Rizzuto crime family




The Rizzuto family is a crime syndicate that is part of the phenomenon known as the Mafia or Cosa Nostra, based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The family territory covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The FBI considers the family connected to the Bonanno family, but the Canadian law enforcement considers it a separate crime family. The Rizzuto family was part of the powerful Montreal Cotroni family until an internal war broke out and the Rizzutos formed their own family.


 




History




In the 1970s an internal war broke out in the Cotroni crime family between the Sicilian and Calabrian factions. The Sicilian faction was led by Nicolo Rizzuto and the Calabrian faction was led by family boss Vic Cotroni. This led to a violent Mafia war in Montreal leading to the deaths of Paolo Violi (who was acting capo and underboss for Vic Cotroni) and others in the late 1970s. The war ended when Vic Cotroni the Calabrian leader had to let go of the Sicilian faction led by Nicolo Rizzuto in control by the blessing of the Bonanno family. Today the family is considered the strongest crime family in Canada. The leader is Vito Rizzuto the son of the first, and late leader Nicolo Rizzuto.


 




Vito Rizzuto's leadership




Vito Rizzuto's style of business was a striking contrast to flamboyant American mobsters like John Gotti. He remained at the top of Canada's criminal underworld by keeping a low profile, working only with trusted people close to the family, and spreading the wealth around. He is credited with playing a major role in bringing a truce in the deadly war between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine in Quebec. The Rizzutos worked with both Sicilian Mafia and Calabrian âââ¬ÃÅNdrangheta families, the Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan (which branched out from Sicily to Canada and South America), Colombian drug cartels and the five Mafia families of New York, in particular the Bonannos and Gambinos. Rizzuto was the mediator who oversaw the peace with the Hells Angels, the Mafia, street gangs, Colombian cartels and the Irish mobs such as the West End Gang when the order of the day was co-operation.


 




Current status




After consolidation of their power in the 1990s, the Rizzutos became over-exposed and over-extended. Vito Rizzuto was arrested in January 2004 for his involvement in the 1981 gangland killings of three rival Bonanno crime family captains (Alphonse Indelicato, Phillip Giaccone and Dominick Trinchera) and was sentenced to ten years in May 2007. In November 2006 the senior leadership of the criminal organization was hit by a police operation, dubbed Project Colisee. Among the 90 people arrested were Nick Rizzuto, father of Vito Rizzuto, Paolo Renda, Vito Rizzuto's brother-in-law, and Francesco Arcadi.




On December 28, 2009, Nick Rizzuto Jr., son of Vito Rizzuto, was shot and killed near his car in Notre-Dame-de-GrÃÆâce, a borough in Montreal. The killing of Nick Jr. âââ‰â¬Å the face of the organization on the street âââ‰â¬Å illustrated the power vacuum within the upper ranks of Montreal organized crime. Since the slaying of Vito Rizzuto's son, the organisation suffered other major setbacks. Paolo Renda, Vito's brother-in-law disappeared on May 20, 2010. A month later Agostino Cuntrera, the presumed acting boss who is believed to have taken control of the family, was killed together with his bodyguard on June 30, 2010. After three decades of relative stability, the face of the city's Mafia hierarchy is subject to a major management shuffle. On November 10, 2010, Nicolo Rizzuto was killed at his residence in the Cartierville borough of Montreal with a single bullet from a sniper's rifle punched through two layers of glass in the rear patio doors of his Montreal mansion.




Calabrian mobsters in the Cotroni family are believed responsible for the murders of Rizzuto crime family members. The Rizzutos have dominated organized crime activities in Montreal since its inception and now their weakened organization is being challenged for control of rackets in the area, most notability the drug trade. It is unknown if the New York City families, historically aligned with the Rizzuto's, are supporting or against the new leadership. Salvatore Montagna, the acting boss of the Bonanno family until his deporation to Canada in 2009, was believed to be attempting to reorganize both families under his control. If so, he was unsuccessful and was murdered in November 2011. Vito Rizzuto will be released on October 6, 2012, and it remains to be seen if or how he will seek revenge and a return to power.

Charlie "Lucky" Luciano (pronounced "loo-tchi-a-noh") (born Salvatore Lucania; November 24, 1897 âââ‰â¬Å January 26, 1962) was an Italian mobster born in Sicily. 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 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.


 




Early life




Salvatore Lucania was born on November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily.[1] His parents, Antonio and Rosalia Lucania, had four other children: Bartolomeo (born 1890), Giuseppe (born 1898), Filippia (born 1901), and Concetta. When Charlie was 10 years old (1907), the family migrated to the United States.[2][3] They settled in New York City, on the Lower East Side at 265 East 10th Street. The neighborhood was a popular destination for Italian immigrants at the time.




While a teenager, he started his own gang. Unlike the other street gangs whose business was to pickpocket, mug, and steal, Lucania decided to offer protection to the Jewish youngsters who were picked on by their Italian and Irish counterparts. He would charge each one ten cents per week.


 




Prohibition




On January 17, 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified and prohibition lasted until the amendment was repealed in 1933. 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 added source of income. Around this time, Luciano worked for Arnold Rothstein.




Luciano had plans to expand both his territory and profits by collaborating with other gangsters to cut down the cost of political protection and reduce the likelihood of hijacked shipments. However, Joe "The Boss" Masseria prevented Luciano from taking this path.




By 1921, Luciano had met many Mafia leaders, including Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, his longtime friend, business partner, and eventually Sottocapo through his involvement in the Five Points Gang. Together they began a bootlegging operation.




By 1925, Luciano was grossing over $12 million a year; however, he was netting much less each year due to the high 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 directly from Scotland, rum from the Caribbean, and whiskey from Canada. He was also involved in gambling.


 




Rise to power




At an early age Luciano had established himself as a creative criminal on the Lower East Side and eventually became a top aide to crime boss Joe Masseria who was involved in a prolonged turf war with rival crime boss Salvatore Maranzano during the 1920s.




Masseria was a Mustache Pete, an old-school mafioso who wanted to preserve the old Mafia ideals of honour, tradition, respect and dignity. Luciano and his contemporaries who had started their criminal careers in the United States were known as the Young Turks. Like the original Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire, they formed a young and ambitious group which challenged the established order. The Mustache Petes would not work with anyone who was not Italian or Italian American, and were even skeptical of working with anyone who was not Sicilian or Sicilian-American. Luciano believed that as long as money was being made, the family should deal with anyone. He was therefore shocked to hear old mafiosi lecturing him about his dealings with close friend Frank Costello whom they called "the dirty Calabrian."[5]




What became known as the Castellammarese War raged from 1928 to 1931, resulting in the death of as many as 60 mobsters.[6] The war was nominally between Maranzano and Masseria. In truth, however, there was a third, secret faction, made up of Luciano and several other Young Turks from both the Masseria and Maranzano factions. In addition to Luciano, this group included Frank Costello, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Joe Adonis, Joe Bonanno, Carlo Gambino, Joe Profaci, Tommy Gagliano and Tommy Lucchese. They believed the Mustache Petes' greed was pushing them to the fringe while the Irish and Jewish gangs got rich. Luciano was already making plans to get rid of the Mustache Petes and 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.[7]




In 1929, Luciano was forced into a limousine at gun point by three men, beaten and stabbed, and dumped on a beach on New York Bay. He somehow survived the ordeal but was forever marked with a scar and droopy eye. 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 the attack had been ordered by Masseria's enemy, Salvatore Maranzano.[8] In an ironic twist Luciano later cut a secret deal with Maranzano in which he agreed to engineer Masseria's death in return for being made Maranzano's second-in-command.[9] This deal would end the famous Castellammarese War.




Luciano kept up his end of the bargain on April 15, 1931, when he invited Masseria and two other associates to have lunch in a Coney Island restaurant. When they finished their lunch, they decided to play a game of cards. At that point Luciano stepped into the men's washroom. While Luciano was in the washroom, four gunmen--Bugsy Siegel, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia and Joe Adonisâââ‰â¬Âwalked into the restaurant and shot and killed Masseria and the other two associates. Luciano then took over Masseria's crime family.[9]




Maranzano then made Luciano his number two, and set up the Five Families of New York. The newly formed families were headed by Maranzano, Luciano, Profaci, Gagliano and Vincent Mangano. Maranzano promised that they would all be equal and all be free to make money. However, while Maranzano was slightly more forward-thinking than Masseria, at heart he was still a Mustache Pete. He showed this at a later meeting of the crime bosses in Upstate New York, when he declared himself capo di tutti capi (Boss of all Bosses). He also whittled down the rackets of the rival families in order to strengthen his own family. Luciano appeared to accept this, though in reality he was merely biding his time before getting rid of Maranzano as wellâââ‰â¬Âas he'd planned all along.[5]




Maranzano soon realized that Luciano was a threat, and hired Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll, a notoriously violent Irish gangster, to kill him. However, Lucchese alerted Luciano that he was marked for death. When Maranzano ordered Luciano and Genovese to come to his office at 230 Park Avenue in New York City on September 10, Luciano suspected they wouldn't come out alive. He had four Jewish gangsters pose as government agents and show up at Maranzano's office. While two of the "agents" disarmed Maranzano's bodyguards, the other two stabbed Maranzano multiple times before shooting him.[7]




The same day, several of Maranzano's lieutenants, including James Marino, were killed by unknown gunmen. The bodies of Maranzano allies Samuel Monaco and Louis Russo were later recovered from Newark Bay, both corpses showing signs of torture. During the following days and through the remainder of the year, many old world Sicilian-born mafiosi (Mustache Petes) were killed throughout the country by the Luciano-Lansky faction, thus concluding the Castellammarese War. In mafia parlance, this series of hits, orchestrated with the help of Louis Lepke, came to be known as the "Night of the Sicilian Vespers."


 




Reorganizing the Cosa Nostra




Luciano now had businesses throughout the country. His longtime friend Meyer Lansky served as his right-hand man and adviser. When Dutch Schultz decided he was going to kill Manhattan District Attorney Thomas Dewey, in direct violation of Luciano's orders, Schultz was executed instead.




Luciano had reached the pinnacle of America's underworld, directing criminal rules, policies and activities along with the other family bosses. He ran a powerful crime family which now bore his name, and he controlled lucrative criminal rackets 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. Meyer Lansky however, urged him against it, arguing that young people needed rituals to cling to. Luciano also stressed the importance of the omertÃÆà, the oath of silence, and kept the organizational structure that Maranzano had instituted.


 




The Commission




Luciano, under the urging of Johnny Torrio, set up the Mafia's governing body, organizing the Commission with the Mafia family bosses. The Commission settled all disputes between families and has been called Luciano's most important innovation. The Commission decided which families controlled which territories. If an individual was to be a "made man", his boss had to first go before the Commission and receive their approval.




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, Kansas City crime family were added. 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.


 




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.


 




Prosecutions and prison




Luciano's reign was relatively short-lived. Special prosecutor Thomas E. Dewey, a future Republican presidential candidate (later Luciano himself affirmed that the Commission had done everything they could in order for Dewey to become President in exchange for Luciano's return to the US), singled out Luciano as an organized crime ringleader and targeted him, along with others. Luciano had previously voted against Dutch Schultz's proposal to assassinate Dewey after Schultz became the repeated target of Dewey's investigations.




In a raid by Dewey of 80 New York City brothels, hundreds of arrested prostitutes agreed to turn state's evidence in exchange for not receiving prison time. Three of them implicated Luciano as the ringleader, who made collections, although David "Little Davey" Betillo was in charge of the prostitution ring in New York, and any money that Luciano received was from Betillo. But Dewey had also managed to persuade the staff at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel to lie and say that Luciano's gangster friends had often come to his room.




It is believed by almost all mob experts[who?] that Dewey framed Luciano, since Mafia did not bother with prostitution, and also Luciano meeting with hookers to collect money seemed absurd, considering his position as boss. Before he could get Luciano into court for trial, Luciano escaped to Hot Springs, Arkansas, the renowned gangster haven established by famous gangster Owney Madden. An Arkansas judge remanded Luciano to a state prison for extradition, but a local paid-off police detective bailed Luciano out of jail after only four hours. Dewey then sent detectives to Arkansas to spirit Luciano back for trial.




