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The Luciano Family After

•Born: 24 November 1897 •Birthplace: Lercardia Friddi, Sicily, Italy •Died: 26 January 1962 (heart attack) •Best Known As: 1930s Italian-American gangster with businesslike approach

Name at birth: Salvatore Lucania His parents, Antonio and Rosalia Lucania, had four other children: Bartolomeo (born 1890), Giuseppe (born 1898), Filippia (born 1901), and Concetta (born 1903). Charles "Lucky" Luciano (born Salvatore Lucania; November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962[1]) was an Italian mobster born in Sicily, Italy. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in America for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and 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.

Prohibition Era An action by the United States government gave Luciano the idea that propelled him to the top of the underworld. In 1919, the sale of alcoholic beverages was outlawed. It became clear that the demand for alcohol was still large and whoever could provide the drinks would become very rich. By 1920, he and Lansky were supplying alcoholic beverages to all the Manhattan "speakeasies" (bars).

As Luciano's fame grew, a war was being fought between major local gangs in New York. Luciano, at 23, aligned himself with the largest Mafia family, that of Guisseppe ("Joe the Boss") Masseria. He continued with his bootlegging empire, and controlled plants, distilleries, trucks, and warehouses for the sale of illegal alcohol. Some of his partners included Guisseppe ("Joe Adonis") Doto, "Waxey" Gordon, and Arnold Rothstein, who "fixed" the 1918 World Series.

Rise to power At an early age Luciano had established himself as a creative thug on the Lower East Side and eventually worked his way up to being a top aide to crime boss Joe Masseria. In the 1920s Masseria was involved in a prolonged turf war with rival crime boss Salvatore Maranzano.

Masseria was a "Mustache Pete", an old-school mafioso who wanted to preserve the old Mafia ideals of "honor," "tradition," "respect" and dignity in America. Luciano and his contemporaries who had "made their bones" in the United States, on the other hand, were known as the "Young Turks." Like the original Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire, they formed a young, ambitious, impatient group which challenged the established order. The Mustache Petes would not work with anyone who was not Italian, and were skeptical of working with anyone who wasn't Sicilian. Luciano, however, believed that as long as money was being made, the roots of your partner did not matter. He was therefore shocked to hear old mafiosi lecturing him about his dealings with another mobster, Frank Costello, whom they called "the dirty Calabrian." Luciano began building contacts with Young Turks in both factions, and they secretly made plans to push out the Mustache Petes as soon as possible.

One day in 1929, Luciano was forced into a limo at gun point by three men, beaten and stabbed, and dumped on a beach on New York Bay. Luciano survived the ordeal, but was forever marked with a scar and droopy eye. The rare fact of his survival earned him the name "Lucky,"[3] although he may already have earned this nickname in his younger days because of his luck at avoiding police.[2] After his abduction, Luciano found out through Meyer Lansky that it had been ordered by Masseria's enemy, Salvatore Maranzano.[5] However, in an ironic twist, Luciano later cut a secret deal with Maranzano in which Luciano agreed to engineer Masseria's death in return for being made Maranzano's second-in-command.[6] This deal would end the famous Castellammarese War.

The Castellammarese War raged from 1928 to 1932, resulting in the deaths of many mobsters, estimated to be as many as 60.[7] The war was nominally between Maranzano and Masseria, it ended with the assassination of Masseria in a Coney Island restaurant by Bugsy Siegel, Vito Genovese, and Joe Adonis. It is rumored that Luciano was having lunch with Masseria and stepped into the men's room just as the gunmen stormed the restaurant. Luciano then took over Masseria's crime family.[6]

Maranzano then made Luciano his number two man, and set up the Five Families of New York under him, promising that they would all be equal and all be free to make money. However, at a meeting of all the heavy-hitting gangsters in Upstate New York, Maranzano declared himself capo di tutti capi (Boss of all Bosses), which meant every Don in the country had to pay up to him. He also whittled down the rackets of the rival families in order to strengthen his own family.

Luciano seethed inwardly at being lied to and bilked out of a few dollars, but still feigned loyalty to Maranzano. However, he was secretly planning to eliminate Maranzano. He and his colleagues had planned all along to assassinate either Masseria or Maranzano, then bide their time before killing the surviving Mustache Pete as well.

When Meyer Lansky told him that Maranzano had gotten wind of Luciano's plans, Luciano could no longer stand still. Lansky assembled a hit squad to pose as government agents. On the day Maranzano was to hire Luciano's assassin they stormed Maranzano's office, who thought he was being arrested. The squad cut Maranzano to ribbons with a volley of gunfire and repeated stabbings. On the way down the stairs, they met Mad Dog Coll, Luciano's would-be assassin.

