The Everything Mafia Book (12 page)

Future Mafia dons are nothing if not ambitious. It was not long before he grew tired of being somebody else’s leg breaker. The Mustache Pete syndrome got its first kick in the pants when Masseria and a few loyal confederates attacked the Morello gang’s headquarters and killed several loyalists. He carried out additional hits until the hoods decided it was better to switch than fight and consolidated under his leadership. Masseria was then one of the stronger bosses in New York City. If he could make it there, he could make it anywhere.

A rival gangster ambushed Masseria in 1922. The rival opened fire on Joe and his bodyguards, hitting them but missing Joe, who ran into a nearby shop to avoid the onslaught. The rival mobster followed Masseria into the shop firing away. Joe ducked behind merchandise and managed to run out of the store without being hit.

Unbreakable

Masseria gained a reputation as something of a super-gangster by his ability to survive multiple assassination attempts during his reign. One of the first hits was ordered by a certain Signor Morello, the guy who had his gang shot out from under him. In this legendary near hit, Masseria’s two bodyguards were shot dead as they flanked him on the sidewalks of New York, but hit man Umberto Valenti missed Mr. Big. He chased him into a shop, firing ten shots that the boss successfully dodged. This earned Masseria a reputation as being “bulletproof.” No bad deed went unpunished, and Val-enti was later whacked on the orders of Masseria. A pragmatic hood, Mas-seria accepted the olive branch from Morello and even made him one of his lieutenants.

Desegregating Crime

One of Masseria’s protégés was the man who went on to become known by the moniker “Lucky Luciano.” Lucky was not averse to mingling with the Jewish and even Irish criminal element in New York City. Masseria, an insular Mustache Pete, did not approve. He wanted to keep things among the Italians.

Masseria was, for the most part, unopposed until 1928, when Maranz-ano ascended to the throne of another Mafia family in New York. The rivalry between the two Mafia dons would be the first big mob war on American soil. There would be much “going to the mattresses” as they prepared for a long battle. Maranzano set out hijacking shipments of Masseria’s swag and bootlegged liquor. Masseria fought back. The bodies started to pile up.

Salvatore Maranzano’s killers, who shot and stabbed him to death in his New York City office, were never found. It is believed that Meyer Lansky recruited them, and two of them were named Sammy Levine and Abe Weinberg.

The Castellammarese War

The feature bout of Maranzano versus Masseria was a brutal free-for-all that went the distance and left fifty known dead, though that number is probably much higher, since the Mafia is not known for reporting its homicide statistics to the public at large. Masseria thought it was going to be a breeze.

He had more men and means than the younger upstart and his Sicilian sidekicks. But the ruthless and determined Sicilian underdogs gradually wrested more and more power in the violent struggle.

Rivalries Run Deep

The two Mustache Petes battled it out for supremacy of New York City, but the real machinations were going on among the ambitious young hoods who were coming to the conclusion that they did not want to serve the winner of the war, no matter which one it may be. And the leader of the pack of wolves in waiting was a young Charlie Luciano, who would prove to be very “lucky” indeed when the dust settled and the Tommy guns were silenced.

One of the four gunmen who shot Joe “the Boss” Masseria in a Coney Island restaurant was allegedly Albert Anastasia, the man who would later make a name for himself as the head of Murder Incorporated. The driver of the getaway car for the gunmen was Ciro Terranova, nicknamed “the Artichoke King.” He was so nervous he almost botched the getaway.

Lucky Luciano was, in a twisted sort of way, an insightful man of vision. He believed that Masseria and the other Mustache Petes were squandering great opportunities out of Old-World prejudices and their reticence to adapt to changing times. He wanted to do business with the other ethnic crime organizations, and Masseria would have none of it. Masseria, though slow to act, was not stupid. When he learned of Luciano’s grumblings, he knew the younger man was a threat, and he took decisive action.

Lower Manhattan was full of other ethnic mobsters. There were Jewish gangsters like Sam Weiss, Abe “Kid Twist” Reles, Harry “Happy” Maione, and Charles “Charlie the Bug” Workman. The Irish had men like Big Bill Dwyer and Jack “Legs” Diamond. And Chinatown was home to warring criminal gangs affiliated with the tongs.

