Deep Water: Joseph P. Macheca and the Birth of the American Mafia
Thomas Hunt publishes Informer, a quarterly journal on the history of crime and law enforcement (informer-journal.blogspot.com). He also publishes the American Mafia history website (www.onewal.com), the MobNews current events blog (mob-news.blogspot.com), and a Deep Water blog (jpmacheca.blogspot.com). He contributed to the Australian-published reference book, Mafia: The Necessary Reference to Organized Crime (Millennium House, 2009). Several of his articles were published in the On the Spot crime history journal. He served as Managing Editor of the Putnam County (NY) Courier, the Bethel (CT) Beacon and the Pawling (NY) News-Chronicle; Assistant Editor of the New Milford (CT) Times and of Aviation Digest magazine; and Publisher and Editor of the Danbury (CT) Weekly Tribune. He holds a bachelor's degree in history and journalism. Born in the Bronx, NY, he lives with his wife and their three children in New Milford, CT. Martha Macheca Sheldon, descendant of the Macheca line, is an authority on her family history. Discovering and telling J.P.'s life story has been her obsession since first learning "the family secret" over a decade ago. She has assembled a network of Machecas determined to unearth long-buried family truths. Graduating as a daughter of the Sacred Heart, she majored in the Arts at Washington University. There she met her late husband, Stephen, a cartoonist and painter. They lived for a time in Los Angeles, where they produced television commercials for Gardner Advertising. In between commercials, Sheldon worked for an interior design company. She volunteered at a major hospital, serving as Director of Public Relations and Director of Volunteer Patient Representatives on the auxiliary board. She helped create the guidelines and job description for the Patient Advocacy Representative Program. Sheldon was also a member of the hospital's Risk Management Board. She lives with her daughter in St. Louis, Missouri.