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On February 10, 1946, Charles "Lucky" Luciano was deported to Italy and never returned to the United States. From the article:
"Biography of Lucky Luciano, American Gangster
Charles "Lucky" Luciano (born Salvatore Lucania; November 24, 1897–January 26, 1962) was instrumental in creating the American Mafia as we know it today. After graduating from the gritty street gangs of New York, Luciano went on to become a henchman for the American branch of the infamous Cosa Nostra. A criminal mastermind, it was Luciano who orchestrated the unification of warring mob factions, creating the first Organized Crime Commission. In addition to taking on the mantle of the first kingpin of the modern Genovese crime family, he and his mob associates launched the highly successful and lucrative National Crime Syndicate.
Lucky Luciano
Known For: Charles “Lucky” Luciano was the criminal mastermind whose influence in shaping the mafia earned him the title of “father of modern organized crime.”
Born: November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily, Italy
Parents: Rosalia Capporelli and Antonio Lucania
Died: January 26, 1962 in Naples, Campania, Italy
Spouse: Igea Lissoni
Criminal Convictions: Pandering, drug trafficking
Published Work: The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano: The Mafia Story in His Own Words (as told to Martin A. Gosch and Richard Hammer)
Notable Quote: “There’s no such thing as good money or bad money. There’s just money."
Early Years
Luciano's family immigrated to the United States in 1906. His criminal career began not long after. At the age of 10, he was charged with his first crime (shoplifting). Luciano launched his first racket in 1907, charging Jewish and Italian kids in his Lower East Side neighborhood anything from one or two pennies to as much as a dime for his protection to and from school. If they refused to pay, Luciano beat them up rather than protect them. One of the kids, Meyer Lansky, refused to ante up. After Luciano failed to pound Lansky to a pulp, the two became friends and joined forces in the protection scheme. They remained friends and close associates throughout most of their lives.
At the age of 14, Luciano dropped out of school and started a $7 per week delivery job, but after winning more than $200 in a craps game, he realized there were faster and easier ways of earning money. His parents sent him to The Brooklyn Truant School in hopes of straightening him out but in 1916 after his release, Luciano took over as leader of the notorious Five Points Gang, where he became acquainted with future Mafia leaders Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. In the years leading up to World War I, Luciano expanded his criminal enterprises to include pimping and drug trafficking, and while the police named him as a suspect in several local murders, he was never indicted.
The 1920s
By 1920, Luciano had branched out into bootlegging and illegal gambling. With financing and an education in social skills from his mentor "Arnold the Brain" Rothstein, Luciano and his partners were grossing over $12 million a year from the sale of illicit alcohol by 1925. Luciano, Costello, and Genovese had the largest bootlegging operation in New York with a territory that extended as far as Philadephia.
By the late 1920s, Luciano had become a chief aide in the largest crime family in the country, led by Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria. Initially recruited as a gunman, as time went on, Luciano came to despise the old Mafia (Cosa Nostra) traditions—and especially Masseria's belief that non-Sicilians could not be trusted (which ironically, turned out to be true in Luciano's case).
After being kidnapped and mugged, Luciano discovered "Joe the Boss" was behind the attack. A few months later, he decided to betray Masseria by covertly joining forces with the second largest mafia clan led by Salvatore Maranzano. The Castellammarese War began in 1928 and, over the next two years, several gangsters connected to Masseria and Maranzana were killed. Luciano, who was still working for both camps, led four men—including Bugsy Siegel—to a meeting he had arranged with Masseria. The four men sprayed his former boss with bullets, killing him.
After the death of Masseria, Maranzano became the "Boss of Bosses" in New York but his ultimate goal was to become the leading boss in the United States. Maranzano appointed Lucky Luciano as his No. 2 man. The working relationship was short-lived, however. After learning of a plan by Maranzano to double-cross him and wipe out Al Capone in the bargain, Luciano decided to strike first, organizing a meeting at which Maranzano was killed. Lucky Luciano became "The Boss" of New York and, almost overnight, he began moving into more rackets and expanding their power.
The 1930s
The 1930s were prosperous times for Luciano, who was now able to break ethnic barriers formerly laid out by the old Mafia. He strengthened his outreach in areas of bootlegging, prostitution, gambling, loan-sharking, narcotics, and labor rackets. In 1936, Luciano was convicted on charges of compulsory prostitution (pandering) and drug trafficking. He was sentenced to 30-50 years but maintained control of the syndicate while behind bars.
