The New York Times
All the news that's Fit to Print

Owner: Meyer Lansky
Editor-in-chief: Robert Hughes

Second Issue
14 April 1920



DISORGANIZED CRIME: UNDERWORLD BLOOD BATH

As the intense war raged on in the world of organized crime, everything was turned on its head, culminating in the deaths of dozens of individuals directly and indirectly involved with these mafia groups.

It all started because of the fact that the New York gang led by Rich felt that their territory was being invaded by an associate who allegedly had been doing some business in the territory dominated by the group known as the "Dealers" without paying any tributes.

This associate supposedly negotiated delivery of bottles of Canadian whiskey in Manhattan and since the "Dealers" were unable to pay him a visit, even after a long manhunt through the city of New York, they decided to attack the suppliers of this associate whom they considered his allies and direct accomplices in these dealings.

The first clashes took place in Detroit after an invasion perpetrated by the New York group, where there were casualties on both sides but where the main leaders of the Detroit mob were unharmed.

It is not known whether this war was caused by the fact that the Detroit mob have requested assistance from their allies or whether it was because of the fact other criminal groups have not enjoyed the way New York were conducting things recently, since it is believed that some groups were not comfortable with the fact that New York showed too much ambition.

The reaction was large and unexpected and the men of New York turned out to face an attack perpetrated by several rival groups that culminated in the death of the main leaders of the New York mob. The NYPD fears that more attacks will take place in the city in an attempt to eliminate the other members who are still alive and escaping or in hiding.

There are other theories about the attacks, since some believe that they were executed by professional killers paid by associates who had interests in New York City.

One of the leading caporegimes in the city, known as “Rich” died during the attacks and the leadership in the city of New York is now vacant. His assassination largely ended several days of violence and came after a carefully coordinated ambush.

The initial assault on New York mobsters came from Miami. In fierce firefights, Miami Captain Eddie the Eyes and soldier Elmo McElroy had been killed, along with wise guy associate Hiram Yeager. Miami Boss Dinty Colbeck and his ruthless hitter TonySoprano continued to pour fire onto New York partisans over a period of days, as they picked off influential members of the New York family one-by-one.

The losses of New York Captain Luca Vertiam and MrPink hit their outfit hard and with Dinty back in Miami and TonySoprano having done west to LA, Rich took mob soldier Decha with him to the city. Permission was then sought from LA's ruler, PinkFreud, to whack out the malcontent.

Permission seemingly granted, Rich and Decha travelled into LA, only for a firefight to start, reportedly between Rich and Decha and PinkFreud, SalParadise and JarvisTetch. Rich got the worst of it, missing several times before PinkFreud shot him dead. Decha followed not long afterwards.

As one mobster put it.

"Rich lost it towards the end. He couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat."

While his decision to walk into an ambush can be discussed, the only thing not seemingly up for debate is his leadership, which saw a series of disastrous decisions, one after another, that led to the final defeat of the Dealers.
The attack on Detroit, while a resounding success militarily, led the remnants of the Motor City Mob to turn their formidable economic power against the New Yorkers.

Large sums of cash were funneled from the motor city to the west and south east of the country, as Detroit's ghost aided the hire of bodyguards and purchase of weapons by the families based there.

As New York slowly ran out of weapons and men, strangling to death in the chains of their own game, Rich and Decha walked into the LA social club and never came out.



AMERICAN CONGRESS ESTABLISHES PROHIBITION

The United States Congress instituted the Prohibition with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Its aim is to ban the manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof into the United States. The law enters in force immediately and it’s to be applied in all the states of the US.

One of the main impellers of this law was the Women Christian Temperance Union whom for decades fought against the consumption of alcohol. This movement was the creator of the Prohibition Party, a politicized expression of the movement that was led by women who believed that to achieve their objectives they would need to extend their action into politics.

With the support of the Evangelic Protestant Churches another movement was created to eventually become one of the leading organizations lobbying for prohibition – The Anti-Saloon League.

