallucci
- Across the Brooklyn Bridge
- Giuseppe Masseria & Frankie Yale
- The End of Lupo & Morello

CONCLUSION

Store: https://www.same-old.com
Edition number: 1 (1000 copies)
Retail price: £35.00
ISBN: 978-1-5272-6807-4
Covers: 8 pages (300gsm)
Text pages: 176 pages (120gsm)
Size: 210mm x 297mm (A4)
Paper: Environmentally friendly - ECF pulp, FSC® certified, and EU Eco label.
Binding: Exposed smyth sewn