Dewey's efforts succeeded in Luciano being convicted on charges as leader of one of the largest prostitution rings in American history in 1936 and sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison, along with Dave Betillo and others.[10] Dewey exposed Luciano for lying on the witness stand, through direct quizzing 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 it was obvious to onlookers that he was a wealthy man.[9]




Luciano continued to run the Luciano crime family from prison and his prison cell, relaying his orders through his first acting boss, Vito Genovese. Genovese had quickly lived up to his feared reputation for violence, and soon fled to Naples, Italy, in 1937 to avoid a murder indictment. The Family's third most powerful member, Consigliere Frank Costello became the new Sottocapo and overseer of Luciano's interests. It is a mystery to most organized crime historians just who it was that had replaced Costello as the family consigliere. The only hint to the Costello successor came from Joe Valachi. Valachi was a former soldier in the Genovese Family and the first major Mafia informer in the United States. Valachi mentions, in the book The Valachi Papers, written by Peter Maas, a certain "Sandino," as the Family counselor. The mysterious "Sandino" was whispered about at a meeting Valachi attended with his Capo, Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo.[11]




Luciano was imprisoned in Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, where co-defendant Dave Betillo prepared special dishes for Luciano in a special kitchen set aside by authorities.[9] He would use 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.


 




World War II, freedom and deportation




During World War II, the U.S. government reportedly struck a secret deal with the imprisoned Luciano. United States Army Military Intelligence knew that Luciano maintained good connections in the Sicilian and Italian Mafia, which the fascist regime had tried to eradicate. Luciano considered himself to be a loyal American who was devoted to Sicily, the Mafia, and the United States alike. His help was sought in providing Mafia assistance to counter possible Axis infiltration on U.S. waterfronts, during Operation Avalanche, and his connections in Italy and Sicily were tapped to furnish intelligence and ensure an easy passage for U.S. forces involved in the Italian Campaign. Albert Anastasia, who controlled the docks, promised that no dockworker strikes would arise. Both during and after the war, the U.S. military and intelligence agencies reputedly also used Luciano's Mafia connections to root out communist influence in labor groups and local governments. In return for his cooperation, Luciano was permitted to run his crime empire unhindered from his jail cell.




Luciano would later say that his contribution to the war effort had been a sham, designed purely to obtain his release from prison. The enemy threat to the docks, he said, had been manufactured by the sinking of the SS Normandie directed by Anastasia's brother, Anthony Anastasio.[12] The Normandie, a French passenger vessel, which had been seized by the U.S. under the right of angary, was being refitted as a troop ship in New York harbor. Furthermore, said Luciano, he did next to nothing to help the war effort in Italy.[13]




In 1946, as a reward for his presumed wartime cooperation, Luciano was paroled on the condition that he depart the United States and return to Sicily. He accepted the deal, although he had maintained during his trial that he was a native of New York City and was therefore not subject to deportation. He was deeply hurt about having to leave the United States, a country he had considered his own ever since his arrival at age ten. During his exile, Luciano used to meet US military men during train trips throughout Italy, and he enjoyed being recognized by his countrymen and tourists, taking photos and even signing autographs for them.


 




The Havana Conference




Although 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. 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 girlfriend's 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.


 




Operating in Italy




While exiled in Italy Luciano left his stamp on American organized crime and the larger society for decades to come by making narcotics trafficking one of Cosa Nostra's biggest money making 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 who covered organized crime and criminal justice matters for twenty-five years, 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 then tiny heroin and cocaine market in the U.S. by reducing the price and focusing on working class black and white urban neighborhoods.


 




Personal life




After being deported to Italy, Luciano fell in love with Igea Lissoni, an Italian dancer 20 years his junior.[14] 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 house on Via Tasso in Naples [1]. Igea was reportedly the center of Luciano's life, so when she died of breast cancer in 1958, 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. If they had, it would have been illegal, since Luciano's deportation barred him from marriage.


 




American power struggle




During his exile, Luciano missed a major power shift in America. Vito Genovese, who was at one time Luciano's Underboss, had decided that he wanted to take over the Luciano Family. After a botched 1957 assassination attempt on Costello by Vinnie "The Chin" Gigante, Costello stepped down as Don and let Genovese take over. But Genovese wanted to take out his competition.




It was at the famous Apalachin Meeting, later in 1957, that Genovese planned to propose to The Commission that Luciano be stripped of his title as Capo Di Tutti i Capi, and that he be crowned Boss of all Bosses. But he did not count on Carlo Gambino, one of Luciano's prot̮̩g̮̩s, to hold loyalty to his old Boss.




Costello, Luciano, and Gambino met in a hotel in Palermo, Sicily, to discuss their plan of action.


 




Death and legacy




Luciano was reportedly told not to promote or participate in films about his life, as it would have attracted unnecessary attention to the mob. He relented after Igea Lissoni died of breast cancer and was scheduled to meet with a movie producer arriving by plane at the Naples Airport. On January 26, 1962, Luciano died of a heart attack at Naples International Airport. Back in 1946 after serving his prison sentence, Luciano had been deported and thus denied entry into the United States, but in death his desire was granted. He was buried in St. John's Cemetery in Queens. More than 2,000 mourners attended his funeral. His longtime friend, Carlo Gambino, spoke at the funeral.




Carlo Gambino was the only other boss besides Luciano to have complete control of the Commission and virtually every Mafia family in the United States. Luciano, unlike many Italian gangsters in the days of his rise to the top, was prepared to do dealings with non-Italians mainly of Jewish descent. As much as it was resented by his fellow Italians, it paid dividends. With the help of his Jewish associates he reinvented the mob into the most powerful crime syndicate the United States has ever witnessed and, in the process, oversaw the golden era of the American Mafia. Lucky Luciano made what was then an unprecedented Mafia coup, facilitating the murders of two of the most feared bosses Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. At the peak of his criminal career Lucky Luciano's influence was far reaching to the extent that the United States government through the FBI approached him for help in protecting the Navy fleet in New York and with the invasion of Italy to defeat Mussolini in World War II. Luciano's contribution led to his release from prison in February 1946. In popular culture proponents of the Mafia and its history often debate as to who was the greater between Luciano and his contemporary Al Capone. The much publicized exploits of Al Capone with the Chicago Outfit made him the most famous mobster in American history, however Capone did not command influence over other Mafia families; something Luciano did in creating and running The Commission. For being the Mafia hegemon in the era of landmark mobsters like Albert Anastasia, Frank Costello, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, Tommy Lucchese, Carlo Gambino and Vito Genovese all of whom he led, Charles Lucky Luciano is thus considered by many as the most powerful Mafia boss of all time.




TIME magazine deplored Luciano as the "criminal mastermind" among the top 20 most influential builders and titans of the 20th century.



<hr class="bbcode_rule" />

Salvatore Maranzano (July 31, 1886 âââ‰â¬Å September 10, 1931) was an organized crime figure from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss in the United States. He instigated the Castellammarese War to seize control of the American Mafia operations, and briefly became the Mafia's "Boss of Bosses". He was assassinated by a younger faction led by Lucky Luciano, who established a power-sharing arrangement rather than a "boss of bosses" to prevent future wars.


 




Early life




As a youngster, Maranzano had wanted to become a priest and even studied to become one, but later became associated with the Mafia in his homeland. Maranzano had a very commanding presence, and was greatly respected by his underworld peers. He had a fascination with Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire and enjoyed talking to his less-educated American Mafia counterparts about these subjects.


 




Early career




Maranzano emigrated to the United States in 1925, settling in Brooklyn. While building a legitimate business as a real estate broker, he also maintained a growing bootleg liquor business.


 




Castellammarese War




Maranzano began to invade the territory of Joe "The Boss" Masseria. Maranzano hijacked truckloads of Masseria's liquor and started taking over Masseria's speakeasies. This led to a bloody underworld battle known as the Castellammarese War. While outnumbered at the outset of the war, Maranzano and his fellow Castellamarese grew stronger as the war progressed. The war ended after one of Masseria's lieutenants, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, helped orchestrate Masseria's murder in April 1931 in return for being considered an equal to Maranzano.


 




Boss of All Bosses




Maranzano was now the most powerful gangster in New York. Two weeks after Masseria's murder, Maranzano called together several hundred Mafiosi at a banquet hall at an undisclosed location in Upstate New York. Maranzano laid out his vision of a new gangland, structured on hierarchical lines. The New York Mafia would be organized into Five Families, headed by himself, Luciano (his second-in-command), Profaci, Vincent Mangano and Thomas Gagliano. In addition, Maranzano created a special position for himself âââ‰â¬Â Boss of All Bosses.




Maranzano also laid rules for a Mafia Commission; among other things, he outlawed random killings, and he prohibited anyone in The Commission from talking about the Mafia or its activities to anyone outside, even if the outsider was just the gangster's wife. Anyone who broke any of these rules would be punished by death.[1]




To signal his dominance to the nation's other crime bosses, Maranzano called a meeting in Wappingers Falls, New York to tell Al Capone and other influential mafiosi nationwide that he was now the leader of New York Mafia operations.[1]




However, Maranzano's scheming, his arrogant treatment of his subordinates, and his fondness for comparing his organization to the Roman Empire (he attempted to model the organization after Caesar's military chain of command) did not sit well with Luciano and his ambitious friends, like Vito Genovese, Frank Costello and others.[1] Luciano came to believe that Maranzano was more power-hungry than Masseria had been.[1] Despite his advocacy for modern methods of organization, including capos overseeing crews that did the bulk of the families' work,[1] many younger mafiosi resented him as a "Mustache Pete" âââ‰â¬Â an old-school mafioso too steeped in Old World ways. For instance, he was opposed to Luciano's partnership with Jewish gangsters such as Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel. In fact, Luciano and his colleagues had intended all along to bide their time before getting rid of Maranzano as well.




Maranzano realized this soon enough, and began planning the murder of Luciano, Genovese, Costello and others. Maranzano did not act quickly enough, though: by the time he hired Mad Dog Coll to murder Luciano and Genovese, Luciano, aided by Meyer Lansky, had already found out about Maranzano's plans.


 




Death




Luciano arranged for Samuel "Red" Levine and three other gangsters provided by Lansky to go to Maranzano's offices on September 10, 1931, posing as police detectives. Once inside his office on the 9th floor of The Helmsley Building, they disarmed Maranzano's guards. The four men then shot and stabbed Salvatore Maranzano to death. As they fled down the stairs, they met Coll on his way upstairs for his appointment with Maranzano. They warned him that there had been a raid, and he fled too.




Following Maranzano's death, Luciano and his colleagues reorganized the Five Families and abolished the position of "capo di tutti capi." Maranzano's crime family was inherited by Joseph Bonanno and became known as the Bonanno family.




Maranzano and his wife Elisabetta (who died in 1964) are buried in Saint John's Cemetery, Queens, located in New York City, near the graves of Luciano and Genovese.


 




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About real MOB story and together we can build a stroy that would be our legacy to the next generation


 




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Joseph Charles Bonanno, Sr. (January 18, 1905 âââ‰â¬Å May 11, 2002) was a Sicilian-born American mafioso who became the boss of the Bonanno crime family. He was nicknamed "Joe Bananas," a name he despised.


 




Early life




Bonanno was born Giuseppe Carlo Bonanno on January 18, 1905 in Castellammare del Golfo, a town on the western coast of Sicily. When he was three years old, his family moved to the United States and settled in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn for about 10 years before returning to Italy. Bonanno slipped back into the United States in 1924 by stowing away on a Cuban fishing boat bound for Tampa. By all accounts, he'd become active in the Mafia during his youth in Italy, and he fled to the United States after Benito Mussolini initiated a crackdown. Bonanno himself claimed years later that he fled because he was ardently anti-Fascist.[3] However, the former account is more likely, since several other Castellammarese mafiosi fled to the United States around the same time.




Eventually, Bonanno became involved in bootlegging activities, and soon joined a Mafia family led by another Castellammarese, Salvatore Maranzano.


 




The Castellammarese War




Almost from the beginning, Bonanno was recognized by his accomplices in Brooklyn as a man with superior organizational skills and quick instincts. He also became known to the leader of Mafia activities in New York, Joe "the Boss" Masseria. Masseria became increasingly suspicious of the growing number of Castellammarese in Brooklyn. He sensed they were gradually dissociating themselves from his overall leadership.




