The Mafia Chronicles: Kansas City Mobsters Blew Up Lefty Rosenthal’s Car, Insiders Speculate
June 24th, 2017 
CEO 
By Larry Henry
Two people with knowledge of how the underworld works recently said they believe Kansas City mobsters were responsible for blowing up Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal’s car in Las Vegas during the early 1980s.
Those people are Gary Jenkins, a former Kansas City detective, and Las Vegas resident and former mobster Frank Cullotta.
First the backstory.
In a scary incident that literally shook parts of the city, Lefty Rosenthal, carrying an order of takeout ribs, was injured when his 1981 Cadillac Eldorado blew up outside the Tony Roma’s restaurant at 620 E. Sahara Ave. not far from the Las Vegas Strip.
Mob Wisdom 101
June 22nd, 2017 CEO 
By Marla Eggar
Anyone familiar with Facebook has come across the thousands of memes with a famous gangster pose and some intriguing advice about life. Most of this insight was not actually quoted by the mobster themselves it’s solely done to emphasize a point, play up the dramatics or for entertainment purposes only. So, with this in mind I decided to track down some of my favorite all time gangsters and their foresight, insight & gumption for life. (Not everyone on my list is considered a “traditional mobsters/gangster…” then again, my definition of a gangster sometime differs from others)
Virginia Hill: The Mob’s Lady Associate
June 21st, 2017 CEO 
By Marla Eggar
Virginia Hill is best known for her relationship with Bugsy Siegel. She was given the nickname “Queen of the Mob” by Time Magazine in 1951 after the Kefauver Hearings. Virginia Hill who was born 1916 in Lipscomb, Alabama had a reputation for being promiscuous from the very beginning. In a day and age when it was rare for a female to use her sexuality for gain, Hill had no qualms about using her looks and sexual talents to conceal money, hide stolen goods or anything else the mob needed from her.
Nevertheless, Hill’s story begins when she started working as a waitress at a popular mob hang out for Al Capone associates. It was there the 17-year-old met a Chicago mobster and bookmaker by the name of Joseph Epstein who apparently, according to sources, wasn’t a very good looking character. Still, what he lacked in looks he made up for with money… Stacks of it!
Comic Bill Dana Dead at 92
June 20th, 2017 CEO 
By “Bad” Brad Berkwitt
Bill Dana a very popular comedian and comedy writer for decades died at his home last week in Nashville at the age of 92. He rose to fame on TV with his most famous character, the bumbling, English-mangling José Jiménez that delighted audiences for years.
His death was confirmed by his friend Jenni Matz, who is working on a documentary about him.
The Curse Returns: Destination America’s Breakout Hit Series GHOSTS OF SHEPHERDSTOWN Is Back for a Second Season
June 20th, 2017 CEO 
The first season of GHOSTS OF SHEPHERDSTOWN, a surge of 911 calls reporting what appeared to be supernatural activity in Shepherdstown, W.V., inspired Police Chief Michael King to enlist the help of paranormal investigators to figure out why the town had become such a hotbed for hauntings. Nick Groff, Bill Hartley, and Elizabeth Saint, with the help of local historian Dana Mitchell and psychic medium Lorie Johnson, uncovered clues linking the rash of mysterious incidents to Shepherdstown’s historic waterways and a woman murdered on accusations of witchcraft in the town’s early history. The first season finale culminated in a ceremony on the Potomac River to cleanse the town of its “Witches Curse,” which seemed to settle the ghostly activity… at least, within its own borders. Soon, Chief King began hearing from his colleagues in neighboring police jurisdictions that the mysterious happenings had spread to their nearby towns, suggesting that Shepherdstown is only one piece to a much larger paranormal puzzle. Groff, Hartley and Saint return for season 2 to follow new leads and attempt to solve the mystery once and for all, with eight all-new episodes of GHOSTS OF SHEPHERDSTOWN premiering on Monday, July 10 at 10/9c on Destination America.
A Closer Look at the Top 5 Horrific Deaths in the Mob
June 19th, 2017 CEO 
By Marla Eggar
Murder in the mob often comes in the form of those you trust. Its necessity helps to maintain control and reinforce a strong mandate… “Death before Dishonor.” Protecting the pride of its members and maintaining the integrity of the organization is a key component to the mob’s reputation and survival. Upholding the code of honor sometimes comes at a high cost. Listed below are my picks for the most shocking and appalling murders committed by the mob.