The 1940s
In the early 1940s at the onset of America's involvement in World War II, Luciano struck a deal with U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence. He offered to supply information to help protect the mob-run New York docks from Nazi saboteurs in exchange for a move to a better prison and the possibility of early parole. Luciano was transferred to Great Meadow Correctional Facility from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in upstate New York. He continued his collaboration, known as "Operation Underworld," for the remaining years of the war.
In 1946, Governor Thomas E. Dewey (who while serving as Special Prosecutor was responsible for Luciano's conviction) granted the mobster a commutation of sentence and had him deported to Italy, where he was able to resume control over the American syndicate. Luciano snuck into Cuba in October 1946, where he attended "The Havana Conference," a meeting of the five major crime families hosted by Lansky who already had an established presence in Cuba. The cover for the meeting was an appearance by Frank Sinatra.
During the week-long conference that focused on the heroin trade and gambling activities in Cuba, and also to decide the fate of Bugsy Siegel and his Las Vegas money pit, the Flamingo Hotel, Luciano met privately with Genovese, who suggested that Luciano take on a figurehead role as "Boss of Bosses" while allowing Genovese to control the day-to-day activities of the syndicate. Luciano declined, saying: "There is no 'Boss of Bosses.' I turned it down in front of everybody. If I ever change my mind, I will take the title. But it won't be up to you. Right now you work for me and I ain't in the mood to retire. Don't you ever let me hear this again, or I'll lose my temper."
When the U.S. government got wind of Luciano's presence in Cuba, it quickly moved to have him repatriated to Italy, where he remained for the rest of his life. While he continued to profit from mob-related activities, his power and influence waned.
Death and Legacy
As Luciano grew older, his long-time relationship with Lansky began to falter. Luciano felt he wasn't getting his fair share from the mob. Disgruntled, he arranged to have his memoirs written—not to bare his soul so much as to set the record straight as he saw it. He outlined his exploits to writer Richard Hammer and had also arranged to meet with producer Martin Gosch about a possible film version of the project.
Word of his confessional ("The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano: The Mafia Story in His Own Words," published posthumously) did not sit well with Luciano's former mob associates. In 1962, Luciano suffered a fatal heart attack in the Naples airport, where he talked about the movie with Gosch. There is some conjecture that Luciano did not die of natural causes and that his death may have been a hit in retribution for his "turning canary." Luciano's body was sent back to the United States and buried at St. John's Cemetery in New York City.
It is believed that Luciano was one of the most powerful men in organized crime and to this day, his influence over the gangster activity can be felt in this country. He was the first person to challenge the "old Mafia" by breaking through ethnic barriers and creating a network of gangs that comprised the first national crime syndicate and continued to exert control organized crime long after his death."
"Biography of Lucky Luciano, American Gangster
Charles "Lucky" Luciano (born Salvatore Lucania; November 24, 1897–January 26, 1962) was instrumental in creating the American Mafia as we know it today. After graduating from the gritty street gangs of New York, Luciano went on to become a henchman for the American branch of the infamous Cosa Nostra. A criminal mastermind, it was Luciano who orchestrated the unification of warring mob factions, creating the first Organized Crime Commission. In addition to taking on the mantle of the first kingpin of the modern Genovese crime family, he and his mob associates launched the highly successful and lucrative National Crime Syndicate.
Lucky Luciano
Known For: Charles “Lucky” Luciano was the criminal mastermind whose influence in shaping the mafia earned him the title of “father of modern organized crime.”
Born: November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily, Italy
Parents: Rosalia Capporelli and Antonio Lucania
Died: January 26, 1962 in Naples, Campania, Italy
Spouse: Igea Lissoni
Criminal Convictions: Pandering, drug trafficking
Published Work: The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano: The Mafia Story in His Own Words (as told to Martin A. Gosch and Richard Hammer)
Notable Quote: “There’s no such thing as good money or bad money. There’s just money."
Early Years
Luciano's family immigrated to the United States in 1906. His criminal career began not long after. At the age of 10, he was charged with his first crime (shoplifting). Luciano launched his first racket in 1907, charging Jewish and Italian kids in his Lower East Side neighborhood anything from one or two pennies to as much as a dime for his protection to and from school. If they refused to pay, Luciano beat them up rather than protect them. One of the kids, Meyer Lansky, refused to ante up. After Luciano failed to pound Lansky to a pulp, the two became friends and joined forces in the protection scheme. They remained friends and close associates throughout most of their lives.
At the age of 14, Luciano dropped out of school and started a $7 per week delivery job, but after winning more than $200 in a craps game, he realized there were faster and easier ways of earning money. His parents sent him to The Brooklyn Truant School in hopes of straightening him out but in 1916 after his release, Luciano took over as leader of the notorious Five Points Gang, where he became acquainted with future Mafia leaders Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. In the years leading up to World War I, Luciano expanded his criminal enterprises to include pimping and drug trafficking, and while the police named him as a suspect in several local murders, he was never indicted.
