Mob Candy
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| Mob Candy | |
|---|---|
First issue, July 2007 |
|
| Editor | Tyrone Christopher |
| Categories | Men's magazines |
| Frequency | |
| Year founded | 2007 |
| First issue | July 2007 |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | http://mobcandymag.com/ |
Mob Candy is an American magazine purportedly celebrating the Mafia lifestyle, including mafia "news", contract killing, robbery, cocktails, cars, cigars, men's fashions, women, and issues affecting the Italian American community (primarily in the context of law-enforcement).[1] The magazine is subtitled "The Underworld Magazine of Mafia Politics, Pleasures and Power". Its target demographic is males aged 18 to 35 years.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Publication history
The idea for the magazine came from a chance meeting in a Manhattan sushi bar between Tyrone Christopher, an African American from Milwaukee with a background in graphic design, and Frank DiMatteo, an Italian American from Red Hook, Brooklyn, and former magazine publisher and distributor of Screw magazine. The two developed the idea of a glossy magazine about Italian American Mafia culture. The name of the magazine comes from a line of mafia-inspired clothing owned by Christopher.[2][1]
DiMatteo himself claims to have been brought up "in the life", and has been quoted as saying, "When I was a young guy I ran around with some people known to have a lot of contacts, let's put it that way."[3]
Danielle DiPietro, who appeared in season 9 of the MTV documentary series True Life, in the episode titled "I'm a Staten Island Girl", is the magazine's vice president of advertising and sales, and is also featured as a model in the first issue.
Crime author and reputed former mobster Sonny Girard has been enlisted as one of the magazine's regular writers. He was also a consultant on such mob-related media as the film Mickey Blue Eyes. [4]
[edit] Editorial direction
Editor-in-chief Tyrone Christopher has said that the magazine will feature talks with "legendary mafia" in prison about pop culture topics such as "what they think about Paris Hilton, hip-hop, government, Obama, a woman president."[2] The magazine has been called the "Maxim for wiseguys".[1] Christopher himself has described his editorial philosophy on the magazine as "if The Rat Pack were a magazine, that magazine would be Mob Candy."[5]
[edit] Criticism
Even before the publication of its first issue, the magazine was a target for criticism, largely from the Italian American community, some of whom felt the magazine stereotyped Italian American culture (cf. critical reception of the Sopranos). Still others felt that the magazine's "Staten Island flavor" gave the New York borough a bad name.[1]
Some also felt the magazine glorified criminality.[6] The first issue featured a fold-out poster of John Gotti, a profile of crime boss Carlo Gambino, and a feature called "50 Years of Rats", criticizing mob informers such as Joe Valachi and "Sammy the Bull" Gravano.[3]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Spencer, Peter. (2007). "New magazine highlights gangster lifestyle". Staten Island Advance. Retrieved July 8, 2007
- ^ a b c Heifetz, Laurie. (2007). "Mob Mag Makes Move on Newstands". Radar Online. Retrieved July 10, 2007.
- ^ a b Dominguez, Robert (2007). "Subscribing to 'the life' magazine". New York Daily News. Retrieved July 8, 2007.
- ^ Christophers, Nick. (2007). "New York Author/Goodfella Penning His Way". Retrieved July 8, 2007.
- ^ "Mobsters at the Maidstone: The Hood Heads East". The Beach.
- ^ Fox News. "Magazine About the Mob Debuts". Fox 5 New York. Retrieved July 8, 2007.
