Lucky Luciano

Lucky Luciano

Charles "Lucky" Luciano (born Salvatore Lucania) (November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962) was a Sicilian-American mobster. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime and the mastermind of the massive postwar expansion of the international heroin trade.

Time magazine has named Luciano amongst the top 20 most influential builders and titans of the 20th century.

Early life

Salvatore Lucania (AKA Charles "Lucky" Luciano) was born on November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily, a town primarily known for its sulfur mines. The promise of a new and better life led his family to immigrate to America in 1907 and he arrived in New York late that year. At age 10, Salvatore was arrested for the first time for shoplifting. At age 14, he served four months in a Brooklyn youth correctional facility for truancy.

In 1915, Salvatore and his gang were kicked out of a theatre in East Harlem for rowdy behaviour. It was that same night that Salvatore Lucania met Francesco Castiglia, better known as Frank Costello. Salvatore and Frank became close friends.

At age 18, Salvatore was sentenced to six months in the reformatory for selling heroin and morphine. After escaping several sexual assaults in prison due to his nickname "Sally", he began calling himself Charles Luciano. Upon his release he resumed his dealings and led a dangerous gang called The Five Points Gang.

In 1917, Luciano dodged being drafted into the US army and fighting in the World War I by intentionally contracting chlamydia.

By 1920, Luciano had met many of the mafia heavyweights including Bugsy Siegel, Vito Genovese, Frank Costello, and his longtime friend and business partner, Meyer Lansky. Together they began a bootlegging venture using a trucking firm as a front.

In 1923, Vito Genovese introduced Charlie Luciano to Charlie "Big Nose" Lagaipa, a heroin dealer who was known to mix business with pleasure. Lagaipa persuaded Luciano to invest in his drug ring. Luciano was later arrested in possession of a large amount of heroin. Facing a long prison sentence, Luciano tried and failed to bribe his way out. He eventually gave the government the location of a large amount of heroin. Luciano then planted the heroin in that location for the agents to find. Luciano later discovered that only half of the planted heroin was ever turned in by the agents.

By 1925, Charlie was grossing $12 million a year; however, he was netting only about $1 million each year due to the high costs of to bribing politicians, cops, and henchmen. Charlie ran the largest bootlegging operation in New York, one that also spanned into Philadelphia. Charlie imported Scotch directly from Scotland, Rum from the Caribbean and whiskey from Canada. Charlie was also involved in gambling, prostitution, loan sharking and extortion.

Soon Luciano joined forces with Joe "the Boss" Masseria. But the partnership was doomed from the start as Luciano’s and Masseria’s methods of business differed greatly. One day in 1929, Luciano was forced into a limo at gun point by three men, beaten and stabbed, and dumped on a beach on New York Bay. Luciano survived the ordeal, but was forever marked with the now infamous scar and droopy eye. After his abduction, Luciano found out through Meyer Lansky that it had been ordered by Masseria. Luciano then secretly plotted with Masseria's enemy Sal Maranzano to betray Masseria. This plot would herald the beginning of the Castellammarese War.

Rise to power

From 1928 to 1931 the Castellammarese War raged on resulting in many mobsters deaths until Masseria was killed in a Coney Island restaurant by Bugsy, and three of Luciano's men. It is rumored that Luciano had lunch with Masseria, and stepped into the wash room just as the gun men stormed the restaurant. Sal Maranzano then made Luciano his number two, and set up the Five New York Families under him. But Maranzano recognized Luciano for what he was: an ambitious gangster who would not stop until he reached the top. In order to maintain power, Maranzano realized that he would have to eliminate Luciano, as well as the infamous Al Capone of Chicago.

Luciano learned of a plot, and Lansky answered by ordering the killing of Maranzano. Luciano was now the model mobster; he had business in Chicago, Detroit, New Jersey, and above all, New York. His long time friend Meyer Lansky served as his right hand man and Luciano always followed Lansky’s advice. During the years of Luciano's rule, he made the pact: "we only kill each other". This was exemplified when Dutch Schultz tried to kill New York attorney Thomas Dewey in direct violation with pact, he was soon after executed. Luciano oversaw and ordered the killings of an estimated 500 men, although a significant portion of those he was never directly connected to or involved in.

In the mid 1930s Luciano began organizing all of the New York brothels. The idea was to set a flat rate and overwork the women to squeeze as much money out of the business as possible. The prostitutes worked six days a week for long hours and slowly they began to crack. Finally, the police organized a raid of 80 separate brothels and over 40 prostitutes were brought in. They all spoke of the terrible rule of Luciano's gang. In 1936, after a short trial, Luciano was sentenced to thirty to fifty years for his involvement in the brothels.