The 1920s
By 1920, Luciano had branched out into bootlegging and illegal gambling. With financing and an education in social skills from his mentor "Arnold the Brain" Rothstein, Luciano and his partners were grossing over $12 million a year from the sale of illicit alcohol by 1925. Luciano, Costello, and Genovese had the largest bootlegging operation in New York with a territory that extended as far as Philadephia.
By the late 1920s, Luciano had become a chief aide in the largest crime family in the country, led by Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria. Initially recruited as a gunman, as time went on, Luciano came to despise the old Mafia (Cosa Nostra) traditions—and especially Masseria's belief that non-Sicilians could not be trusted (which ironically, turned out to be true in Luciano's case).
After being kidnapped and mugged, Luciano discovered "Joe the Boss" was behind the attack. A few months later, he decided to betray Masseria by covertly joining forces with the second largest mafia clan led by Salvatore Maranzano. The Castellammarese War began in 1928 and, over the next two years, several gangsters connected to Masseria and Maranzana were killed. Luciano, who was still working for both camps, led four men—including Bugsy Siegel—to a meeting he had arranged with Masseria. The four men sprayed his former boss with bullets, killing him.
After the death of Masseria, Maranzano became the "Boss of Bosses" in New York but his ultimate goal was to become the leading boss in the United States. Maranzano appointed Lucky Luciano as his No. 2 man. The working relationship was short-lived, however. After learning of a plan by Maranzano to double-cross him and wipe out Al Capone in the bargain, Luciano decided to strike first, organizing a meeting at which Maranzano was killed. Lucky Luciano became "The Boss" of New York and, almost overnight, he began moving into more rackets and expanding their power.
The 1930s
The 1930s were prosperous times for Luciano, who was now able to break ethnic barriers formerly laid out by the old Mafia. He strengthened his outreach in areas of bootlegging, prostitution, gambling, loan-sharking, narcotics, and labor rackets. In 1936, Luciano was convicted on charges of compulsory prostitution (pandering) and drug trafficking. He was sentenced to 30-50 years but maintained control of the syndicate while behind bars.
The 1940s
In the early 1940s at the onset of America's involvement in World War II, Luciano struck a deal with U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence. He offered to supply information to help protect the mob-run New York docks from Nazi saboteurs in exchange for a move to a better prison and the possibility of early parole. Luciano was transferred to Great Meadow Correctional Facility from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora in upstate New York. He continued his collaboration, known as "Operation Underworld," for the remaining years of the war.
In 1946, Governor Thomas E. Dewey (who while serving as Special Prosecutor was responsible for Luciano's conviction) granted the mobster a commutation of sentence and had him deported to Italy, where he was able to resume control over the American syndicate. Luciano snuck into Cuba in October 1946, where he attended "The Havana Conference," a meeting of the five major crime families hosted by Lansky who already had an established presence in Cuba. The cover for the meeting was an appearance by Frank Sinatra.
During the week-long conference that focused on the heroin trade and gambling activities in Cuba, and also to decide the fate of Bugsy Siegel and his Las Vegas money pit, the Flamingo Hotel, Luciano met privately with Genovese, who suggested that Luciano take on a figurehead role as "Boss of Bosses" while allowing Genovese to control the day-to-day activities of the syndicate. Luciano declined, saying: "There is no 'Boss of Bosses.' I turned it down in front of everybody. If I ever change my mind, I will take the title. But it won't be up to you. Right now you work for me and I ain't in the mood to retire. Don't you ever let me hear this again, or I'll lose my temper."
When the U.S. government got wind of Luciano's presence in Cuba, it quickly moved to have him repatriated to Italy, where he remained for the rest of his life. While he continued to profit from mob-related activities, his power and influence waned.
Death and Legacy
As Luciano grew older, his long-time relationship with Lansky began to falter. Luciano felt he wasn't getting his fair share from the mob. Disgruntled, he arranged to have his memoirs written—not to bare his soul so much as to set the record straight as he saw it. He outlined his exploits to writer Richard Hammer and had also arranged to meet with producer Martin Gosch about a possible film version of the project.
Word of his confessional ("The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano: The Mafia Story in His Own Words," published posthumously) did not sit well with Luciano's former mob associates. In 1962, Luciano suffered a fatal heart attack in the Naples airport, where he talked about the movie with Gosch. There is some conjecture that Luciano did not die of natural causes and that his death may have been a hit in retribution for his "turning canary." Luciano's body was sent back to the United States and buried at St. John's Cemetery in New York City.
