Just after 10:15 on the morning of October 25, 1957, two men with scarves over their faces walked into the barber shop off the lobby of the Park Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan. Albert Anastasia, the most feared mob boss in America, sat in chair number four with a hot towel over his face. The men … Read more
Allen Dorfman was shot twice in the head in a parking lot in Lincolnwood, Illinois, on January 20, 1983. He was dead before he hit the pavement. Most people who have seen the film Casino believe they know who he was. They do not. The movie reduced Dorfman to a background figure — a man … Read more
For decades, Lawrence Welk was the face of wholesome American television—a soft-spoken immigrant whose on-screen persona seemed almost too innocent for the entertainment industry. But behind the bubbles, the accordion, and his famous “wunnerful, wunnerful” catchphrases was a man far more complicated than viewers ever saw. He built a fortune that extended far beyond music, … Read more
Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate who reshaped Las Vegas and became one of the most influential political donors in American history, died on January 11, 2021, from complications related to his treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He was 87 years old. His death came at a moment of unprecedented crisis for the empire he built. … Read more
The final scene of "Goodfellas" shows Henry Hill standing outside a suburban house in a bathrobe, complaining that he can no longer get decent pasta. The credits roll, and audiences are left with a comfortable conclusion: he lost the mob life, but at least he got out alive. The real ending was far different. It … Read more
On the night of June 11, 1970, a made man walked into a Queens bar to celebrate his freedom after eight years in federal prison. By midnight, he had been beaten unconscious, stuffed into the trunk of a car, and buried in a shallow grave upstate. Most people know this story through Goodfellas. In the … Read more
While sorting through her late grandmother’s attic ahead of an estate sale, Rebecca Miller uncovered a 1901 family portrait that stopped her cold. The formal photograph showed a stern white couple and their three blonde children. Off to the side, separated from the others, stood a black boy of about eight with a visible scar … Read more
Jeff Conaway’s rise to fame through the hit musical “Grease” was overshadowed by a long and painful battle with addiction that ultimately defined the final years of his life. The actor, best known for playing Kenickie in the film and Bobby Wheeler on the TV series “Taxi,” struggled for decades with substance abuse despite his … Read more
Elvis Presley was scheduled to board his private plane, the Lisa Marie, on the evening of August 16, 1977, for a flight from Memphis to Portland, Maine, where a new concert tour was set to begin. The Convair 880 was fueled, the gold-plated seat belts were polished, and the crew had filed the flight plan. … Read more
On October 25, 1957, Albert Anastasia, one of the most feared men in American organized crime, was shot dead in a barber’s chair at the Park Sheraton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Two masked gunmen walked in, fired, and disappeared. The man who orchestrated the killing was nowhere near the scene. He was never charged and … Read more