Robert Grey Reynolds Jr: 502 books

Joe Gulmi was associated with the Gambino crime family but his exact connection to them is subject to speculation. Multiple New York businesses noticed a man frequenting their establishments on multiple occasions. They assumed for a time that he was a bookie. Soon he began asking them to sign a contract...

Juste Fontaine was once a gym sweeper in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Around 1943 former welterweight champion Fritzie Zivic took him under his wing and taught him to box in a Pittsburgh gym. Fontaine was a hard puncher who fought his way to a sixth place ranking among world lightweights. Juste ran into...

Vito Genovese was the most well known of ten people who were prosecuted for an international narcotics conspiracy at the end of the 1950s. Genovese was the mastermind but he had substantial help. A controversial witness at the trial was Puerto Rican national Nelson Cantellops who became a Genovese...

Carl Carramusa was a low-level mobster in Kansas City. In the late 1930s and 1940s drugs were imported to Florida from Marseilles, France via Havana, Cuba. Kansas City was a fulcrum of midwestern drug trafficking. Carramusa became a federal informant. His information was crucial in bringing about...

Gaetano Reina's murder on February 26, 1930 led to gang warfare that pitted thugs loyal to Salvatore Maranzano and those who backed Giuseppe Masseria. Reina was a wealthy Bronx ice dealer who was a material witness in the 1915 murder of chicken dealer Barnett Baff. It took a year and a half to...

Albert Taylor Bledsoe was a prolific writer of books and articles related to slavery and the Confederate States of America. A native of Kentucky he practiced law in Springfield, Illinois during the 1840s. At this time he became acquainted with Abraham Lincoln who was also a Springfield lawyer. The...

The fire that destroyed the Hotel Windsor in Manhattan began around 3 p.m. on Friday, March 17, 1899. A St. Patrick's Day Parade had filled the streets to capacity so that fire engines had difficulty getting passed. The edifice burned quickly and completely, its huge chimneys lying in rubble....

Mary Rogers and her mother, Phebe, came to New York City following the financial panic of 1837. Phebe lost her second husband and also her most important source of economic support, i.e. Daniel and James Rogers. Both men were killed in shipwrecks. Daniel died on the Mississippi River and James in...

The crash of a Piper Navajo PA 31-350 Navajo near Lake Placid, New York is more than just the story of a small plane that met a bad fate. The story also involves possible drug smuggling and a high profile lawyer, F. Lee Bailey, who represented one of the victim's relatives. The crash was accompanied...

In 1872 Chicago was just recovering from the awful tragedy caused by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, i.e. a conflagration that burned from October 8-10, 1871. Steam engines, antiques by modern standards, were sorely tested in controlling fires that often burned uncontrolled for hours and days. The...

Gladys Cooper was among the most popular Edwardian actresses in England. In 1907 she toured with the Hicks' company in "Bluebell In Fairyland". Very significant was Cooper's appearance as Bette Davis' dominating mother in the 1941 classic film, "Now,Voyager". Now, Voyager is considered...

Cliff Allison was a talented race car driver from northern England. His career was cut extremely short by two devastating injuries at Monaco (1960) and Spa-Francorchamps (1961). The severity of his wounds end his tenure as a driver in 1961. Allison nearly scored Lotus' first Formula 1 triumph...

Peter Arundell was a very versatile race driver whose Formula One career was cut short by an accident he sustained in France in 1964. Arundell debuted as a Formula One driver in 1963 a year after he won the Formula Junior title. The Ilwich native returned to Formula One in 1966 for eleven races. Peter...

Mike Parkes was an engineer before he became a driver for Ferrari in the 1960s. He was drafted by Enzo Ferrari to drive the Maranello, Italy's F1 cars in midseason of '66. Of his 7 grand prix starts Parkes qualified his Ferrari on the front row along with teammate Lorenzo Bandini for the...