Gangsters: The ‘Ndrangheta

The ‘Ndrangheta is a criminal organization in Italy, centered in Calabria (near Sicily).

Despite not being as famous abroad as the Sicilian Cosa Nostra (or Mafia), the ‘Ndrangheta managed to become the most powerful crime syndicate of Italy in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

A US diplomat has estimated that the organization’s drug trafficking, extortion and money-laundering activities account for at least 3 percent of Italy’s GDP.

Since the 1950s, the organization has spread towards the north of Italy, and worldwide.

Hollywood has yet to jump on the ‘Ndrangheta bandwagon, so we’ll look to the BBC to provide us with some insight.

Video comes courtesy of YouTube:

And here’s some history, to complete the picture:

Origins

In 1861 the prefect of the province of Reggio Calabria noted the presence of so-called camorristi – a term used at the time since there was no formal name for the gangster phenomenon in Calabria (The Camorra was the older and better known criminal organization in Naples).

Since the 1880s, there is evidence of ‘Ndrangheta-type groups in police reports and sentences by local courts. At the time they were often referred to as the picciotteria, onorata società (honored society), Camorra, and Mafia.

These secret societies were organized hierarchically with a code of conduct that included omertà (the code of silence), according to a sentence from the court in Reggio Calabria in 1890.

An 1897 sentence from a court in Palmi mentioned a written code of rules found in the village of Seminara, based on honor, secrecy, violence, solidarity (often based on blood relationships), and mutual assistance.

The Name

The Calabrian word ‘Ndrangheta derives from the Greek “andragathía” for “heroism” and “virtue” or “andragathos”, a blend of “andròs” (“man”) and “agathòs” (“good”), meaning “a courageous man”.

In many areas of Calabria the verb ‘ndranghitiari, from the Greek “andragatizomai”, means “to engage in a defiant and valiant attitude”.

The first time the word ‘Ndrangheta was mentioned before a wider audience was by the Calabrian writer Corrado Alvaro in the Corriere della Sera, in September 1955.

The ‘Ndrangheta Wars

Until 1975, the ‘Ndrangheta restricted their Italian operations to Calabria, mainly involved in extortion and blackmailing. Then a gang war started, resulting in the deaths of 300 people.

The prevailing faction began to kidnap rich people from northern Italy for ransom. It is believed that John Paul Getty III was one of their victims.

The Second ‘Ndrangheta War raged from 1985 to 1991.

The bloody six-year conflict between the Condello-Imerti-Serraino-Rosmini clans and the De Stefano-Tegano-Libri-Latella clans left more than 600 dead.

Criminal Activities

In the 1990s, the organization started to invest in the illegal international drug trade, mainly importing cocaine from Colombia.

Deputy President of the regional parliament of Calabria, Francesco Fortugno was killed by the ‘Ndrangheta on 16 October 2005 in Locri.

The national government started a large-scale enforcement operation in Calabria and arrested numerous ‘ndranghetisti – including the murderers of Fortugno.

In March 2006, the national anti-Mafia prosecutor announced the discovery of a narco submarine in Colombia, allegedly being constructed on behalf of the ‘Ndrangheta for smuggling cocaine.

The ‘Ndrangheta has recently expanded its activities to Northern Italy, mainly to sell drugs, and to invest in legal businesses which can be used for money laundering. The mayor of Buccinasco was threatened when he tried to halt these investments.

Countermeasures

In May 2007, twenty members of ‘Ndrangheta were arrested in Milan.

On 30 August 2007, hundreds of police raided the town of San Luca, the focal point of the bitter San Luca feud between rival clans among the ‘Ndrangheta. Over 30 men and women, linked to the killing of six Italian men in Germany, were arrested.

On 9 October 2012, following a months-long investigation by the central government, the City Council of Reggio Calabria headed by Mayor Demetrio Arena was dissolved for alleged ties to the group. The move came after unnamed councilors were suspected of having ties to the ‘Ndrangheta under the 10-year center-right rule of the previous Mayor, Giuseppe Scopelliti.

Arena and all 30 city councilors were sacked, to prevent any “Mafia contagion” in the local government.

This was the first time the government of a provincial capital was dismissed.
Three central government-appointed administrators will govern the city for 18 months until new elections.

Political Ties

‘Ndrangheta infiltration of political offices is not limited to Calabria.

On October 10, 2012, the commissioner of Milan’s regional government in charge of public housing, Domenico Zambetti of People of Freedom (PDL), was arrested on accusations he had paid €200,000 to the ‘Ndrangheta in exchange for an election victory, and to extort favors and contracts, including construction tenders for the World Expo 2015 in Milan.

Zambetti’s arrest marked the biggest case of ‘Ndrangheta infiltration so far uncovered in northern Italy, and prompted calls for Lombardy governor Roberto Formigoni to resign.

Success Story

Italian anti-organized crime agencies estimated in 2007 that the ‘Ndrangheta has an annual revenue of about €35–40 billion (US$50–60 billion), which amounts to approximately 3.5% of the GDP of Italy. This comes mostly from illegal drug trafficking, but also from ostensibly legal businesses such as construction, restaurants, and supermarkets.

The ‘Ndrangheta has a strong grip on the economy and governance in Calabria. According to a US Embassy cable released by Wikileaks, Calabria would be a failed state if it were not part of Italy. The ‘Ndrangheta controls huge segments of its territory and economy, and law enforcement is hampered by a lack of both human and financial resources.

The principal difference with the Mafia is in recruitment methods.

The ‘Ndrangheta recruits members on the basis of blood relationships, resulting in an extraordinary cohesion within the family clan that presents a major obstacle to investigation.

Sons of ‘ndranghetisti are expected to follow in their fathers’ footsteps, and go through a grooming process in their youth to become giovani d’onore (boys of honor) before they eventually enter the ranks as uomini d’onore (men of honor).

There are relatively few Calabrian Mafiosi who have opted out to become a pentito (or state’s witness).

At the end of 2002, there were 157 Calabrian witnesses in the state witness protection program.

Unlike the Sicilian Mafia in the early 1990s, they have meticulously avoided a head-on confrontation with the Italian state.

Prosecution in Calabria is also hindered by the fact that Italian judges and prosecutors who score highly in exams get to choose their posting. Those who are forced to work in Calabria will usually request to be transferred right away.

With weak government presence and corrupt officials, few civilians are willing to speak out against the organization.

Regional Spread

Both the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and the ‘Ndrangheta are loose confederations of about one hundred organized groups, also called “cosche” or families, each of which claims sovereignty over a territory (usually a town or village).

There are approximately 100 of these families, totaling between 4,000 and 5,000 members in Reggio Calabria (Other estimates mention 6,000-7,000 men).

Worldwide there may be some 10,000 members.

Most of the groups operate in the Province of Reggio Calabria, although some of the recorded 70 criminal groups based in the Calabrian provinces of Catanzaro and Cosenza also appear to be formally affiliated with the ‘Ndrangheta.

The families are concentrated in poor villages in Calabria such as Platì, Locri, San Luca, Africo, and Altomonte, as well as the main city and provincial capital, Reggio Calabria.

San Luca is considered to be the stronghold of the ‘Ndrangheta.