In 1927 violence broke out between the two rival factions that shortly developed into all-out war. This war between Masseria and Maranzano became known as the Castellammarese War. It continued for more than four years. By 1930, Maranzanoâââ‰â¢s chief aides were Bonanno (as underboss and chief of staff),




Tommy Lucchese and Joseph Magliocco. Tommy Gagliano ran another gang that supported Maranzano. The Buffalo, New York mob boss Stefano Magaddino, another Castellammarese, also supported Maranzano. Magaddino's son was Peter Magaddino, a boyhood friend of Bonanno from his student days in Palermo. Masseria had Lucky Luciano, Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis, Carlo Gambino, Albert Anastasia and Frank Costello on his side.




However, a third, secret, faction soon emerged, composed of younger mafiosi on both sides disgusted with the old-world predilections of Masseria, Maranzano and other old-line mafiosi, whom they called "Mustache Petes." This group of "Young Turk" mafiosi was led by Luciano and included Costello, Genovese, Adonis, Gambino and Anastasia on the Masseria side and Profaci, Gagliano, Lucchese, Magliocco and Magaddino on the Maranzano side. Although Bonanno was more steeped in the old-school traditions of "honor," "tradition," "respect" and "dignity" than others of his generation, he saw the need to modernize and joined forces with the Young Turks.]




By 1931, momentum had shifted to Maranzano and the Castellammarese faction. They were better organized and more unified than Masseriaâââ‰â¢s men, some of whom began to defect. Luciano and Genovese urged Masseria to make peace with Maranzano, but Masseria stubbornly refused. In the end, Luciano and Genovese concluded a secret deal with Maranzano. In return for safety and equal status for Luciano in Maranzano's new organization, Luciano and Genovese murdered Masseria and ended the Castellammarese War.


 




Mob re-organization




After Masseria's death, Maranzano outlined a peace plan to all the Sicilian and Italian gang leaders in the United States. Under this plan there would be 24 gangs (to be known as âââ¬Ãâfamiliesâââ¬

Vito "Don Vito" Genovese (November 27, 1897 âââ‰â¬Å February 14, 1969) was an Italian mobster and crime boss who rose to power in America during the Castellammarese War to later become leader of the Genovese crime family. Genovese served as mentor to future mob boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante.


 




[align=center:1fwu58ls]150px-Vito_Genovese_NYWTS.jpg[/attachment:1fwu58ls][/align:1fwu58ls]


 




Background




Vito Genovese was born on November 27, 1887, in Rosiglino near Naples, Italy. His father was Felice Genovese and his mother Nunziata Genovese. Vito had two brothers, Michael and Carmine Genovese, who also belonged to Vito Genovose's crime family. Vito Genovese's cousin, Michael James Genovese, became boss of the Pittsburgh crime family.




Vito Genovese was a very thin man who stood at 5'7". He had a fondness for Cashmere wool coats and had bloodless eyes that always seemed to be staring[citation needed]. He and his family lived a quiet life in a house in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey.




According to mobster Joseph Valachi, Genovese was a murderer with his own set of rules:




"If you went to Vito and told him about some guy who was doing wrong, he would have this guy killed and then he would have you killed for telling on the guy.


 




Early Years




As a child in Italy, Genovese only completed school to the equivalent to the American fifth grade. When Genovese was 15, his family emigrated to the United States and took up residence in Little Italy, Manhattan. Genovese started his criminal career stealing merchandise from pushcart vendors and running errands for mobsters. He later collected money from people who played illegal lotteries. One of Genovese's early friends was Lucky Luciano, a founding father of the Cosa Nostra . At age 19, Genovese spent a year in prison for illegal possession of a firearm.




In the early 1920, Genovese started working for Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria, the boss of a powerful Brooklyn gang. Involved in bootlegging and extortion, Genovese's main asset to Masseria was his propensity for violence. In 1930, Genovese was indicted on counterfeiting charges when police found $1 million of counterfeit U.S. currency in a Bath Beach, Brooklyn workshop.[6]




In 1930, Genovese allegedly murdered Gaetano Reina, the leader of another Brooklyn gang. Reina had been an Masseria ally, but Masseria started to suspect Reina of secretly helping his arch-rival, Brooklyn gang leader Salvatore Maranzano. Masseria decided to kill Reina. On February 26, 1930, Genovese ambushed Reina as he was leaving his mistress' house in the Bronx and shot him in the back of the head with a shotgun. Masseria then took direct control of the Reina gang.




In 1931, Genovese's first wife died of tuberculosis and he quickly announced his intention to marry Anna Petrillo, who was already married to Gerard Vernotico.


 




Castellammarese War




In early 1931, the so-called Castellammarese War broke out between Masseria and Maranzano. By April 1931, Luciano and Genovese were secretly conspiring with Maranzano to kill Masseria. On April 15, 1931, Genovese allegedly participated in Masseria's murder. Luciano had lured Masseria to a meeting at a Coney Island, Brooklyn restaurant. During their meal, Luciano excused himself to go to the restroom. As soon as Luciano was gone, Genovese, Albert Anastasia, Joe Adonis, and Bugsy Siegel rushed into the dining room and shot Masseria to death. The war ended and Maranzano was the winner.[10] No one was ever indicted in the Masseria murder. After Masseria's murder, Maranzano reorganized all the Sicilian and Italian gangs in New York into five crime families. Luciano became one of the family bosses, with Genovese as his underboss.




In September 1931, Luciano and Genovese planned the murder of Salvatore Maranzano. Luciano had received word that Maranzano was planning to kill him and Genovese, and prepared a hit team to kill Maranzano first. On September 10, 1931, when Maranzano summoned Luciano, Genovese, and Frank Costello to a meeting at his office, they knew Maranzano would kill them there. Instead, Luciano sent the hit squad to the office, where they shot Maranzano to death.




On March 16, 1932, Gerard Vernotico was found strangled to death on a Manhattan rooftop. On March 28, 1932, Genovese married Gerard's widow, Anna.


 




Boccia murder and exile to Italy


 




In 1934, Genovese allegedly killed mobster Ferdinand Boccia. Genovese and Boccia had conspired to cheat a wealthy gambler out of $150,000 in a high-stakes card game. After the game, Boccia demanded a share of $35,000 because he had introduced the victim to Genovese. Rather than pay Boccia anything, Genovese decided to murder him. On September 19, 1934, Genovese and five associates allegedly shot and killed Boccia in a coffee shop in Brooklyn.




On June 18, 1936, Luciano was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in state prison as a result of his conviction on pandering. With Luciano's imprisonment, Genovese became acting boss of the Luciano crime family.[15]




On November 25, 1936, Genovese became a naturalized United States citizen in New York City.[3] In 1937, fearing prosecution for the Boccia murder, Genovese fled to Italy with $750,000 cash and settled in the city of Nola near Naples. With Genovese's departure, Frank Costello became the new Luciano family acting boss with Willie Moretti as acting underboss.




Genovese prospered in Italy, becoming a prominent Mafia leader there. Genovese also ran an enormous black market operation with Calogero Vizzini, a powerful Mafia boss in Sicily.[17] After paying a $250,000 bribe to the fascist government, Genovese became a good friend of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and received Italy's highest civilian medal.




In 1943, Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of Carlo Tresca, the publisher of an anarchist newspaper in New York and an enemy of Mussolini. Genovese allegedly facilitated the murder as a favor to the Italian government. On January 11, 1943, a gunman shot and killed Tresca outside his newspaper office in Manhattan.[18] The shooter was later alleged to be Carmine Galante, a member of Genovese's crime family . No one was ever charged in the Tresca murder.


 




Return to New York




When the Allies invaded Italy in September 1943, Genovese switched sides and quickly offered his services to the U.S. Army. Genovese was appointed to a position of interpreter/liaison officer in the U.S. Army headquarters in Naples and quickly became one of American Military Government of Occupied Territories' (AMGOT) most trusted employees.




In the summer of 1944 in New York, Genovese was implicated in the Boccia murder by mobster Ernest Rupolo, a former Genovese associate. Facing a murder conviction, Rupolo had decided to become a government witness.[6]




On August 27, 1944, the Military Police arrested Genovese in Italy during an investigation of his black market ring. Genovese was stealing trucks, flour, and sugar from the Army. When Agent Orange C. Dickey of the Criminal Investigation Division examined Genovese's background, he discovered that Genovese was a U.S. fugitive for the 1934 Boccia killing. The problem was nobody in the Army or the federal government was interested in Genovese.




After months of frustration, Dickey was finally able to make preparations to ship Genovese back to New York to face trial. At that point, the pressure started being applied to Dickey. Genovese offered Dickey a $250,000 bribe to release him, and then threatened Dickey after he rejected the money .[21] Dickey was also pressured through his military chain of command to release Genovese, but refused to give in.[20]




On June 2, 1945, after arriving in New York by ship the day before, Genovese was arraigned on murder charges for the 1934 Boccia killing. He pleaded not guilty. On June 10, 1946, another prosecution witness, Jerry Esposito, was found shot to death beside a road in Norwood, New Jersey. On June 10, 1946, a judge dismissed murder charges against Genovese because the state did not have corroborating evidence. In making his decision, the judge had these comments:




"I cannot speak for the jury, but I believe that if there were even a shred of corroborating evidence, you would have been condemned to the (electric) chair".


 




Pursuit of power




With his release from custody in 1946, Genovese was able to rejoin the Luciano family in New York. However, neither Costello or Moretti were willing to give power back to him; Genovese was now a capo of his former Greenwich Village Crew. However, on October 4, 1951, Moretti was assassinated by order of the Mafia Commission; the mob bosses were unhappy with his testimony during the U.S. Senate Kefauver Hearings. Costello appointed Genovese as the new underboss.[25]




In December 1952, Anna Genovese sued her husband for financial support, an unheard of action by the wife of a Cosa Nostra figure. Two years earlier, she had moved out of the family home in New Jersey.[26] In 1953, Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of mobster Steven Franse. Genovese had tasked Franse with supervising Anna Genovese while her husband was hiding in Italy. Outraged over Anna's love affairs and her lawsuit against him, Genovese blamed it all on Franse. Following Genovese's orders, two hitman brutally beat Franse and then slowly strangled him.[27]




During the mid-1950s, Genovese decided to move against Costello. However, Genovese needed to also remove Costello's strong ally on the Commission; Albert Anastasia, the feared boss of the Anastasia crime family. Genovese was soon conspiring with Carlo Gambino, Anastasia's underboss, to remove both men.




In May 1957, Genovese allegedly ordered the Costello murder attempt. On May 2, as Costello was entering the lobby of his apartment building, mobster Vincent Gigante stepped out of a limosine, shot Costello once in the head, and then left the scene. Fortunately for Costello, he only suffered a superficial scalp wound.[28] However, the experience convinced Costello to retire from the family. Genovese now became boss of what we call today the Genovese crime family and promoted his longtime lieutenant, Anthony Strollo, to underboss.




In late 1957, Genovese and Gambino allegedly ordered Anastasia's murder. Genovese had heard rumors that Costello was conspiring with Anastasia to regain power. On October 25, 1957, Anastasia arrived a Manhattan hotel barber shop for a haircut and shave. As Anastasia relaxed in the barber chair, two men with their faces covered in scarves shot and killed Anastasia. Witnesses were unable to identify any of the gunmen and competing theories exist today as to their identities.[29][30]




The coup against Costello was supported by the two biggest earners in the family, Anthony Strollo and Anthony Carfano. Soon after Genovese became the godfather, he would allegedly arrange for these two caporegimes to be murdered. Genovese loyalists Philip Lombardo, Gerardo Catena and Mike Miranda would assume the top positions in the family by the early 1960s.


 




Apalachin and prison




In November 1957, immediately after the Anastasia murder Genovese called for a meeting of national Cosa Nostra leaders. Genovese wanted the Commission leads to confirm him as his family's boss along with Carlo Gambino in his family. Genovese set the meeting, known today as the Apalachin Conference, at the farm of mobster Joseph Barbara in the rural town of Apalachin, New York. However, on November 14, 1957, an inquisitive New York State Police trooper noticed the increased activity at the Barbara farm and called for reinforcements to surround it. When the attendees were alerted, they chaotically fled the location, some fleeing on foot into the woods. The police stopped Genovese as he was driving away from the farm. Genovese said he was just there for a barbecue and to discuss business with Barbara. The police let him go.[31]




On June 2, 1958, Genovese testify under supeona in the U.S. Senate McClellan Hearings on organized crime. Genovese refused to answer any questions, citing his fifth amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution 150 separate times.




