The
Castellammarese War (1929 – 1931) was a bloody power struggle for control of the Italian-American
mafiaThe Mafia is a Sicilian criminal society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily, and the first such society to be referred to as a mafia . It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct...
between partisans of
Joe "The Boss" MasseriaGiuseppe "Joe The Boss" Masseria was an early Mafia don in the United States. He was boss of what is now called the Genovese crime family, one of the New York Mafia's Five Families, from 1922 to 1931.-Early days:...
and those of
Salvatore MaranzanoSalvatore Maranzano 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"...
. It was so called because Maranzano was based in
Castellammare del GolfoCastellammare del Golfo is a town in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name is roughly translated "Sea Fortress of the Gulf." It is so named because of the medieval fortress in the harbor...
,
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
. Maranzano's faction won, and he briefly became
capo di tutti capiCapo di tutti capi or capo dei capi is Italian for "boss of all bosses" or "boss of bosses". It is a phrase used mainly by the media, public and the law enforcement community to indicate a supremely powerful crime boss in the Sicilian or American Mafia who holds great influence over the whole...
("boss of all bosses"), the undisputed leader of the entire mafia. He was soon assassinated by a faction of young upstarts led by
Lucky LucianoCharles "Lucky" Luciano was a Sicilian-born American mobster. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime and the mastermind of the massive postwar expansion of the international heroin trade. He was the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family...
, who established a power-sharing arrangement called "
the CommissionThe Commission is a governing body of the Mafia in the United States. Although its makeup has changed several times since its 1931 creation, the bosses of the New York Five Families still provide the core membership of The Commission...
," a group of five mafia families of equal stature, to avoid such wars in the future.
Background
Mafia operations in the United States in the
1920sThe 1920s was the decade that ran from January 1, 1920, to December 31, 1929. It is sometimes referred to as the Roaring Twenties or the Jazz Age, when speaking about the United States, Canada or the United Kingdom...
were controlled by
Joe "The Boss" MasseriaGiuseppe "Joe The Boss" Masseria was an early Mafia don in the United States. He was boss of what is now called the Genovese crime family, one of the New York Mafia's Five Families, from 1922 to 1931.-Early days:...
, whose faction consisted mainly of gangsters from
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
,
NaplesNaples in Italy, is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture, architecture, music and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old...
, and the
CalabriaCalabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the...
and
CampaniaCampania is a region of southern Italy in Europe. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,595 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
regions of Southern Italy. Masseria's faction included Alphonse Capone, Charles "Lucky" Luciano,
Albert "Mad Hatter" AnastasiaAlbert Anastasia , born Umberto Anastasio, was boss of what is now called the Gambino Crime Family, one of New York City's Five Families, from 1951-1957. He also ran a gang of contract killers called Murder Inc. which enforced the decisions of the Commission, the ruling council of the American Mafia...
,
Vito GenoveseVito "Don Vito" Genovese was a mafioso who rose to power in America during the Castellammarese War to later become leader of the Genovese crime family. Genovese served as mentor to many future mob bosses including Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, 4th cousin Michael "Mike the Pipe" Genovese and Carlo...
,
Alfred MineoAlfredo "Al Mineo" Manfredi was a Brooklyn based New York mobster, who headed a strong mafia crime family during the Castellammarese War. Mineo's organization would eventually become the present-day Gambino crime family....
,
Willie MorettiGuarino "Willie" Moretti was an underboss of the Genovese crime family and a cousin of family boss Frank Costello.-Early life:...
,
Joe AdonisJoe Adonis , also known as "Joey A", "Joe Adone", "Joe Arosa", "James Arosa", and "Joe DiMeo", was a New York mobster who was an important participant in the formation of the modern Cosa Nostra crime families....
, and
Frank CostelloFrank Costello was a New York City gangster who rose to the top of America's underworld, controlled a vast gambling empire across the United States and enjoyed political influence like no other La Cosa Nostra boss.Nicknamed the "Prime Minister of the Underworld", he became one of the most powerful...
.
Powerful
SicilianSicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
mafioso
Don Vito Cascio FerroVito Cascio Ferro , known as Don Vito, was a prominent Sicilian mafioso who also operated for a time in the United States, where he was a "pioneer" of sorts in the American Mafia...
decided to make a bid for control of Mafia operations in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. From his base in
Castellammare del GolfoCastellammare del Golfo is a town in the Trapani Province of Sicily. The name is roughly translated "Sea Fortress of the Gulf." It is so named because of the medieval fortress in the harbor...