According to a former ‘ndranghetista, “almost all the male inhabitants belong to the ‘Ndrangheta, and the Sanctuary of Polsi has long been the meeting place of the affiliates.” Bosses from outside Calabria (some from as far as Canada and Australia) regularly attend meetings at the Sanctuary of Polsi.

Organizational Structure

An ‘Ndrangheta crime family is called a locale (place; plural: locali).

A locale may have branches, called ‘ndrina (plural: ‘ndrine), in the districts of the same city, in neighboring towns and villages, or even outside Calabria, in cities and towns in the industrial North of Italy in and around Turin and Milan.

Sometimes sub-units, or sotto ‘ndrine are established. These enjoy a high degree of autonomy; they have a leader and independent staff.

In some respects, the ‘ndrine have become more powerful than the locale on which they formally depend.

Some observers maintain that the ‘ndrina is the basic organizational unit.

Each ‘ndrina is “autonomous on its territory and no formal authority stands above the ” ‘ndrina boss”, according to the Antimafia Commission. The ‘ndrina is usually in control of a small town or a neighborhood. If more than one ‘ndrina operates in the same town, they form a locale.

The ‘ndrine largely consist of men belonging to the same (blood) family lineage.

Salvatore Boemi, Anti-mafia prosecutor in Reggio Calabria, told the Italian Antimafia Commission that “one becomes a member for the simple fact of being born in a Mafia family,” although other reasons might attract a young man to seek membership, and non-kin have also been admitted.

Marriages help cement relations within each ‘ndrina, and to expand membership. As a result, a few blood families constitute each group, and “a high number of people with the same last name often end up being prosecuted for membership of a given ‘ndrina.”

At the bottom of the chain of command are the picciotti d’onore or soldiers, who are expected to perform tasks with blind obedience until they are promoted to the next level of cammorista, where they will be granted command over their own group of soldiers.

The next level is known as santista, and higher still is the vangelista, at which point the up-and-coming gangster has to swear their dedication to a life of crime on the Bible.

The quintino is the second highest level of command in a ‘Ndrangheta clan, being made up of five privileged members of the crime family who report directly to the boss, or capobastone (head of command).

Coordination

At least since the end of the 19th century, stable mechanisms for coordination and dispute settlement have existed. Contacts and meetings among the bosses of the locali were frequent.

In the ‘Ndrangheta an overall coordinating body was created only in 1991, as the result of negotiations to end years of inter family violence.

At least since the 1950s, the chiefs of the ‘Ndrangheta locali have met regularly near the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Polsi in the municipality of San Luca during the September Feast. These annual meetings, known as the crimine, have traditionally served as a forum to discuss future strategies and settle disputes among the locali.

The assembly exercises weak supervisory powers over the activities of all ‘Ndrangheta groups. Strong emphasis is placed on the temporary character of the position of the crimine boss; a new representative is elected at each meeting.

Far from being the “boss of the bosses,” the capo crimine has comparatively little authority to interfere in family feuds, or to control the level of interfamily violence.

This said, the historical preeminence of the San Luca family is such that every new group or locale must obtain its authorization to operate, and every group belonging to the ‘Ndrangheta “still has to deposit a small percentage of illicit proceeds to the principale of San Luca in recognition of the latter’s primordial supremacy.”

La Santa

Security concerns have led to the creation in the ‘Ndrangheta of a secret society within the secret society: La Santa.

Membership in the Santa is known only to other members. La Santa allows bosses to establish close connections with state representatives – even to the extent that some are allegedly affiliated with the Santa.

La Provincia: The Commission

Since the end of the Second ‘Ndrangheta war in 1991, the ‘Ndrangheta is ruled by a collegial body or Commission, known as La Provincia. Its primary function is the settlement of inter-family disputes.

The body (also referred to as the Commission, like its Sicilian counterpart), is composed of three lower bodies, known as mandamenti: one for the clans on the Ionic side (the Aspromonte mountains and Locride) of Calabria, a second for the Tyrrhenian side (the plains of Gioia Tauro) and one central mandamento for the city of Reggio Calabria.

A Global Reach

According to Italian DIA (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia; Department of the Police of Italy against organized crime) and Guardia di Finanza (Italian Financial Police and Customs Police) the “‘Ndrangheta is now one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world.”

Economic activities of ‘Ndrangheta include international cocaine and weapons smuggling, with Italian investigators estimating that 80% of Europe’s cocaine passes through the Calabrian port of Gioia Tauro and is controlled by the ‘Ndrangheta.

‘Ndrangeta and Sicilian Cosa Nostra groups sometimes act as joint ventures in cocaine trafficking enterprises.

Further activities include skimming money off large public work construction projects, money laundering, and traditional crimes such as usury and extortion. ‘Ndrangheta invests illegal profits in legal real estate and financial ventures.

Outside Italy, the ‘Ndrangheta has had a remarkable ability to establish branches abroad, mainly through migration.

‘Ndrine are reported to be operating in northern Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Eastern Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia.

In November 2006, a cocaine trafficking network was dismantled that operated in Argentina, Spain and Italy. The Argentinean police said the ‘Ndrangheta had roots in the country and shipped cocaine through Spain to Milan and Turin.

Known by the name “The Honored Society”, the ‘Ndrangheta controlled Italian-Australian organized crime all along the East Coast of Australia since the early 20th century. ‘Ndrangheta operating in Australia include the Sergi, Barbaro and Papalia clans.

In Belgium, ‘Ndrangheta clans purchased almost “an entire neighborhood” in Brussels with laundered money originating from drug trafficking. On 5 March 2004, 47 people were arrested, accused of drug trafficking and money laundering to purchase real estate in Brussels for some 28 million euros.

The activities extended to the Netherlands, where large quantities of heroin and cocaine had been purchased by the Pesce-Bellocco clan from Rosarno and the Strangio clan from San Luca.

In Canada, the ‘Ndrangheta is believed to be involved in the smuggling of unlicensed tobacco products through ties with criminal elements in cross-border Native American tribes.

A Canadian branch labelled the Siderno Group – because its members primarily came from the Ionian coastal town of Siderno in Calabria – has been based in Canada at least since the 1950s. Siderno is also home to one of the ‘Ndrangheta’s biggest and most important clans, heavily involved in the global cocaine business and money laundering.

According to a study by the German foreign intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), ‘Ndrangheta groups are using Germany to invest cash from drugs and weapons smuggling. Profits are invested in hotels, restaurants and houses, especially along the Baltic coast and in the eastern German states of Thuringia and Saxony. Investigators believe that the Mafia’s bases in Germany are used primarily for clandestine financial transactions.

The earliest evidence of ‘Ndrangheta activity in the U.S. points to an intimidation scheme run by the syndicate in Pennsylvania mining towns; this scheme was unearthed in 1906.

Current ‘Ndrangheta activities in America mainly involve drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and money laundering. It is known that the ‘Ndrangheta branches in North America have been associating with Italian-American organized crime.

The Suraci family from Reggio Calabria has moved some of its operations to the U.S. The family was founded by Giuseppe Suraci who has been in the United States since 1962. His younger cousin, D’Marconi, runs the family in Calabria.

So. A global reach.

Sadly, we’ve reached the end of this story.

Hope to see you again.

Till then.

Peace.

Gangsters: Carlo Gambino

Carlo Gambino (August 24, 1902 – October 15, 1976) was a Sicilian mobster, notable for being Boss of the Gambino crime family, which is still named after him.

