About
All content is written by Jon Black, a Mafia researcher since 2001 and author/designer of Secret Societies (ISBN 978-1-5272-6807-4). Jon has helped numerous authors with research for organized crimes books, including “The Origin of Organized Crime in America“, and has published work in “Informer – The history of American Crime and law enforcement“.
Jon founded gangrule.com in 2002 to study and present the emergence of organized crime in New York through 1900–1920, leading up to the well documented Prohibition Era. The database of historic events, family histories and photographs is based on research using contemporary sources including Secret Service, police, federal, court, immigration, business, and prison records.
contact@gangrule.com
Website and graphic design by Magnet Studio
All texts and original images are protected under copyright and may not be reproduced without written permission from the author.
Please note, this website is being updated as of June 2022. Any pages without footnotes should be considered out-of-date and may be inaccurate.
Recommended reading/listening:
Dave Critchley.
The Origin of Organized Crime in America
Critchley examines the Mafia recruitment process, relations with Mafias in Sicily, the role of non-Sicilians in New York’s organized crime families, kinship connections, the Black Hand, the impact of Prohibition, and allegations that a “new” Mafia was created in 1931.
Tom Hunt.
https://mafiahistory.us
Decades of research into the history of American organized crime.
Informer.
https://informer-journal.blogspot.com
The history of American Crime and law enforcement.
The Mob Archeologists.
https://www.youtube.com/@themobarcheologists
A panel of Cosa Nostra historians discussing the Mafia as a formal entity using a comparative and evidence-based historical-sociological framework.
Angelo Santino.
American Camorra. https://americancamorra.substack.com
The mainland roots and contingents of the American Mafia.
Eric Stonefelt.
Mafia Bloodlines. https://mafia.substack.com
In-depth Cosa Nostra, Organized Crime, Sicilian Mafia Culture, Underworld Anthropology.
Ben Sangster.
A Sicilian Message. https://asicilianmessage.substack.com
A taste of the Mafia.
Justin Cascio.
In Our Blood: The Mafia Families of Corleone
A fully referenced genealogical history of the Mafia families of Corleone.
Justin Cascio.
https://mafiagenealogy.wordpress.com
Extensive Corleone Mafia genealogy.
