The Mafia Gazette Issue 166
For All The News That Is News (E&OE)
Tuesday 16th September

FROM ANCIENT GRUDGE BREAKS NEW MUTINY
By SidHudgens

This fine nation is in a state of mourning after a dramatic turn of events staged over the past week, culminating in the death of American King Pin; WarwickHunt, and countless other leading members of society spanning across Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, New York and most recently Detroit.

Rumours are rife as to where the catalogue of murders began, fed by a continued vow of silence upheld by Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York. It is however rumoured that initial pursuit and slaying of Conceptualist leader Dominick_DeSantis outside of his favourite restaurant in downtown Manhattan proved the final straw in a strained stand-off reaching back for months between previously warring factions. Most fingers point towards a low-level associate of the LA Family; The Mulholland Crime Syndicate who was spotted across the street from Mr DeSantis minutes before he was fatally wounded. Upon hearing these rumours via telegram, Mr Hunt allegedly travelled across to Los Angeles from his hometown in Nevada, seeking retribution in the form of a personal attack on LA’s leading body, Mr Bartolemeo. Bartolemeo was walking through his neighbourhood with an entourage of bodyguards, only to suffer a single shot to the neck in a rare moment of vulnerability. His employees quickly disappeared in an attempt to distance themselves from such incompetent displays of the average bodyguard’s duties, Bartolemeo was pronounced dead on the scene.

In the subsequent 24 hours, what can only be described as all-out war broke out between all three families, with certain individuals based in Chicago – alleged to have strong ties to Los Angeles - dropping their duties and launching attacks of their own. One individual in particular, a Mr Rich_Nerezza has been revealed as the man to finally strike Warwick Hunt down, amongst many other victims from Las Vegas and New York. Mr Nerezza has been unavailable for comment and is seldom seen since the attacks, with many suggesting that he has ‘gone to the mattresses’ for an indeterminate period.

With numerous Capos, Made Men, Wise Guys and Earners – too many to list within these pages - filling up the county morgues, the nation is left with a sense of foreboding. Los Angeles remains silent and many are doubtful that the ruling bodies in California have the power to maintain control. New York has declined to comment on their future endeavours and no specific individual has assumed control, at least publicly. However a statement was released from a low level associate indicating that New York is now once more in a state of full lockdown, currently being enforced by – amongst others – Detroit’s Charleston Charlie. This has fuelled debate over whether Charleston will actually move across to assume control on New York. Las Vegas released a statement on the streets from the new de-facto Boss; Ezio, who reassured the public that it was a case of ‘business as usual’. Many however doubt that the last has been seen of this war and some have questioned Mr Ezio’s ability to take on Mr Hunt’s mantle as the current ‘Capo di tutti capi’. Mr Ezio also declined to comment on the recent events when approached by a member of the Gazette.

All victims of the war were survived by their sons and daughters who have joined up with the remnants of their respective families, with the exception of Hunt – a known bachelor and man rumoured to have never fathered a child.

The deceased Hunt, Consigliere and founder/leader of Las Vegas outfit ‘WeThePeople’ had been described many times as the most powerful man in America, having strong ties with the New York Conceptualist family, not to mention a vast array of alleged silent partnerships within the majority of legitimate Cosa Nostra Organisations currently operating in the US and Italy. Hunt instigated a nationwide chain of command allowing all families to be carefully selected and monitored by the powers that be. This assumed controlling role is being largely speculated as the main reason for his ultimate demise. Another suggestion for the attacks on very specific members of the community is that they have been a much larger, long standing agenda to flush out the elder, original members of the New York Conceptualists. This would include members who now run various alternative cities. This suggestion was given more credit recently, after the death of CharlestonCharlie in Detroit, at the hands of a young hoodlum descended from the West Coast ‘MsGlowy’ bloodline.

The Gazette offers our condolences to the many bereaved ladies and gentlemen out there. We will continue to follow this story until it reaches its inevitable end. Any information on events leading up to, or immediately following the tri-state war can be delivered to our new Gazette offices in Chicago. The age-old rules of Omerta appear to be standing strong within the community but rest assured, we are always looking for informants, who will be paid well for their services.