After the 1957 Apalachin Convention he unexpectedly seized control of the Commission of the American Mafia.

He lived to the age of 74, and died of a heart attack in bed, “In a state of grace” (according to a priest who had given him the Last Rites of the Catholic Church), having never spent a day in prison.

In the 1996 TV film “Gotti”, Carlo Gambino is played by Marc Lawrence.

Video comes courtesy of YouTube:

That’s the Hollywood version.

Here’s the history:

Gambino’s Early Life

Carlo Gambino was born in the town of Caccamo, near the city of Palermo, Sicily. He was born to a family that belonged to the Honored Society.

The Honored Society was slightly more complicated than the Black Hand of America, which was often confused with the American Mafia. The Black Hand – much like the pre-1920s Mafia – was a highly disorganized version of the real European Mafia.

When Italian dictator Benito Mussolini chased a large number of real Mafiosi out of Italy, Italian-Americans such as Gambino benefited from the new, better-organized Mafia.

The young Gambino began carrying out murder orders for new Mob bosses in his teens.

In 1921, at the age of 19, he became a “made man” and was inducted into La Cosa Nostra.

Emigration

Gambino entered the United States as an illegal immigrant on a shipping boat. He ate nothing but anchovies and wine during the month long trip, and joined his cousins, the Castellanos, in New York City. There he joined a crime family headed by Salvatore “Totò” D’Aquila – one of the larger crime families in the city. Gambino’s uncle, Giuseppe Castellano, also joined the D’Aquila family around this time.

Gangland Links

Gambino also became involved with the “Young Turks”, a group of Americanized Italian and Jewish mobsters in New York which included Frank “Prime Minister” Costello, Albert “The Executioner” Anastasia, Frank Scalice, Settimo Accardi, Gaetano “Tommy Three-Finger Brown” Lucchese, Joe Adonis, Vito Genovese, Meyer Lansky, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Mickey Cohen, and Charles “Lucky” Luciano.

They all became involved in robbery, thefts, and illegal gambling.

With their new partner, Arnold “The Brain” Rothstein, they turned to bootlegging during Prohibition in the early 1920s.

Gambino also made a sizable profit during World War II, by bribing Office of Price Administration (OPA) officials for ration stamps, which he then sold on the black market.

The Castellammarese War

By 1926, Luciano’s immediate superior, Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria was coming into conflict with Salvatore Maranzano, a recent arrival from Palermo who was born in Castellammare del Golfo.

When Maranzano arrived in New York in 1925, his access to money and manpower led him to become involved in extortion and gambling operations that directly competed with Masseria.

On October 10, 1928, Joe Masseria eliminated D’Aquila, his top rival for the coveted title of “Boss of Bosses” (Capo di Tutti Capi). However, Masseria still had to deal with the powerful and influential Maranzano and his Castellammarese Clan.

Gambino was thrown directly into the line of fire.

Masseria demanded absolute loyalty and obedience from other criminals in his area, and killed anyone who gave him anything less.

In 1930, Masseria demanded a $10,000 tribute from Maranzano’s then boss, Nicola “Cola” Schiro, and supposedly got it. Schiro fled New York in fear, leaving Maranzano as the new leader.

By 1931, a series of killings in New York involving Castellammarese clan members and associates caused Maranzano and his family to declare war against Joe Masseria and his allies.

D’Aquila’s family, now headed by Alfred Mineo, sided with Masseria. In addition to Gambino, other prominent members of this family included Luciano associates Albert “The Mad Executioner” Anastasia, and Frank Scalice.

The Castellammarese clan included Joseph “Joe Bananas” Bonanno and Stefano Magaddino, the Profaci crime family, which included Joseph Profaci and Joseph Magliocco, and former Masseria allies the Riena family, which included Gaetano “Tom” Reina, Gaetano “Tommy” Gagliano, and Gaetano “Tommy Three-Finger Brown” Lucchese.

The War raged on between the Masseria and Maranzano factions for almost four years.

Bad for Business

This inter-gang war devastated the Prohibition-era operations and street rackets that the five New York families controlled in parallel with the Irish and Jewish crime groups. The war cut into their profits, and in some cases completely destroyed the underworld rackets of crime family members.

Several Young Turks on both sides started realizing that if the war did not stop soon, the Italian crime families would be left on the fringe of New York’s criminal underworld, while the Jewish and Irish crime bosses became dominant.

Additionally, they felt that Masseria, Maranzano and other old-school Mafiosi (whom they derisively called “Mustache Petes”) were too greedy to see the riches that could be had by working with non-Italians.

With this in mind, Gambino and the other Young Turks decided to end the Castellammarese War and form a national syndicate.

On April 15, 1931, Masseria was gunned down at Nuova Villa Tammaro restaurant in Coney Island by Luciano associates Anastasia, Adonis, Genovese, and Siegel. Maranzano then named himself capo di tutti capi (boss of bosses).

In the major reorganization of the New York Mafia that followed, Vincent Mangano took over the Mineo family, with Anastasia as his underboss and Gambino as a capo. They kept these posts after Maranzano was fatally stabbed and shot on September 10, 1931.

The Commission

In 1931, Luciano created The Commission, which was supposed to avoid big conflicts like the Castellammarese War. The charter members were Luciano, Joe Bonanno, Joe Profaci, Tommy Gagliano and Mangano.

Gambino married his first cousin, Catherine Castellano, in 1932, at age 30. They raised three sons and a daughter.

Gambino became a major earner in the Mangano family. His activities included loansharking, illegal gambling and extorting protection money from area merchants.

Despite this, Gambino lived in a modest, well-kept row house in Brooklyn. The only real evidence of vanity was the license plate on his Buick, CG1.

The Manganos

Mangano was displeased with Anastasia’s friendship with Luciano and Frank Costello, especially since they frequently used Anastasia’s services without Mangano’s permission.

Anastasia had been, since the 1930s, the operating head (“Lord High Executioner”) of the syndicate’s most notorious death squad, Murder, Inc., which was allegedly responsible for some 1,000 murders.

Mangano and his brother, Phil, supposedly confronted Anastasia several times, in front of Gambino. Eventually, Anastasia stopped asking permission for “every little thing” – further angering the Manganos.

On April 19, 1951, Philip Mangano was found murdered.

Vincent Mangano himself vanished the very same day, and was never found.

It is widely presumed that Anastasia killed them both.

Though Anastasia never admitted to having a hand in the killings, he managed to convince the heads of the other families that Vincent Mangano had been plotting to have him killed – a claim backed up by Frank Costello, the acting boss of the Luciano crime family.

Anastasia was named the new boss of the family, with Gambino as his underboss. Shortly afterward, Gambino’s cousin and brother-in-law, Paul “Big Paul” Castellano (Giuseppe’s son), took over as capo of Gambino’s old crew.

Gambino was now one of the most powerful mobsters in the business, making profits from extortion, illegal gambling, hijacking, bootlegging, and murder.

Anastasia…

Anastasia’s violent ways could be contained so long as Luciano and Frank Costello acted as a moderating influence, but certain mobsters (most notably Vito Genovese) doubted whether this could go on, forever.

These doubts resurfaced in 1952, when Anastasia ordered the murder of a young Brooklyn tailor’s assistant named Arnold Schuster, after watching Schuster speaking on television about his role as primary witness in fugitive bank robber Willie Sutton’s arrest.