On July 7, 1958, Genovese was indicted on charges of conspiring to import and sell narcotics.[32] In 1959, Genovese was convicted of selling a large quantity of heroin. On April 17, 1959, Genovese was sentenced to 15 years in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia.[33] Many court observers felt the chief witness, a low level criminal who claimed to have met Genovese, was lying. Years later, the witness would recant his testimony, saying that he had been released from prison in return for implicating Genovese.




Before he went to prison, Genovese created a Ruling Panel of high-level family members to supervise the family; Strollo, Catena, and Miranda, However, Genovese still retained ultimate control from prison.




In September 1959, Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of mobster Anthony Carfano. Angered at the murder attempt on Costello, Carfano had skipped the Apalachin meeting in protest. In response, Genovese decided to murder him.[34] On September 25, 1959, Carfano and a female companion were found shot to death in his Cadillac automobile on a residential street in Jackson Heights, Queens.[35]




In April 1962, Genovese allegedly ordered the murder of Anthony Strollo. Genovese had concluded that Strollo was part of the plot that put him in prison. On April 8, Strollo left his house to go for a walk and was never seen again. His body was never recovered.




In 1962, an alleged murder threat from Genovese propelled mobster Joseph Valachi into the public spotlight. In June 1962, Genovese supposedly accused Valachi, also imprisoned in Atlanta, of being an informer and condemned Valachi to death. In July 1962, Valachi supposedly mistook another inmate for a mob hitman and killed him. After receiving a life sentence for that murder, Valachi decided to become a government witness.[37]




On August 24, 1964, Ernest Rupolo's body was recovered from Jamaica Bay in Queens. His killers had attached two concrete blocks to his legs and tied his hands. It was widely assumed that Genovese had ordered Rupolo's murder for testifying against him in the 1944 Boccia murder trial.


 




Death




On February 14, 1969, Genovese died of natural causes at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. He is buried in Saint John Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens.


 




In popular culture




Genovese is portrayed in the 2001 TV movie Boss of Bosses by Steven Bauer.




Genovese is portrayed in the 1972 film The Valachi Papers by Lino Ventura.


 




[align=center:1fwu58ls]genovese_vito.jpg[/attachment:1fwu58ls][/align:1fwu58ls]


 


 



<hr class="bbcode_rule" />

[align=center:uf4ivj8s]Eliot Ness[/align:uf4ivj8s]




[align=center:uf4ivj8s]220px-Eliotness.jpg[/attachment:uf4ivj8s][/align:uf4ivj8s]




[align=center:uf4ivj8s]Bureau of Prohibition




Cleveland Division of Police[/align:uf4ivj8s]




[align=center:uf4ivj8s]April 19, 1903 âââ‰â¬Å May 16, 1957[/align:uf4ivj8s]




[align=center:uf4ivj8s]Place of birth   Chicago, Illinois




Rank   Chief Investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago in 1934




Director for Public Safety for Cleveland, Ohio[/align:uf4ivj8s]




[align=center:uf4ivj8s]400px-Ness_marker.jpg[/attachment:uf4ivj8s][/align:uf4ivj8s]


 


 




Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 âââ‰â¬Å May 16, 1957) was an American Prohibition agent, famous for his efforts to enforce Prohibition in Chicago, Illinois, and the leader of a legendary team of law enforcement agents nicknamed The Untouchables.


 




Early life




Eliot Ness was born April 19, 1903 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the youngest of five siblings born to Norwegian immigrants, Peter and Emma Ness. Ness attended Christian Fenger High School in Chicago. He was educated at the University of Chicago, where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, graduating in 1925 with a degree in economics. He began his career as an investigator for the Retail Credit Company of Atlanta. He was assigned to the Chicago territory, where he conducted background investigations for the purpose of credit information. He returned to the University to take a course in criminology, eventually earning a Master's Degree in the field.


 




Career




1927 - 1931




In 1926, Ness's brother-in-law, Alexander Jamie, an agent of the Bureau of Investigation (which later became the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935), influenced Ness to enter law enforcement. He joined the U.S. Treasury Department in 1927, working with the 300-strong Bureau of Prohibition, in Chicago.




Following the election of President Herbert Hoover, U.S. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon was specifically charged with bringing down gangster Al Capone. The federal government approached the problem from two directions: income tax evasion and the Volstead Act. Ness was chosen to head the operations under the Volstead Act, targeting the illegal breweries and supply routes of Capone.




With Chicago's corrupted law-enforcement agents endemic, Ness went through the records of all Prohibition agents to create a reliable team, initially of 50, later reduced to 15 and finally to just eleven men called, "The Untouchables". Raids against illegal stills and breweries began immediately; within six months Ness claimed to have seized breweries worth over one million dollars. The main source of information for the raids was an extensive wire-tapping operation. An attempt by Capone to bribe Ness's agents was seized on by Ness for publicity, leading to the media nickname, "The Untouchables." There were a number of assassination attempts on Ness, and one close friend of his was killed.




The efforts of Ness and his team had a serious impact on Capone's operations. However, Ness had very little to do with the IRS convicting Capone with income tax evasion, which led to Capone's downfall.[5] In a number of federal grand jury cases in 1931, Capone was charged with 22 counts of tax evasion and also 5,000 violations of the Volstead Act.[6] On October 17, 1931, Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison, and following a failed appeal, he began his sentence in 1932.


 




[align=center:uf4ivj8s]Nesscredentials.jpg[/attachment:uf4ivj8s][/align:uf4ivj8s]


 




1931 - 1957




Ness was promoted to Chief Investigator of the Prohibition Bureau for Chicago and in 1934 for Ohio. Following the end of Prohibition in 1933, he was assigned as an alcohol tax agent in the "Moonshine Mountains" of southern Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee; and, in 1934, he was transferred to Cleveland, Ohio. In December 1935, Cleveland mayor Harold Burton hired him as the city's Safety Director, which put him in charge of both the police and fire departments. He headed a campaign to clean out police corruption and to modernize the fire department.[9]


 


 




Billboard for Eliot Ness' 1947 campaign for mayor, seen in 1973




In 1938 Ness's personal life was completely transformed while his career began to have some ups and downs. He concentrated heavily on his work, which may have contributed to the divorce that year from his first wife Edna (Staley). He declared war on the mob, and his primary targets included "Big" Angelo Lonardo, "Little" Angelo Scirrca, Moe Dalitz, John Angerola, George Angersola, and Charles Pollizi. Ness was also Safety Director at the time of several grisly murders that occurred in the Cleveland area from 1935 to 1938. Unfortunately, what was otherwise a remarkably successful career in Cleveland, withered gradually. Cleveland critics targeted his divorce, his high-profile social drinking, and his conduct in a car accident, but he continued with the next Mayor, Frank Lausche.




Ness remarried in 1939, to illustrator Evaline Ness. The Nesses moved to Washington, D.C. in 1942 where he worked for the federal government, directing the battle against prostitution in communities surrounding military bases, where venereal disease was a serious problem. Later he made a number of forays into the corporate world, all of which failed from his lack of business acumen. In 1944, he left to become chairman of the Diebold Corporation, a security safe company based in Ohio. After his second divorce and third marriage, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Cleveland in 1947, after which he was expelled from Diebold. In the aftermath, Ness began drinking more heavily and spending his free time in bars telling (often exaggerated) stories of his law enforcement career. He also spent himself into debt. Ness was forced into taking various odd jobs to earn a living, including as an electronics parts wholesaler, a clerk in a bookstore, and selling frozen hamburger patties to restaurants. By 1953, he came to work for an upstart company called Guaranty Paper Corporation, which specialized in watermarking legal and official documents to prevent counterfeiting. Ness was offered a job because of his expertise in law enforcement. The company soon moved from Cleveland to the quiet rural town of Coudersport, Pennsylvania where operating costs were lower. He made a decent income from GPC and moved with his wife and adopted son into a modest rental house. Once again, he enjoyed going to local bars and regaling amazed audiences with his tales of crime fighting. He collapsed and died at his home of a massive heart attack on May 16, 1957. Collaborating with Oscar Fraley in his last years, he co-wrote the book The Untouchables, which was published a month after his death.


 




[align=center:uf4ivj8s]402px-1938_campaign_sign_on_building_at_36th_Street_and_Cedar_Avenue_Cleveland._-_NARA_-_550133.jpg[/attachment:uf4ivj8s][/align:uf4ivj8s]


 




Personal life




Ness was married to Edna Staley (1900-1988) from 1929 to 1938, illustrator Evaline Ness (1911-1986) from 1939 to 1945, and artist Elisabeth Andersen Seaver (1906-1977) from 1946 until his death. He also had an adopted son Robert (1946-1976). Ness's ashes were scattered in one of the small ponds on the grounds of Lake View Cemetery, in Cleveland.


 




Legacy




A number of television programs and feature films have been made (loosely) based on his life. Some of the best-known of these include the 1950s/1960s TV series titled The Untouchables, which starred Robert Stack as Ness and which Walter Winchell narrated, and Brian De Palma's Oscar-winning film of the same title, The Untouchables, which starred Kevin Costner as Ness and also featured Sean Connery and Robert De Niro. Tom Amandes portrayed Ness in the short-lived TV remake of The Untouchables, which ran from 1993 to 1994.[14] Ness is also the subject of a series of novels based on actual events during his tenure as Safety Director in Cleveland, and a stage play, Eliot Ness: An Untouchable Life, by Max Allan Collins[15]. He was also portrayed in the Supernatural episode "Time After Time After Time" by Nicholas Lea.




______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Team Forteress 2




http://store.steampowered.com/app/440/? ... Play_103_1

MAFIA II



 




In order to help and give members choices when they do a bad move like not making a back up file




In that section you will find individual folder witch are in the SDS file




like SDS/cars




SDS/players


 




all from the original game/ so members wont have to reinstall

[align=center:324nq5dj]Carmine_Galante.jpg[/attachment:324nq5dj][/align:324nq5dj]


 




Carmine Galante (pronounced gah-LAN-tay), also known as "Lilo" and "Cigar" (February 21, 1910 âââ‰â¬Å July 12, 1979) was a mobster and acting boss of the Bonanno crime family. Galante was rarely seen without a cigar, leading to the nickname "The Cigar" and "Lilo" (an Italian slang word for cigar).


 




Background




Camillo Carmine Galante was born on February 21, 1910, in a tenement building in the East Harlem section of Manhattan. His parents, Vincenzo "James" Galante and Vincenza Russo, had emigrated to New York City in 1906 from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, where Vincenzo was a fisherman.




Carmine Galante had two brothers, Samuel and Peter Galante, and two sisters, Josephine and Angelina Galante.  Carmine Galante married Helen Galante, by whom he had three children; Bonanno crime family reputed capo James Galante, Camilla Galante, and Angela Galante. For the last 20 years of his life, Carmine Galante actually lived with Ann Acquavella; the couple had two children together.[1]




Galante stood around 5Ãâý feet and weighed approximately 160 pounds. While in prison in 1931, doctors diagnosed Galante as having a psychopathic personality.




Galante owned the Rosina Costume Company in Brooklyn, New York and was associated with the Abco Vending Company of West New York, New Jersey.


 




Early years




At age 10, Galante was sent to reform school due to his criminal activities. He soon formed a juvenile street gang on New York's Lower East Side. By age 15, Galante had dropped out of seventh grade. As a teenager, Galante became a Mafia associate during the Prohibition era, becoming a leading enforcer by the end of the decade. During this period, Galante also worked as a fish sorter and at an artificial flower shop.[2]




On December 12, 1925, the 15 year-old Galante pleaded guilty to assault charges. On December 22, 1926, Galante was sentenced to at least two-and-a-half years in state prison.




In August 1930, Galante was arrested for the murder of police officer Walter DeCastilla during a payroll robbery. However, Galante was never indicted.[2] Also in 1930, New York Police Department (NYPD) officer Joseph Meenahan caught Galante and other gang members attempting to hijack a truck in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In the ensuing gun battle, Galante wounded Meenahan and a six-year-old bystander. However, both victims survived. On February 8, 1931, after pleading guilty to attempted robbery Galante was sentenced to 12 and a half years in state prison. On May 1, 1939, Galante was released from prison on parole.




By 1940, Galante was carrying out "hits" for Vito Genovese, the official underboss of the Luciano crime family. Galante had an underworld reputation for viciousness and was suspected by the New York Police Department (NYPD) of involvment in over 80 murders.