, he sent
Salvatore MaranzanoSalvatore Maranzano 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"...
to seize control. The Castellammarese faction in the U.S. included
Joseph "Joe Bananas" BonannoGiuseppe "Joe Bananas" Bonanno was a Sicilian-born American Mafioso who became the boss of the Bonanno crime family...
,
Stefano "The Undertaker" MagaddinoStefano Magaddino was a New York mobster who became the boss of the Buffalo crime family in western New York. His underworld influence stretched into Ohio and Southern Ontario...
, Joseph Profaci, and
Joe AielloGiuseppe "Joe" Aiello was a Chicago bootlegger during the 1920s and early 1930s who had a longstanding, bloody feud with Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone.-Arrival in America:...
.
Outwardly, the Castellammarese War was between the forces of Masseria and Maranzano. In reality, it was a generational conflict between the old guard Sicilian leadership, fondly known as the "
Mustache PeteMustache Petes were the members of the Sicilian Mafia who had come to New York City as adults in the early 1900s. The younger Sicilian-Americans who later formed the Five Families, unlike the old guard Mustache Petes, had made their bones in America...
s" for their long mustaches and old-world ways, and the "
Young TurksThe Young Turks were a coalition of various groups favoring reformation of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. The movement was against the monarchy of Ottoman Sultan and favored a re-installation of the shortlived Kanûn-ı Esâsî constitution...
", a younger and more diverse Italian group who wanted to work more with non-Italians. Tensions between the two factions were readily evident as far back as 1928, with one side frequently
hijacking' is a form of hijacking, where the crime is of stealing a motor vehicle and so also armed assault when the vehicle is occupied. Historically, such as in the rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings during the 1960s, the general term hijacking was used for that type of vehicle abduction, which did not...
the other's
alcoholIn chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group. An important group of acohols is formed by the simple acyclic alcohols, the general formula for which is C
nH
2n+1OH...
trucks (alcohol production was then illegal in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
due to
ProhibitionProhibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is a sumptuary law which prohibits alcohol. Typically, the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries...
). However, both factions were fluid; many gangsters switched sides or killed their own allies during this war.
Hostilities begin
It is hard to tell when the warfare actually started. In February 1930, Masseria supposedly ordered the death of
Gaspar MilazzoGaspar Milazo was a major organized-crime figure in Detroit, Michigan, during the Prohibition era. He is also credited with helping establish one of the early Brooklyn-based crime families in New York City, the Castellammarese Clan, better known today as the Bonanno crime family.-Early life:Born...
, a Castellemmarese native who was the president of
DetroitDetroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded...
's chapter of
Unione SicilianeThe Unione Siciliana was a Sicilian-American fraternal organization which eventually was rumored to have controlled much of the Italian American vote within the United States during the early twentieth century...
. Masseria was reportedly humiliated by Milazzo's refusal to support him in an Unione Siciliane dispute involving the
Chicago OutfitThe Chicago Outfit, also known as The Outfit, Chicago Syndicate and Chicago Mob, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
and Capone.
However, according to most sources, the opening salvo in the war was fired within the Masseria faction. On February 26, Masseria ordered the murder of an ally,
Gaetano ReinaGaetano "Tom" Reina was a New York mobster who was a top lieutenant to powerful gang boss Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria...
(whose daughter Carmela -- often referred to incorrectly as Mildred due to her nickname, Millie -- would marry
Joe ValachiJoseph 'Joe Cargo' Valachi also known as "Charles Chanbano" and "Anthony Sorge" was the first Mafia member to publicly acknowledge the existence of the Mafia...
two years later). Masseria gave the job to a young
Vito GenoveseVito "Don Vito" Genovese was a mafioso who rose to power in America during the Castellammarese War to later become leader of the Genovese crime family. Genovese served as mentor to many future mob bosses including Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, 4th cousin Michael "Mike the Pipe" Genovese and Carlo...
, who killed Reina with a shotgun. Masseria's intent was to protect his secret allies
Tommy GaglianoGaetano "Tommy" Gagliano is a New York gangster who founded the Lucchese crime family, one of the powerful "Five Families" of New York, and served as its low-profile Boss for over two decades...
,
Tommy LuccheseGaetano "Tommy Gunn" Lucchese, also known as "Three-Fingers Brown," "Three Fingers," and "Tommy Brown" was a New York mobster who was a key ally of Charlie Luciano during the 1920s and co-founder of the New York Lucchese crime family.-Early life and Prohibition:Lucchese was born in Palermo,...
