User talk:MadMax/Archive2

Category:Tribes of Uganda

Hi. See Category talk:Tribes of Uganda. - Mustafaa 00:02, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanking for sorting the stub on my article on the HMS Trinidad. Take care, Dbraceyrules 22:09, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

• No problem. MadMax 22:18, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

Charles Becker

Thank you for reviewing and adding to my article on Charles Becker. I have removed the category cross-reference 'Mafia associate' as there is no evidence that Becker ever had any links with the Mafia, if indeed it can actually be described by that name in the period he was active. Becker's protection racket was run with the connivance of Tammany Hall, which controlled most of the extortion going on in the city up to 1914. Italian Black Hand/Mafia extortion was confined largely to the Italian-American community which Becker, a second generation American of German parentage, had nothing to do with.

Regards, Mike Dash

Becker again

Well, that assumes he was guilty, of course!

Not sure about the Lenox Avenue Gang. Is there any evidence, outside Sifakis's and Asbury's not-always-reliable books, that they actually existed? Would be interested if you did know more, as I've read through pretty much every New York paper relating to the Becker case for the period 1912-15 and never seen a whiff of a mention of them. The fact that three of the supposed killers were Jewish and the fourth Italian is intrinsically odd, and some writers on the subject do say that Frank was a late, unplanned addition to the murder party.

Having spent the last couple of years researching a new book on the Becker case (due out next year), my own best guess is that Rosenthal was bumped off by gamblers who reckoned Becker would be pretty happy to have it done, but who didn't actually tell him what they were doing. There's also a fair bit of evidence that the killing was not actually supposed to have happened, and that the original intention had been simply to scare Rosenthal. Two of the gunmen testified to that effect before their execution, adding that the triggerman had been Harry Vallon, and that he was drunk and committed the murder out of bravado. Impossible to prove, of course, but it has something of the ring of truth so far as I'm concerned.

Incidentally, Jack Zelig's power as a gangster has been hugely exaggerated by writers such as Asbury. Not only was he six years younger than is generally realised (born 1888 - check out the excellent Find A Grave website), and hence only 24 when he died, he was far too short of money to have been much of a mob kingpin. When he went on the run after the Rosenthal killing, he was picked up in Rhode Island for pickpocketing someone for the sake of about $20. Not the actions of a big time gangleader, IMO. Also, if you look at Abe Shoenfeld's intelligence reports on East Side Jewish gangs (in the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem), there's a report on a benefit held later for Zelig's wife that makes it clear his power, such as it was, dissipated entirely immediately after his death. The benefit raised the princely total of $46 - not something that would have happened had it been held for the likes of Capone or even Paul Kelly.

Still, would be most interested to hear more of your point of view.

Regards, Mike

www.mikedash.com

Becker yet again

Thanks for the reply, Max. I'd definitely like to see references. Nash is not a reliable source in many cases so it would be useful to have others.

I don't think there's any doubt that the grave shown at Find A Grave is Zelig's. It's the right date of death and it's the right cemetery too, as contemporary newspapers record. The World, reporting his death, gives an age of 24 too. That said, it's just possible that the grave date is in error. The stone was only erected a year after Zelig's death - it took his friends that long to raise the money for it (Shoenfeld is my source for that, again). On balance I'm going to stick with the later date unless/until someone can find a contemporary source that contradicts it.

You're right about Zelig's involvement with Becker's trial, the mystery is as to which side he was going to testify for. Both claimed he would have been their witness.

You're doing a fine job with the organised crime articles, BTW. I'm certainly not trying to be too negative - it's just that I've found Asbury, Nash, Sifakis unreliable just as you've had problems with Find A Grave.

Mike

Cast List on The Godfather (film)

I opened a brief discussion on the talk page of The Godfather (film) regarding moving the cast list elsewhere. As you've contributed towards the cast list, I'd appreciate your thoughts on this. Rob Church ^{Talk | Desk} 10:59, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

speedy deletions

Greetings! Yes, there's a couple ways to handle those kind of articles. Usually tagging them with a speedy deletion tag {{db|reason it should be deleted}} is sufficient, and whichever admin happens to be doing newpages patrol will eradicate it. (It's wise to put it on your watchlist in case the poster either removes the tag or recreates the article after it has been deleted.) If it's a borderline case --i.e. vanity article that actually makes an assertion, however disputable, about notability -- it's best to put it on AFD. To my eye the Subway Posse article is speediable, so buh-bye, it's gone. Thanks! Antandrus (talk) 20:32, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

You might be thinking of this Category:Candidates_for_speedy_deletion -- it's the only one I know about. Anything tagged as a speedy automatically shows up there. Cheers! Antandrus (talk) 21:07, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

Rascist edit

Are you, or do you know who is, responsible for this edit? I ask because the IP appears connected to you, SqueakBox 19:32, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

It didn't fit with the other 2 edits from the IP address, which I assume were you. I am not an admin, but I have reported it at the vandalism page. I wouldn't normally bother but this kind of vandalism is particularly nasty, and brings wikipedia into disrepute. See [1]. Cheers, SqueakBox 20:36, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

Battle of Devil's Hole Road

Great work on Battle of Devil's Hole Road. Keep up the good work! --Kevin Myers | (complaint dept.) 06:05, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

• Thank you. I certainly appreciate your compliments. MadMax 22:57, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Frank Salemme

In reply to your message: I rewrote the article at the temp page Frank_Salemme/Temp. This should be free of all copyvios, I checked it pretty carefully. -Lanoitarus _^(talk) .:. 06:57, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

• Thanks, I greatly apprecite the help. Great job on the rewrite by the way. :) MadMax 20:46, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

88 Fingers Louie

hi, i've just seen that my article has been reported by possible copyright violation. If you check their website, you will se that the copywright of the article (and of all articles in the website) are protected until 2004. we are nearly 2006, so the copywright is no longer valid (i think i made my self clear, im brazilian and im not a native english speaker) --Dirke 22:35, 28 December 2006

• Dirke,

Could you list that in the discussion page ? If you add a pre existing article to Wikipedia you should state the use of the article is authorized by the author either in the discussion page and/or on the article as <!-- message --> . MadMax 05:56, 28 December 2005 (UTC)