Lucky Luciano

Charles Luciano (November 11, 1896 – January 26, 1962), better known as Lucky Luciano, was a legendary mobster with a long criminal history. Luciano is considered the father of the Modern Crime Syndicate and the mastermind of the massive postwar expansion of the international heroin trade.

Castellammarese War and rise through the ranks

By the late 1920s, Luciano became one of the leaders of another mafia family, that of Joe "The Boss" Masseria, while disagreeing with Masseria's bigoted mistrust of everyone who wasn't Sicilian. Luciano knew from his own experience that the Sicilians were wasting an opportunity to make more profits by shunning associations with other ethnic groups.

Related Topics:
1920s - Joe "The Boss" Masseria

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In 1930, the Castellammarese War broke out, pitting Masseria and his men against fellow Sicilian Salvatore Maranzano. When Maranzano gained the upper hand, Luciano, along with Vito Genovese, betrayed Masseria and threw their support behind Maranzano while also secretly plotting to turn against him. Luciano reasoned that he would become boss after both Masseria and Maranzano had been eliminated.

Related Topics:
1930 - Castellammarese War - Salvatore Maranzano

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By 1931, Luciano was so eager to gain power and become a boss that he, along with Lansky, planned the assassination of Masseria at a Coney Island restaurant while Luciano washed his hands in the bathroom.

Related Topics:
1931 - Coney Island

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Maranzano, having become the winner of the Castellamarese War thanks to Luciano and his friends, made Luciano his second in command, but this was just part of a Maranzano plot to have Luciano, Genovese and Chicago, Illinois's boss Al Capone eliminated. When Luciano and Lansky learned of this, they arranged to have four of Lansky's associates, disguised as government agents, come to Maranzano's office and murder him. After killing Maranzano, the gang reportedly met the Irishman Vincent "Mad Dog Coll", who had been hired by Maranzano to kill Luciano and Genovese, coming up the stairs. Not knowing Coll was the intended assassin, they told him the police were raiding the place, and Coll fled too.

Related Topics:
Chicago, Illinois - Al Capone - Mad Dog Coll

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