It is believed that Luciano was one of the most powerful men in organized crime and to this day, his influence over the gangster activity can be felt in this country. He was the first person to challenge the "old Mafia" by breaking through ethnic barriers and creating a network of gangs that comprised the first national crime syndicate and continued to exert control organized crime long after his death."
Biography of Lucky Luciano, American Gangster
Posted from thoughtco.com
Crime
WWII World War Two
World History
American History
Military History
Edited 5 y ago
Posted 5 y ago
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This man was far more brutal than this bio suggests and he is fortunate to have lived to be as old as he did.
Thanks for the post, David!
Thanks for the post, David!
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The Mafia Protected New York From Enemy Spies - Mystery History
In the midst of the brutal conflict of WWII, U.S. Naval Intelligence was forced to make a deal with the mafia to protect its ports from enemy spies operating...
Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that February 10, 1946 Italian-American mobster and crime boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano who as born Salvatore Lucania was deported to Italy and never returned to the United States.
As the head of the Genovese crime family. He was, along with his associates, instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate.
It is interesting that "Lucky" Luciano helped the USA protect New York's harbors from Axis U-Boats and then he was deported to live his life freely outside the U.S.
The Mafia Protected New York From Enemy Spies - Mystery History.
In the midst of the brutal conflict of WWII, U.S. Naval Intelligence was forced to make a deal with the mafia to protect its ports from enemy spies operating on American soil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KLm_cunomw
Images:
1. Charles 'Lucky' Luciano organized crime boss of the Sicilian 'La Cosa Nostra' Mafia, poses for an FBI photo in 1925
2. Young Charles 'Lucky' Luciano.
3. Charles 'Lucky' Luciano picture collage.
4. Charles 'Lucky' Luciano 'There's no such thing as good money or bad money. There's just money.'
Biographies:
1. imdb.com/name/nm0524592/bio
2. themobmuseum.org/notable_names/lucky-luciano/
1. Background from {[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0524592/bio]}
Lucky Luciano Biography
Overview
Born November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily, Italy
Died January 26, 1962 in Naples, Campania, Italy (heart attack)
Birth Name Salvatore Lucania
Nicknames Lucky Luciano; Charley; Charles Salvatore; Charley Lucky; Charlie Lucky;
Charlie
Height 5' 10" (1.78 m)
Mini Bio
US gangster and racketeer. Born Charles Salvadore Lucania in Sicily, he emigrated with his family to the US in 1906. In 1907 he started shoplifting. He was given his nickname by childhood friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky for his luck with betting on racehorses, but it also could have applied to the many times he avoided imprisonment and prosecution as a Mafia "godfather" who operated successfully and profitably in the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1928 and 1930 the Castellammarese War broke out between the gangs of Giuseppe Masseria (aka Joe the Boss) and Salvatore Maranzano. Maranzano sent some men to "rough up" Luciano, and when they caught him they not only beat and stabbed him, but addition severed the muscles of his right cheek, leaving him with a droop in his right eye. He was left for dead under the Brooklyn Bridge. However, he lived up to his nickname and survived. Recovering, he sided with Maranzano in the conflict. By 1931 Masseria had been assassinated and Maranzano had won. He named himself "boss of bosses" (capo di tuti capo), but that title proved to be short-lived. Luciano and Lansky's had their men visit Maranzano in his office, disguised as government agents, and assassinated him. Luciano followed that with anywhere from 40 to 90 additional murders during the series of killings that came to be called the "Night of the Sicilian Vespers". Luciano was now the undisputed boss of a "new" Mafia. His business included narcotics-peddling, extortion and, especially, prostitution, including everything from low-rent streetwalkers to high-priced call girls. Luciano, one of the most powerful figures in organized crime, was arrested 25 times between 1919 and 1936 but convicted only once. When three prostitutes finally agreed to give evidence against him, he was arrested (1936) and found guilty of compelling women to become prostitutes. Even from prison, he retained control of his Family, setting up the Crime Syndicate of Mafia Families. During World War II he helped U.S. military intelligence through his Mafia connections in Italy and was given a suspended sentence on condition that he leave the US. In 1946 he was released from prison and deported to Italy as an undesirable alien. He returned to Naples, Italy, where he lived out his life in luxury. Luciano died of a heart attack at Naples Airport. He was only posthumously allowed to return to the USA, where he was buried at St John's Cemetery in New York.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sujit R. Varma