In killing Schuster, Anastasia had violated a cardinal Mafia rule against killing outsiders.

As Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel once quaintly put it, “We only kill each other.”

The murder brought unnecessary public scrutiny of Mafia business.

Luciano and Costello were horrified, but could not take action against Anastasia, since Genovese was angling to take over the Luciano family as well – and they needed Anastasia to counter Genovese’s growing ambition and power.

Genovese knew this as well, and in early 1957 convinced Gambino to side with him against Anastasia, Costello and Luciano.

On Genovese’s advice, Gambino told Anastasia that they were not making enough money from the casinos in Cuba, which belonged to Meyer Lansky.

When Anastasia confronted Lansky, he was furious, and seemingly threw his support to the Genovese-Gambino alliance.

Shortly thereafter, Genovese moved against Costello by hiring Vincent “Chin” Gigante to assassinate him. The attempt failed, but it frightened Costello enough to ask the Commission for permission to retire – which they granted.

Genovese…

Genovese took over the family, and renamed it the Genovese crime family.

With Costello out of the way, Genovese then moved against Anastasia.

At the time, Gambino was worried that Anastasia was jealous of his wealth and influence, and would have him killed.

Gambino

Gambino was convinced by Genovese to lend his support, giving the order to “Joe the Blonde” Biondo.

Biondo selected Stephen Armone, Arnold “Witty” Wittenberg, and Stephen “Stevie Coogin” Grammauta to carry out the hit. They allegedly shot Anastasia on October 25, 1957, in the barbershop of the Park Sheraton Hotel (now the Park Central Hotel) in New York City.

Gambino became the new boss of the Mangano crime family – which was renamed the Gambino crime family.

Apalachin: Genovese’s Fall

Genovese believed that with Costello and Anastasia out of the way, and Gambino supposedly in his debt, the way was clear for him to become Boss of Bosses.

However, Gambino had his own ideas. He secretly allied himself with Luciano, Costello and Lansky.

The alliance gained further strength after the Apalachin Conference, which was supposedly set up to formally crown Genovese as Boss of Bosses, but ended in disaster with several prominent Mafiosi being arrested.

Soon afterward, Costello, Luciano, and Lansky met face to face in Italy.

In 1959, Genovese was heading to Atlanta where a huge shipment of heroin was arriving. But when he got there, Genovese was surprised by local police, the FBI and the ATF. He was convicted for selling a large quantity of heroin and was sentenced to 15 years in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Genovese would later die in prison of a heart attack, in 1969.

Boss of Bosses

From the early 1960s, Gambino expanded his rackets all over the country.

New Gambino businesses were created in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, San Francisco, and Las Vegas. Gambino also (to regain complete control of Manhattan) took over the New York Longshoremen Union, where more than 90% of all New York City’s ports were controlled.

Money rolled in from every source, and the Gambinos became America’s most powerful crime family.

Gambino also made his own family policy: “Deal and Die.”

This was Gambino’s message to every Gambino family member.

Heroin and cocaine were highly lucrative, but dangerous – and would also attract attention. The punishment for dealing drugs, in Gambino style, was death.

The Gambino family now had at least 500 (some sources say 700 or 800) soldiers within 30 crews, making the family a $500,000,000-a-year-enterprise.

In 1962, Carlo’s eldest son Thomas Gambino married the daughter of fellow mob boss Gaetano Lucchese, the new head of the Gagliano crime family. More than 1,000 people, relatives, friends, and “friends of ours”, (amico nostro) were present during the wedding ceremony.

It has been rumored that Gambino personally gave Lucchese $30,000 as a “welcome gift” that same day.

As repayment, Lucchese cut his friend into the airport rackets that were under Lucchese control – especially at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where all unions, management, and security were controlled by Lucchese himself.

After Joe Bonanno was forced into retirement by The Commission, Vito Genovese died of a heart attack, and Tommy Lucchese died of a brain tumor, Gambino’s status and power on The Commission greatly increased.

While the Mafia had abolished the title of “boss of bosses”, Gambino’s position afforded him the powers such a title would have carried, as he was now the boss of the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful crime family in the country, and head of The Commission – a position only Luciano had held before Gambino.

Profaci and the Gallos

In February 1962, the Gallo brothers kidnapped a number of prominent members of the Profaci family, including underboss Joseph Magliocco and capo Joe Colombo.

In return for their release, the brothers demanded changes in the way profits were being divided up, and at first Profaci appeared to agree. But he was simply biding his time.

Gallo crew member Joseph “Joe Jelly” Gioelli was murdered by Profaci’s men in September, and an attempt on Larry Gallo’s life was interrupted by policemen in a Brooklyn bar.

In response, the brothers set about attacking Profaci’s men wherever they saw them, as all-out war erupted between the two factions. Meanwhile, Gambino and Lucchese were putting pressure on the other bosses to convince Profaci to step down from his title and family, but on June 6, 1962, Profaci lost his battle against cancer.

He was replaced as boss of the family by Joseph Magliocco.

Conspiracy Against The Commission

With the Gallos out of the way, Joe Bonanno now hatched a plot to murder the heads of the other three families, which Magliocco decided to go along with.

The assassinations came to the knowledge of Profaci capo, Joseph Colombo, who warned Gambino about Magliocco and Bonanno’s conspiracy against the Commission.

Bonanno and Magliocco were called to face judgement.

While Bonanno went into hiding, Magliocco faced up to his crimes. Understanding that he had been following Bonanno’s lead, he was let off with a $50,000 fine, and forced to retire as the head of the family, being replaced by Joseph Colombo.

One month later, Magliocco died of high blood pressure.

But Gambino had other plans for Bonanno.

The Banana War (1962-1967)

After Magliocco’s death, Bonanno had few allies left.

Many members felt that he was too power hungry. Some members of his family also thought he spent too much time away from New York, and more in Canada and Tucson, where he had business interests.

The Commission members decided that he no longer deserved leadership over his family, and replaced him with a caporegime, Gaspar DiGregorio.

Bonanno, however, would not accept this result.

He broke the family into two groups, the one led by DiGregorio, and the other headed by Bonanno and his son, Salvatore “Bill” Bonanno. Newspapers referred to it as “The Banana Split.”

Since Bonanno refused to give up his position, the other Commission members felt it was time for drastic action.

In October 1964, Bonanno was kidnapped by Buffalo crime family members, Peter and Antonino Magaddino. According to Bonanno, he was held captive in upstate New York by his cousin, Stefano “Steve the Undertaker” Magaddino, who supposedly represented the Commission and Gambino.

After much talk, Bonanno was released, and the Commission members believed he would retire and relinquish his power.

Not so. The war went on for another two years.

Bonanno loyalists were starting to sense victory, but when Bonanno suffered a heart attack, he decided that he and his son should retire to Tucson, leaving his broken family to another capo, Paul Sciacca (who had replaced DiGregorio).

Gambino now stood as the victorious and most powerful mob boss in the U.S.

Vegas, and Sinatra

Gambino was seen at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas on August 2, 1967, where he is supposed to have met Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop, the group known as “The Rat Pack.”

Gambino allegedly gave each of them $10,000 after performing at the Desert Inn, while Gambino was present in the VIP-lounge.