In 1943, Galante allegedly murdered Carlo Tresca, the publisher of an anti-fascist newspaper in New York. Genovese, living in exile in Italy, offered to kill Tresca as a favor to Italian President Benito Mussolini. Genovese allegedly gave the murder contract to Galante.. On January 11, 1943, Galante allegedly shot and killed Tresca as he stepped outside his newspaper office in Manhattan, then got in a car and drove away. Although Galante was arrested as a suspect, no one was ever charged in the murder.[6] After the Tresca murder, Galante was sent back to prison on a parole violation. On December 21, 1944, Galante was released from prison.




On February 10, 1945, Galante married Helena Marulli in New York.


 




Underboss




Galante went from being chauffeur of Bonanno family boss, Joseph Bonanno, to caporegime and then underboss. He was said to have been loyal to Bonanno and often spoke of him with great admiration. They also shared a common enemy, Carlo Gambino of the Anastasia crime family.




In 1953, Bonanno sent Galante to Montreal, Quebec to supervise the family drug business there. The Bonannos were importing huge amounts of heroin by ship into Montreal and then sending it into the United States. In 1957, due to Galante's strong-arm extortion tactics, the Canadian Government deported him back to the United States.




In October 1957, Bonanno and Galante held a hotel meeting in Palermo, Sicily on plans to import heroin into the United States. Attendees included exiled boss Lucky Luciano and other American mobsters, with a Sicilian Mafia delegation led by mobster Giuseppe Genco Russo. As part of the agreement, Sicilian mobsters would come to the U.S. to distribute the narcotics. Galante brought many young men, known as Zips, from his family home of Castellammare del Golfo, Trapani, to work as bodyguards, contract killers and drug traffickers. These Sicilian criminals had Galante's total trust and confidence.




In 1958, after being indicted on drug conspiracy charges, Galante went into hiding. On June 3, 1959, New Jersey State Police officers arrested Galante after stopping his car on the Garden State Parkway close to New York City. Federal agents had recently discovered that Galante was hiding in a house on Pelican Island off the South Jersey shore. After posting $100,000 bail, he was released. [9] On May 18, 1960, Galante was indicted on a second set of narcotics charges; he surrendered voluntarily.




Galante's first narcotics trial started on November 21, 1960. From the beginning, the first trial was characterized by jurors and alternates dropping out and coercive courtroom displays by the defendants. On May 15, 1961, the judge declared a mistrial. The jury foreman had fallen down some stairs at his house and was unable to continue the trial due to injury. Galante was sentenced to 20 days in jail due to contempt of court. On July 10, 1962, after being convicted in his second narcotics trial, Galante was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.


 




Power grab




In 1964, Joseph Bonanno and his ally, Profaci crime family boss Joseph Magliocco, unsuccessfully plotted to murder three rival members of the Mafia Commission. When the plot was discovered, the Commission ordered Bonnanno to retire. Over the succeeding 10 years, Bonanno tried to install his son Salvatore Bonanno as boss while the Commission tried to run the family with a series of ineffectual bosses.




In January 1974, Galante was released from prison on parole. A few days after his release from prison, Galante allegedly ordered the bombing of the doors to the mausoleum of his enemy Frank Costello, who had died in 1973.




In November 1974, the Commission designated Philip Rastelli as the official boss of the Bonanno family. However, Rastelli was soon sent to prison and Galante seized effective control of the family. As a former underboss, Galante considered himself the rightful successor to Joseph Bonanno.




During the late 1970s, Galante allegedly organized the murders of at least eight members of the Gambino family, with whom he had an intense rivalry, in order to take over a massive drug-trafficking operation.




On March 3, 1978, Galante's parole was revoked by the United States Parole Commission and he was sent back to prison. Galante had allegedly violated parole by associating with other Bonanno mobsters. However, on February 27, 1979, a judge ruled that the government had illegally revoked Galante's parole and ordered his immediate release from prison. By this stage, Galante was bald, bespectacled and had a stooped walk.


 




Death




The New York crime families were alarmed at Galante's brazen attempt at taking over the narcotics market. Galante also refused to share any drug profits with the other families. Although Galante was aware that he had many enemies, he said, "No one will ever kill me, they wouldn't dare." Genovese crime family boss Frank Tieri began contacting Cosa Nostra leaders to build a consensus for Galante's murder, even obtaining approval from the exiled Joseph Bonanno.  In 1979, the Mafia Commission ordered Galante's execution.




On July 12, 1979, Carmine Galante was assassinated just as he finished eating lunch on an open patio at Joe and Mary's Italian-American Restaurant in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Galante was dining with Leonard Coppola, a Bonanno capo, and restaurant owner/cousin Giuseppe Turano, a Bonanno soldier. Also sitting at the table were Galante's Sicilian bodyguards, Baldassare Amato and Cesare Bonventre. At 2:45 pm, three ski-masked men entered the restaurant, walked into the patio, and opened fire with shotguns and handguns. Galante, Turano, and Coppola were killed instantly. Galante's death picture showed a cigar still in his mouth. Amato and Bonventre, who did nothing to protect Galante, were left harmed. The gunmen then ran out of the restaurant.




Galante was murdered by Anthony Indelicato, Dominick Trinchera, Dominick Napolitano and Louis Giongetti. These men were hired by Alphonse Indelicato.


 




[align=center:324nq5dj]WS_Galante.jpg[/attachment:324nq5dj]


 




Aftermath




The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York refused to allow a funeral mass for Galante due to his notoriety. Galante was buried at Saint John's Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens.




In 1984, Bonventre was found murdered in a New Jersey warehouse, allegedly to guarantee his silence in the Galante murder.  On January 13, 1987, Anthony Indelicato was sentenced to 40 years in prison, as a defendant in the Commission trial, for the Galante, Coppola, and Turano murders.[/align:324nq5dj]

[align=center:18orf7p7]Al Capone[/align:18orf7p7]


 


 




[align=center:18orf7p7]800px-AlCaponemugshotCPD.jpg[/attachment:18orf7p7][/align:18orf7p7]


 




[align=center:18orf7p7]236px-Al_Capone_Signature.svg.png[/attachment:18orf7p7][/align:18orf7p7]


 




[align=center:18orf7p7]Official mugshot




Born   January 17, 1899




Brooklyn, New York, United States




Died   January 25, 1947 (aged 48)




Palm Island, Florida, United States




Charge(s)   Tax evasion




Penalty   11 year sentence in Alcatraz




Status   Deceased




Occupation   Gangster, bootlegger, criminal, racketeer, boss of Chicago Outfit




Spouse   Mae Capone




Children   Albert Francis Capone[/align:18orf7p7]


 




Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone (January 17, 1899 âââ‰â¬Å January 25, 1947) was an Italian-American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early 1920s to 1931.




Born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City to Italian immigrants, Capone became involved with gang activity at a young age after being expelled from school at age 14. In his early twenties, he moved to Chicago to take advantage of a new opportunity to make money smuggling illegal alcoholic beverages into the city during Prohibition. He also engaged in various other criminal activities, including bribery of government figures and prostitution. Despite his illegitimate occupation, Capone became a highly visible public figure. He made donations to various charitable endeavors using the money he made from his activities, and was viewed by many to be a "modern-day Robin Hood".




Capone was publicly criticized for his supposed involvement in the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, when seven rival gang members were executed. Capone was convicted on federal charges of tax evasion, and sentenced to federal prison. His incarceration included a term at the then-new Alcatraz federal prison. In the final years of Capone's life, he suffered mental and physical deterioration due to late-stage neurosyphilis, which he had contracted in his youth. On January 25, 1947, he died from cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke.


 




Early life




Alphonse Gabriel Capone was born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York on January 17, 1899.[4] His parents, Gabriele (December 12, 1864 âââ‰â¬Å November 14, 1920) and Teresina Capone (December 28, 1867 âââ‰â¬Å November 29, 1952), were immigrants from Italy. His father, Gabriele, was a barber from Castellammare di Stabia, a town about 16 mi (26 km) south of Naples, and his mother, Teresina, was a seamstress and the daughter of Angelo Raiola from Angri, a town in the Province of Salerno.




Gabriele and Teresina had nine children: Alphonse "Scarface Al" Capone, James Capone (also known as Richard Two-Gun Hart), Raffaele Capone (also known as Ralph "Bottles" Capone, who took charge of his brother's beverage industry), Salvatore "Frank" Capone, John Capone, Albert Capone, Matthew Capone, Rose Capone, and Mafalda Capone (who married John J. Maritote). The Capone family immigrated to the United States in 1893 and settled at 95 Navy Street,[4] in the Navy Yard section of downtown Brooklyn. Gabriele Capone worked at a nearby barber shop at 29 Park Avenue.[4] When Al was 11, the Capone family moved to 38 Garfield Place in Park Slope, Brooklyn.




Capone showed promise as a student, but had trouble with the rules at his strict parochial Catholic school. He dropped out of school at the age of 14, after being expelled for hitting a female teacher in the face.[1] He worked at odd jobs around Brooklyn, including a candy store and a bowling alley. During this time, Capone was influenced by gangster Johnny Torrio, whom he came to regard as a mentor.


 




Career




After his initial stint with small-time gangs that included the Junior Forty Thieves and the Bowery Boys, Capone joined the Brooklyn Rippers and then the powerful Five Points Gang based in Lower Manhattan. During this time, he was employed and mentored by fellow racketeer Frankie Yale, a bartender in a Coney Island dance hall and saloon called the Harvard Inn. Capone received the scars that gave him the nickname "Scarface" in a fight. After he inadvertently insulted a woman while working the door at a Brooklyn night club, Capone was attacked by her brother Frank Gallucio; his face was slashed three times on the left side. Yale insisted that Capone apologize to Gallucio, and later Capone hired him as a bodyguard. When photographed, Capone hid the scarred left side of his face. He said the injuries were war wounds. Capone was called "Snorky" by his closest friends.


 




Marriage and family




On December 30, 1918, Capone married Mae Josephine Coughlin, who was Irish Catholic and who, earlier that month, had given birth to their first son, Albert Francis ("Sonny") Capone. As Capone was under the age of 21, his parents had to consent to the marriage in writing.


 




Chicago career




Capone departed New York for Chicago without his new wife and son, who joined him later. In 1923, he purchased a small house at 7244 South Prairie Avenue in the Park Manor neighborhood on the city's south side for USD $5,500.




Capone was recruited for Chicago by Johnny Torrio, his Five Points Gang mentor. Torrio had gone there to resolve some family problems his cousin's husband was having with the Black Hand. Torrio killed the members of the Black Hand who had given his cousin's husband problems. He saw many business opportunities in Chicago, especially bootlegging following the onset of prohibition. Chicago's location on Lake Michigan gave access to a vast inland territory, and it was well-served by railroads. Torrio took over the crime empire of James "Big Jim" Colosimo after he was murdered. Yale was a suspect but legal proceedings against him were dropped due to a lack of evidence. Capone was suspected in the murders of Colosimo and two other men. He was seeking a safe haven and a better job to provide for his new family.[14]




The 1924 town council elections in Cicero became known as one of the most crooked elections in the Chicago area's long history of rigged elections, with voters threatened by thugs at polling stations. Capone's mayoral candidate won by a huge margin and weeks later announced that he would run Capone out of town. Capone met with his puppet-mayor and knocked him down the town hall steps.[citation needed]




For Capone, the election victory was marred by the death of his younger brother Frank at the hands of the police. Capone cried at his brother's funeral and ordered the closure of all the speakeasies in Cicero for a day as a mark of respect.




Much of Capone's family settled in Cicero as well. In 1930, Capone's sister Mafalda married John J. Maritote at St. Mary of Czestochowa, a massive Neogothic edifice towering over Cicero Avenue in the Polish Cathedral style.


 




HIS HOUSE


 




[align=center:18orf7p7]draft_lens1513294module151104537photo_1309108799Al_Capones_Home.jpg[/attachment:18orf7p7][/align:18orf7p7]


 




Capone's power grows in Cicero




The Torrio-Capone organization, as well as the Sicilian-American Genna crime family, competed with the North Side Gang of Dean O'Banion. In May 1924, O'Banion discovered that their Sieben Brewery was going to be raided by federal agents and sold his share to Torrio. After the raid, both O'Banion and Torrio were arrested.[16] Torrio's people murdered O'Banion in revenge on October 10, 1924, provoking a gang war.[17][18]




In 1925, Torrio was severely injured in an attack by the North Side Gang; he turned over his business to Capone and returned to Italy. During the Prohibition Era, Capone controlled large portions of the Chicago underworld, which provided The Outfit with an estimated US $100 million per year in revenue. This wealth was generated through numerous illegal vice enterprises, such as gambling and prostitution; the highest revenue was generated by the sale of liquor.