Cosa Nostra Luciano was now the model mobster, with businesses throughout the country. His longtime friend Meyer Lansky served as his right-hand man, and Luciano always followed Lansky’s advice. When Dutch Schultz tried to kill Manhattan District Attorney Thomas Dewey, in direct violation of Luciano's orders, Schultz was executed instead.

Luciano had finally reached the pinnacle of America's underworld, directing its criminal rules, policies and activities along with the other top Bosses. He sat atop the most powerful crime family in America, which now bore his name and controlled the most lucrative criminal rackets in New York such as gambling, bookmaking, loan-sharking, drug trafficking, and extortion. Luciano was 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 i Capi, insisting that the position created tension and trouble between the families. He felt that the ceremony of being "made a soldier" in a family should be done away with. However, Meyer Lansky urged him against it, arguing that young people needed rituals to cling to. Luciano also stressed the importance of the omertà, the oath of silence, and kept the organizational structure that Maranzano had instituted.[6]

The original Luciano family Luciano elevated his most trusted and loyal family members to high-level positions in the Luciano crime family. The feared Vito Genovese became his Underboss, while Frank Costello was his consigliere. Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola, Anthony Strollo, Joe Adonis, and Anthony Carfano all served as caporegimes. Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel were both unofficial advisors to the Luciano family.

The Havana Conference ferenceAlthough Luciano was paroled from prison on the condition that he permanently return to Sicily, he secretly moved to Cuba, where he worked to resume control over American mafia operations. Luciano also ran a number of casinos in Cuba with the sanction of corrupt Cuban president General Fulgencio Batista. Batista naturally received a percentage of the profits. As Luciano's Cuban revenues grew and the tourism and gambling business blossomed, Meyer Lansky started investing heavily in a Cuban hotel project.

In 1946, Lansky called together the heads of all the major Families, claiming that they were going to see Frank Sinatra perform. Luciano had three topics to discuss: the heroin trade, Cuban gambling, and what was to be done about Bugsy Siegel. The Conference took place at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba and lasted a little more than a week.

One of the main topics for discussion at the Havana Conference was ordering a hit on Siegel, who was unaware of this meeting. Meyer Lansky, who several times owed his life to Siegel when they were young, took a stand against the hit. He begged the attendees to give Siegel a chance by waiting until after the casino opening. Luciano, who believed Siegel could still turn a profit in Las Vegas, Nevada, and pay back what he owed the mafia investors, agreed to postpone the hit.

To placate his investors, Siegel opened Flamingo Las Vegas, his still-unfinished casino, on the star-studded night of December 26, 1946, although he did not have as many Hollywood celebrities with him as he had hoped. Soon the Flamingo ran dry of entertainers and customers; it closed after only two weeks in order to resume construction. The fully operational Flamingo re-opened in March 1947. Still dissatisfied, the casino's gangster investors once again met in Havana in the spring of 1947 to decide whether to murder Siegel. Luckily for Siegel, the Flamingo had just turned a profit that month. Lansky again spoke up in support of his old friend and convinced Luciano to give Siegel one last chance. However, when the Flamingo still failed to turn a profit, Siegel's fate was sealed; he was killed by four shots fired through a window at his California home in June 1947.

The deposed Luciano asked that he be declared Capo Di Tutti i Capi. His old friends and business associates agreed that he deserved the title; all except Vito Genovese, who wanted the title for himself and is rumored to have leaked Luciano's whereabouts to the government. Luciano reportedly took him into a room and beat him severely for his betrayal.

When the US government learned of Luciano's presence in the Caribbean, he was forced to fly back to Italy. The US government threatened to stop all shipments of medical drugs to Cuba unless Luciano left.[7]

Personal life After being deported to Italy, Luciano fell in love with Igea Lissoni, an Italian dancer 20 years his junior.,[10] They lived together peacefully until they learned that there was a hit contract on Luciano, and the two went into hiding. They changed apartments many times throughout the months and moved from hotel to hotel before the hit was called off.

Barred from Rome after the hit was called off, the two lived together in Luciano's 60-room house on Via Tasso in Naples. Igea was reportedly the center of Luciano's life, so when she died of breast cancer, he began to fall apart, as did his control of the American syndicate and his own projects based out of Italy. After living together for 11 years, there was never any confirmation that the two ever married.