Gambino also allegedly said to Castellano: “I want a picture of me and Frankie”. Sinatra of course, happily obliged and Gambino, Castellano and other mobsters got a picture with Sinatra in the middle.

Sinatra would later testify about this in court, but announced that he didn’t know any Carlo Gambino. However, it got to a point where he had to explain why he was attending the Havana Conference in Cuba in 1946, showing up with $2,000,000 in a silver suitcase and a picture that showed Sinatra, Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Albert “The Executioner” Anastasia, and Carlo Gambino having a drink by a pool.

The Colombo Assassination

It has been suggested that Gambino organized the shooting of Joe Colombo, head of the Colombo crime family, on June 28, 1971. Colombo survived the shooting, but remained in a coma until his death in 1977.

The other allegation is that Profaci family rival Gallo organized the attack himself. It seems that the rest of the Colombo family believed the latter theory, as Gallo was gunned down, not long after.

Many powerful members of The Commission were angry with Joe Columbo for having founded the Italian-American Civil Rights League, and glorying in publicity. Gambino in particular hated publicity, preferring to work in the shadows, and was said to have been quite upset with Columbo about this.

Gallo had recently been in prison, where he had formed close associations with black prisoners who could serve as muscle – a fact that was well known to Gambino. Colombo was shot at a CIAO (Congress of Italo-America Organizations; an umbrella organization that included Colombo’s Italian-American Civil Rights League) rally by a black man who was almost instantly shot and killed.

If Gambino was responsible, it was a master stroke. He was rid of a publicity seeking thorn in his side, and had got the Colombo family to eliminate Gallo, whose propensity for disruptive violence also displeased the Don.

Watchful Eyes

From December 1972, on Ocean Parkway, a van was stationed outside Gambino’s home. In that vehicle sat the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Mob squad, with cameras, lip-readers, and audio-surveillance equipment, including microphones and wire-taps that were planted in Gambino’s home. The van was marked “Organized Crime Control Bureau.”

But even though Gambino had every corner of his house bugged, he knew how to maintain discretion.

According to FBI officials, they once recorded a meeting between Gambino, Aniello “Mr. Neil” Dellacroce and Joseph Biondo, where Biondo is alleged to have said: “Frog legs”, to which Gambino simply nodded. Meeting over; business concluded. The recording tapes came out empty.

Reorganizing

In the mid 1970s, Gambino, now diagnosed with a weak heart, decided there were to be two underbosses who both reported to him: Aniello Dellacroce, and Gambino’s own brother-in-law, Paul “Big Paul” Castellano.

Castellano took over the white-collar crimes in Brooklyn like union racketeering, solid and toxic waste, recycling, construction, fraud, and wire fraud, while Dellacroce would have free rein over those who carried out more traditional, ‘hands-on’ Mafia activities and blue-collar crimes, such as murder for hire, loansharking, gambling, extortion, hijacking, pier thefts, fencing, and robbery.

This strategic restructuring also created confusion in the FBI as to who the official underboss in the family was. In reality, the Gambino family was split into two separate factions, with two underbosses and one Don.

In his final years, Gambino chose his cousin and capo, Paul Castellano as his successor after his departure.

The Death of Carlo Gambino

Gambino died of a heart attack on October 15, 1976, while watching his beloved New York Yankees at his home.

He was buried in Saint John’s Cemetery, Queens, in New York City, as was Charles “Lucky” Luciano, and more than ten other lifetime friends. His funeral was said to have been attended by at least 2,000 people, including police officers, judges and politicians.

Gambino left behind sons Thomas, Joseph and Carlo, daughter Phyllis Sinatra, and a crime family with a contingent of 500 soldiers.

Quite the legacy.

I’ll leave you, with this.

Till next time.

Peace.

Gangsters: Jack Dragna

Jack Ignatius Dragna (April 18, 1891 – February 23, 1956) was an American Mafia boss and member of The Black Hand, who was active in both Italy and the United States. He was engaged in bootlegging in California during the Prohibition Era.

In 1931, he succeeded Joseph Ardizzone as the Boss of the Los Angeles crime family after Ardizzone’s mysterious disappearance in 1931.

Both James Ragen and Earl Warren dubbed Dragna the “Capone of Los Angeles”.

In the 1991 film “Bugsy”, which dramatized the life of Bugsy Siegel, Dragna was played by Richard C. Sarafian.

Video comes courtesy of YouTube:

That’s Hollywood.

Here’s some history:

Dragna’s Early Life

Dragna was born Ignazio Dragna to Francesco Paolo Dragna and Anna Dragna in Corleone, Sicily, on April 18, 1891.

On November 18, 1898, Dragna came to America on the S.S. Alsatia with his mother, older sister Giuseppa, and elder brother Gaetano. They stayed in Brooklyn with Antonio Rizzotti’s family – also from Corleone. It is not known exactly when Dragna’s father arrived in the United States.

Dragna stayed in New York for ten years before returning to Sicily. As a young man, he joined the Italian Army, and later the Sicilian Mafia.

In 1914, Dragna returned to America.

He appears to have had a relationship with Gaetano Reina, who eventually would lead his own crime family in Manhattan and the Bronx. That same year, Dragna was a suspect in the murder of Jewish poultry dealer Barnet Baff.

After the killing, Dragna fled to California, and assumed the name Charles Dragna.

Dragna was extradited to New York, but never went on trial.

In 1915, Dragna was arrested for Black Hand extortion of a Long Beach man, and served three years in prison. At the time of his extortion arrest, Dragna was using the alias Ignazio Rizzoto.

Prohibition

During the Prohibition Era, Dragna and his brother Gaetano (now named Tom) ran extortion and illegal liquor distillation operations.

Ignazio Dragna now became Jack Ignatius Dragna.

In 1922, Dragna married Francesca Rizzotto.

After a brief prison stint, he worked closely with Joseph Ardizzone, a prominent mobster in Los Angeles.

Mafia Don

In 1931, Dragna succeeded Joseph Ardizzone as boss of the Los Angeles crime family. It was rumored that Dragna participated in Ardizzone’s disappearance / death.

His brother Tom became his consigliere, or chief counsel.

Jack also had several more distant relatives working in the crime family, but aside from his brother, his nephew Louis Tom Dragna (Tom’s son) was the only other close relation heavily involved in the business.

As boss, Dragna’s chief source of income came from extorting local bookmakers for “protection” money – although he was also the main illegal gambling operator in the city.

Other businesses including running gambling ships, a heroin smuggling operation, and collecting extortion money.

His close supporters included Girolamo “Momo” Adamo and John Roselli.

Roselli had been a member of the Chicago Outfit, but left for California to work with Dragna in gambling.
In the 1950s, Roselli left California and became the Mafia’s main representative in Las Vegas.

Anthony Cornero – an old bootlegging associate of Dragna’s – ran gambling ships off the coast of California.

Tommy Lucchese, of the Lucchese crime family, was Dragna’s main contact in New York.

Dragna also controlled unions in the laundromat business, and dress importing companies.

Siegel and Cohen

As boss, Dragna often had to do business with representatives from the more powerful Cosa Nostra families in New York.

When Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel (an associate of the New York Luciano crime family) relocated to the West Coast during the late 1930s, he started his own rackets, and formed an uneasy relationship with Dragna.