His transportation network moved smuggled liquor from the rum-runners of the East Coast, The Purple Gang in Detroit, who brought liquor in from Canada, with help from Belle River native Blaise Diesbourg, also known as "King Canada," and local production which came from Midwestern moonshine operations and illegal breweries. With the revenues gained by his bootlegging operation, Capone increased his grip on the political and law-enforcement establishments in Chicago. He made his headquarters at Chicago's Lexington Hotel; after the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, it was nicknamed "Capone's Castle".




According to one source, while Al Capone was in charge of the Chicago Outfit it has been reported that some members of organization would take the train from Chicago to Wabash County, Illinois and stay at a remote hotel called the Grand Rapids Hotel on the Wabash River next to the Grand Rapids Dam. The hotel was only in existence for nine years but many residents of the area remember seeing men who claimed to be from the Chicago Outfit at the Grand Rapids Hotel. Suspiciously, the Grand Rapids Hotel was burned down by a man with one leg who dropped a blowtorch. It is not currently known if the men who travelled to the Grand Rapids Hotel were smuggling liquor in violation of prohibition or merely vacationing.[20]




The organized corruption included the bribing of Chicago Mayor William "Big Bill" Hale Thompson, and Capone's gang operated largely free from legal intrusion. He operated casinos and speakeasies throughout the city. With his wealth, he indulged in custom suits, cigars, gourmet food and drink (his preferred liquor was Templeton Rye from Iowa[21]), jewelry, and female companionship. He garnered media attention, to which his favorite responses were "I am just a businessman, giving the people what they want," and "All I do is satisfy a public demand."[3] Capone had become a celebrity.


 


 




Unemployed men outside a soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone, 1931




His rivals retaliated for the violence of Capone's enforcement of control. North Side gangsters Hymie Weiss and Bugs Moran wanted to bring him down. More than once, Capone's car was riddled with bullets. On September 20, 1926, the North Side gang shot into Capone's entourage as he was eating lunch in the Hawthorne Hotel restaurant. A motorcade of ten vehicles, using Thompson submachine guns and shotguns riddled the outside of the Hotel and the restaurant on the first floor of the building. Capone's bodyguard, Frankie Rio, threw him to the ground at the first sound of gunfire. Several bystanders were hurt from flying glass and bullet fragments in the raid. Capone paid for the medical care of a young boy and his mother who would have lost her eyesight otherwise. This event prompted Capone to call for a truce, but negotiations fell through. The attacks were believed to have been made at Moran's direction and left Capone shaken.[citation needed]




Capone had his Cadillac fitted with bullet-proof glass, run-flat tires and a police siren. In 1932, Treasury agents working on prohibition issues seized the car; it was later used as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's limousine.




Capone placed armed bodyguards around the clock at his headquarters at the Lexington Hotel, at 22nd Street (later renamed Cermak Road) and Michigan Avenue. For his trips away from Chicago, Capone was reputed to have had several other retreats and hideouts located in:


 




Brookfield, Wisconsin




Saint Paul, Minnesota




French Lick, Indiana




Lansing, Michigan




Jacksonville, Florida




Hot Springs, Arkansas




Johnson City, Tennessee




Olean, New York




Fontana, California




Terre Haute, Indiana




Grand Haven, Michigan




Dubuque, Iowa


 




Former New York gang member Owney "The Killer" Madden retired to Hot Springs and invited his former colleagues to visit him there; this was also the place that Lucky Luciano was first arrested. As a further precaution, Capone and his entourage would often show up suddenly at one of Chicago's train depots and buy up an entire Pullman sleeper car on night trains to places such as Cleveland, Omaha, Kansas City, Little Rock or Hot Springs, where they would spend a week in luxury hotel suites under assumed names. In 1928, Capone bought a 14-room retreat on Palm Island, Florida close to Miami Beach.


 




Saint Valentine's Day Massacre




It is believed that Capone ordered the 1929 Saint Valentine's Day Massacre in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on Chicago's North Side. Details of the killing of the seven victims in a garage at 2122 North Clark Street (then the SMC Cartage Co.) and the extent of Capone's involvement are widely disputed. No one was ever brought to trial for the crime. The massacre was thought to be the Outfit's effort to strike back at Bugs Moran's North Side gang. They had been increasingly bold in hijacking the Outfit's booze trucks, assassinating two presidents of the Outfit-controlled Unione Siciliana, and made three assassination attempts on Jack McGurn, a top enforcer of Capone.[citation needed]


 




Valentine_Day_massacre.jpg[/attachment:18orf7p7]


 


 




To monitor their targets' habits and movements, Caponeâââ‰â¢s men rented an apartment across from the trucking warehouse that served as a Moran headquarters. On the morning of Thursday February 14, 1929, Caponeâââ‰â¢s lookouts signaled gunmen disguised as police to start a 'raid'. The faux police lined the seven victims along a wall without a struggle then signaled for accomplices with machine guns. The seven victims were machine-gunned and shot-gunned.[citation needed] Photos of the massacre victims shocked the public and damaged Capone's reputation. Federal law enforcement worked to investigate his activities.


 




Conviction and imprisonment




In 1929, the Bureau of Prohibition agent Eliot Ness began an investigation of Capone and his business, attempting to get a conviction for Prohibition violations. Frank J. Wilson investigated Capone's income tax violations, which the government decided was more likely material for a conviction. In 1931 Capone was indicted for income tax evasion and various violations of the Volstead Act (Prohibition) at the Chicago Federal Building in the courtroom of Judge James Herbert Wilkerson[23]. His attorneys made a plea deal, but the presiding judge warned he might not follow the sentencing recommendation from the prosecution. Capone withdrew his plea of guilty.




His attempt to bribe and intimidate the potential jurors was discovered by Ness's men, The Untouchables . The venire (jury pool) was switched with one from another case, and Capone was stymied. Following a long trial, on October 17 the jury returned a mixed verdict, finding Capone guilty of five counts of tax evasion and failing to file tax returns[24][25] (the Volstead Act violations were dropped). The judge sentenced him to 11 years imprisonment, at the time the longest tax evasion sentence ever given, along with heavy fines, and liens were filed against his various properties.[26] His appeals of both the conviction and the sentence were denied.[27]




In May 1932, Capone was sent to Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary, but he was able to obtain special privileges. Later, for a short period of time, he was transferred to the Lincoln Heights Jail. He was transferred to Alcatraz on August 11, 1934, which was newly established as a prison on an island off San Francisco.[28] The warden kept tight security and cut off Capone's contact with colleagues. His isolation and the repeal of Prohibition in December 1933, which reduced a major source of revenue, diminished his power.[citation needed]


 


 




Al Capone at Alcatraz




During his early months at Alcatraz, Capone made an enemy by showing his disregard for the prison social order when he cut in line while prisoners were waiting for a haircut. James Lucas, a Texas bank robber serving 30 years, reportedly confronted the former syndicate leader and told him to get back at the end of the line. When Capone asked if he knew who he was, Lucas reportedly grabbed a pair of the barber's scissors and, holding them to Capone's neck, answered "Yeah, I know who you are, greaseball. And if you don't get back to the end of that fucking line, I'm gonna know who you were."




Capone was admitted into the prison hospital with a minor wound and released a few days later. In addition, his health declined as the syphilis which he had contracted as a youth progressed. He spent the last year of his sentence in the prison hospital, confused and disoriented. Capone completed his term in Alcatraz on January 6, 1939, and was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution at Terminal Island in California, to serve the one-year contempt of court term he was originally sentenced to serve in Chicago's Cook County jail. He was paroled on November 16, 1939, and, after having spent a short time in a hospital, returned to his home in Palm Island, Florida.


 




HIS CELL




[align=center:18orf7p7]800px-Al-capone-cell.jpg[/attachment:18orf7p7][/align:18orf7p7]


 




Later years




Capone's control and interests within organized crime diminished rapidly after his imprisonment, and he was no longer able to run the Outfit after his release. He had lost weight, and his physical and mental health had deteriorated under the effects of neurosyphilis. He had become incapable of resuming his gang activity. In 1946, his physician and a Baltimore psychiatrist performed examinations and concluded that Capone then had the mental capability of a 12-year-old child. He often raved about Communists, foreigners, and Bugs Moran, whom he was convinced was plotting to kill him from his Ohio prison cell.




On January 21, 1947, Capone had a stroke. He regained consciousness and started to improve but contracted pneumonia. He suffered a fatal cardiac arrest the next day. On January 25, 1947 Al Capone died in his home in Palm Island, Florida, surrounded by his family.


 




In popular culture


 




One of the most notorious American gangsters of the 20th century, Capone has been the subject of numerous articles, books, and films. Capone's personality and character have been used in fiction as a model for crime lords and criminal masterminds ever since his death. The stereotypical image of a mobster wearing a blue pinstriped suit and tilted fedora is based on photos of Capone. His accent, mannerisms, facial construction, physical stature, and parodies of his name have been used for numerous gangsters in comics, movies, music, and literature.


 




[align=center:18orf7p7]800px-Al_Capones_grave.jpg[/attachment:18orf7p7][/align:18orf7p7]

[align=center:o5ljznrx]Meyer Lansky




408px-Meyer_Lansky_NYWTS_1_retouched.jpg[/attachment:o5ljznrx]




Meyer Lansky in 1958




Born   Meyer Suchowljansky




July 4, 1902Grodno, Russian Empire




Died   January 15, 1983 (aged 80)Miami Beach, Florida




Cause of death   Lung cancer




Resting place   Mount Nebo Cemetery, Miami, Florida




Nationality   United States




Known for   Mob activity[/align:o5ljznrx]




________________________________________________________________________________________________




Meyer Lansky (born Meyer Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 âââ‰â¬Å January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Russian-born, Jewish American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States. For decades he was thought to be one of the most powerful people in the country.




Lansky developed a gambling empire which stretched from Saratoga, New York to Miami to Council Bluffs and Las Vegas; it is also said that he oversaw gambling concessions in Cuba. Although a member of the Jewish Mafia, Lansky undoubtedly had strong influence with the Italian Mafia and played a large role in the consolidation of the criminal underworld (although the full extent of this role has been the subject of some debate).


 




Early life




Lansky was born Meyer Suchowljansky in Grodno (then in Russia, now in Belarus), to a Polish-Jewish family who experienced pogroms incited by the Russian authorities. In 1911, he emigrated to the United States through the port of Odessa with his mother and brother and joined his father, who had previously emigrated to the United States in 1909, and settled on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York.




Lansky met Bugsy Siegel when he was a teenager. They became lifelong friends, as well as partners in the bootlegging trade, and together with Lucky Luciano, formed a lasting partnership. Lansky was instrumental in Luciano's rise to power by organizing the 1931 murder of Mafia powerhouse Salvatore Maranzano. As a youngster, Siegel saved Lansky's life several times, a fact which Lansky always appreciated. The two adroitly managed the Bug and Meyer Mob despite its reputation as one of the most violent Prohibition gangs.




Lansky was the brother of Jacob "Jake" Lansky, who in 1959 was the manager of the Nacional Hotel in Havana, Cuba.


 




Gambling operations




By 1936, Lansky had established gambling operations in Florida, New Orleans, and Cuba. These gambling operations were very successful as they were founded upon two innovations:




First, in Lansky and his connections there existed the technical expertise to effectively manage them based upon Lanskyâââ‰â¢s knowledge of the true mathematical odds of most popular wagering games.




Second, mob connections were used to ensure legal and physical security of their establishments from other crime figures, and law enforcement (through bribes).




But there was also an absolute rule of integrity concerning the games and wagers made within their establishments. Lanskyâââ‰â¢s âââ¬Ãâcarpet jointsâââ¬

Look at this a new polish police, well deseved  " data-emoticon="" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/tongue@2x.png 2x" width="20" height="20">" data-emoticon="" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/tongue@2x.png 2x" width="20" height="20">" data-emoticon="" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/tongue@2x.png 2x" width="20" height="20">" data-emoticon="" srcset="/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/tongue@2x.png 2x" width="20" height="20">  agent cole phelps

[align=center:38i4g0kd]Carlo Gambino




532px-Carlo_Gambino.jpg[/attachment:38i4g0kd]




Mugshot of Carlo Gambino




Born   Carlo Gambino August 24, 1902 Palermo, Sicily




Died   October 15, 1976 (aged 74) Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.