US gangster and racketeer. Born Charles Salvadore Lucania in Sicily, he emigrated with his family to the US in 1906. In 1907 he started shoplifting. He was given his nickname by childhood friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky for his luck with betting on racehorses, but it also could have applied to the many times he avoided imprisonment and prosecution as a Mafia "godfather" who operated successfully and profitably in the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1928 and 1930 the Castellammarese War broke out between the gangs of Giuseppe Masseria (aka Joe the Boss) and Salvatore Maranzano. Maranzano sent some men to "rough up" Luciano, and when they caught him they not only beat and stabbed him, but addition severed the muscles of his right cheek, leaving him with a droop in his right eye. He was left for dead under the Brooklyn Bridge. However, he lived up to his nickname and survived. Recovering, he sided with Maranzano in the conflict. By 1931 Masseria had been assassinated and Maranzano had won. He named himself "boss of bosses" (capo di tuti capo), but that title proved to be short-lived. Luciano and Lansky's had their men visit Maranzano in his office, disguised as government agents, and assassinated him. Luciano was now the undisputed boss of a "new" Mafia. His business included narcotics-peddling, extortion and, especially, prostitution, including everything from low-rent streetwalkers to high-priced call girls. Luciano, one of the most powerful figures in organized crime, was arrested 25 times between 1919 and 1936 but convicted only once. When three prostitutes finally agreed to give evidence against him, he was arrested (1936) and found guilty of compelling women to become prostitutes. Even from prison, he retained control of his Family, setting up the Crime Syndicate of Mafia Families. During World War II he helped U.S. military intelligence through his Mafia connections in Italy and was given a suspended sentence on condition that he leave the US. In 1946 he was released from prison and deported to Italy as an undesirable alien. He returned to Naples, Italy, where he lived out his life in luxury. Luciano died of a heart attack at Naples Airport. He was only posthumously allowed to return to the USA, where he was buried at St John's Cemetery in New York.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sujit R. Varma
Trade Mark (2)
1. Scar running the length of right jawline (knife wound from beating)
2. Drooping right eyelid (result of beating)
Trivia (11)
1. Uncle of Judy Luciano.
2. His autobiography is titled "The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano: The Mafia Story In His Own Words.".
3. After being deported from the United States, he bought a pet chihuahua and named it "Bambi", after the Disney movie, Bambi (1942), as a reminder of America.
4. Attended P.S. 19 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
5. On the day he died he was supposed to meet a film producer to discuss making a movie about his life. He had already had such a discussion previously with Dean Martin about making a movie where Frank Sinatra would play Luciano and Martin would also star (though it's unclear what role Martin would've played).
6. Family emigrated from Italy to New York in 1907.
7. Is portrayed by Bill Graham in Bugsy (1991).
8. Is buried in Saint John's Cemetery, Middle Village, Queens, New York , USA.
9. Appointed Vincent Mangano head of what eventually became the Carlo Gambino crime family.
10. Died of a heart attack at Naples International Airport where he had gone to meet with American producer Martin Gosch about a film based on his life. After the meeting with Gosch, Luciano was stricken with a heart attack and died. He was unaware that Italian drug agents had followed him to the airport in anticipation of arresting him on drug smuggling charges.
2. Background from {[http://themobmuseum.org/notable_names/lucky-luciano/]}
"Born: November 24, 1897, Sicily, Italy
Died: January 26, 1962, Naples, Italy
Nicknames: Lucky, Charlie Lucky
Associates: Arnold Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, the Five Families, the Commission, Bugsy Siegel
Charles “Lucky” Luciano, born Salvatore Lucania in 1897 in Sicily, probably did more to create the modern American Mafia and the national criminal Syndicate than any other single man. Luciano led a group of young Italian and Jewish mobsters against the older set of so-called “Moustache Petes,” and in the process set the stage for the Mob to grow beyond the limits of bootlegging profits to become, in the words of his friend Meyer Lansky, “bigger than United States Steel.”
Luciano, who moved to the United States and settled in the Lower East Side with his family at age 10, was recruited early into gangster life and was a member of the Five Points Gang in Manhattan. Around the start of Prohibition in 1920, he was recruited as a gunman by Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria, and a few years later Luciano went to work for Arnold Rothstein, another seminal figure in early organized crime. By the mid-1920s, Luciano was reportedly making millions in bootlegging profits.
With Rothstein’s murder in 1928, Luciano went back to working for Masseria, who by this time was the self-styled “Boss of Bosses,” and who was going to war with a rival, Salvatore “The Duke” Maranzano.
Luciano secretly sided with Maranzano in the bloody Castellammarese War and helped set up Masseria for assassination in 1931. Before the end of the year, Luciano and other “Young Turks” would knock off Maranzano, and the era of the Old World “Moustache Petes” would be over.
