Nicholas Gage

Nicholas Gage (born on July 23, 1939, née: Gatzoyiannis) born in Epiros, Greece, and migrated to the U.S. in 1948. And in his own words:

" Gage then attended Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism and went on to work for the Associated Press, the Boston Herald Traveler, the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He made a name for himself as an investigative reporter who specialized in reporting on the Mafia and organized crime, and he wrote and edited several books on the subject in addition to his newspaper work."

Gage also wrote a historiographical novel, Eleni, which is supposedly a biographical account of Gage's mother. Nikos Raptis' critical account of the book can be found here.

Nikos Raptis, in his critical essay on Eleni, provides some background on Gage:

In May 1976, seven years before the publication of Eleni, Vasilis Kavathas interviewed Nicholas Gage for his newspaper, Ta Nea. Excerpts of the interview were reprinted in The Other Eleni (pp. 80–81):

How is it that you have dealings with the people of the underworld and the CIA?
NG: In the beginning, they came to me because they had confidence in my work (sic). I explained to them how I worked and what I was interested to know. Of course, I always doublechecked what I heard. (!) When I had put out some strong pieces, more people came to me. In a five year stretch I had the best sources in New York. I am in a position to know what is going on every moment in the megalopolis…
Do you have transactions with the CIA?
NG: No, but I know its power…

Kavathas ends with this comment:

But when I lived in America and Canada, Gage was known as the reporter of the CIA and the Mafia. That is how I knew him and that is why I interviewed him.

External resources

• Nikos Raptis, " 'Eleni': The Work of a 'Professional Liar' ", Covert Action Information Bulletin, Winter 1986, No. 25, pp. 41–48.