Cause of death   Heart attack




Resting place   Saint John's Cemetery, Queens, New York City, New York




Nationality   Sicilian, Italian, American




Citizenship   Italian




Occupation   Crime boss, Mafioso, Mobster, Rum Runner, Businessman, Racketeer




Known for   Boss of the Gambino crime family




Spouse   Catherine Castellano




Children   3 sons and 1 daughter[/align:38i4g0kd]


 




"Don" Carlo Gambino (pronounced gam-BEE-noh), (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. Gambino was known for being low-key and secretive. Gambino served 22 months in prison (1938âââ‰â¬Å39), and lived to the age of 74, when he 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. He had two brothers, Gaspare Gambino, who later married and was never involved with the Mafia, and Paolo Gambino who, on the other hand, had a big role in his brother's family.


 




Early life


 




Gambino was born in the town 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. Once Benito Mussolini chased a great deal of real mafiosi out of Italy, Italian-Americans such as Gambino benefited from the new, better-organized Mafia. 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 Cosa Nostra. He was later known as an "original". He was the brother-in-law of Sicilian Gambino crime family mobster Paul Castellano.


 




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 "Tata" 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.




Gambino also became involved with the "Young Turks", which was a group of Americanized Italian and Jewish mobsters in New York which included Frank Costello, Albert "Mad Hatter" Anastasia, Frank Scalice, Settimo Accardi, Tommy "Three-Finger Brown" Lucchese, Joe Adonis, Vito Genovese, Meyer Lansky, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Mickey Cohen and was headed by one of the future's most powerful Mob bosses, Charlie "Lucky" Luciano. The crew became involved in robbery, thefts, and, illegal gambling, but with their new partner Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein, they turned to bootlegging during Prohibition in the early 1920s.


 




The Castellammarese War




By 1926, Luciano was considered to be a powerful gangster on the rise. 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." However, Masseria still had to deal with the powerful and influential Maranzano and his Castellammarese Clan. Gambino was thrown right into the line of fire.




Masseria demanded absolute loyalty and obedience from the other criminals in his area, and killed anyone who gave him less than that on the spot. 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 Hatter" 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, along with former Masseria allies the Riena family, which included Gaetano "Tom" Reina, Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano and Gaetano Lucchese.




The Castellammarese War raged on between the Masseria and Maranzano factions for almost four years. This internal war devastated the Prohibition-era operations and street rackets that the five New York families controlled along with the Irish and Jewish crime groups. The war cut into gang 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 could 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 Boss of all Bosses. In the major reorganization of the New York Mafia that resulted, Vincent Mangano took over the Mineo family, with Anastasia as his underboss and Gambino as a capo. They kept these posts after Maranzano was gunned down himself on September 10, 1931.


 




The Commission




In 1931, after the killings of Masseria and Maranzano, 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 protection money from area merchants. Despite this, Gambino was low-key by inclination. He lived in a modest, well-kept row house in Brooklyn. The only real evidence of vanity was his license plate on his Buick, CG1.


 




Vincent and Philip Mangano




Mangano led his family for 20 years, even though he and Anastasia never saw eye-to-eye. Mangano was displeased with Anastasia's friendship with Luciano and Frank Costello, especially since they frequently used Anastasia's services without his 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 over 500 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 and 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 Mangano murders, 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. Gambino was now one of the most powerful mobsters in the business, with a crew making profit of extortion, illegal gambling, hijacking, bootlegging and murder, Shortly afterward, Gambino's cousin and brother-in-law, Paul Castellano (Giuseppe's son), took over as capo of Gambino's old crew.


 




Anastasia, Genovese and Gambino




While the renamed Anastasia family made more money than ever, some other mobsters grew concerned about his temper and violent behavior. Anastasia's violent ways could be contained as long as Luciano and Frank Costello pulled the strings, but certain mobsters, most notably Vito Genovese, doubted whether it was really possible to keep Anastasia reined in. These doubts grew even louder in 1952, when Anastasia ordered the murder of a young Brooklyn tailor's assistant named Arnold Schuster, after watching Schuster talking 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 on Mafia business. Luciano and Costello were horrified, but they 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 at Cuba, which belonged to Meyer Lansky. When Anastasia confronted Lansky, he was furious, and seemingly threw his support to the Genovese-Gambino alliance. Shortly afterward, Genovese moved against Costello by hiring Vincent "Chin" Gigante to assassinate him. While the attempt failed, it frightened Costello enough to ask the Commission for permission to retire, which they accepted. Genovese took over the family and renamed it the Genovese crime family.




With Costello out of the way, Genovese then moved against Anastasia. Here Gambino was convinced to give his support, by giving the order to "Joe the Blonde" Biondo, who 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. (The Anastasia murder was finally solved in 2007, 50 years later). Gambino now became the new boss of the Mangano crime family, which was renamed the Gambino crime family.


 




The Apalachin and Genovese's fall




Genovese now 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 mind, and secretly aligned himself with Luciano, Costello and Lansky against Genovese. The Costello-Lansky-Luciano-Gambino alliance gained further strength after the Apalachin Conference, supposedly set up to formally crown Genovese as Boss of Bosses, ended in disaster with several prominent mafiosi being arrested. Soon afterward, Costello, Luciano and Lansky met face to face in Italy. Luciano, who was 60 years old, came up with a plan which would get rid of Genovese for good.




In 1959, Genovese was heading to Atlanta where a huge shipment of heroin was arriving. But when he arrived, 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. With the support of Costello and Luciano, Gambino was named head of the Commission in 1962. Genovese finally realized that this was all staged from beyond, but when he heard of Gambino as the new Boss of Bosses, he couldn't understand. Gambino had kept a low profile, sneaked around and still managed to become the most powerful mob boss in the nation.




[edit]Don Carlo (1959-1976)


 




The Boss of Bosses




In the early 1960s, Gambino slowly moved against the prominent Anastasia loyalists, headed by caporegime Armand "Tommy" Rava. With Joseph Biondo as a solid underboss, Joseph Riccobono as Gambino's own consigliere, and with his top caporegimes, Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce, Paul Castellano, Carmine "The Doctor" Lombardozzi, Joseph "Joe Piney" Armone and Carmine "Wagon Wheels" Fatico, the remaining Anastasia loyalists could never make a move.




Gambino quickly expanded his rackets all over the country. New Gambino rackets 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. It was a great time, when the money rolled in from every Gambino racket in the U.S. and worked its way up to become 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 were dangerous, and would also attract attention. The punishment for dealing drugs, in Gambino style, was death.




In 1960s, the Gambino family had 500[1] (other sources have 700 or 800[3]) soldiers, within 30 crews making the family a $500,000,000-a-year-enterprise. In 1962, his eldest son Thomas Gambino married the daughter of rival mob boss Gaetano Lucchese, the new head of the Gagliano crime family, whom Gambino would become close to as a partner, friend and relative. More than 1,000 people, relatives, friends and "friends of ours," 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. It was the beginning of a perfect partnership.


 




Profaci, the Gallos and Gambino




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 divided between crews, and at first Profaci appeared to agree, following negotiations between the captors and Profaci's consigliere, Charles Locicero, but Profaci was simply biding his time before taking revenge on the Gallos. 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. The brothers set about attacking Profaci's men wherever they saw them as all-out war erupted between the two factions. Plus, Gambino and Lucchese was putting pressure on the other bosses to convince Profaci of stepping 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, a man very much in the Profaci mould, much to the family. That's why Gambino and Lucchese gave their support to the Gallo crew, where Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, the longtime Don of the Bonanno crime family, gave his support to Magliocco and the Profacis.




[edit]Conspiracy against the Commission




With the Gallos out of the way, Magliocco was able to consolidate his position and concentrate on the business of running the family's affairs. However, Joe Bonanno hatched a plot to murder the heads of the other three families, which Magliocco decided to go along with. The assassinations went to Profaci capo, Joseph Colombo, who realized that the plot would never amount to anything, and warned Gambino about Magliocco and Bonanno's conspiracy against the Commission. Bonanno and Magliocco were called to face the judgement of the Commission. 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 he was too power hungry, and one, a boss from Florida, Santo Trafficante, Jr., once said in anger, "He's planting flags all over the world!" 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 in his family, Gaspar DiGregorio. Bonanno, however, would not accept this result, breaking 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.




Gambino was the one who would give the order to have Bonanno killed, but took pity on him and decided to give Bonanno one last chance to retire while he had his life. 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. Supposedly Magaddino represented the Commission and Gambino, and told his cousin that he "took up too much space in the air", a Sicilian proverb for arrogance. After much talk, Bonanno was released and the Commission members believed he would finally retire and relinquish his power.




Eventually, DiGregorio promised a peace meeting on whatever territory Salvatore wanted. It was an ambush. DiGregorio's men opened fire with rifles and automatic weapons on Salvatore and his associates, who were armed only with pistols. The police estimated that over 500 shots were fired but remarkably, no one was hurt. The war went on for another two more years. The Commission originally thought they could win, but when Joseph Bonanno returned, their hopes were dashed. Bonanno sent out a message to his enemies, saying that for every Bonanno loyalist killed, he would retaliate by hitting a caporegime from the other side. The Bonanno loyalists were starting to see victory, but when Bonanno suffered a heart attack, he decided that he and his son would retire to Tucson, leaving his broken family to another capo, Paul Sciacca, who had replaced DiGregorio. Gambino stood as the victorious and most powerful mob boss in the US. Having the reputation of Gambino's "mercy", made him even more respectable in front of the Commission.


 




Gambino and the "cement overcoat"




Even though Cosa Nostra members show utmost respect to their superiors, there have been cases of members disrespecting and/or humiliating another made man. An especially notorious case is that of Carmine "Mimi" Scialo - a feared and respected soldier of The Colombo Family who had control over the vast area of Coney Island. When under the influence of alcohol, Scialo would become very arrogant, loud and disrespectful. One day in October 1974, Scialo was at a popular Italian restaurant, he spotted Carlo Gambino and began to harass him, insulting Gambino in front of others. Gambino stayed calm, as he always was, didn't retaliate and didn't say a word. Scialo's body was found not long after at Otto's Social Club in South Brooklyn encased in the cement floor.


 




Las Vegas, Gambino 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, who all are known as "The Rat Pack". They were excellent singers, and the mob, Gambino especially, lived for their music. 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, but 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 Mad Hatter" Anastasia and Carlo Gambino having a drink by a pool.




[edit]Lucchese's death




Lucchese led a quiet, stable life until he developed a fatal brain tumour and died at his home in Lido Beach, Long Island on July 13, 1967. His funeral at the Calvary Cemetery in Queens, was attended by over 1,000 mourners, including politicians, judges, policemen, racketeers, drug pushers, pimps, hitmen and Gambino, who allegedly arranged the whole funeral. Lucchese was succeeded as boss by Carmine "Gribbs" Tramunti, whom Gambino had picked out personally.


 




Colombo assassination




It has also been theorized that Gambino went so far as to organize 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 theory is that Gallo organized the attack himself. It seems that the rest of the Colombo family believed the latter theory, as Gallo was famously gunned down himself not long after. Colombo's increasing media attention was definitely not liked by the other commission members, that Lucchese withdrew support was evidenced by Capo Paul Vario rescinding his membership from the Italian-American Civil Rights League. However Gambino resorting to killing Colombo seems unlikely as there was nothing really substantial for Gambino to benefit from doing it. Gallo and his crew had already started one war against Profaci, during which time they had kidnapped Colombo, and as Colombo had allegedly carried out a number of hits during that war it seems understandable that Gallo would not like him and have designs on becoming boss himself.




However, the theory that Gallo was responsible ignores several pertinent factors. It is true that many powerful members were angry with Joe Columbo for having founded the Italian-American Civil Rights League and glorying in publicity. Gambino hated publicity, always preferring to work in the shadows and was said to have been quite upset with Columbo about this. As was his style, Gambino did not make a public show of his anger. 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 which was 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 did it, or set the wheels in motion, it was a master stroke. He was rid of a publicity seeking thorn in his side and he got the Colombo family to eliminate Gallo whose propensity for disruptive violence also displeased the Don. It was also the way Gambino operated, very intelligently, very quietly but with final brutality.




The police were happy to accept the Gallo theory as was the Colombo family, but as time went on the theory that Gambino masterminded it gained a lot of currency within the "mob". Who knows what the truth is but it is dubious that Gallo would have committed suicide by using a black assassin, though it is true that "Crazy" Joey could have illogical fits of rage. Nonetheless, the true benefit was stability of the Gambino empire as the old Don faded.


