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Michael F. Rizzo
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Stories abound about legendary New York City gangsters like "Lucky" Luciano, but Buffalo has housed its fair share of thugs and mobsters too. While many were nothing more than common criminals or bank robbers, a powerful crime family headed by local boss Stefano Magaddino emerged in the 1920s. Close to Canada, Niagara Falls and Buffalo were perfect avenues through which to transport booze, and Magaddino and his Mafiosi maintained a stranglehold on...
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Set during Prohibition this is one of Buffalo, New York's most blood-soaked crime tales. This is the story of the bloody reign of Polish gangster John "Korney" Kwiatkowski, which ended with one of his friends in the electric chair. Before the end came, Korney masterminded robberies all over the city, leading a gang of violent thugs, dubbed the Korney Gang, while he maintained a facade of gentility. With names like Ziggy, Bolly, and Smithy, these bootleggers,...
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Brewing history touches every corner of Washington. When it was a territory, homesteader operations like Colville Brewery helped establish towns. In 1865, Joseph Meeker planted the state's first hops in Steilacoom. Within a few years, that modest crop became a five-hundred-acre empire, and Washington led the nation in hops production by the turn of the century. Enterprising pioneers like Emil Sick and City Brewery's Catherine Stahl galvanized early...
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Bike messenger Rex Carlton has a new girlfriend and discovers he has cancer. He takes his frustration out on those he loves and must decide if he wants to continue his career. He visits his cousin in the Pacific Northwest after discovering a letter hidden behind a painting for over 100 years. The letter leads them on a wild chase for the truth and into the sights of a serial killer.
Rex and his best friend Neumann travel to the small town of Devils...
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Are we allowed to scrutinize public art, even if the public doesn't pay for it? It only took the city of Buffalo 15 minutes to shut it off and five days for Mayor Jimmy Griffin to tear down Billie Lawless' sculpture "Green Lightning" in 1984. It may have had something to do with dancing neon figures that resembled Mr. Peanut. But, to this day, it's unclear if the artist tricked the city or the city acted hastily. For the first time, through interviews,...
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The dark nights of Buffalo are complicated when a woman is found dead behind a goth club. The clues lead to a real vampire coven inside the city. Struggling bike messenger Rex Carlton ends up in the middle of the investigation and is left for dead.
Rex worked in IT, a job he did not care for. Part of the reason was the sales manager, who despised him and made him hate his job. His girlfriend also dumped him, leaving his eccentric neighbor and best...
7) Double Rush
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The Buffalo Mafia is a well-known myth that permeates the gray city streets. Talk of its presence and actions have been discouraged or scoffed at for years. Yet for Rex Carlton, that myth is going to become very, very real.
As the lead bike courier for Zippee Messengers, Rex rides these city streets every day, delivering important correspondence while dodging both pedestrians and cars. When he accidentally slams into a stranger, Rex is unaware that...
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Buffalo's appreciation for a frosty pint stretches back more than a century before anyone enjoyed a cold one with a basket of wings. By the middle of the 1800s, the industrial hub counted malt and beer among its most vital and satisfying products. Operations like Simon Pure Beer, Iroquois Beverage and the Magnus Beck Brewing Company brought Buffalo's world-class ales to the rest of the country. Prohibition saw a thriving business in black market hooch,...