, and Dominic "The Gap" Petrilli; however, his treachery would come back to haunt him, as the Reina family then threw its support to Maranzano.
Trading blows
On August 15, 1930, Castellammerese loyalists executed a key Masseria enforcer,
Pietro MorelloPeter "The Clutching Hand" Morello , also known as "The Old Fox", was the last leader of the Morello crime family and top advisor to Joe "The Boss" Masseria...
, at Morello's East Harlem office (a visitor, Giuseppe Pariano, was also killed). Two weeks later, Masseria suffered another blow. After Reina's murder, Masseria had appointed
Joseph PinzoloBonaventura "Joseph/Fat Joe" Pinzolo was the head of the Lucchese crime family in New York City for a brief period during 1930....
to take over the ice-distribution racket. However, on September 9, the Reina family shot and killed Pinzolo at a
Times SquareTimes Square is a major intersection in Manhattan, a borough of New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
office rented by Lucchese. After these two murders, the Reina crew formally joined forces with the Castellammerese.
Masseria soon struck back. On October 23, 1930, Castellammerese ally
Joe AielloGiuseppe "Joe" Aiello was a Chicago bootlegger during the 1920s and early 1930s who had a longstanding, bloody feud with Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone.-Arrival in America:...
, president of the Chicago Unione Siciliane, was murdered in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
. At the time, it was widely assumed that Capone, another Castellammerese ally, had killed Aiello as part of a bitter power struggle in Chicago. However, Luciano later admitted that Masseria ordered the Aiello hit, which was performed by Masseria ally
Alfred MineoAlfredo "Al Mineo" Manfredi was a Brooklyn based New York mobster, who headed a strong mafia crime family during the Castellammarese War. Mineo's organization would eventually become the present-day Gambino crime family....
.
The tide turns
Following the murder of Aiello, the tide of war rapidly turned in favor of the Castellammarese. On November 5, 1930 Mineo and a key member of Masseria's gang,
Steve FerrignoStefano "Steve" Ferrigno was a New York mobster of Sicilian origin who led an important Italian criminal gang in the 1920s. Ferrigno was assassinated along with Alfred Mineo during the so-called Castellammarese War.-Early years:...
, were murdered. At this point, members of Masseria's gang began defecting to Maranzano, rendering the original battle lines of the conflict (Castellammarese
versus non-Castellammarese) meaningless. On February 3, 1931, another important Masseria lieutenant, Joseph Catania, was gunned down, dying two days later.
Given the worsened situation, Masseria allies Luciano and Genovese started communicating with Castellammarese leader Maranzano. The two men agreed to betray Masseria if Maranzano would end the war. On April 15, Masseria was killed while eating dinner at Nuova Villa Tammaro, a
Coney IslandConey Island is a peninsula, formerly an island, in southernmost Brooklyn, New York City, USA, with a beach on the Atlantic Ocean. The neighborhood of the same name is a community of 60,000 people in the western part of the peninsula, with Seagate to its west; Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to...
restaurant in
BrooklynBrooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located southwest of Queens on the western tip of Long Island. An independent city until its consolidation with New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with 2.5 million residents, and second largest in area...
. The hitters were Anastasia, Genovese,
Joe AdonisJoe Adonis , also known as "Joey A", "Joe Adone", "Joe Arosa", "James Arosa", and "Joe DiMeo", was a New York mobster who was an important participant in the formation of the modern Cosa Nostra crime families....
, and
Benjamin "Bugsy" SiegelBenjamin "Bugsy" Siegel was an American gangster who was involved with the Jewish Mafia, and a major driving force behind large-scale development of Las Vegas.-Early life :...
;
Ciro "The Artichoke King" TerranovaCiro "The Artichoke King" Terranova was a New York City gangster and one time leader of the Morello crime family.-Early life:Ciro Terranova was born in the town of Corleone, Sicily...
drove the getaway car, but legend has it that he was too shaken up to drive away and had to be shoved out of the driver's seat by Siegel.
The new Mafia structure
With the death of Masseria, the war was over. The winners, at least on paper, were Maranzano and the traditional Castellammarese faction. Now Maranzano took some significant actions to avoid more bloody and self-destructive gang wars. Many of these changes are still in effect today.