 




Lucky Luciano's death




Gambino was also the only mob boss of the Five Families who attended the burial of the longtime friend and Boss of Bosses, Charles Luciano. In his later years Luciano was told not to promote or participate in a movie about his life, as it would have attracted unnecessary attention to the mob. Luciano relented until after his girlfriend died of breast cancer, and was scheduled to meet with a movie producer arriving by plane at the Naples International Airport. As fate would have it, the man who engineered the assassination of Dutch Schultz and his gang would never live to see his own name in lights. On January 26, 1962, Lucky Luciano's luck finally ran out, and he died of a heart attack at the age of 64 at Naples International Airport. He was buried in St. John's Cemetery in Queens, 1972, more than ten years after his death because of the terms of his deportation in 1946. More than 2,000 mourners attended his funeral, where Gambino gave his own speech in memory of Lucky Luciano, his friend and companion. Now, Carlo "Don Carlo" Gambino was Boss of Bosses in name also.


 




Tommy Eboli murder




After the imprisonment of Vito "Don Vito" Genovese in 1959, Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli was made acting boss and kept his position toward 1969, when Genovese died in jail. About that time, Eboli was the only one who could re-organize the Genovese crime family, but Eboli needed money to start his reign as boss, which is why he borrowed $4,000,000 from Gambino, the richest Don of New York City. The only problem was that Eboli's crew was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison, which was allegedly arranged by Gambino because he wanted his friend Frank Tieri as boss. When Gambino came to be repaid, Eboli refused and said he didn't have enough money. Under the influence of Gambino, the selection of Frank Tieri as boss of the Genovese crime family was made, subsequently after the murder of Tommy Eboli on July 16, 1972. To this day, no one has been arrested for his murder.


 




Constant surveillance




In December 1972, on Ocean Parkway, a van began to park outside Gambino's home. In that car, 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 FBI was kept on a 24-hour standby, hoping to connect Gambino to organized crime. The van was marked "Organized Crime Control Bureau".




But even though Gambino had every corner in his house recorded, he knew how to conduct business in silence. According to FBI officials, they once recorded a meeting between Gambino, Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce and Joseph Biondo, where Biondo is just to have said: "Frog legsâââ¬

[align=center:13gay3wg]Francesco Raffaele Nitto




nitti.jpg[/attachment:13gay3wg]




Born   January 27, 1886 Angri, province of Salerno, Campania, Italy




Died   March 19, 1943 (aged 57) North Riverside, Illinois, U.S.




Charge   Tax evasion




Penalty   18-month sentence




Status   Deceased




Occupation   Organized crime




Spouses   Rosa (Rose) Levitt Nitti, 1918-1928 (div.)




Anna Ronga Nitti, 1928-1938 (her death)




Ursula Suzanne "Sue" Granata Nitti, 1939-1940 (her death)




Annette Caravetta Nitti, 1942-1943 (his death)[/align:13gay3wg]


 




Francesco Raffaele Nitto (January 27, 1886 âââ‰â¬Å March 19, 1943), also known as Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti, was an Italian American gangster. One of Al Capone's top henchmen, Nitti was in charge of all strong-arm and 'muscle' operations. Nitti was later the front-man for the Chicago Outfit, the organized crime syndicate headed by Capone.


 




Early life and Prohibition




Nitti was born in the small town of Angri, province of Salerno, Campania, Italy.[1] He was the second child of Luigi and Rosina (Fezza) Nitto and a first cousin of Al Capone. His father died in 1888, when Frank was two years old, and within a year his mother married Francesco Dolendo. Although two children were born to the couple, neither survived âââ‰â¬Â leaving Francesco and his older sister, Giovannina, the only children.[1] Francesco Dolendo emigrated to the United States in July 1890, and the rest of the family followed in June 1893 when Nitti was 7.[1] The family settled at 113 Navy Street, Brooklyn, New York City.[1] Little Francesco attended public school and worked odd jobs after school to support the family. His 15-year-old sister married a 24-year-old man and his mother gave birth to his half-brother Raphael in 1894, and another child, Gennaro, in 1896.[1] He quit school after the seventh grade, and worked as a pinsetter, factory worker, and barber.[1] Al Capone's family lived nearby, and Nitti was friends with Capone's older brothers and their criminal gang (the Navy Street Boys).




A worsening relationship with Dolendo provoked him to leave home when he was 14 in 1900 to work in various local factories.[1] Around 1910, at the age of 24, he left Brooklyn. The next several years of his life are poorly documented, and little can be ascertained for certain. He may have worked in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn around 1911.[1] He probably moved to Chicago around 1913, working as a barber and making the acquaintance of gangsters Alex Louis Greenberg and Dean O'Banion. He married Chicagoan Rosa (Rose) Levitt in Dallas, Texas, on October 18, 1917. The couple's movements after their marriage remain uncertain. He is known to have become a partner in the Galveston crime syndicate run by "Johnny" Jack Nounes. He is reported to have stolen a large sum of money from Nounes and fellow mobster Dutch Voight, after which Nitti fled to Chicago. By 1918, Nitti had settled there at 914 South Halsted Street. Nitti quickly renewed his contacts with Greenberg and O'Banion, becoming a jewel thief, liquor smuggler, and fence. Through his liquor smuggling activities, Nitti came to the attention of Chicago crime boss Johnny "Papa Johnny" Torrio and Torrio's newly-arrived soldier, Al Capone.




Under Torrio's successor, Al Capone, Nitti's reputation soared. Nitti ran Capone's liquor smuggling and distribution operation, importing whisky from Canada and selling it through a network of speakeasies around Chicago. Nitti was one of Capone's top lieutenants, trusted for his leadership skills and business acumen. Capone thought so highly of Nitti that when he went to prison in 1929, he named Nitti as a member of a triumvirate that ran the mob in his place. Nitti was head of operations, with Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik as head of administration and Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo as head of enforcement. Despite his nickname ("The Enforcer"), Nitti used Mafia soldiers and others to commit violence rather than do it himself. In earlier days, Nitti had been one of Capone's trusted personal bodyguards, but as he rose in the organization, Nitti's business instinct dictated that he must personally avoid the "dirty work"âââ‰â¬Âthat was what the hitmen were paid for[citation needed].




Frank and Rose Nitti divorced in 1928, and shortly thereafter he married Anna Ronga Nitti (daughter of a mob doctor and former neighbor of the Nittis in the 1920s).[1] The couple adopted a son, Joe.


 




The Outfit under Nitti




In 1931, both 45 year-old Frank Nitti and 32 year-old Al Capone were convicted of tax evasion and sent to prison; however, Nitti received an 18-month sentence, while Capone was sent away for 11 years. Nitti was not a troublesome prisoner, but found the year-and-a-half confinement in a cell difficult because of the closed-in space. When Nitti was released in 1932, the media hailed him as the new boss of the Capone Gang.[5]




In truth, however, Nitti was only a front man. According to crime historians, "it was ludicrous" to expect people such as Tony Accardo, Jake Guzik, Murray "The Camel" Humphreys, or Paul "The Waiter" Ricca to take orders from Nitti. By all accounts, Ricca had the real power by at least 1932 and was clearly the de facto boss by 1939 even though he was technically Nitti's underboss. When Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Meyer Lansky organized the National Crime Syndicate in the 1930s, they considered Nitti a human cypher. Lansky and Luciano dealt with Ricca, not Nitti, as the boss of the Chicago Outfit.[5]




With Nitti as the front man, the Chicago Outfit branched out from prostitution and gambling into other areas, including control of labor unions (which led to the extortion of many businesses). On December 19, 1932, a team of Chicago police, headed by Detective Sergeants Harry Lang and Harry Miller, raided Nitti's office in Room 554, at 221 N. LaSalle Boulevard in Chicago. Lang shot Nitti three times in the back and neck. He then shot himself (a minor flesh wound) to make the shooting look like self-defense, claiming that Nitti had shot him first. Court testimony later insisted that the murder attempt was personally ordered by newly-elected Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who supposedly wanted to eliminate the Chicago Outfit in favor of gangsters who answered to him.] Nitti survived the shooting and, in February 1933, was acquitted of attempted murder. During that same trial, Miller testified that Lang received $15,000 to kill Nitti. Another uniformed officer who was present at the shooting testified that Nitti was shot while unarmed. Harry Lang and Harry Miller were both fired from the police force and each fined US$100 for simple assault.[citation needed] Two months later, Cermak was shot and killed by Giuseppe Zangara, a Calabrian immigrant. At the time, Cermak was talking to President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt. Most historians believe, corroborated by Zangara's own comments and a note left behind at his room, that he intended to kill Roosevelt but missed and hit Cermak instead.




Anna Nitti died in 1938.[1] On November 8, 1939, Capone's former lawyer Edward J. O'Hare âââ‰â¬Â who had co-operated in bringing about Capone's downfall âââ‰â¬Â was shot and killed. Nitti married Ursula Sue Granata, O'Hare's fiancÃÆée, who died in 1940.[6] He married Annette Caravetta on May 14, 1942.[1]


 




Death




In 1943, many top members of the Chicago Outfit were indicted for extorting the Hollywood film industry. Among those prosecuted were Nitti, Phil D'Andrea, Louis "Little New York" Campagna, Nick Circella, Charles "Cherry Nose" Gioe, Ralph Pierce, Ricca, and John "Handsome Johnny" Roselli. The Outfit was accused of trying to extort money from some of the largest movie studios, including Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, RKO Pictures, and 20th Century Fox. The studios had cooperated with The Outfit to avoid union trouble (unrest itself stirred up by the mob). At a meeting of Outfit leaders at Nitti's home, Ricca blamed Nitti for the indictments. Ricca said that since this had been Nitti's scheme and the FBI informant (Willie Bioff) one of Nitti's trusted associates, Nitti should go to prison. A severe claustrophobe as a result of his first prison term, Nitti dreaded the idea of another prison confinement. It was also rumored that he was suffering from terminal cancer at this time. For these or possibly other reasons, he ultimately decided to take his own life.[7]




The day before his scheduled grand jury appearance, Nitti had breakfast with his wife in their home at 712 Selborne Road in Riverside, Illinois. When his wife left for church, Nitti told her he planned to take a walk, then began to drink heavily. He then loaded a .32 caliber revolver, put it in his coat pocket, and walked five blocks to a local railroad yard. Two railroad workers spotted Nitti walking on the track of an oncoming train and shouted a warning. They thought the train hit him, but Nitti jumped out of the way in time. Two shots rang out. The workers thought Nitti was shooting at them, then realized he was trying to shoot himself in the head. Two bullets went through Nitti's hat. Nitti sat on the ground against a fence and, with the railroad workers watching from a distance, shot himself in the head.




Frank Nitti died on an Illinois Central railroad branch line in North Riverside, Illinois on March 19, 1943, at the age of 57. Nitti is buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois. Speculation has persisted regarding the interment of a suicide in a Catholic cemetery. Nitti's grave can be found left of the main Roosevelt Road entrance, about fifty feet from the gate. It is marked "Nitto". To the right of the gate is the family plot containing the grave of Al Capone, marked by a six-foot white monument stone. And straight up from the gate can be found the graves of Dion O'Banion and Hymie Weiss, both North Side Gang leaders ordered killed by Capone.


 




In popular culture




Frank Nitti has been portrayed numerous times in television and motion pictures:




by Bruce Gordon in many episodes of the original ABC television series The Untouchables, based on Eliot Ness' memoirs, which ran from 1959 to 1963.




by Harold J. Stone in the 1967 Roger Corman film The St. Valentine's Day Massacre.




by Sylvester Stallone in the 1975 film Capone.




by Billy Drago, playing a fictionalised version of Nitti in the 1987 film, The Untouchables. In the film, Nitti is thrown off a Chicago courthouse roof by Ness (Kevin Costner), an event which never happened in real life.




by Anthony LaPaglia in the 1988 biopic Nitti: The Enforcer




by Paul Regina in the 1993 TV show The Untouchables.




by Stanley Tucci in the 2002 film Road to Perdition.




by Bill Camp in the 2009 film Public Enemies.




Antero NiittymÃÆäki has used an image of Nitti on his helmet due to the similarity in name.




[align=center:13gay3wg]frank-nitti-1881-1943-chicago-gangster-everett.jpg[/attachment:13gay3wg][/align:13gay3wg]