They were capable to become a key factor to the implementation of the law because of the influence they had into several sectors of the society and mainly because of the politic pressure they had put upon the legislators who were obliged to force some changes in Washington.

The major aims of the lobby were to destroy political corruption of the saloons and the political power of the German based brew industry as also to ensure a reduction of domestic violence in American homes.

Some of the fiercest protesters of this law fear that the prohibition could motivate and impel the growth of the organized crime.


NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS


The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Albert Einstein. According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, he received the prize for his service to theoretical physics and Especially For his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.

The world-famous German physicist earned a unanimous vote from the committee and the Nobel foundation will deliver the prize in a ceremony that will take place next month in Sweden.

According to the scientific community the theory of relativity of Albert Einstein will revolutionize scientific paradigms of the natural sciences and it is believed that in the coming years many of the theories that were undisputed until now will be replaced , all thanks to the new Nobel of Physics - Albert Einstein.



DINTY COLBECK TAKES OVER MIAMI


There are rumors that this mobster has assumed all the power of organized crime in the city of Miami, taking control of the family he has worked for since the early days, replacing the last leader of the organization who supposedly decided to retire recently from the life of crime.

With this change, Dinty Colbeck becomes the head of his organization and the undisputed leader of the city, by proclaiming himself as the Boss of Miami.

His stratospheric rise through the ranks within organized crime in the city of Miami is due to the fact that he was the driving force behind the idea of making Miami a major hub of entry and distribution of drugs in the U.S.

The truth is that Miami today is a city with a dense organized crime network and authorities know for a fact that Dinty’s organization is responsible for the distribution of the majority of drugs that circulate all around the country. That fact made Dinty Colbeck one of the richest and powerful criminals in the country and the federal authorities estimate his fortune is in excess of more than $ 100 million.

His ability to influence people made him quickly gain power within the crime family and his authority has been bolstered by a successful war against New York.



THE BIRTH OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE


Representatives of several professional football leagues decided, in conjunction with independent teams, to found the National Football League.

This decision resulted from a meeting convened by various national football associations to solve some problems that were affecting football in general.

The biggest problems that needed to be solved were the drastic wage increase of the players, the fact that players are constantly jumping from a team to another, and the use of college players still enrolled in school.

With this change it’s expected that all the major teams to follow the same rules under a single national association and eventually such problems will disappear from the world of football.

The first NFL championship begins next season and many sports commentators believe that this decision will contribute to the popularity and media coverage of this spectacular sport.




THE TORTURED SOUL OF FREDDIE MORELLO
by Duke


The customers in the Detroit Clam House eyed the man at the next table warily. It wasn't so much his appearance that caused them concern, though it was also disconcerting in the extreme. But no, it was more the manner in which he looked hungrily around the restaurant, looking for all the world like he'd eat his fellow diners quicker than anything on the menu.

Meet Freddie "The Goat" Morello.

He'd once been one of the leading mobsters in the country, the leader of the Motor City Mob in Detroit. That was until he was stood talking with one of his lieutenants late one night and an assassin's bullet cut them both down.

He'd emerged by some trees on the highway days later and promptly chased a soccer mom in a passing car, before making his way into the Detroit suburbs. All cuts, scratches and grey, dead flesh, children ran from him. Women screamed. Men said their prayers.

Restaurants turned him away, the churches refused to allow him to worship on their premises and he couldn't even get his laundry done without blood being spilled. Adept at gambling, he took to hiding away in his apartment, mulling over betting slips and listening to sad songs.

The war between LA/Miami and New York passed him by. As the bodies of notorious mob captains and soldiers piled up, he would read about it in the morning paper and go back to betting. He was saving money. But for what?

Put simply, a cure. He visited a local Detroit doctor who passed out in shock upon seeing his appearance. When the doctor came to, he was forced to explain to the hapless Freddie that there was nothing he could do. He'd used his stethoscope and not detected a heartbeat. Temperature was below that of someone who was alive. Freddie had no vital signs and no chance. After chomping down on the unlucky doctor, "The Goat" went west, to Denver, to meet some Christian evangelicals. They convinced him in the power of prayer, which he tried for 3 days before eating their pastor in a fit of rage and hitting the open road again.