Luciano was kidnapped at gunpoint by three goons and hustled into the back of a limousine, where he was bound, gagged, beaten, and stabbed. Luciano regained consciousness on a desolate beach. He was surprised to find himself still alive. He wandered off the beach and walked for about a mile before offering a policeman $50 to call him a cab. The cop took him to the hospital instead, and Luciano was subjected to interrogation from law enforcement officials. He kept mum. The code of Omerta forbids squealing upon threat of a painful demise. Luciano assured the police that he would take care of the problem himself.

It was Luciano’s pal Meyer Lansky who offered the theory that it was Masseria who orchestrated the hit. They could only assume that the bumbling thugs had intended to kill him, leaving him for dead without making sure he was indeed deceased. Together, Lansky and Luciano devised the plan that would end the reign of the Mustache Petes and bring the Mafia into the twentieth century.

The Last in Line

Luciano took a look at the warring factions and decided to play the two sides against each other to his own advantage. Luciano dreamed of establishing a “commission” of crime syndicates on a national level by bringing together the brightest minds in crime regardless of ethnic background, though the Italians would dominate. This was something unimaginable to the narrow-minded Mustache Petes.

Luciano met with Maranzano and some of his agents at the Bronx Zoo. Luciano agreed to take out Masseria in exchange for taking control of his rackets. Lucky set a plan in motion. He invited Masseria for a lunchtime meeting at Scarpato’s Restaurant in Coney Island, a section of Brooklyn. Masseria felt safe there. He knew the owner and he knew the turf. When Luciano went to the bathroom, four men entered and blasted Masseria away. The cops questioned Luciano, but he feigned innocence. One Mustache Pete down, one more to go.

Lucky’s Power Play

Lucky Luciano had made a secret deal with Maranzano to whack Mas-seria, but he also had plans to take care of the other Mustache Petes. The death of Masseria was only half of Luciano’s business plan. Maranzano was now
Capo di tutti Capi
(the Boss of all Bosses). He summoned mobsters from all over the country for a convention. They decked the halls with religious iconography to fool the feds and any other law enforcement officials who might want to crash the party.

Meeting of the Minds

It was at this meeting that the Mafia flow chart that became “the five families” was hashed out. Maranzano was the CEO, and he appointed five VPs who would each head a “family.” The heads of the criminal households would be Joseph Bonanno, Phil and Vincent Mangano, Charlie Luciano, Joseph Profaci, and Tom Gagliano.

Despite the Mafia’s constant claims of honor, the old adage that there is no honor among thieves is a universal truth. Soon after this arrangement was made, Maranzano created a hit list that included most of his top lieutenants, including Lucky Luciano. He knew that one or more of these Young Turks would already be plotting to usurp him. The shooter was to be a particularly nasty killer aptly named Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll. Luciano was as lucky as ever. He got wind of the conspiracy and took preemptive measures.

What mobsters were on what sides during the war?
The Maranzanos had among their ranks future bosses Joseph Bonanno, Joseph Profaci, Thomas Lucchese, Joseph Magliocco, and Gaetano “Tom” Gagliano. The Masseria team had Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, Joe Adonis, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, and Carlo Gambino.

Luciano learned that he and Vito Genovese were to be summoned to Maranzano’s office, where Coll would be waiting to off them. He also learned that the long arm of the Internal Revenue Service had its sights on Maranzano. His organization was to be the subject of an IRS audit.

The New Old-Fashioned Mob

The elder Maranzano assured his younger lieutenants that there would be room at the table for everyone and enough money to wet the beaks of all the mobsters in New York City. He envisioned control of all the rackets across the country, a worldview that eluded his neighborhood-centric predecessors. But his scheming nature was too much for Luciano. Lucky knew his days were numbered.

The End of the Petes

Once Luciano knew of the plot against him, he decided to take swift action to head off the threat. He hired four hit men to go to Maranzano’s place of business, in midtown Manhattan, and take him out. The gangsters posed as IRS agents to gain entry in to the building. They disarmed Maran-zano’s security guard and stabbed the elder don. The era of the Mustache Petes was over, and Luciano was now the Boss of all Bosses.