It is said that while in prison, he organized the scuttling of the french ocean liner "Le Normandie" to demonstrate to american autorithies his power. Following this, they decided to ask him to contribute to easing the American landing in Sicily in 1942, in exchange for his freedom (see below).

World War II, freedom, and deportation

During WWII the U.S. government is reported to have covertly made a deal with Luciano, who was by then imprisoned. U.S. military intelligence was aware Luciano had maintained good connections in the Sicilian and Italian Mafia, which had been severely persecuted under Mussolini in Italy. Luciano was an American devoted to Sicily, the Mafia, and the USA 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 as they moved up through the Italian peninsula. 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 resistance groups and local governments.

In return for his cooperation, it is claimed that Luciano was permitted to run his crime empire unhindered from his jail cell, and that during the 1940s, he used to meet US military men during train trips throughout Italy, and he enjoyed being recognized by his countrymen, several times taking photos and even signing autographs for them.

In 1946, as part of the payoff for his cooperation, he was paroled on the condition that he leave 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, but was deeply hurt about having to leave the USA, a country he had considered his own ever since his arrival at age ten. Later that year, he flew to Cuba for the Havana Conference, where he retook control of the American syndicate. At the meeting, Luciano ordered the execution of Siegel, who had cost the Mafia millions by opening money-losing casinos in Las Vegas. When the US government learned of Luciano's presence in the Caribbean he was forced to fly back to Italy.

Involvement in U.S. heroin trade

According to drug trade expert Dr Alfred W. McCoy, during the 1950s Luciano forged a crucial alliance with the Corsican Mafia, who were reputed to be even tougher and more dangerous than the Sicilians -- their drug operation was the so-called "French Connection", which was depicted in the famous film starring Gene Hackman.

This new super-syndicate oversaw a massive increase in the production, refining and distribution of heroin, which had been all but eliminated as an addiction problem during World War II because of wartime restrictions. Using opium sourced mainly from Turkey, heroin was refined and distributed via an elaborate network based in the Corsican Mafia stronghold of Marseilles in France.

Heroin soon began flooding into America and Europe, making notable inroads into vulnerable areas such as the American jazz scene, thanks to the Mafia's increasing takeover of music venues and other facets of the entertainment industry. The influence of heroin on American institutions continued well beyond Luciano's death.

Later years

Later in life Luciano came into conflict with Lansky over the amount of money he was receiving from Mafia operations in the early 1960s, but his failing health prevented him from putting up a fight on the matter. On January 26, 1962, Luciano died of a heart attack at the age of 64 at Naples International Airport. He was buried in St. John's Cemetery in Queens in New York City, where he was raised.

Trivia

• The 1973 Italian/American film production “Lucky Luciano” starring Gian Maria Volonte as Luciano and featuring Vincent Gardenia, Rod Steiger and real-life Federal Agent Charles Siracusa, is the best known portrayal of this gangster's life story.
• In the film, "The Cotton Club", Luciano is portrayed by Joe Dallesandro.
• The 1989 book Billy Bathgate, a retelling of Dutch Schultz's last days from the point of view of a young boy he befriends, features Luciano as a minor character whom the narrator is too afraid to identify by name. He was played by Stanley Tucci in the film adaptation.
• The 1991 film Mobsters is about the rise of Luciano, Lansky, Frank Costello and Bugsy Siegel. It takes several liberties with historical accuracy. It stars Christian Slater as Luciano, who narrates the film.
• The 1991 film Bugsy, the role of Lucky Luciano was played by Bill Graham.
• The 1997 film Hoodlum, about the gang war in Harlem between Dutch Schultz and Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, co-starring Andy Garcia as Luciano. Arguably it is the most accurate physical portrayal of him, showing Luciano with all of his scars and malformities.
• The 2002 book 54, written by Wu Ming, has Lucky Luciano as one of its characters - as well as Marshall Tito and Cary Grant.
• There is a pizza parlor named after Luciano called "Luciano's" in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Reference

• Gosch, Martin A. and Hammer, Richard. The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano, Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1974.

External links

• Lucky Luciano (1974) at IMDb
• Photos
• Born Lucky, Don't mention the Castellammarese War
• American Organized Crime - Genovese Crime Family - Salvatore "Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano" Lucania
• biography of Lucky Luciano