With Maranzano’s assassination by a gang from Murder, Incorporated – allegedly including Joe Adonis, Bugsy Siegel, Albert Anastasia and Vito Genovese, all of whom would go on to well-known roles in the Mob — Luciano inherited the crime family that would eventually become known as the Genovese family. A natural organizer, Luciano continued the committee of Five Families, which was established by Maranzano and would control East Coast rackets for decades. But rather than naming himself “Boss of Bosses,” as Maranzano had, Luciano called himself the chairman of the board.
Further, he established and hosted the first national meetings of what became known as the Commission, a national criminal syndicate, all in the name of avoiding unnecessary bloodshed and maximizing profits for all the families.
But all of that meant Luciano was a very public leader of the Mob, and that drew attention from law enforcement, and specifically from a young prosecutor in New York named Thomas Dewey. Dewey and his assistant, an African-American attorney named Eunice Carter, noticed that many of the prostitutes who were being arrested were represented by the same bondsmen and attorneys working for Luciano.
Armed with this information, in 1936, Dewey led raids on brothels throughout the city, arresting more than 100 people, mostly women, many of whom were unable to post the bail of $10,000 set by the courts. Some of those arrested provided information to the prosecutors that led to Luciano’s arrest and trial that same year. On June 6, 1936, Luciano was convicted of 62 charges of compulsory prostitution; he was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in state prison.
Luciano turned over leadership of the national Commission to Frank Costello.
That wasn’t the end of Luciano’s story, however. During World War II, the government needed the Mob’s help to keep the New York docks free of strikes, sabotage and other problems. Luciano agreed to help, on the assumption that he would get a break on his sentence. Dewey, the former prosecutor, was now New York governor and in a position to grant clemency.
After the war ended, Dewey commuted Luciano’s sentence with the understanding that the Mob leader would leave the United States, which he did, returning to Italy as a deportee. Luciano still maintained his ties to the American Mafia as a sort of elder statesman. The same year that he debarked to Italy, Luciano came to Havana, Cuba, and along with hobnobbing with celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, hosted a meeting of top-level mobsters from all the major American crime families.
Pressure from the U.S. government – specifically a threat to ban the export of American medicines to the island country – forced the Cuban government to deport Luciano back to Italy.
Luciano spent the rest of his life under close Italian police scrutiny. Luciano often met with American tourists and sailors and frequently professed his love for the United States. He died of a heart attack in 1962 at the Naples airport, where he had gone to meet with a movie producer considering a biography of Luciano."
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As the head of the Genovese crime family. He was, along with his associates, instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate.
It is interesting that "Lucky" Luciano helped the USA protect New York's harbors from Axis U-Boats and then he was deported to live his life freely outside the U.S.
The Mafia Protected New York From Enemy Spies - Mystery History.
In the midst of the brutal conflict of WWII, U.S. Naval Intelligence was forced to make a deal with the mafia to protect its ports from enemy spies operating on American soil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KLm_cunomw
Images:
