Robert Reynolds: 504 books

Designed by German and Danish architects the Crystal Palace was perhaps the most admired American building of the 19th century. It was the only U.S. edifice to gain the respect of European designers. Built in 1852 and 1853 the Crystal Palace was dedicated by Franklin Pierce, the 14th U.S. President....

Edna May Pettie was born in Syracuse and appeared in various youth productions before going to New York. It was while she was in New York City that she entered the office of Oscar Hammerstein and requested to be in his chorus. He accepted her in this role which eventually led to additional parts that...

Shocking Blue was joined by Tee Set and George Baker Selection as successful acts that producer Jerry Ross brought to the U.S. Ross, a lyricist traveled to Hamburg and Zurich in 1969. He discovered that tracks by the Dutch bands were available. Shocking Blue's Venus became a mega hit in the United...

Carol Doda electrified San Francisco, beginning in the summer of 1964, when she descended from the roof of the Condor Club doing her trademark Swim dance. She also knew the watusi and others so that her topless performances had variety. Doda was the first topless dancer to be publicized widely in...

Little Frankie Gallucio is a somewhat obscure name in the annals of organized crime except for one event. This occurred in 1923 when Al Capone worked as a bouncer in a Coney Island club run by mobster Frankie Yale. It was then that Gallucio arrived one evening with his younger sister, Lena, and his...

In 1952 Leonard Mocderi was "accidentally" apprehended by police working for a telephone company in Los Angeles. The gangster was placing a phone call to Las Vegas and using slugs to make the calls illegally. Taken into custody by the LAPD Moceri was traced to several unsolved murders in Toledo, Ohio...

Angelo Gyp DeCarlo was an influential mafia figure who rose to the position of captain in the Genovese crime family. He was implicated in the murder of Newark insurance broker Louis Saperstein, who died of arsenic poisoning in 1968. Saperstein found himself heavily in debt to the mob and no longer...

Barbara McNair was a versatile African-American singer/actress of the 1950s and after. Her performing career spanned five decades. Following a 1972 heroin bust her booking engagements declined precipitously. Claiming a net worth of $500,000, Barbara's manager testified that her actual worth was more...

Meyer Luckman was convicted of beating and strangling his brother-in-law, Samuel Druckman, to death. Two other men were involved in the murder, including Meyer's brother Harry. The scene of the crime was a garage in Brooklyn from which the Luckman's ran a very profitable flour trucking business....

Dominick Cirillo was a maverick Mafioso. He shunned meetings and the high profile lifestyle common to mobsters of his era., i.e. John Gotti and Paul Castellano. Dom drove around in inexpensive cars and lived in a house in the Bronx that needed numerous repairs. Second in command to Vincent "the...

Angelo Tuminaro was an integral operative in the French Connection drug syndicate. Operating in the 1950s and into the early 1960s, the criminal organization had branches in Montreal, New York, Marseilles and Italy. According to the 1940 U.S. Census Tuminaro served a stint in Dannemora Prison. Federal...

Domenico Raccuglia was second in line in the Sicilian Repubblica hierarchy when he was arrested by Carabinieri in 1999. Charged with multiple crimes he was involved in the kidnapping of an informant's son. The youth was killed following an extensive captivity. Beginning in 1996 Raccuglia was on Italy's...

Ciro Terranova was known as the artichoke king because of his dominance of the artichoke market in New York City. A Sicilian he came to America with his family in 1893. Ciro was one of three brothers who were involved in organized crime. My e-book looks at several incidents in Terranova's life...

The Magaddino crime family of Buffalo/Niagara Falls, New York was controlled by brothers Stefano and Antonio Magaddino. The siblings managed illicit criminal activity that extended from western New York to southern Ontario and the Ohio Valley. The Magaddinos were heavily involved in narcotics and...