Siegel brought in much more income for the Los Angeles family and generated a great deal of respect, which Dragna resented. Although many sources speak of a rivalry between them, Dragna and Siegel managed to work closely together, especially at organizing a racing wire service on the West Coast.

In June 1947, the East Coast crime families murdered Siegel in Los Angeles, due to his failure to properly manage the new Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.

Mickey Cohen – who had been serving as Siegel’s bodyguard – immediately took over Siegel’s rackets, and refused to accept Dragna’s authority.

Dragna ordered several murder attempts on Cohen, but he managed to survive them all.

The Heat Rises

On February 14, 1950, the California Commission on Organized Crime singled out Dragna as the head of a crime syndicate that controlled crime in Southern California.

Soon after, several Los Angeles family members were arrested for the bombing of Mickey Cohen’s home.

Dragna fled the state to avoid questioning. He later surrendered to authorities, and was questioned in the U.S. Senate Kefauver hearings, but denied all accusations against him.

Cohen was also questioned in the hearings, and as a result was convicted of federal tax evasion and forced to give up control of his rackets to the Los Angeles family.

Deportation Issues

In 1953, the federal government ordered Dragna to be deported to Sicily.

Back in 1932, Dragna had violated immigration law by illegally entering the United States at the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego, after a three day stay in Mexico.

However, at the time of his death, Dragna was still living in California, appealing the deportation order.

The Death of Jack Dragna

On February 23, 1956, Dragna died of a heart attack in Los Angeles.

His body was interred at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California.

Dragna was survived by two children.

His son Frank Paul Dragna was a USC graduate and World War II veteran who lost an eye in the war and was nicknamed “One Eye” to distinguish him from his cousin who had the same name.

Dragna also had a daughter named Anna Rosalia Dragna, who later married and changed her surname to Niotta.

That’s it, for this one.

Hope you’ll be here, for our next tale.

Till then.

Peace.

Gangsters: Lucky Luciano

Charles “Lucky” Luciano (born Salvatore Lucania, November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962), was an Italian-born, naturalized American mobster.

Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States, for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and for the establishment of the first Commission.

He was the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family.

He was, along with his associate Meyer Lansky, instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate in the United States.

In the 1997 film “Hoodlum”, Luciano was portrayed by Andy García.

Video comes courtesy of YouTube. It’s overdubbed in Russian, I think; in case you’re wondering about the overlapping audio:

That’s what Hollywood had to say.

Here’s what history has to tell us:

Luciano’s Early Life

Salvatore Lucania was born on November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily.

Luciano’s parents, Antonio and Rosalia Lucania, had four other children: Bartolomeo, Giuseppe, Filippia, and Concetta. Luciano’s father worked in a sulfur mine in Sicily.

When Luciano was 10 years old, the family emigrated to the United States. They settled in New York City in the borough of Manhattan on its Lower East Side, a popular destination for Italian immigrants.

At age 14, Luciano dropped out of school and started a job delivering hats, earning $7 per week. However, after winning $244 in a dice game, Luciano quit his job and took to earning money on the street. That same year, Luciano’s parents sent him to the Brooklyn Truant School.

While a teenager, Luciano started his own gang.

Unlike other street gangs whose business was petty crime, Luciano offered protection to Jewish youngsters from Italian and Irish gangs for ten cents per week. It was during this time that Luciano met Jewish teenager Meyer Lansky, his future business partner.

Charlie “Lucky”

Soon after emigrating, Luciano changed his forename to Charlie, or Charles, which he felt to be more “American” sounding than Salvatore.

It is not clear how Luciano earned the nickname “Lucky”.

It may have come from his surviving a severe beating by three men in the 1920s, as well as a throat slashing.

From 1916 to 1936, Luciano was arrested 25 times on charges ranging from assault, to illegal gambling, to blackmail, as well as robbery, but spent no time in prison. Lucky breaks, all.

The name “Lucky” may have also been a mispronunciation of Luciano’s surname “Lucania”.

Prohibition

On January 17, 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages. As there was still a substantial demand for alcohol, this provided criminals with an additional source of income.

By 1921, Luciano had met many future Mafia leaders, including Vito Genovese and Frank Costello (his longtime friend and future business partner), through the Five Points Gang. Also in 1921, Brooklyn gang boss Joe Masseria recruited Luciano as one of his gunmen.

Luciano soon left Masseria and started working for gambler Arnold “the Brain” Rothstein. Rothstein immediately saw the potential from Prohibition and educated Luciano on running bootleg alcohol as a business.

With financing and mentoring from Rothstein, Luciano, Costello, and Genovese started their own bootlegging operation.

By 1925, Luciano was grossing over $12 million a year. He had a net income of around $4 million each year after the costs of bribing politicians and police.

Luciano and his partners ran the largest bootlegging operation in New York – one that also extended into Philadelphia. He imported Scotch whisky from Scotland, rum from the Caribbean, and whisky from Canada. Luciano was also involved in illegal gambling.

On November 2, 1928, a bookkeeper shot and killed Rothstein over a gambling debt.

With Rothstein’s death, Luciano pledged loyalty again to Masseria.

The Young Turks

Luciano soon became a top aide in the Masseria organization.

By the late 1920s, Masseria’s main rival was boss Salvatore Maranzano, who had come from Sicily to run the Castellammarese clan activities. This rivalry escalated into the Castellammarese War, which raged from 1928 to 1931, and resulted in 60 mobster deaths.

Masseria and Maranzano were so-called “Mustache Petes” – older, traditional Mafia bosses who had started their criminal careers in Italy. They believed in upholding the supposed Old World Mafia principles of “honor”, “tradition”, “respect”, and “dignity”. These bosses refused to work with anyone who was not Italian or Italian-American, and were even skeptical of any man who was not Sicilian or Sicilian-American.

Luciano, by contrast, was willing to work with Jewish and Irish gangsters, if there was money to be made.

Luciano began cultivating ties with other younger mobsters who had started their criminal careers in the United States.

Known as the Young Turks, they chafed at their bosses’ conservatism. Luciano wanted to use lessons he learned from Rothstein to turn their gang activities into criminal empires.

As the war progressed, this group came to include future mob leaders such as Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Joe Adonis, Joe Bonanno, Carlo Gambino, Joe Profaci, Tommy Gagliano, and Tommy Lucchese.

Luciano’s vision was to form a national crime syndicate in which the Italian, Jewish, and Irish gangs could pool their resources and turn organized crime into a lucrative business for all.

Repercussions

In October 1929, Luciano was forced into a limousine at gun point by three men, beaten and stabbed, then dumped on a beach on Staten Island. He somehow survived the ordeal, but was forever marked with a scar and droopy eye. The identity of his abductors was never established.

When picked up by the police after the beating, Luciano said that he had no idea who did it. However, in 1953, Luciano told an interviewer that it was the police who had kidnapped and beat him. Another theory was that Maranzano ordered the attack.

The most important consequence of this episode was the press coverage it got, which introduced Luciano to the New York public.

Power Play

In early 1931, Luciano moved to eliminate Masseria. The war had been going badly for him, and Luciano saw an opportunity to switch allegiance.

In a secret deal with Maranzano, Luciano agreed to engineer Masseria’s death, in return for receiving Masseria’s rackets and becoming Maranzano’s second-in-command.

