On April 7, 1972, at 4:30 in the morning, Joey Gallo was sitting at a butcher block table in the back corner of a restaurant at 129 Mulberry Street in Little Italy, Manhattan. The restaurant, Umberto's Clam House, had been open for exactly two months. He was eating scungilli. His wife was laughing at something. … Read more
On July 30, 1975, at 2:45 in the afternoon, Jimmy Hoffa stood in the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan. He was chain smoking beside his green Pontiac, checking his watch. He was supposed to meet two men, Anthony Giacalone and Anthony Provenzano, for a sit-down to bury the … Read more
Hans Kammler was the SS general who commanded Nazi Germany's secret weapons program. He constructed the underground lairs that hid the V-2 missile program, oversaw the construction of Germany's most advanced jet aircraft, and was responsible for the use of tens of thousands of slave laborers from the concentration camps. He was, to all intents … Read more
On the night of November 3, 1962, inside Small's Paradise in Harlem, a man was publicly humiliated. Seven guns were ready. The city waited for blood. Before dawn broke, no shot had been fired, but power had already changed hands. It was not rage or revenge. It was cold calculation. What happened at the end, … Read more
In December 1944, inside a Third Army headquarters in Luxembourg, the Battle of the Bulge was three days old. The staff had gone roughly 72 hours without proper sleep. A captain from a forward artillery unit was summoned to explain why his battery had withdrawn without orders, abandoning two working guns during a critical phase … Read more
Rene Enriquez was a member of the Mexican Mafia, and he spent years thinking about a story that involved a lot of moving pieces. It is a complex and fascinating story, and it centers on a man named Vessie Sagatto, whose real name was Vevessie Sagatto. Vessie was a well-known brother from 18th Street. He … Read more
On April 22, 1961, a military helicopter crossed the Maryland sky toward Camp David. On board was Dwight David Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in World War II, a five-star general, and a former president of the United States. John F. Kennedy had summoned him there. Kennedy had defeated Eisenhower's vice president to take … Read more
On August 27, 1979, inside Chino State Prison in California, Robert "Robot" Salas was walking the yard track with a cup of instant coffee. Three men came up behind him without a word. The first shank went into his kidney, the second hit a lung, and the third punctured the side of his neck. By … Read more
Eleonor Whitmore was 22 years old in 1856, living on her father’s Virginia plantation in a specially made mahogany wheelchair. A horse-riding accident at age eight had left her legs paralyzed, and by the standards of Southern society, she was considered unmarriageable. Her father, Colonel Richard Whitmore, arranged 12 proposals over four years. All 12 … Read more
Rudolf Hess served as deputy leader of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1941, standing only one place behind Adolf Hitler in the hierarchy of the regime. A World War I infantryman and later a pilot, Hess was complicit in the actions the Nazis took against their enemies. That complicity included the promulgation of race laws … Read more