Researching the Mafia

[Antiliar]

Jeremy, you're forgiven, but I didn't take it that seriously in the first place. I don't mind people having questions.

Ed, Raven and the rest, glad you like it and hope it helps if you guys ever need those resources. If anyone thinks of additional resources that I may have missed, let me know and I'll add to the list.

[Stroccos]

Jeremy, you're forgiven, but I didn't take it that seriously in the first place. I don't mind people having questions.

Ed, Raven and the rest, glad you like it and hope it helps if you guys ever need those resources. If anyone thinks of additional resources that I may have missed, let me know and I'll add to the list.

Great list didnt know about most of those.

[Pogo The Clown]

Another good tool is the BOP inmate locator.


https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/

[Antiliar]

Thanks Pogo

[Lupara]

I think you just made it a lot easier for a lot of guys (me included) willing to invest more time in researching the Mafia but not knowing were to start exactly. This is not only helpful but also very smart, because more researchers leads to more information.

[B.]

Great info from one of the best. Thanks.

[nash143]

Thanks guys. I second what Lupara said.

[willychichi]

Here is a free genealogy site: http://www.familytreenow.com

[Antiliar]

Added multiple links to great websites and free downloads.

[willychichi]

This post will list the online resources currently available for doing research on the Mafia and organized crime, especially in the United States.

Search engines and Starting Points: (This is the general starting point for research)
Google, https://www.google.com/
Bing, https://www.bing.com/
Yahoo, https://search.yahoo.com/
Google Books, https://books.google.com/
Wikipedia, https://www.wikipedia.org/
Mafia Wiki, http://mafia.wikia.com/wiki/Mafia_Wiki

Photo Archives and Search Engines
Yahoo Image Search, https://images.search.yahoo.com/
Bing Image Search, https://www.bing.com/images/explore?FORM=ILPSTR
Google Image Search, https://images.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl
TinEye Reverse Image Search, https://www.tineye.com/
Google Reverse Image Search help, https://support.google.com/websearch/an ... 5808?hl=en
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Collection, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/
New York Daily News Photo Archive, http://www.nydailynewspix.com/sales/home.php

Newspapers:
Fulton Postcards: http://www.fultonhistory.com/fulton.html [free newspaper search engine]
http://www.fultonhistory.com/my%20photo ... index.html

• Chronicling America: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/searc ... ced_search [free newspaper search engine]
  http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/newspapers/
  • https://news.google.com/newspapers [list of titles; search engine does not work well]
    https://www.newspapers.com/ [pay site]
    http://newspaperarchive.com/ [pay site]
    https://www.genealogybank.com/ [pay site]
    http://www.proquest.com/products-servic ... -news.html [pay site only found in university, college and public libraries]
    http://www.nytimes.com/search/ [New York Times archive, free from 1851 to 1922]
    http://www.freenewspaperarchives.us/ [Free newspaper archives in the United States]
    http://www.elephind.com/ [Free newspaper archives from around the world, especially the United States and Australia]
    http://newspaperarchive.com/free-newspaper-archives [Free version of newspaperarchive.com]
    https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc [Free California newspaper archive]
    http://archives.chicagotribune.com/ [Chicago Tribune newspaper archive]
    https://libraries.psu.edu/about/departm ... e-historic
    • http://www.theoldentimes.com/ [Free newspaper archives and genealogy from around the world]
      http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ [Free British newspaper archive]
      
      Major Libraries (These have more online resources than a home user can get, and are free to use INSIDE their libraries; some databases can be accessed from home)
      http://eresources.loc.gov/search~S9/m?S ... Periodical [Library of Congress]
      http://eresources.loc.gov/search~S9?/mN ... room&51,80 [Library of Congress, continued]
      https://www.nypl.org/ [New York Public Library]
      http://www.lapl.org/ [Los Angeles Public Library]
      https://archive.org/index.php [free uploaded documents, including books and FBI files]
      Youtube.com [Many uploaded Mafia-related videos, many are full-length]
      https://vimeo.com/ [alternative to YouTube]
      http://www.worldcat.org [Catalogue for libraries around the world]
      
      Genealogy and Vital Records:
      Ancestry.com [pay]
      Familysearch.org [free]
      Fold3.com [pay]
      http://www.vitalsearch-ca.com/gen/regadvan.htm [pay]
      http://www.stevemorse.org/ [free useful genealogy search engine that provides better results]
      http://www.cyndislist.com/ [Updated links to all known genealogical resources]
      http://www.familytreenow.com/ [free genealogy site]
      
