Thanks for posting this. This is a great reference for mobster faces when I need to draw one.
I'm surprised there's no mention of the car sales biz on the map. In NYC and NJ, especially on Long Island, the mob ran most of the car dealerships. I worked at an ad agency in LI whose main clients were these dealerships. The agency was constantly being stiffed on payment and the owner was always in a panic since he had guns waved in his face on a weekly basis. Good times!
I grew up learning to read from LIFE, LOOK and THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. My grandparents had saved all the LIFE magazines from WW II. I especially remember seeing the liberation of the Nazi prison camps. Those horrific photos of the piles of skeletal, naked bodies that our GIs found, the haunting photographs taken of those poor people who had somehow managed to survive the everyday terror that had become their lives will be forever in my memory. The Nazis had tried to execute as many prisoners as possible by having them dig their own mass gravesites, get out then line up to be gunned down into the fresh trenches. I also remember seeing Benito Mussolini’s body hanging upside down after his fall.
This is where our press has let the American people down. They fail to show their stories. They focus their words on things but readers aren’t shown the effects of the reporting. Were it not for the editorial cartoons, most readers wouldn’t have a clue about the point being made. Visuals make the news. That’s why television had such an impact on world events. Words can be quickly forgotten especially if, as has been claimed, most people read at or below an 8th grade level but pictures get imprinted in the gray matter. Those organized crime illustrations proved the point too; and did it well.
I grew up on those photo-centric news magazines. They were a powerful window on the world. And run by professionals. Such a contrast to today, where social media floods us with images from largely unknown sources.
Thanks for posting this. This is a great reference for mobster faces when I need to draw one.
I'm surprised there's no mention of the car sales biz on the map. In NYC and NJ, especially on Long Island, the mob ran most of the car dealerships. I worked at an ad agency in LI whose main clients were these dealerships. The agency was constantly being stiffed on payment and the owner was always in a panic since he had guns waved in his face on a weekly basis. Good times!
The Ad Agency that was Married to the Mob - could be a great film
I grew up learning to read from LIFE, LOOK and THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. My grandparents had saved all the LIFE magazines from WW II. I especially remember seeing the liberation of the Nazi prison camps. Those horrific photos of the piles of skeletal, naked bodies that our GIs found, the haunting photographs taken of those poor people who had somehow managed to survive the everyday terror that had become their lives will be forever in my memory. The Nazis had tried to execute as many prisoners as possible by having them dig their own mass gravesites, get out then line up to be gunned down into the fresh trenches. I also remember seeing Benito Mussolini’s body hanging upside down after his fall.
This is where our press has let the American people down. They fail to show their stories. They focus their words on things but readers aren’t shown the effects of the reporting. Were it not for the editorial cartoons, most readers wouldn’t have a clue about the point being made. Visuals make the news. That’s why television had such an impact on world events. Words can be quickly forgotten especially if, as has been claimed, most people read at or below an 8th grade level but pictures get imprinted in the gray matter. Those organized crime illustrations proved the point too; and did it well.
I grew up on those photo-centric news magazines. They were a powerful window on the world. And run by professionals. Such a contrast to today, where social media floods us with images from largely unknown sources.
I think we need an updated version of "The Commission" illustrating the Trump crime syndicate.
I shall have to go and have a look for those articles.
Does this overlap with the period when the FBI was maintaining that the mafia didn't exist in the USA?
I think this is is the first, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=UFYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16&lpg=PA16&dq=richie+the+boot+boiardo+life+magazine+1967&source=bl&ots=M5O_7U7K5x&sig=HCsXrc8bEO_FmIwXFqr2GQwKlV0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NRnlU57uA8edygSAi4DwBQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
Looks like the whole Life magazine archive is on Google Books.
Thanks for the link. I added it to the post with a citation back to you and your work.
Unprecedented.