Men Who Made The Mafia
These are men who made the Mafia what it is today. Each one left his undelable mark the criminal underworld.
Ferro is the man credited with actually establishing the Mafia in the United States. Ferro came to America under authority from the Inglese Family in Sicily. He first came to New York in 1900 to avoid charges he had racked up in Sicily. Ferro soon established himself as one of the most powerful men in the crimeworld. He fled to New Orleans at one point, and then eventually fled back Sicily.
Back in Sicily, Ferro established himself as the top man in the mafioso. He is credited with establishing the practice of businesses paying tribute in return for protection from the mafioso. If the businesses didn't pay, they could count on swift retribution. Ferro ruled at the top until Mussolini's Fascist government in Italy came after him. He lived in an Italian prison until his death in 1945.
Masseria is another figure who got is start in the Mafioso's home on the isle of Sicily. He came to the United States in 1903, and by 1920 he had gained control of the New York City underworld. Masseria became famous for his ruthless tactics, and even more famous for his ability to dodge murder attempts on his own life.
For many years, Masseria ruled unchallenged. Then came probably his greatest challenge to authority in the body of Salvatore Maranzano. Maranzano had been sent by Vito Ferro to organize the NYC underworld and have it ready for Ferro's return. But when Ferro didn't return, Maranzano decided to still go ahead with takeover plans. This led to a war between Masseria and Maranzano for control.
Masseria had thought it would be easy to beat Maranzano, but he soon found out how wrong he was. Eventually, the war got to be too much for the middlemen involved, and they looked for a solution. That solution would come in the form of Lucky Luciano.
Masseria never even saw it coming. One night, he and Luciano went to have dinner in one of his favorite restaurants. Luciano excused himself to the bathroom, and at that time four gunmen walked him and filled Masseria full of bullets. That was the end of Masseria's rain at the top.
Born Salvatore Luciano, Charles "Lucky" Luciano is considered by many to be the greatest gangster ever. He was great because he was smart, always looking for the opportunity where he could make more money or expand control with the cooperation of those he was taking control of. Before he was done, he had turned a bunch of feuding families into one of the greatest legacies in modern times, organized crime. As one of the founders of "The Commission", he turned doing things the illegal way into one of the most efficient and profitable operations in the United States.
Luciano grew up in an atmosphere of crime. He was born in Sicily, but his parents soon moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. By Eighteen, he was already in a life of crime, pushing dope and serving time in jail. After his release, he took up with the Five points gang, where he met many future bosses, including none other than the famous Al Capone. The future had bigger things in store for Luciano than just regular streetgang life. This would soon be proven when Proabition was put in place.
With Proabition, many in the underworld saw there chance to make a quick buck in bootlegging. Not Luciano, though. Luciano, turned bootlegging into an art form. More importantly, he turned it into one of the most profitable avenues of crime in the day. With partners Benny Siegle and Meyer Lansky, they started making money at an astounding rate. Soon, the two biggest bosses in New York, Masseria and Maranzano, were taking notice. Both asked Luciano to join their organizations. Luciano and his men hated the thought of joining either, but for the sake of business, in the end, Luciano joined forced with Masseria. They agreed, though, that bootlegging money would still go directly to Luciano and his company.
Soon though, Luciano saw that Masseria was not the right man to follow, and he decided to go to Maranzano. When Maranzano told him to kill Masseria, Luciano refused. This eventually resulted in Luciano being taken for a "ride". This ride involved Luciano being severely beat and having his face cut by Maranzano himself, and being dumped out on Staten Island. When it was found that he actually survived all this, he was given the nickname "Lucky". Luciano decided now was the time to act.
First he had Masseria killed, in a restaurant shooting that had "Mafia" written all over it. Maranzano assumed control and crowned himself the boss of bosses, with Luciano as his right hand man and leader of the most powerful of the "five families" that Maranzano organized. Next, Luciano set Maranzano up, and under the disguise of "federal agents", four men walked into Maranzano's office, and eventually stabbed and shot Maranzano to death. Now Luciano was in the driver's seat. Soon he, with the help of Lansky, organized the first meeting of what would come to be known as "The Commission". Everyone in the five families would work together, no more fighting over different criminal aspects like bootlegging, prostitution, and the such. Luciano was on top.
Of course, the good times couldn't last forever. In 1936, Luciano was brought up on charges of running a citywide prostitution ring. He was sentenced to thirty to fifty years in prison. Luciano was shocked, figuring he wouldn't actually get sentenced. Immediately, he began working on ways to get out. He found a way with the entrance of the United States into World War II. He actually worked out a scheme that convinced the US Navy to turn to him for protection on the docks in New York City. His only request...parole and freedom. The deal was made, but only on the condition that he be deported and never come back to the United States. In 1946, Luciano stepped out of prison and onto a boat bound for Europe. He swore he would come back, but he never had the chance, and he never came back to the city he once ruled.
Albert Anastasia was a name that sent shivers down the spine of many men the criminal world. Albert Anastasia was murderer #1 for Murder Inc., the enforcement arm of The Commission. His cold ruthlessness was legendary. Eventually, it would come back to him, though.
Anastasia came to the United States sometime around 1920. He was arrested when he was 20 for murder and spent some time in jail, but he was eventually set free when witnesses for another trial suddenly "disappeared". His killer ways saw him rise to the top of Murder Inc., the killing arm of The Commission. He, with Louis Buchalter, ran this organization of contract killers and made it extremely efficient.
Anastasia was extremely close to "Lucky" Luciano. He was part of the group of men that came into the restaurant and killed Giuseppe Masseria for Luciano. This type of loyalty and devotion eventually paid off, when Anastasia was given the reigns of the Gambino Family in 1951. His sanity was eventually questioned though, and in 1957 Anastasia was shot to death in a hotel barbershop. It was a gruesome end for a man that had caused the same fate for so many others.
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