Used to live there when as a kid. Not too far from there now. Still know people there- old friends
Some of those gamblers were around,and a lot of guys my age shared stories.Never knew which were fact or which were just tales
Some of the old timers told stories and we never knew which of those were true,false,or exagerated
But the Internet and sites like your own site and this site, public records,etc have provided tools to verify or dispel those stories
The amazing thing is that most of these stories were not only true but they were more sensational that the way we'd first heard them
They'd say stories in a matter of fact way. Then you find out that those stories were splashed all obver the news and newspaper headlines back in those days.
Your work own body of work and findings have verified a lot of those stories that were t told in CNY ,as well as agreement in many cases of my ideas of the actual structure,leadership ,diversity,etc of the mob there .And your research and theories are very much appreciated.Outside of those covering Buffalo, probably nobody has even come close to giving that history of Upstate NY the way you have