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Castellamarese War
The Castellammarese War () was a bloody power struggle for control of the American Mafia between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano that took place in New York City from February 26, 1930, until April 15, 1931. The feud was named after the Sicilian town of Castellammare del Golfo, Maranzano's birthplace. Maranzano's faction prevailed in the conflict and divided New York's crime families into the Five Families; Maranzano declared himself '' capo di tutti i capi'' ("boss of all bosses"). However, Maranzano was murdered in September 1931 on orders of Lucky Luciano, who established a power-sharing arrangement through a governing body called the Commission, giving equal stature to all Mafia families to avoid such feuds in the future. Background In the 1920s, Mafia operations in the United States were controlled by Giuseppe "Joe The Boss" Masseria, whose faction consisted mainly of gangsters from Sicily, Calabria (the 'Ndrangheta) and Campania (the Camo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a respective county. The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics, and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy. With an estimated population in 2024 of 8,478,072 distributed over , the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manfredi Mineo
Manfredi "Al" or "Alfred" Mineo (; 1880 – November 5, 1930) was an Italian American mobster, who headed a strong American Mafia crime family during the Castellammarese War. Mineo's organization would eventually become the present-day Gambino crime family. Biography Background In the early part of the 20th century, New York had five Sicilian crime families. With the imprisonment of powerful Sicilian Mafia boss Giuseppe Morello in 1910, Salvatore D'Aquila, one of Morello's chief captains, immediately emerged as the new chief Mafia power in New York City, mostly in East Harlem and Little Italy (in southern Manhattan), but he also led a faction in Brooklyn that was headed locally by Mineo. D'Aquila had assumed the title from Morello of Capo di tutti capi or Boss of Bosses. D'Aquila's family, with Mineo's Brooklyn faction included, reigned supreme through the 1910s. However, upon the advent of prohibition other Mafia crime families and also non-mafia operations began to gain power ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicolo Schiro
Nicolo "Cola" Schiro (born Nicolò Schirò; ; September 2, 1872April 29, 1957) was an early Sicilian-born New York City mobster who, in 1912, became the boss of what later become known as the Bonanno crime family. Schiro's leadership of the mafia clan would see it orchestrate the "Good Killers" murders, control gambling and protection rackets in Brooklyn, engage in bootlegging during Prohibition, and print counterfeit money. A conflict with rival mafia boss Joe Masseria would force Schiro out as boss, after which he returned to Sicily. Early life Nicolò Schirò was born on September 2, 1872, in the town of Roccamena, in the Province of Palermo, Sicily to Matteo Schirò and his wife, Maria Antonia Rizzuto. His father's family came from the Arbëreshë community of Contessa Entellina. Although born in Roccamena, Schiro grew up in his mother's hometown of Camporeale. Schiro immigrated to the United States in 1897. By May 1902, he was living in the Williamsburg sect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy Lucchese
Thomas Gaetano Lucchese (born Gaetano Lucchese, ; December 1, 1899 – July 13, 1967), nicknamed "Tommy Three-Finger Brown", was an Italian-American gangster who was a founding member of the Mafia in the United States, an offshoot of the '' Cosa Nostra'' in Sicily. From 1951 until 1967, he was the boss of the Lucchese crime family, one of the Five organized crime families in New York City. Early life Gaetano Lucchese was born on December 1, 1899, to Baldassarre and Francesca Lucchese in Palermo, Sicily.Bureau of Narcotics, Sam Giancana (2009pg.510/ref> The surname "Lucchese" suggests family origins from the Sicilian city of Lucca Sicula. In early 1911, the Lucchese family emigrated to the United States, settling in Manhattan's Italian neighborhood of East Harlem.Harrell (2009pg. 99-101/ref>Volkman (1998pg. 8-37/ref> The family first lived in a building at 213 East 106th Street before moving to 316 East 118th Street; both buildings were in the Italian East Harlem neighborhood. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy Gagliano
Thomas Gagliano (born Tommaso Gagliano, ; May 29, 1883 − February 16, 1951) was an Italian-born American mobster and boss of what U.S. federal authorities would later designate as the Lucchese crime family, one of the "Five Families" of New York City. He was a low-profile boss for over two decades. His successor was his longtime loyalist and underboss, Tommy Lucchese. Early life Gagliano was born on May 29, 1883, in Corleone, Sicily. In 1905 he immigrated to the United States, in New York City, and married Giuseppina "Josephine" Pomilla, who was also from Corleone. Gagliano and his brother-in-law Nunzio Pomilla were partners in lathing and hoisting companies in the Bronx. He was underboss to Gaetano "Tom" Reina until he became the boss of the family in 1930. The Reina family controlled a monopoly on ice distribution in the Bronx. Gagliano, along with Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese and Stefano "Steve" Rondelli, were viewed as the most powerful members of the Reina family. Fran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaetano Reina
Gaetano Reina (; September 27, 1889 – February 26, 1930) was an Italian-American gangster. He was an early American Mafia boss who was the founder of what has for many years been called the Lucchese crime family in New York City. He led the family until his murder on February 26, 1930, on the orders of Joe Masseria. Early years Reina was born on September 27, 1889, in Corleone, Sicily, to Giacomo Reina and Carmela Rumore. Critchley p. 86 In the early 1900s, the Reina family moved to New York City and settled on 107th Street in East Harlem. Reina, along with his brother Antonio, began working with members of the Morello crime family. He married Angelina Olivera and the couple had nine children: five sons Giacomo - who became a member of the Lucchese family - Capeci p. 61 Henry, Sam, John and Bernard, and four daughters, Anna, Carmela "Mildred" Valachi - who married Joe Valachi in 1932 - Rose Bongrieco and Lucy Sterling. The family lived in a home on Rochambeau Avenue in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Aiello
