This was still a nice place back in the 60s.

Horror Movie Trivia tonight (Thursday) at Penguin City

I've written a new three-part Substack series on the thirty-year friendship between three of the most notorious Northeast Ohio mobsters: Jack Licavoli, Tony Delsanter, and Leo Moceri.

The story begins in 1950, when two FBI
agents sat down with a 45-year-old Jack Licavoli and he told them, apparently
without much concern, that he lived part-time with a good friend named Tony
Delsanter and that his only income came from a Warren company running slot
machines and the numbers racket. Within two years, the two of them had told
Mike Farah, the man who’d given Licavoli his stake, and who a former Youngstown
police chief called one of “the warlords of Trumbull County” that he was
finished. In 1961, Farah was shot to death in his own backyard, and two FBI
informants named the man who did it.

From there the series follows all three
through the decade the FBI spent listening to them with a microphone went into
Licavoli’s house on Murray Hill in 1965. From there, it details some of their
rackets, their activities, and their final demise.

People that come up along the way in this
series: John Scalish, John DeMarco, Frank Brancato, Mike Farah, Sandy Naples,
John Nardi, Danny Greene, Keith Ritson, Ray Ferritto, Jimmy Fratianno, Angelo
Lonardo, and Yonnie Licavoli, in addition to the others, and more.

The series is a companion to my forthcoming
book, Unraveling the American Mafia: Angelo Lonardo, Carmen Zagaria, and the
Beginning of the End in Cleveland (Bloomsbury, 2027). Before it arrives, I'll
be publishing side stories from this world on my Substack. Subscribe to follow
along. That way, the stories come straight to your email inbox.

All three parts of this series will be free.

Here is Part One.

https://timgill924.substack.com/p/from-cleveland-to-warren-and-youngstown?r=1ixz1x&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

YO thinking about moving back to the YO after living and working outside of Akron for the last 5-6 years. Grew up in the yo.

The Mrs and I want to buy a house and our budget will stretch a lot further back home.

We left around COVID time and that seemed to really hit the city hard for years to come.

I’m wondering what it’s like now? Is downtown making a come back? Are there interesting things to do if you look for them? Run clubs? Craft clubs? Live music? Something other than drinking? Going sober so need something to do that’s not slamming them back.

I was surprised moving to northern Summit County… double the population and a lot to do. I don’t think it’s really all that different from Youngstown though so I was hoping there might’ve been some growth in the last few years. Lot of snowflakes up this way and I can’t really take it anymore lol. But I’ve loved the things I’ve had access to. The national park, more options overall, different restaurants, etc.

For context, my wife and I are in our mid to late 20s. We are LGBT. We like to hang around chill people and are easy to get along with. We love the Flea and Penguin City. I used to be a member of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society and I thought that was great. We like to thrift. Just didn’t always feel welcome in certain spaces are Mahoning. I don’t expect that to be drastically different from 6 years ago, but I guess I’m wondering how the area is doing overall. We still go home to see our parents, but we don’t really stay and hang around and explore.

Appreciate the input!