Vegas was no better. Every two bit hustler tried to con him into thinking they had a cure. He paid some guy for a vial that turned out to be apple juice. Another gave him a bar of special soap to rub on his forehead each morning, at a bargain 200k a bar.

He ate them both and gave up, sold his car and flew to Atlantic City. Same thing. Guys there told him rabbit's blood, acid and roses would work, in one form or another. He met a witch there and had a great time at the horse track before he ate her too.

And now, according to federal sources, he has become a successful bank robber, wanted in several states for a spate of successful robberies in an effort to fund a cure.

A new pharmaceutical company has opened in New York, with federal funding for extensive research. It doesn't come cheap. And as Freddie approaches the door of the latest bank with his crack team of bodyguard bank robbers, doesn't he just know it.

Since this article went to press, Freddie finally met his maker, in a shootout with DirkStruan in Denver. As one observer put it:

"It was his zombie arms man, they were too uncoordinated and he hit everything except Dirk."




WARNER BROTHERS REVOLUTION


The film producer took a technological leap into the film industry with the production of the first feature-length film with synchronized sounds effects and music soundtrack.

The movie is called "Don Juan" and it's directed by Alan Crosland. It portraits the life of Don Juan de la Marana, a womanizer who believes that women could only give him three things - life, disillusionment and death .

In recent years Warner Brothers have been leaders in promoting technological development on film industry and it is known that their next big challenge is to manage to produce a full-length all-talking movie.

The movie will have its premiere next Sunday in New York.


NATIONWIDE STRIKE HITS AMERICA


The National Transport Union decided to call a strike that is affecting the whole transport sector nationwide.

The strike has lasted for several days now and the Union leaders pledged not to stop until the Government give them all the claims required by the workers.

At a press conference given by the leader of the confederation, it was said that the reasons of dissatisfaction are precisely the lack of safety of the employees, due to recent violence, but mainly because of the low salary workers claim to have.

The union leader, Mr Ivor Pickett says that the transport will be operational again as soon as the Administration is able to ensure a strong exponential increase of the salaries and more policing in the streets.

Recently there were rumors that the strike has been called by the union leaders after accepting a bribe by a criminal organization with the intent of putting political pressure upon various sectors of the political community.



COLOSIMO WALKS OUT, JOHNNY TORRIO WALKS IN


The predictions of the most skeptical legislators about the possibility of violence escalation after the ratification of the Prohibition were proved right.

The Chicago crime family led by James "Big Jim" Colosimo suffered a major turnaround after his assassination last week.

He was apparently murdered after refusing to enter into the bootlegging business, decision that for many of his followers was not protecting the interests of the family. It seems that some prominent members of the family believed that the potential of the business was too good to pass.

One of those mobsters was Johnny Torrio who apparently ordered the execution of Colosimo, through one of his associates in New York, but he never gave the order without receiving the approval of all of Colosimo's allies.

With this change its expected that Johnny Torrio will assume the leadership of the organization and that Chicago will finally enter into the business of bootlegging.



TONY SOPRANO: FBI MOST WANTED FUGITIVE

This man is allegedly a murderer working directly for the Italian mafia and is considered the most wanted man in the country according to the FBI.

It is believed that he’s responsible for the killing of more than thirty people that are linked or not with criminal activities all over the country.

The FBI knows he was one of the mobsters involved in recent the mafia war, which took place last week, and the one who ran most of the killings perpetrated against the New York crime

family. Authorities believe that he was funded by a group of criminals who were unhappy with the leadership of New York.

The FBI reports that their top priority at the moment it’s to capture this man whom they regard as a great enemy of the public safety.

According to information provided by the administration of the FBI, it's being offered a prize of $ 50,000 to anyone who can provide accurate information of the whereabouts of this assassin.