Mafia Maps is a new application for the iPhone users, documenting real crimes committed throughout New York over a 70 year period.
From Murder Incorporated raising hell in East New York to Crazy Joe Gallo knocking heads in Red Hook to John Gotti gracing the cover of Time magazine, the decades covered here represent organized crime in its prime; bold, cold, cruel and calculating. Rather than broad history, however, Mafia Maps zooms in on specific events and exact locations.
Included in the application are Gambino, Bonanno, Genovese, Colombo and Lucchese organizations as well as the Westies in Hell’s Kitchen, Murder, Inc. in Brownsville and a host of criminal outliers. Moreover, you can read about labor racketeering czar Louis Lepke, arch jewel thief Bobby Comfort, the infamous Jimmy “The Gent” Burke and his Robert’s Lounge Gang and the elusive bank robber Willie Sutton. Then there’s the story of federal agent Joe Pistone working undercover as gangster Donnie Brasco and the dastardly “Mafia Cops” Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa working undercover as New York City detectives.
Of course, the location is also part of the story and you can see where each crime has occurred on a map. I would also like to see some augmented reality included in the picture too, but I guess that’s waiting future updates to the app…
Mafia Maps ($4.99) [iTunes link]