1. Charles 'Lucky' Luciano organized crime boss of the Sicilian 'La Cosa Nostra' Mafia, poses for an FBI photo in 1925
2. Young Charles 'Lucky' Luciano.
3. Charles 'Lucky' Luciano picture collage.
4. Charles 'Lucky' Luciano 'There's no such thing as good money or bad money. There's just money.'
Biographies:
1. imdb.com/name/nm0524592/bio
2. themobmuseum.org/notable_names/lucky-luciano/
1. Background from {[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0524592/bio]}
Lucky Luciano Biography
Overview
Born November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily, Italy
Died January 26, 1962 in Naples, Campania, Italy (heart attack)
Birth Name Salvatore Lucania
Nicknames Lucky Luciano; Charley; Charles Salvatore; Charley Lucky; Charlie Lucky;
Charlie
Height 5' 10" (1.78 m)
Mini Bio
US gangster and racketeer. Born Charles Salvadore Lucania in Sicily, he emigrated with his family to the US in 1906. In 1907 he started shoplifting. He was given his nickname by childhood friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky for his luck with betting on racehorses, but it also could have applied to the many times he avoided imprisonment and prosecution as a Mafia "godfather" who operated successfully and profitably in the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1928 and 1930 the Castellammarese War broke out between the gangs of Giuseppe Masseria (aka Joe the Boss) and Salvatore Maranzano. Maranzano sent some men to "rough up" Luciano, and when they caught him they not only beat and stabbed him, but addition severed the muscles of his right cheek, leaving him with a droop in his right eye. He was left for dead under the Brooklyn Bridge. However, he lived up to his nickname and survived. Recovering, he sided with Maranzano in the conflict. By 1931 Masseria had been assassinated and Maranzano had won. He named himself "boss of bosses" (capo di tuti capo), but that title proved to be short-lived. Luciano and Lansky's had their men visit Maranzano in his office, disguised as government agents, and assassinated him. Luciano followed that with anywhere from 40 to 90 additional murders during the series of killings that came to be called the "Night of the Sicilian Vespers". Luciano was now the undisputed boss of a "new" Mafia. His business included narcotics-peddling, extortion and, especially, prostitution, including everything from low-rent streetwalkers to high-priced call girls. Luciano, one of the most powerful figures in organized crime, was arrested 25 times between 1919 and 1936 but convicted only once. When three prostitutes finally agreed to give evidence against him, he was arrested (1936) and found guilty of compelling women to become prostitutes. Even from prison, he retained control of his Family, setting up the Crime Syndicate of Mafia Families. During World War II he helped U.S. military intelligence through his Mafia connections in Italy and was given a suspended sentence on condition that he leave the US. In 1946 he was released from prison and deported to Italy as an undesirable alien. He returned to Naples, Italy, where he lived out his life in luxury. Luciano died of a heart attack at Naples Airport. He was only posthumously allowed to return to the USA, where he was buried at St John's Cemetery in New York.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sujit R. Varma
US gangster and racketeer. Born Charles Salvadore Lucania in Sicily, he emigrated with his family to the US in 1906. In 1907 he started shoplifting. He was given his nickname by childhood friend and fellow gangster Meyer Lansky for his luck with betting on racehorses, but it also could have applied to the many times he avoided imprisonment and prosecution as a Mafia "godfather" who operated successfully and profitably in the 1920s and 1930s. Between 1928 and 1930 the Castellammarese War broke out between the gangs of Giuseppe Masseria (aka Joe the Boss) and Salvatore Maranzano. Maranzano sent some men to "rough up" Luciano, and when they caught him they not only beat and stabbed him, but addition severed the muscles of his right cheek, leaving him with a droop in his right eye. He was left for dead under the Brooklyn Bridge. However, he lived up to his nickname and survived. Recovering, he sided with Maranzano in the conflict. By 1931 Masseria had been assassinated and Maranzano had won. He named himself "boss of bosses" (capo di tuti capo), but that title proved to be short-lived. Luciano and Lansky's had their men visit Maranzano in his office, disguised as government agents, and assassinated him. Luciano was now the undisputed boss of a "new" Mafia. His business included narcotics-peddling, extortion and, especially, prostitution, including everything from low-rent streetwalkers to high-priced call girls. Luciano, one of the most powerful figures in organized crime, was arrested 25 times between 1919 and 1936 but convicted only once. When three prostitutes finally agreed to give evidence against him, he was arrested (1936) and found guilty of compelling women to become prostitutes. Even from prison, he retained control of his Family, setting up the Crime Syndicate of Mafia Families. During World War II he helped U.S. military intelligence through his Mafia connections in Italy and was given a suspended sentence on condition that he leave the US. In 1946 he was released from prison and deported to Italy as an undesirable alien. He returned to Naples, Italy, where he lived out his life in luxury. Luciano died of a heart attack at Naples Airport. He was only posthumously allowed to return to the USA, where he was buried at St John's Cemetery in New York.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Sujit R. Varma
Trade Mark (2)
1. Scar running the length of right jawline (knife wound from beating)
2. Drooping right eyelid (result of beating)
Trivia (11)
1. Uncle of Judy Luciano.
2. His autobiography is titled "The Last Testament of Lucky Luciano: The Mafia Story In His Own Words.".
3. After being deported from the United States, he bought a pet chihuahua and named it "Bambi", after the Disney movie, Bambi (1942), as a reminder of America.
4. Attended P.S. 19 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
5. On the day he died he was supposed to meet a film producer to discuss making a movie about his life. He had already had such a discussion previously with Dean Martin about making a movie where Frank Sinatra would play Luciano and Martin would also star (though it's unclear what role Martin would've played).
6. Family emigrated from Italy to New York in 1907.
7. Is portrayed by Bill Graham in Bugsy (1991).
8. Is buried in Saint John's Cemetery, Middle Village, Queens, New York , USA.
9. Appointed Vincent Mangano head of what eventually became the Carlo Gambino crime family.
10. Died of a heart attack at Naples International Airport where he had gone to meet with American producer Martin Gosch about a film based on his life. After the meeting with Gosch, Luciano was stricken with a heart attack and died. He was unaware that Italian drug agents had followed him to the airport in anticipation of arresting him on drug smuggling charges.