The Brutal Legacy of Griselda Blanco (1943-2012)
June 17th, 2017 CEO 
By Marla Eggar
In order to have some claim to fame in the world of organized crime one must be calculating, cunning and above all brutal. Of all the names that could describe Griselda Blanco best no other word does her more justice than “brutal.” I got it admit, out of all the mobsters and gangsters I deem lower than a dog Blanco takes first, second and third place. It’s not that I dislike her ability to compete in a dominantly male profession, if you can call it that, which I confess she did better than most. I despise her callousness. To be fair, I do understand this type of harshness comes along with the lifestyle, however, when your raw tactics not only make you public enemy number one amongst all your contemporaries, cost you the lives of all, but one of your children, the question then becomes how beneficial is your strategy?
The Mafia Chronicles: Frank Sinatra’s Las Vegas
June 15th, 2017 CEO 
By Larry Henry
The “Rat Pack” publication by Life now on newsstands recalls, in pictures and words, the mid-century era in Las Vegas when Mafia figures, entertainers and elected officials hobnobbed together on the Strip, with the Sands hotel-casino as the neon nightlife’s glamorous ground zero.
The Strip was their private playground (and cash cow), with tourists in evening attire as amused witnesses. The Rat Pack, called “The Original Bad Boys” on the publication’s cover, were Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, JR. and a select few others.
Sinatra’s 1955 album “In the Wee Small Hours,” now considered a classic, helped establish a mood-song tone in the post-war years that, a little more than a decade later, would explode into a cultural fireball during the youth-fueled swinging ‘60s, parodied by Mike Myers in a couple of “Austin Powers” movies.
NewzBreaker Brings You Scarface Trivia: True or False?
June 15th, 2017 CEO 
By Marla Eggar
According to CNN entertainment Universal Studio is moving forward with the remake of “Scarface” utilizing “Straight Outta Compton’s” Jonathan Herman for the rewrite. With that in mind, let’s see how much you actually know about the 1983 version without looking up the answers, shall we?
1.) Howard Hawks came up with the idea behind the remake of the 1983 classic Scarface?
2.) John Travolta was considered for the role of Manny Ribera?
The Sinatra File: Cops, Lawyers, and Godfathers… The Movie Roles Francis Albert Turned Down or Were Cast with Another Actor
June 14th, 2017 CEO 
By Jerry Pearce
Let’s be clear: “Magnum Force” (1973) is not only my favorite of the “Dirty Harry” film series, but also stands next to films like “The Seven-Ups” and “The French Connection” as my favorite of all police films ever to come out of Hollywood. But who knows? If things had gone the way originally intended, maybe cinema audiences would have never had legendary actor Clint Eastwood thrilling them as no-nonsense Harry Callahan in films like “Magnum Force,” “Sudden Impact,” “The Enforcer,” or “The Dead Pool.”
Few realize that before Eastwood and longtime collaborator Don Siegel entered the picture, the role of Harry Callahan was intended for a good actor who made his bones, so to speak as a singer of American popular music. That man was Frank Sinatra.
Pearce’s Picks: James Darren
June 12th, 2017 CEO 
By Jerry Pearce
An enthusiastic “thank you” came from James Darren when we took a picture together at the Chiller Theater convention held at the Morristown Sheraton in May of 2015. The thanks was in response to my telling him how much I enjoyed his two albums of standards music that he had released in previous years. It was shocking that I seemed to tower over him; having seen him numerous times on television both from present shows and rebroadcasts of his earlier series, I always thought he brought a great presence to his roles, and when you think that notion of an actor, you assume them to be larger than life when meeting them physically. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he signed my copy of one of his albums, and I walked away feeling pretty good. As someone who truly loves the Great American Songbook, it meant a great deal to tell one of the “keepers of the flame” how much joy his music had brought to me
Batman Actor Adam West Dead at 88 – Cause of Death Revealed
June 10th, 2017 CEO 
By “Bad” Brad Berkwitt
Adam West, the man behind the bat mask in the campy 1960’s TV version of Batman has died at the age of 88.
West, who become part of pop culture after Batman debuted in January 1966, only to see his career fall victim to typecasting after the ABC show flamed out, died Friday night in Los Angeles after a short battle with leukemia, a family spokesperson said.
West died peacefully surrounded by his family and is survived by his wife Marcelle, six children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
The Mafia Chronicles: Mario Puzo, The Literary Godfather
June 9th, 2017 CEO 
By Larry Henry
Mario Puzo, a New York City native with bad eyesight who grew up poor in a rough neighborhood, wanted to be James Joyce, the Irish novelist and short story writer whose poetic use of language and deep insight into human nature have forever solidified his status as a literary titan.
Instead, with five children and a couple of serious novels that critics praised but very few readers purchased, Puzo needed to make money, and so he wrote and, at age 49, published “The Godfather,” based on Mafia tales he’d heard while churning out pulp stories for adventure magazines with titles like “Swank.”