      Crime-related:
      maryferrell.org [pay, has LCN FBI files from the JFK Assassination Collection]
      http://www.gangrule.com/ [Site that covers early New York Mafia by Jon Black]
      http://mafiamembershipcharts.blogspot.com/ {Mafia membership charts by Bill Feather]
      http://gangsterreport.com/ [Up-to-date stories from Al Profit and Scott Burnstein]
      http://www.americanmafia.com/ [Rick Porrello's Mafia-related site with a focus on Cleveland]
      http://www.onewal.com/ [The American Mafia by Tom Hunt]
      http://gangstersinc.ning.com/ [David Amoruso's site]
      https://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/crimeinny/trials/ [John Jay College Crime in New York]
      https://www.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/crimeinny ... cripts.php [Free, list of court downloadable transcripts]
      https://vault.fbi.gov/ [FBI Vault - free downloadable transcripts]
      https://www.nij.gov/Pages/welcome.aspx [National Institute of Justice]
      http://www.laborers.org/ [Typed reports on organized crime and labor, mostly in Chicago]
      http://www.ipsn.org/orourke_affidavit.php [Site by former CPD investigator John J. Flood]
      https://www.justice.gov/ [United States Department of Justice]
      http://www.ganglandchicagohistory.com/ [Chicago Outfit history site by J. P. Rich]
      https://www.chicagohistory.org/ [Chicago History Museum]
      http://themobmuseum.org/ [Las Vegas Mob Museum]
      http://homicide.northwestern.edu/ [Homicide in Chicago, 1870-1930 by Northwestern University]
      http://chicagocrimescenes.blogspot.com/ [Chicago Crime Scenes Project]
      http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/depar ... icide.html [Cyberdrive Illinois]
      https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ [Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator]
      http://bitterqueen.typepad.com/friends_of_ours/ [Blog about organized crime and gays]
      http://mafiaslugger.blogspot.com/ [Blog from ex-Los Angeles Family mobster Anthony Fiato]
      https://www.whosarat.com/index.php [Site that seeks to expose informers]
      http://breakshotblog.blogspot.com/ [Blog by Kenji Gallo]
      http://www.cosanostranews.com/ [Mafia blog by Ed Scarpo]
      http://www.ahfweb.org/download/AZOrganizedCrime.pdf
      • http://museumofgaminghistory.org/mogh.php [Museum of Gaming History]
        http://www.writersofwrongs.com/ [Organized crime writers' blog]
        http://aarclibrary.org/ [(JFK) Assassination Archives and Research Center]
        http://wayback.archive.org/web/20141007 ... ngRoom.htm [Nevada Observer Reading Room defunct website, accessed through the Internet Archive]
        
        Important Organized Crime Documents:
        https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/ ... ?ID=119303 [Valachi Hearings, free pdf download]
        http://www.idaillinois.org/cdm/ref/coll ... l/id/29560 [Juice Racketeers]
        https://www.ncjrs.gov/App/search/Search ... ype=Phrase [Organized crime publications]
        http://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent ... ce_facpubs [42 Gang by Robert M. Lombardo]
        https://archive.org/details/illinoiscrimesur00illi [Illinois Crime Survey by John Landesco]
        https://archive.org/search.php?query=%2 ... ommerce%22 [Kefauver Hearings]
        https://archive.org/details/alcaponebiograp0pasl [Al Capone Biography of a Self-Made Man by Fred Pasley]
        https://archive.org/details/chicagogangwarsi00rock [Chicago Gang Wars in Pictures - X Marks the Spot]
        http://homicide.northwestern.edu/pubs/ [Chicago-related publications]
        https://oag.ca.gov/search-results/?quer ... d+crime%22 [Organized Crime in California reports]
        http://www.nj.gov/sci/reportsoc.shtm [New Jersey organized crime reports]
        http://www.state.nj.us/sci/reportsall.shtm
        • http://informer-journal.blogspot.com/ [Informer Journal]
          Organized Crime in Chicago: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitiz ... 2NCJRS.pdf
          https://turtletalk.files.wordpress.com/ ... ny-pdf.pdf [Govt report on infiltration of Indian reservations by organized crime, includes testimony from Donald Trump]
          https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitiz ... 8NCJRS.pdf [Organized Crime in Pennsylvania, 1990]
          https://www.gangstalking.eu/Media/PDF/M ... opedia.pdf [Carl Sifakis, The Mafia Encyclopedia]
          https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitiz ... 3NCJRS.pdf [Organized Crime, 25 Years After Valachi - includes testimony of Tommaso Buschetta, Angelo Lonardo, Vincent Cafaro, and History of the Cosa Nostra]
          
          Updated 28 Jan 2017 1:14 PM PST

Antiliar, thanks so much for sharing these resources with us!

[B.]

Here is how to view Wikipedia:

It is not a source, but in the best case scenario it is a summary of other sources. Many Wikipedia entries give no sources and in subjects like this where even some published/popular sources are wrong, it basically makes it impossible to trust without comparing/contrasting to other known sources, at which point you've already done the work yourself anyway.

I have found research leads from combing Wikipedia articles for sure, but it's rare to find something new that you can trust on there.

I also tried updating some Wikipedia articles years ago with correct information and my info was shot down in favor of false info (though it may have come from books, which to many people automatically = credibility).

It's great for subjects like science, history, and more typical subjects, but trying to look up a niche interest like an underworld secret society with a lot of conflicting sources or lack of sources makes it rough.

[AG777]

Can someone please let us know how to look up passport photos on the National Archives site. Thank you so much.

[Raven]

Can someone please let us know how to look up passport photos on the National Archives site. Thank you so much.

https://familysearch.org/search/collect ... id=2185145

[AG777]

Oh it's on family search. Thank you, Raven.

[gohnjotti]

Where would be the best place to find specific indictments and court documents against specific mobsters?