2. Background from {[http://themobmuseum.org/notable_names/lucky-luciano/]}
"Born: November 24, 1897, Sicily, Italy
Died: January 26, 1962, Naples, Italy
Nicknames: Lucky, Charlie Lucky
Associates: Arnold Rothstein, Meyer Lansky, Frank Costello, the Five Families, the Commission, Bugsy Siegel
Charles “Lucky” Luciano, born Salvatore Lucania in 1897 in Sicily, probably did more to create the modern American Mafia and the national criminal Syndicate than any other single man. Luciano led a group of young Italian and Jewish mobsters against the older set of so-called “Moustache Petes,” and in the process set the stage for the Mob to grow beyond the limits of bootlegging profits to become, in the words of his friend Meyer Lansky, “bigger than United States Steel.”
Luciano, who moved to the United States and settled in the Lower East Side with his family at age 10, was recruited early into gangster life and was a member of the Five Points Gang in Manhattan. Around the start of Prohibition in 1920, he was recruited as a gunman by Giuseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria, and a few years later Luciano went to work for Arnold Rothstein, another seminal figure in early organized crime. By the mid-1920s, Luciano was reportedly making millions in bootlegging profits.
With Rothstein’s murder in 1928, Luciano went back to working for Masseria, who by this time was the self-styled “Boss of Bosses,” and who was going to war with a rival, Salvatore “The Duke” Maranzano.
Luciano secretly sided with Maranzano in the bloody Castellammarese War and helped set up Masseria for assassination in 1931. Before the end of the year, Luciano and other “Young Turks” would knock off Maranzano, and the era of the Old World “Moustache Petes” would be over.
With Maranzano’s assassination by a gang from Murder, Incorporated – allegedly including Joe Adonis, Bugsy Siegel, Albert Anastasia and Vito Genovese, all of whom would go on to well-known roles in the Mob — Luciano inherited the crime family that would eventually become known as the Genovese family. A natural organizer, Luciano continued the committee of Five Families, which was established by Maranzano and would control East Coast rackets for decades. But rather than naming himself “Boss of Bosses,” as Maranzano had, Luciano called himself the chairman of the board.
Further, he established and hosted the first national meetings of what became known as the Commission, a national criminal syndicate, all in the name of avoiding unnecessary bloodshed and maximizing profits for all the families.
But all of that meant Luciano was a very public leader of the Mob, and that drew attention from law enforcement, and specifically from a young prosecutor in New York named Thomas Dewey. Dewey and his assistant, an African-American attorney named Eunice Carter, noticed that many of the prostitutes who were being arrested were represented by the same bondsmen and attorneys working for Luciano.
Armed with this information, in 1936, Dewey led raids on brothels throughout the city, arresting more than 100 people, mostly women, many of whom were unable to post the bail of $10,000 set by the courts. Some of those arrested provided information to the prosecutors that led to Luciano’s arrest and trial that same year. On June 6, 1936, Luciano was convicted of 62 charges of compulsory prostitution; he was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in state prison.
Luciano turned over leadership of the national Commission to Frank Costello.
That wasn’t the end of Luciano’s story, however. During World War II, the government needed the Mob’s help to keep the New York docks free of strikes, sabotage and other problems. Luciano agreed to help, on the assumption that he would get a break on his sentence. Dewey, the former prosecutor, was now New York governor and in a position to grant clemency.
After the war ended, Dewey commuted Luciano’s sentence with the understanding that the Mob leader would leave the United States, which he did, returning to Italy as a deportee. Luciano still maintained his ties to the American Mafia as a sort of elder statesman. The same year that he debarked to Italy, Luciano came to Havana, Cuba, and along with hobnobbing with celebrities such as Frank Sinatra, hosted a meeting of top-level mobsters from all the major American crime families.
Pressure from the U.S. government – specifically a threat to ban the export of American medicines to the island country – forced the Cuban government to deport Luciano back to Italy.
Luciano spent the rest of his life under close Italian police scrutiny. Luciano often met with American tourists and sailors and frequently professed his love for the United States. He died of a heart attack in 1962 at the Naples airport, where he had gone to meet with a movie producer considering a biography of Luciano."
FYI SSgt Terry P. Maj Robert Thornton SFC (Join to see) SGT Steve McFarland MSG Andrew White Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. MSG (Join to see)COL Mikel J. Burroughs SMSgt Lawrence McCarter LTC Greg Henning SGT Gregory Lawritson SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT (Join to see) CWO3 (Join to see) PO1 William "Chip" Nagel LTC (Join to see)1sg-dan-capri
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