Giuseppe "Joe" Aiello (; September 27, 1890 – October 23, 1930) was a Sicilian bootlegger and organized crime leader in Chicago during the Prohibition era. He was best known for his long and bloody feud with Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone. Aiello masterminded several unsuccessful attempts to assassinate Capone, and fought against his former business partner Antonio Lombardo, a Capone ally, for control of the Chicago branch of the Unione Siciliana benevolent society. Aiello and his ally Bugs Moran are believed to have arranged the murder of Lombardo, which directly led Capone to organize the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in retaliation. Despite being forced to flee Chicago multiple times throughout the gang war, Aiello eventually took control of the Unione Siciliana in 1929, and ranked seventh among the Chicago Crime Commission's list of top " public enemies". Aiello was killed after Capone gunmen ambushed him as he exited a Chicago apartment building where he had been hidi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Profaci
Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci (; October 2, 1897 – June 6, 1962) was an Italian-American Cosa Nostra boss who was the founder of what became the Colombo crime family of New York City. Established in 1928, this was the last of the Five Families to be organized. He was the family's boss for over three decades. Biography Early life Giuseppe Profaci was born in Villabate, in the Province of Palermo, Sicily, on October 2, 1897. In 1920, Profaci spent one year in prison in Palermo on theft charges. Family ties Profaci's sons were Frank Profaci and John Profaci Sr. Frank eventually joined the Profaci crime family while John Sr. followed legitimate pursuits. Two of Profaci's daughters married the sons of Detroit Partnership mobsters William Tocco and Joseph Zerilli. Profaci's brother was Salvatore Profaci, who served as his '' consigliere'' for years, and is known to have been heavily into dealing of pornographic materials. One of Profaci's brothers-in-law was Joseph Magliocco, who woul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stefano Magaddino
Stefano "The Undertaker" Magaddino (; October 10, 1891 – July 19, 1974) was an Italian-born crime boss of the Buffalo crime family in western New York. His underworld influence stretched from Ohio to Southern Ontario and as far east as Montreal, Quebec. Known as ''Don Stefano'' to his friends and ''The Undertaker'' to others, he was also a charter member of the American Mafia's ruling council, The Commission. He is the longest serving mafia boss, serving from 1922 until his death in 1974. Early years Stefano Magaddino was born on October 10, 1891, in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. Magaddino's father (Giovanni Magaddino), was the brother of Joseph Bonanno's maternal grandmother. Magaddino's uncle of the same name led a Castellammarese clan allied with Giuseppe "Peppe" Bonanno and his older brother and advisor, Stefano, uncles to Joseph Bonanno.A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno By Joseph Bonannp.24-28/ref> During the 1900s, the clans feuded with Felice Bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vito Bonventre
Vito Bonventre (January 1, 1875 – July 15, 1930) was a New York City mobster who was a leading member of the Brooklyn gang that would later become the Bonanno Crime Family. He was arrested but then released in 1921 as the leader of a group known as the "Good Killers". Bonventre was murdered in 1930 at the start of a conflict between his gang and a rival gang led by Joe Masseria, referred to as the Castellammarese War. Early years Vito Bonventre was born on January 1, 1875, in the town of Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily. In Castellammare del Golfo, his family was a member of a mafia clan created by an alliance with the Magaddino family in opposition to a mafia clan led by the Buccellato family. He immigrated to the United States just after the beginning of the twentieth century and settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. He soon became a member of the local mafia gang led by Nicolo Schiro. Leader of "The Good Killers" Bonventre was arrested on August 16, 192 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Bonanno
Joseph Charles Bonanno (born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno; ; January 18, 1905 – May 11, 2002), sometimes referred to as Joe Bananas, was an Italian-American crime boss of the Bonanno crime family of New York City, which he ran from 1931 to 1968. Bonanno was born in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, where his father was also involved in organized crime. At the age of three, Bonanno emigrated to New York City with his family, where he lived for about 10 years before he moved back to Italy. He later slipped back into the United States in 1924, by stowing away on a Cuban fishing boat bound for Tampa, Florida. After the Castellammarese War, during which Salvatore Maranzano was murdered in 1931, Bonanno reorganized most of the crime family as the Bonanno family. At age 26, Bonanno became one of the youngest-ever bosses of a crime family. In 1963, Bonanno made plans with Joseph Magliocco to assassinate several rivals on the Mafia Commission. When Magliocco gave the contract to one of h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carlo Gambino
Carlo Gambino (; August 24, 1902 – October 15, 1976) was a Sicilian crime boss who was the leader and namesake of the Gambino crime family of New York City. Following the Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and the imprisonment of Vito Genovese in 1959, Gambino took over the Commission of the American Mafia and played a powerful role in organized crime until his death from a heart attack in 1976. During a criminal career that spanned over fifty years, Gambino served only twenty-two months in prison for a tax evasion charge in 1937. Early life and family Carlo Gambino was born in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, on August 24, 1902, to a family that belonged to the Sicilian Mafia from the Passo di Rigano neighborhood. He had two brothers: Gaspare, who was not involved with the Mafia, and Paolo, who was a part of what would become the Gambino crime family. His parents were Italian immigrants Tommaso Gambino and Felice Castellano. Gambino entered the United States on December 23, 1921, at No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