On April 15, 1931, Luciano invited Masseria and two other associates to lunch in a Coney Island restaurant. After finishing their meal, the mobsters decided to play cards. At that point, Luciano went to the bathroom.

Four gunmen – Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, and Joe Adonis – then walked into the dining room and shot and killed Masseria and his two men.

With Maranzano’s blessing, Luciano took over Masseria’s gang, and became Maranzano’s lieutenant. The Castellammarese War was over.

The Five Families

With Masseria gone, Maranzano divided all the Italian-American gangs in New York City into Five Families.

The five newly formed crime families were headed by Maranzano, Luciano, Profaci, Gagliano, and Vincent Mangano.

Maranzano promised that all the families would be equal, and free to make money. However, at a meeting of crime bosses in Upstate New York, Maranzano declared himself capo di tutti capi – the absolute boss of all of the crime families. Maranzano also whittled down the rackets of the rival families in favor of his own.

Takeover Bid

Luciano appeared to accept these changes, but was merely biding his time.

By September 1931, Maranzano realized that Luciano was a threat, and hired Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll, an Irish gangster, to kill him. However, Lucchese alerted Luciano that he was marked for death.

On September 10, Maranzano ordered Luciano and Genovese to come to his office at 230 Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Convinced that Maranzano planned to murder them, Luciano decided to act first. He sent five Jewish gangsters dressed as government agents to Maranzano’s office.

While two of the “agents” disarmed Maranzano’s bodyguards, the other three stabbed Maranzano multiple times, before shooting him.

Reorganizing the Mafia

With the death of Maranzano, Luciano became the dominant organized crime boss in the United States.

Luciano now had his own crime family, which controlled lucrative criminal rackets in New York City such as illegal gambling, bookmaking, loan-sharking, drug trafficking and extortion. Luciano also became very influential in labor and union activities, and controlled the Manhattan Waterfront, garbage hauling, construction, Garment Center businesses, and trucking.

Luciano abolished the title of Capo Di Tutti Capi, insisting that the position created trouble between the families. Luciano preferred to quietly maintain control through unofficial alliances with other family bosses.

Luciano felt that the ceremony of becoming a “made-man”, or an amico nostro (literally “our friend”), in a crime family was a Sicilian anachronism that should be discontinued. However, Meyer Lansky persuaded Luciano to keep the practice, arguing that young people needed rituals to promote obedience to the family.

Luciano also stressed the importance of omertà, the oath of silence.

In addition, Luciano kept the five crime families that Maranzano had instituted.

Luciano elevated his most trusted Italian associates to high-level positions in what was now the Luciano crime family. The feared Vito Genovese became underboss (chief lieutenant), and Frank Costello consigliere (chief counsel). Michael “Trigger Mike” Coppola, Anthony Strollo, Joe Adonis, and Anthony Carfano all served as caporegimes (secondary lieutenants).

Because Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel were non-Italians, neither man could hold official positions within any Cosa Nostra family. However, Lansky was a top advisor to Luciano, and Siegel a trusted associate.

The Commission

Under the urging of former Chicago boss Johnny Torrio, Luciano set up the Commission, to serve as the governing body for organized crime.

The Commission was originally composed of representatives of the Five Families of New York City, the Philadelphia crime family, the Buffalo crime family, Los Angeles crime family, and the Chicago Outfit of Al Capone. Later, the Detroit crime family and Kansas City crime family were added. The Commission also provided representation for the Irish and Jewish criminal organizations in New York.

All Commission members were supposed to retain the same power and had one vote – but in reality some families and bosses were more powerful than others.

In 1935 – in its first big test – the Commission ordered gang boss Dutch Schultz to drop his plans to murder Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey. Luciano argued that a Dewey assassination would bring undue pressure from the law.

When Schultz announced that he was still going to kill Dewey, or his Assistant David Asch, the Commission quickly arranged Schultz’s murder.

On October 24, 1935, Dutch Schultz was murdered in a tavern in Newark, New Jersey.

In hindsight, this may have been a costly move.

Prostitution Loophole

During the early 1930s, Luciano’s crime family started taking over small scale prostitution operations in New York City.

In June 1935, New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman appointed U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Dewey as a special prosecutor to combat organized crime in New York City. Dewey realized that he could attack Luciano – the most powerful gangster in New York – through this prostitution network, with the assistance of his aide David Asch.

On February 2, 1936, Dewey launched a massive police raid against 200 brothels in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Ten men and 100 women were arrested.

Unlike previous vice raids, Dewey did not release the suspects. Instead, he took them to court, where a judge set bails of $10,000 – far beyond their means to pay.

By mid March, several defendants had implicated Luciano. Three of the prostitutes named Luciano as the ringleader, who made collections, although David Betillo was in charge of the prostitution ring in New York, and any money that Luciano received was from Betillo.

In late March 1936, Luciano received a tip that he was going to be arrested, and fled to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Unfortunately for Luciano, a New York detective in Hot Springs on a different assignment spotted Luciano, and notified Dewey.

On April 1, 1936, Luciano was arrested in Hot Springs on a criminal warrant from New York. The next day, Dewey indicted Luciano and his accomplices on 90 counts of compulsory prostitution. Luciano’s lawyers in Arkansas then began a fierce legal battle against extradition.

On April 6, someone offered a $50,000 bribe to Arkansas Attorney General Carl E. Bailey to facilitate Luciano’s case. Bailey refused the bribe and immediately reported it.

On April 17 – after all of Luciano’s legal motions had been exhausted – Arkansas authorities handed Luciano to three New York City Police Department detectives, for transport by train back to New York for trial.

When the detectives and their prisoner reached St. Louis, Missouri and changed trains, they were guarded by 20 local policemen to prevent a mob rescue attempt. The men arrived in New York City on April 18, and Luciano was held without bail.

Prosecution for Pandering

On May 13, 1936, Luciano’s pandering trial began.

He was accused of being part of a massive prostitution ring known as “the Combination.”

During the trial, Dewey exposed Luciano for lying on the witness stand through direct questioning, and records of telephone calls. Luciano also had no explanation for why his federal income tax records claimed he made only $22,000 a year, while he was obviously a wealthy man.

Dewey ruthlessly pressed Luciano on his long arrest record and his relationships with well-known gangsters such as Ciro Terranova, Louis Buchalter, and Joseph Masseria.

On June 7, 1936, Luciano was convicted on 62 counts of compulsory prostitution.

On July 18, 1936, Luciano was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in state prison, along with Betillo and others.

Many observers questioned the pandering charges against Luciano. It would have been significantly out of character (they said) for him to be directly involved in any criminal enterprise – let alone a prostitution ring.

In her memoirs, New York society madam Polly Adler said that if Luciano had been involved with “the Combination,” she would have known about it. Bonanno – the last surviving contemporary of Luciano’s who wasn’t in prison – also denied that Luciano was directly involved in prostitution in his book, “A Man of Honor”.

Prison Time

Luciano continued to run the Luciano crime family from prison, relaying his orders through acting boss, Vito Genovese.

When Genovese fled to Naples, Italy in 1937 to avoid an impending murder indictment in New York, Luciano appointed his consigliere, Costello as the new acting boss and overseer of Luciano’s interests.

Luciano was first imprisoned at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, but was moved later in 1936 to Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York – far away from New York City.

At Clinton, co-defendant Dave Betillo prepared special dishes for Luciano in a kitchen set aside by authorities. Luciano himself was assigned a job in the prison laundry.

