All Blog Posts Tagged 'Luciano' (8)

By Thom L. Jones

Top end of Cypress Avenue, Ridgewood, right on the Brooklyn-Queens boundary line. Friday evening, November 10th 1967.

It’s a quiet Jewish, Italian community. Like every neighborhood or district in the biggest city in America, it has stories to tell if you listen hard enough. Tongue-numbing Dutch names like Onderdonk jostle for space with simple…

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By Peter Lance

I was first introduced to Murder Incorporated, by Nicholas Pileggi, the extraordinary journalist, author and screenwriter responsible for two of the most iconic works in the literature of organized crime: Wiseguy, which he adapted into the film Goodfellas and Casino which he also brought to the screen with Martin Scorsese. Along with Mario…

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The average Mafia aficionado likely feels that he or she already knows a great deal about New York gangland chieftain Charlie "Lucky" Luciano. Just about everyone knows, for example, that Luciano survived being taken "for a ride" by his rivals, that he was nicknamed "Lucky" as a result of that episode and that he single-handledly revolutionized organized crime in…

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By Thom L. Jones



‘It is the theory that decides what can be observed.

If the facts don’t fit the theory change the facts.’

Albert Einstein



New York Times April 16th 1931:



It took ten years and a lot of shooting to kill Giuseppe Masseria. He was Joe the Boss to the…

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By Tim Newark



The ghosts of past conflicts and crimes still haunt the streets of Palermo.



Near the harbour, around Piazza Fonderia, you can see the bomb shattered remains of buildings hit by the Allies in preparation for their invasion of the island in 1943. In the Giardino Garibaldi, with its extraordinary ancient fig trees with drooping aerial roots, you can see a plaque dedicated to the memory of New York detective Joseph Petrosino, gunned down by a Mafia Godfather in… Continue

By Thom L. Jones



Any one interested in the subject of Italian-American organized crime, is probably familiar with the story concerning Charlie Luciano’s final departure from New York.



After serving 10 years of a thirty year sentence for compulsory prostitution, he was released from prison by the very man who sent him away, New York State Governor, Thomas Dewey, transferred to Ellis Island in New York Harbour, and on February 10th 1946, sailed away on a rust-bucket of a steam… Continue

By Thom L. Jones



By all accounts he wasn’t that nice a person.



Described as small, lecherous and ugly, with a temperament to match, it’s hard to find anything redeeming in a life like his, cut short by the mid forties. He played one shady card too many, and found out the hard way that the mob doesn’t tolerate rats or double-crossers. It was only because of Joe Valachi that he made more than just a mention in the New York daily papers: another gangster taken for a one-way… Continue

Special Agent in Charge George Venizelos speaking on the Gambino Arrests.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Callahan, FBI

By David Amoruso

Posted on June 30, 2010

Copyright © www.gangstersinc.nl



The general public sees Italian-American mobsters as honorable gangsters.… Continue