HERE TODAY, DON TOMORROW?
By SidHudgens

The Mafia Gazette managed to secure a brief interview with the Nation’s highest ranking Mafioso; Mr Emiliano_Cortez managed to take two minutes out of his busy schedule to talk with us about recent events, and the events to come…

The Gazette’s tireless network of informants had indicated to our offices that Mr Cortez was currently making plans and tying up loose ends before a leaving these shores for a lengthy stay (citing business purposes for reasoning) over in Sicily. Mr Cortez was pleasant yet largely evasive on the matter;

“…as for the old country, I have not yet decided what will happen; nonetheless the family will be in good hands if I do happen to go, or if I stay.”

When asked about the recent and ongoing war between four independent cities, Mr Cortez replied with an air of sadness;

“…all these wars are silly and I don’t like sacrificing my family members for silly reasons. I was away for a while and came back to see a huge mess, and Warwick dead, I was shocked to say the least.”

While rumours circulate about Cortez’s intentions, the Gazette will strive to keep you informed of any developments, regardless, the state of play in Miami is a hot bed of speculation and surely an announcement, indicating one way or the other, will be made soon.



NEW YORK, NEW YORK?
By Terry-Capeci

A cold New York street in broad daylight was marked with a chalk outline this Sunday as famed Detroit Boss CharlestonCharlie was caught in the open and apparently unawares, the victim of an execution style murder that took the form of a single shot to the back of the head. Charlie, a major player in the Underworld, made his name on the back of a string of alleged mob hits, as a hulking enforcer for the late Consigliere WarwickHunt, in his own role as apparent head of the Conceptualist-dominated Commission.

The importance of Charlie to the Commission cannot be understated and as one of the primary arms of enforcement for New York across the US, his death had led many experienced mob journalists to ask if the period of New York and Conceptualist dominance stretcing back several months is finally over. Has the New York gravy train made a final, albeit unscheduled, stop?

The events leading up to the deaths of both Hunt and Charlie will remain forever etched in the consciousness of a public that can't help but wonder how such a strong position with two of the most powerful hitmen in the Underworld could apparently be eroded in a very short space of time.

Indeed some of the bodies that Hunt and Charlie left in their wake as Commission Kingpins were influential Captains and Bosses in their own right, as they set about earning their street reputations as stand-up guys who also happened to be utterly ruthless in the case of those who crossed them.

So where did it go wrong? We can only speculate at a point in which even the Police and the Federal authorities are still following up leads on murders going back three months and more. It's a well-known fact that it was CharlestonCharlie who made the decision to murder Westlake Made Man Ivan, whose murder sparked a brief war that claimed the lives of Westlake Capos Vincent_Hanna and Beautifully_Chaotic and opened up a temporary vacancy in the City of Angels. Hanna was the acting Boss in LA and Ivan had reportedly known that he was in Charlie's bad books for reasons unknown, a fact that he could do nothing about when he took two slugs in the head outside a barbershop. Hanna knew what had happened and made his play in an ultimately futile attempt to gain bloody revenge, a vengeful path that, once embarked upon, cost him his life. Charlie was too strong to take in a frontal assault, having been to the mattresses many times before and the LA acting Boss was rubbed out after his failed attempt. But did this brief war cost the Detroit leader more than it gained? As the vacancy in LA was by and large immediately filled up by the Mulholland crew, insiders were forgiven for thinking that this was business as usual and another few bodies to add to the rep of an increasingly powerful CharlestonCharlie, but it was noted that another capable and more importantly stable crew had been taken out of play.

Then there was the business with BobTheHitter in Denver and a rumour that Charlie had been taking contracts on the Denver leader's people, a situation that allegedly led Bob to consider declaring war on the New York faction of the Commission. After a few shots were fired, Bob himself went to the mattresses, but this wasn't enough to save him from a very public, ferocious and bloody gun battle that took place late afternoon in his home city of Denver. In the ensuing shootout that began in Lafayette, a number of bodyguards and hired muscle were killed before an unidentified hitman strolled through the wounded and dying, delivering a Coup De Grace to BobTheHitter with a single bullet fired into the top of the wounded Bosses head. Another Commission head down and no less than the Boss of the Denver branch of WeThePeople, another stabilising influence who late in life picked the wrong time to bite the hand that fed him.

