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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JULY 31-AUG. 6, 2020 13
In conjunction with the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society, TimesLedger Newspapers
presents noteworthy
events in the borough’s
history.
Born on July 31, 1886, Salvatore
Maranzano was an
early Italian-American Mafia
boss in New York City. As
the head of what later became
the Bonanno crime family, in
1930 he started the Castellammarese
War to gain control
of the American Mafia. His
reign as the Mafia’s capo di
tutti capi (“boss of all bosses”)
was short, however, as he was
murdered by a rival in 1931.
He is remembered for forming
the Mafia’s Five Families
in New York City, and is buried
in St. John’s Cemetery in
Queens with numerous other
20th century underworld
leaders.
Maranzano was born in
Castellammare del Golfo,
Sicily, the youngest of 12 children.
Only five of his siblings
lived to adulthood. As a child,
the future mob capo studied
to become a Catholic priest before
joining the Mafia in Italy.
Sent on a mission to seize control
of Mafia operations in the
United States, he immigrated
to America in the 1920s and
settled in Brooklyn. The new
immigrant set up a legitimate
business as a real estate broker,
which he used as a cover
for illegal enterprises including
bootlegging, prostitution
and drug smuggling.
To protect his new criminal
empire, Maranzano started
the Castellammarese War
against rival Joe Masseria.
The crafty mobster made a
deal with Lucky Luciano, one
of Masseria’s underlings, to
murder his boss in exchange
for Luciano becoming Maranzano’s
second in command.
Masseria was soon taken out
in a Coney Island restaurant
and Maranzano took over his
underworld organization.
With Masseria out of the
way, Maranzano set about reorganizing
the New York mob
and tightening his control
over the organization. He consolidated
Italian-American
organized crime in the Big
Apple into the Five Families
consisting of a boss, underboss,
capos, soldiers and associates,
all of whom had to
be full-blooded Italian Americans.
He declared himself
capo di tutti capi, and made
sure that his own rackets had
an advantage over those of
other families. Luciano came
to believe that his new boss
was even greedier than his
former boss, and began plotting
a change of leadership.
Maranzano’s avarice and
arrogance did not sit well
with subordinates, including
Luciano, Vito Genovese
and Frank Costello. Also, the
Sicilian was an old school
Italian mobster opposed to
expanding into business with
Jewish gangsters like Meyer
Lansky and Bugsy Siegel. He
realized that his second in
command was a threat, but
the underboss acted first. On
September 10, 1931, Salvatore
Maranzano was murdered in
his office by gangsters sent
by Luciano posing as government
agents.
The only known photographs
of the mob leader were
from his murder scene. He
has, however, been portrayed
on television and screen
throughout the years in The
Godfather, The Valachi Papers
and Boardwalk Empire.
Maranzano’s assassin,
Lucky Luciano, died of a heart
attack in Italy in 1962 and was
buried near his former boss in
St. John’s Cemetery in Middle
Village, Queens. There, they
rest for eternity alongside
other underworld figures
including John Gotti, Carlo
Gambino and Vito Genovese.
For further info, call the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society at 718-278-0700 or www.
astorialic.org.
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