Luciano used his influence to help get the materials to build a church at the prison, which became famous for being one of the only freestanding churches in the New York State correctional system, and also for the fact that on the church’s altar are two of the original doors from the Victoria – the ship of Ferdinand Magellan.

Legal appeals of Luciano’s conviction continued until October 10, 1938, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review his case.

At this point, Luciano stepped down as boss, and Costello formally took over the family.

Freedom and Deportation

During World War II, the U.S. government struck a secret deal with the imprisoned Luciano.

In 1942, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence was concerned about German and Italian agents entering the United States through the New York waterfront. They also worried about sabotage in these facilities.

Knowing that the Cosa Nostra controlled the waterfront, the Navy contacted Meyer Lansky about a deal with Luciano. To facilitate negotiations, the State of New York transferred Luciano from Clinton prison to Great Meadow Correctional Facility, which was much closer to New York City.

The Navy, the State of New York, and Luciano eventually concluded a deal.

In exchange for a commutation of his sentence, Luciano promised the complete assistance of his organization in providing intelligence to the Navy. Luciano ally Albert Anastasia (who controlled the docks) allegedly promised no dockworker strikes during war. And in preparation for the 1943 allied invasion of Sicily, Luciano allegedly provided the U.S. military with Mafia contacts in Sicily.

On January 3, 1946, Governor Thomas E. Dewey reluctantly commuted Luciano’s pandering sentence, on condition that he did not resist deportation to Italy.

Luciano accepted the deal – although he still maintained that he was a U.S. citizen and not subject to deportation.

On February 2, 1946, two federal immigration agents transported Luciano from Sing Sing prison to Ellis Island in New York Harbor, for deportation proceedings.

On February 10, 1946, Luciano’s ship sailed from Brooklyn harbor for Italy. This was the last time he would see the United States.

On February 28, Luciano’s ship arrived in Naples. On arrival, Luciano told reporters he would probably reside in Sicily.

During his exile, Luciano frequently encountered US military men and American tourists during train trips in Italy. Luciano enjoyed these meetings and gladly posed for photos and signed autographs.

The Havana Conference

In October 1946, Luciano secretly moved to Havana, Cuba.

Luciano first took a freighter from Naples to Caracas, Venezuela, then flew to Rio De Janeiro. He then flew to Mexico City and doubled back to Caracas, where he took a private plane to Camaguey, Cuba, finally arriving on October 29. Luciano was then driven to Havana, where he moved into an estate in the Miramar section of the city.

Luciano’s objective in going to Cuba was to be closer to the United States, so that he could resume control over American Cosa Nostra operations and eventually return. Lansky was already established as a major investor in Cuban gambling and hotel projects.

In December 1946, Lansky called a meeting of the heads of the major crime families, in Havana. The ostensible purpose was to see singer Frank Sinatra perform. However, the real reason was to discuss mob business with Luciano in attendance.

The three topics to discuss were: the heroin trade, Cuban gambling, and what to do about Bugsy Siegel and the floundering Flamingo Hotel project in Las Vegas.

The Conference took place at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, and lasted a little more than a week.

Deported, Again

Soon after the Havana Conference began, the U.S. government learned about Luciano’s presence in Cuba, which was no secret; Luciano had been publicly fraternizing with Sinatra, as well as visiting numerous nightclubs.

The U.S. started putting pressure on the Cuban government to expel him.

On February 21, 1947, U.S. Narcotics Commissioner Harry J. Anslinger notified the Cuban government that the United States would block all shipment of narcotic prescription drugs to Cuba while Luciano was there.

Two days later, the Cuban government announced that Luciano was in custody, and would be deported to Italy within 48 hours.

Luciano was placed on a Turkish freighter that was sailing to Genoa, Italy.

Operating in Italy

After Luciano’s secret trip to Cuba, he spent the rest of his life in Italy under tight police surveillance.

Despite the law enforcement surveillance, Luciano was able to greatly expand narcotics trafficking to the United States, making it one of organized crime’s most lucrative ventures.

Between October 10 and October 14, 1957, Luciano oversaw a parley of more than thirty Sicilian and American Mafia leaders to draw up plans for the smuggling and distribution of heroin into the United States.

According to Selwyn Raab, an investigative reporter for The New York Times, it was at the Luciano meeting (held in the Grand Hotel et des Palmes in Palermo, Sicily) that a plan was put into place through which Sicilians were responsible for distributing heroin in the U.S., while the American mobsters collected a share of the income as “franchise fees”.

Luciano’s plan included a scheme to expand the tiny heroin and cocaine market in the U.S. by reducing the price and focusing on working class white and black urban neighborhoods.

American Power Struggle

By 1957, Genovese felt strong enough to move against Luciano and his acting boss in New York, Frank Costello. He was aided in this move by Anastasia crime family underboss Carlo Gambino.

On May 2, 1957, Costello was shot and slightly wounded by a gunman outside his apartment building. Soon after this attack, Costello conceded control of what is today called the Genovese crime family to Genovese. Luciano was powerless to stop it.

On October 26, 1957, Genovese and Gambino arranged the murder of Albert Anastasia, another Luciano ally.

Gambino took over what is now called the Gambino crime family.

Genovese now believed himself to be the top boss in the Cosa Nostra.

The Apalachin Meeting

In November 1957, Genovese called a meeting of Cosa Nostra bosses in Apalachin, New York to approve his takeover of the Luciano family, and to establish his national power.

Instead, the Apalachin Meeting turned into a terrible fiasco, when law enforcement raided the venue.

Over 65 high ranking mobsters were arrested, and the Cosa Nostra was subjected to publicity and numerous grand jury summons.

The enraged mobsters blamed Genovese for this disaster, opening a window of opportunity for Genovese’s opponents.

Counter-Moves

Costello, Luciano, and Gambino met in a hotel in Palermo, Sicily, to discuss their plan of action. In his own power move, Gambino had deserted Genovese.

After their meeting, Luciano allegedly paid an American drug seller $100,000 to falsely implicate Genovese in a drug deal.

On April 4, 1959, Genovese was convicted in New York of conspiracy to violate federal narcotics laws.

Sent to prison for 15 years, Genovese tried to run his crime family from prison until his death in 1969. Meanwhile, Gambino now became the most powerful man in the Cosa Nostra.

Death and Legacy

On January 26, 1962, Luciano went to Naples International Airport to meet with American producer Martin Gosch about a film biography.

After the meeting with Gosch, Luciano was stricken with a heart attack, and died.

Unbeknownst to Luciano, Italian drug agents had followed him to the airport in anticipation of arresting him on drug smuggling charges.

Three days later, 300 people attended a funeral service for Luciano in Naples.

Luciano’s body was conveyed along the streets of Naples in a horse-drawn black hearse.

After receiving permission from the U.S. government, Luciano’s relatives brought his body back to New York for burial.

He was buried in St. John’s Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens. More than 2,000 mourners attended his funeral.

Luciano’s longtime friend, Gambino crime family boss Carlo Gambino, eulogized him at the funeral.

In 1998, Time magazine characterized Luciano as the “criminal mastermind” among the top 20 most influential builders and titans of the 20th century.

And here ends this titanic tale.

Hope you’ll be here, for our next story.

Till then.

Peace.