Donny_Belleti in Atlanta was another Boss that fell foul of the Conceptualist Commission and insiders put his death down to a minor beef that escalated to the point of no return. With known ties to New York that included handling the occasional job for them where he could, it was speculated that Belleti became too powerful a Boss to be allowed to stay around. Whatever the background of his rule, things started to go wrong for Cosca Trinacria in Atlanta when Dallas Wise Guy TheMoneyMan took a few shots at a Made Man in the Atlanta family. What began as nothing more than a bar-room brawl and a few insults quickly turned deadly as Atlanta struggled to contain the rogue shooter, while his own friends in New York stood back watching. The kiss of death for Belleti duly arrived when mob emmisaries from WarwickHunt allegedly promised him that the rogue would be dealt with, after a reported sit-down in Chicago.

But by this stage the problem had escalated as New York refused to sit back and do nothing for one their own, regardless of Belleti's importance on the Commission as an allied Boss to WarwickHunt. In the violence that followed, four Mafia Captains and a Boss were subsequently whacked out, chief among them Belleti himself, Charlie_Croker of the Self Preservation society, Atlanta Captains R_A_Heinlein, Kalista and Alexander and Atlanta soldiers MrTrevor and Cooter. TheMoneyMan also fell during the war but this was a small price to pay for the elimination of the Concept friendly family in the south. The Atlanta muscle had been the first to fall as Heinlein and Alexander, both known as hitmen for Belleti, were targeted. Rumoured Underboss Kalista had went down with the ship, refusing to yield to any talk of settling their differences while the scores weren't tallied and having already lost so much.

Belleti's last meaningful action as Boss was to lockdown his city to the Conceptualists in recognition of their betrayal. He was killed shortly afterwards as he left the Sheraton hotel, shot down in the lobby along with one of his long-serving bodyguards. Another Commission head removed from the scene and a big loss, where he had reportedly been described as one of the best leaders outside of direct Conceptualist influence and respected for running a right and profitable ship.

Meanwhile Croker's death in this period of trouble with Atlanta was also something of a blow, removing any direct mob influence in Dallas, Croker of course having been Hunt's replacement for Johnnie-Walker after the latter retired abruptly in a move that some insiders also attributed to Warwick. Dallas was also now emptied at the same time as Atlanta and while Croker only ran a small crew that some regarded as nothing more than a hitter crew for the New York Bosses, he was still an authorised leader and Mafia Captain, a man largely respected and taken from the helm before he had a chance to make the city his own.

The man who preceded Croker in Dallas, Johnnie-Walker was similar to Donny_ Belleti. The two had been friends and both said to have had a good relationship with Hunt who is known to have spoken in appreciation of both. However relations were said to have deteriorated after Hunt killed Walker's close friend and Underboss Richard_Kilbane after some words were exchanged. In retirement Walker has been unavailable for any comment concerning these allegations and is presumed to be somewhere in the Carribean at this point in time, a Boss lost to retirement if not death, for reasons unknown.

This leads us to Bartolomeo of the Mulholland Crime Syndicate, the replacement for Vincent_Hanna. A direct man, known as "Bart" on the streets, he had stepped up to take the vacancy in LA and make it his own. He had been trusted by the Commission to do so and showed himself as a pragmatist and a negotiator, a man who rose to the rank of Boss and had begun to build his own enclave of power on the West coast, with several Made soldiers serving under his leadership. However the nature of this last war would show the utter unpredictability of the Underworld.

Far from there being a problem in LA, tensions had instead been simmering between Vegas and Miami for a time, as the old Miami Don Emiliano_Cortez walked the fine line between leading a family comprised of some "old western" heads while maintaining business ties with Vegas, who by this stage were linked inexplicably with New York. Cortez ran his corner, Bart ran his and Hunt and Charlie ran everything in between, appointing their own captains to cities such as Chicago and Dallas. It was around this time that things threatened to get seriously ugly as BlueMagic, a Capo running the Doom Squad out of LA, came into some trouble with a rival crew in Miami. Street sources put the beginning of the trouble on various factors, but what is known is that BlueMagic was found shot dead in Dallas alongside Wise Guy associate David_Della_Rocco who apparently took a bullet for his Boss as they came under attack.

