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Lucky Luciano
Lucky Luciano
Charles "Lucky" Luciano (pronounced /luːtʃˈɑːnɵ/;[1] born Salvatore Lucania[2] November 24, 1897 -- January 26, 1962), was an Italian-born, naturalized American mobster. 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.
Salvatore Lucanio was born on November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily.[3][4] Luciano's parents, Antonio and Rosalia Lucania, had four other children: Bartolomeo (born 1890), Giuseppe (born 1898), Filippia (born 1901), and Concetta. Luciano's father worked in a sulfur mine in Sicily.[5] When Luciano was 10 years old (1907), the family immigrated to the United States.[6][7] They settled in New York City in the borough of Manhattan on its Lower East Side, a popular destination for Italian immigrants.[8] At age 14, Luciano dropped out of school and started working as a shipping clerk, earning $5 per week. However, after winning $244 in a dice game, Luciano quit his job and went to earning money on the street.[5] That same year, Luciano's parents sent him to the Brooklyn Truant School.[9]
While a teenager, Luciano started his own gang. Unlike other street gangs whose business was petty crime, Luciano offered protection to Jewish youngsters from Italian and Irish gangs for ten cents per week. It was during this time Luciano met Jewish teenager Meyer Lansky, his future business partner.
It is not clear how Luciano earned the nickname "Lucky". It may have come from surviving a severe beating by three men in the 1920s, as well as a throat slashing.[7] Luciano may have gained it as a young man due to his ability to avoid prison.[6] From 1916 to 1936, Luciano was arrested 25 times on charges ranging from assault to illegal gambling to blackmail as well as robbery, but spent no time in prison.[10] The name "Lucky" may have also been a mispronunciation of Luciano's surname "Lucania".
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1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, and Prohibition lasted until the amendment was repealed in 1933.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.
By 1921, Luciano had met many future Mafia leaders, including Vito Genovese and Frank Costello, his longtime friend and future business partner through the Five Points Gang. Also in 1921, Brooklyn gang boss Joe Masseria recruited Luciano as one of his gunmen.[11]
At some point in the early 1920s, Luciano left Masseria and started working for gambler Arnold "the Brain" Rothstein. Rothstein immediately saw the potential windfall from Prohibition and educated Luciano on running bootleg alcohol as a business[12] Luciano, Costello, and Genovese started their own bootlegging operation with financing from Rothstein.[12]
Rothstein served as a mentor for Luciano. In 1923, after ruining his reputation in the criminal community with a botched drug deal, Luciano went to Rothstein for advice. Rothstein told Luciano to buy 200 expensive seats to the Jack Dempsey--Luis Firpo boxing match in the Bronx and distribute them to top gangsters and politicians. Rothstein then took Luciano on a shopping trip to Wanamaker's Department Store in Manhattan to buy high end, classy clothes for the fight. The strategy worked, and Luciano's reputation was saved.[13]
By 1925, Luciano was grossing over $12 million a year. He had a net income of around $4 million each year after the 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 from Scotland, rum from the Caribbean, and whisky from Canada. Luciano was also involved in illegal gambling.
On November 2, 1928, a bookkeeper shot and killed Rothstein over a gambling debt.[14] With Rothstein's death, Luciano quickly pledged fealty again to Masseria.
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Originally Posted by Etain
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