Except for
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, the major urban areas in the
NortheastThe Northeastern United States is a region of the United States. According to the definition used by the United States Census Bureau, the Northeast region consists of nine states: the New England states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut; and the...
and Midwest were organized into one family per city; due to the sheer size of organized crime in New York, it was organized into five separate families. The bosses of the Five Families of New York were to be Luciano (now the
Genovese crime familyThe Genovese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that controls organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...
), Profaci (now Colombo), Gagliano (now Lucchese), Bonanno, and
Vincent ManganoVincent Mangano also known as "The Executioner" as he was named in a Brooklyn newspaper. was the head of the Mangano crime family and also one of the infamous bosses of Murder, Incorporated from 1931 to 1951...
(now Gambino). All, however, would owe allegance and tribute to Maranzano. The Castellammarese, such as Profaci and Bonanno, were divided among the New York crime families and ceased to exist as a separate faction. Maranzano set himself above, and apart from, all the U.S. crime families by creating an additional position for himself--
capo di tutti capiCapo di tutti capi or capo dei capi is Italian for "boss of all bosses" or "boss of bosses". It is a phrase used mainly by the media, public and the law enforcement community to indicate a supremely powerful crime boss in the Sicilian or American Mafia who holds great influence over the whole...
or "boss of all bosses."
Each crime
family was to be headed by a
boss, who was assisted by an
underbossCapo Bastone or "Sotto Capo", known as the "Underboss" is second in command to the Capo Crimini. It is a rank in the American and Italian Mafia. The Underboss is sometimes a family member, such as a son, that will take over the family if the don is sick, killed, or sent to prison...
(the third-ranking position of
consigliereConsigliere is a position in the American Mafia. The word was popularized by Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather , and its film adaptation. In the novel, a consigliere is an adviser or counselor to a mafia boss, with the additional responsibility of representing the don in important meetings both...
, was added somewhat later). Below the underboss, the family was divided into crews, each headed by a
caporegimeA caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo is a term used in the Mafia for a high ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization...
, or
capo, and staffed by
soldiers (members or, as they later became known, "wise guys"). The soldiers would often be assisted by associates, who were not yet members. Associates might also include non-Italians who worked with the family, and would include
Meyer LanskyMeyer Lansky was a 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.Lansky developed a gambling empire which stretched from Saratoga, New York to Miami...
and Ben Siegel, to name just two.
Death of Maranzano
Unfortunately for Maranzano, his reign as
capo di tutti capi was short-lived. On September 10, 1931, he was shot and stabbed to death in his
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
office by a team of Jewish triggermen (recruited by Lansky) which included Samuel "Red" Levine and Bo Weinberg.
In the end, both of the traditional factions in the New York Mafia lost the war. The real winners were the younger and more ruthless generation of mobsters, headed by Luciano. With their ascension to power, organized crime was poised to expand into a truly national and multi-ethnic combination.
Popular culture
- The movie 'Mobsters' (starring Christian Slater
Christian Michael Leonard Slater is an American actor who has starred in films such as Heathers, Kuffs, True Romance, He Was a Quiet Man, Broken Arrow, The Legend of Billie Jean and Pump Up The Volume....
, Patrick DempseyPatrick Galen Dempsey is an American actor and race car driver, known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy. He has also recently appeared in several films, including Sweet Home Alabama, The Emperor's Club, Freedom Writers, Enchanted and Made of...
, and Lara Flynn BoyleLara Flynn Boyle is an American film and television actress best known for her performances as Laura Palmer's best friend Donna Hayward in Twin Peaks and Assistant District Attorney Helen Gamble in The Practice...
) is a heavily fictionalized account of the Castellammarese War from the point of view of Luciano. Slater played Luciano, while 'Joe the Boss' Masseria was played by Anthony QuinnAnthony Quinn was a Mexican-American actor, as well as a painter and writer. He starred in numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, including Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia, and Federico Fellini's La strada...
and Salvatore Maranzano (whose name was changed to Faranzano, presumably to avoid confusion with Masseria) was played by Michael GambonSir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Olivier Award- and BAFTA Award-winning Irish-British actor who has worked in theatre, television, and film...
.
- Events from the war (most notably the assassination of Maranzano) are included in Mario Puzo
Mario Gianluigi Puzo was a two time Academy Award-winning Italian American author and screenwriter, known for his novels about the Mafia, especially The Godfather , which he later co-adapted into a film with Francis Ford Coppola.-Biography:Puzo was born in a poor family of Neapolitan immigrants...
's novel 'The Godfather'The Godfather is a 1972 American drama film based on the novel of the same name by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and Robert Towne . It stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S...
.