Around the same time, popular New York associate and playboy DirkStruan was also shot dead in the city. Although apparently only there to visit his favourite steakhouse, he was seen as a potential threat and eliminated that same night, allegedly shot dead by Alberto_Lattuada, who was himself shot dead later in the evening. But it didn't end there as associates of BlueMagic looked to even the score, shooting dead Miami Captain Cole_Turner and Mulholland Captain Yerg_Nosam in Dallas that same evening. Detroit soldier TheRiddler would fall in retaliation in what was increasingly seeming like a three-way battle that went beyond the business of the respective families whose members were involved. Indeed similarities were eerily apparent between the violence here and back in Atlanta with Cosca Trinacria. A war of words or a "beef" had created some bad blood, that in turn would lead to sporadic violence that again would culminate in the deaths of more Captains, some of whom were Conceptualist and whose loss on the enforcement side of the business, it can be argued, weren't as yet being felt.

Immediately following the violence, Hunt locked down Vegas, a move widely interpreted as an escalation of events and Cortez followed suit in locking down Miami. With New York never emerging from an apparently permanent lockdown status, that was three cities no longer open to those outside of the families based there. The business implications in such decisions were huge. There was now no uniform standard on the coke deals that had made everyone so rich. Not being able to enter a city meant no business there and there where whispers in dark corners over what would happen next. Was Cortez going to be allowed a straight run at Godfather of the US, or would Hunt make efforts to stop him?

Cortez publically downplayed any ideas about Godfather, or indeed about trouble with New York, but the dogs in the street knew that he'd made a statement by killing BlueMagic. The ripples of Struan's loss had also been felt in New York and the loss of the Riddler was yet another Conceptualist Detroit soldier killed while apparently fighting for a Conceptualist who wasn't seemingly supported by the many of the others. As far as business went, it seemed that the Doom Squad were out of line and Cortez had been given the chance to flex his muscles, leaving some bad blood that it was assumed would lead to a war between the two Mob superpowers, Las Vegas/New York and Miami.

It was to everyone's surprise therefore, that just over a week later the New York lockdown was spectacularly breached by a mid-level associate named Faith, who was working for Bartolomeo and who shot down Vegas Captain Dominick_DeSantis. The response from Warwick was immediate and bloody, ambushing and shooting down LA Boss Barthomoleo with comparative ease, before the LA Boss knew what hit him. It's unknown if he was even aware that the rogue associate in his family had made him a target. Family insiders suggest he was dead before he even knew why, a testament to the difficulties in making it to the top. Bart had made it to the top, he simply hadn't been able to stay there. Through no fault of his own, his story came to an abrupt end. And as yet another war raged just a week after an apparent full-scale conflict had been averted, he wasn't the only one who made it past the final page.

LA Made soldiers Doghouse_Reilly, Lupe_Fanucci, Mugsy and JohnHenry were also murdered, along with Earner Charlie_MacFarley who was hit right after his Boss as they did their best to shoot their way out of the war that their family had become embroiled in. Nothing indicates they went quietly and many more associates on both sides also met grisly ends as they came out to work their corners or visit their regular haunts, only to find that it was a war and low-level gangsters and goombas on either side were good for sending an easy message. It got to bad that the Mayor of Los Angeles was spotted at secret midnight meetings with the Chief of Police, as both analysed the likely body count, when it was likely to end and the impact this might have on the electorate. However they were in luck. Things were already coming to the end of the line, in a way that no-one expected.

Having eliminated the top man in the neighbouring family in LA, Hunt apparently felt safe enough to return to business as usual and it was this overconfidence that apparently sealed his fate. True to form he did not fall without a fight, but fall he did as LA Made Man and loyalist Rich_Nerezza felled the long-serving Las Vegas Consigliere with unerring accuracy during a heated exchange of fire in what appears to have been a carefully coordinated ambush, the assassins striking in the small hours around Midnight in Las Vegas. Nerezza was known to his friends as a stand-up guy who made a name for himself as a man to be feared by going on a hot streak at the right time, as he kept chalking up "wins" over Las Vegas enforcers.

