Why did Marvel comics refer to the Mafia as the Maggia?

[dan bailey]

Or worse, assign inkers.

MDG

Hmmm. "Vinnie Colletta" does sound sort of like the name of someone would could've been tight with the, um, Maggia.

[Joe S. Walker]

Hmmm. "Vinnie Colletta" does sound sort of like the name of someone would could've been tight with the, um, Maggia.

Rumour - possibly scurrilous - has it that he was, and did prison time in the Fifties for procuring women for the Mob.

[benday-dot]

Rumour - possibly scurrilous - has it that he was, and did prison time in the Fifties for procuring women for the Mob.

Wow... so Stan could have added a new sobriquet to the bullpen... and this issue of the Mighty Thor inked by Vince "the pimp" Colletta. Somebody's got to get it to the bottom of that rumour. I think I'll submit it to CBR's own Comic Book Urban Legends feature.

[Mike Kuypers]

Rumour - possibly scurrilous - has it that he was, and did prison time in the Fifties for procuring women for the Mob.

It's hard out there for an inker.

[Kirk G]

When was the term Maggia used in a Marvel book? What title was it?

I don't recall this word, but if I saw it in a Marvel book I probably wouldn't have known what they were talking about.

This showed up in the later Tales of Suspense Iron Man series that featured "The Big M" that made off with a frozen Iron Man when Jasper Sitwelll was assigned to guard Tony Stark and his plant.

Also, it appeared in Fantastic Four #101, as the FF were made off with by Maggie costumed hench men. This marked one of the last three issues drawn by Jack Kirby.

As A kid, I had no problem recognising that Maggia was just Maffia mis-spelled. But I'd love to hear from Roy Thomas or other bullpen staffer (Stan Lee??) about the usage, if they dare break the code of silence and rat out their fellow brothers...

[Kirk G]

I suspect the organized crime, besides dominating the distribution of books and newsstand printed material, could arrange for entire shipments of books to vanish... or for certain companies to not have their books ship on time.

There was a well-reported scam for years to simply rip off the titles of comics, return those banners for credit, and then bag the remaining pages and sell them in bulk for a cheaper price. In my home town, it was known that you could occassionally find a copy of a more rare book, months or years after it was printed, at a local small family grocery store. That's how I got my copy of Avengers #19 "The Swordsman" without a title for 10cents. It is still in my collection, in NM condition, except for that razorblazed title and part of the spash page. Since then, I have snagged a complete copy in Good minus for a LOT MORE MONEY!

I suspect this form of organized crime brought them or the practice to the attention of the feds, and that's why they got out of the magazine distribution business.... no longer profitable indeed!