By the time he came to his biggest gunfight yet with the most powerful and hardened Underworld Boss he'd ever faced, he already had some significant bodies to his name. Among those killed from Vegas were Capo The-Summoned who was shanked to death in Chicago and Made soldiers Morgan-Ames and Gothic_Angel. While he was able to take out a few of the ranked soldiers, he also held his nerve against the more experienced guns as Vegas Wise Guy WoodyHerman fell also, but not before putting a nearly fatal shot into the abdomen of Nerezza who was alleged to have checked into a a Denever hospital, where Vegas Made Man Slugga was later also killed while attempting to assassinate him and finally draw a line under the LA side of the war. As they failed, so it came to the main fight and when the smoke had cleared, two families had been decimated and upwards of fifteen bodyguards had also been killed, alongside Hunt, finally bringing and end to the run of one of the most powerful Bosses in history.

By virtue of who was still standing, Vegas is largely considered to have won, though in losing Hunt their actual gains have been few. There is no talk of a peace deal with Nerezza who as an LA loyalist, carried the war to Vegas and then skipped to Denver. The Vegas family of WeThePeople has passed into the control of long-time mobster Ezio. Regarded as a stabilising influence, it's also rumoured that there are those behind the scenes who wish to destroy him and his family and end a now long-standing period of New York influence in Las Vegas. Whether he needs to be a war-time leader or use his enforcers to keep Nerezza at bay is something only time will tell. And where does this leave the Commission?

Emiliano_Cortez is now clearly the man of respect in the US. As the only Don, running a family with controlling interests in Miami and Atlanta and with what some put as upwards of 15 Capo Regimes, he is in the driving seat. Zoolander is widely expected to take rise up to run the Motor City, but question marks remain surrounding his leadership. Will he be the man to unite a city that has always been strongly linked to Conceptualism? Can he surmount the difficulties faced by his old Boss and friend CharlestonCharlie, who was almost constantly followed around by money problems? If anything the death of Charlie illustrates that the discerning hitman can take a shot at a Boss and potentially end their reign at the top. Charlie was a tank. Alongside Warwick they were marked men who led regardless of their many enemies and couldn't be stopped. In the aftermath of their deaths, a constant supply of payed protection has become a necessity and not a luxury.

And what of those who helped engineer the downfall of Charlie? Will they attempt to take back their old strongholds in LA and Vegas? Has the Commission entered a period of resistance from the more traditional western elements and will the mob families begin to revert to control of their city limits only? It's known that the Conceptualists hold the Vegas end of the old west in nothing more than contempt, seeing that as not even worthy of their oldest adversaries of ASDA, all of whom are considered retired. Can the western stalwarts who are left, yet so often have been accused of lacking structure, coherency and respect, end the influence of a national Commission over what they consider their traditional stomping grounds?

That influence in itself came about solely though the man who is no more. WarwickHunt. He was the national Boss and de facto owner of as many as five cities who used the force of his own personality to extend his terrible reach beyond New York But now that his time has come to an end, will Emiliano_Cortez attempt to extend an influence of his own beyond the south east, using his Captains to fill out the many vacancies that now exist? There's no doubt that erosion played a part in the losses sustained by the Conceptualist movement. As more wars were fought and won, more enemies were made and the losses sustained in these wars, although not immediately felt, clearly took their toll. Put simply, too many Conceptualist gunmen were lost at different times, diluting their strength to a point where Nerezza was able to wreak his bloody revenge on behalf of his Boss. Yet going by the streets and having operated since 11/05, the Conceptualists face the new challenge. To get back on the horse.

And so the eyes of the Underworld turn to the west coast, to see what unfolds in a new game and one in which everything is at stake.



MAN IN THE GAZETTE: COOL JESUS
By JJ-Jameson

I was wary of meeting this man. A lot of things had been said about him and not all of them had been good. Amongst other things, there was the suggestions that he was a philanderer, a cheat, a no-good scoundrel and a "tub of guts." One man I encountered in a dusty Denver Speakeasy suggested to me that he'd "crack his pate" if ever the two should meet. Therefore it was to my eternal surprise that he called to set a meet in New York, at the Hell Fire club, a notorious and extremely old Gentleman's Club, established some time in 1795. As I set down the phone, a gift from Huey Long, I weighed up my options.

As a reporter for many years and later experienced Editor, I knew of the Hell Fire Club only by reputation. The scene of the occasional card game and murder, it was frequented by disgraced English Aristocracy and other sorts of rakish cads and social delinquents. My personal service weapon had the benefit of being easily accessed from a custom shoulder holster and so I decided to scope the place out before deciding if I should step inside. I needn't have bothered. Forty five minutes of careful observation from a cafe across the street ascertained that this was no set-up. A further hour spent inside cradling a Brandy seemed to indicate that Cool_Jesus was late. Until he appeared from behind a horrific statue of a Gargoyle that was set at the corner of the bar, whispering in a voice that was husky and yet made my ear tremble with delight:

"WHO ARE YOU."

It seemed like a statement rather than a question but I handed him my card and he grimaced, showing many teeth in what I later determined was his smile. We got right to it, speaking about mugging. I told him of my youth how I had once been arrested after a particularly vicious mugging that I had particpated in. He nodded amid the smoke from our pipes and this seemed to assure him that I was a man with whom he could identify. He calmly asked how much I had taken and I explained that it was nothing more than a token amount, that I had donated to the church in return for a stain-glass window bearing my name. He puffed on his pipe some more, as if lost in thought and then mentioned that he'd broken it. I couldn't tell if he was serious. I looked at my watch as the Opium drifted lazily past our heads. It was time for me to strike and earn my liquor money.

"So got anything for me on the death of WarwickHunt, off the record?"

He looked at me straight and his glass eye began to roll to one side.

"Afraid not, you probably know more than I do right now."

I looked down into my ale and began to feel sad. This was a nice club, but I couldn't sit here all day with this waster. Perhaps a more appropriate setting was in order. A Bordello maybe. As I rose to pay my tab, he suddenly started up out of his own chair and his Mackintosh fell off.

"Ooo I may have an exclusive for you about him. He is 4' 3" tall!"

I'd never met WarwickHunt and found this hard to believe. Could the hardest man around, the one who stalked the dreams of naughty children, really be Napoleon to my Vlad The Impaler? My eyes were incredulous at the thought. The eyes that stared back at me were crazed on cheap whiskey and Syphilis. I retorted.

"Even if he was, I couldn't run that unless we did the whole Napoleon angle. Or unless you got a photo."

His response was swift.

"Anorexic Jack is the one you need to talk to for a photo!
Couldn't you have something about us saving money on his coffin by buying a childs one?"

I sipped on my ale some more while I considered this. Before I could respond, another utterance from the man sat beside me on the specially high bar stool:

"He has pretty lion mane hair!"

I decided to be diplomatic.

"He told me that too. How very interesting to hear corroboration from a third party."

But he wasn't done yet.

"Sometimes he makes me go out and get food for him like a lioness. I don't like it when I have to do that. I complained to Napoleon once but he told me to shut up and to put more height on his heels."

At that point the conversation degenerated into such filth that I was forced to call time on the interview and leave immediately on a boat bound for Paris, for some well-needed culture. The Mafia Gazette would like to thank Cool_Jesus for his time.



FREEDOM OF SPEECH
By JJ-Jameson

The Gazette, having recently opened its doors is now actively seeking reporters and feature writers for the following roles;

Culinary Critic – a regular reviewer of a monthly specific city’s bars and restaurants.

The Public Voice – a regular feature written on any specific subject anyone wishes to right about. This is a chance for anyone to have their voice heard, and immortalised in the Mafia Gazette archives, each article can be an opinionated as each writer wishes it to be, it will also be (with reasonable exceptions) unabridged and unedited. If you have something to say, shout it loud and clear from the platform that the Mafia Gazette can offer you.

Both roles will be paid well and offer you the chance to become actively involved in the flourishing world of modern journalism, if you would be interesting in filling one of these roles, please contact one of the Editors personally.


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