The Mafia Encyclopedia (87 page)

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Authors: Carl Sifakis

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Page 248
Other observers saw Gotti being used as a "horror example" for other mafiosi who get arrested on what could await them if uncooperative.
Masseria, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" (c. 18801931): Mafia leader
By the mid-1920s Joe the Boss Masseria was the undisputed boss of the New York Mafia, a tribute to treachery, extreme good luck and a willingness, even an eagerness, to kill. A stocky, 5-feet-2-inch gunman with cold, beady eyes, Masseria had fled a murder charge in Sicily in 1903. Within a few years in New York he was arrested for extortion and burglary and became a member of the notorious Morello Gang, the city's first important Mafia crime family.
Joe the Boss Masseria, treacherous head of the New
York Mafia, was a Mustache Pete who had to die before
Lucky Luciano could form the national crime syndicate.
While the Morellos' top killers, Lupo the Wolf and Ciro Terranova, dominated the gang, Masseria considered himself more than their equal. In 1913, with Morello and Lupo the Wolf in prison, he led a faction seeking to take over much of the Morello rackets. Masseria brazenly led attacks directly on the Morello headquarters at 116th Street, once killing a cousin, Charles Lamonti, right on the doorstep. Six months later he knocked off Lamonti's brother on the same spot.
Then Masseria hit a run of luck. Nick Morello, the acting head and the most far-sighted of the family, was killed by rival Camorristas in Brooklyn. The Camorra leaders themselves went to prison for the murder, leaving Masseria an open field. And, by the time Joe Morello and Lupo the Wolf came out of prison in the early 1920s, the rotund but deadly Masseria had locked up much of the bootlegging racket in the Italian sections of New York.
After his release, Lupo retired from the crime scene, but the Morellos tried to rally under Peter Morello. Peter allied himself with another rising mafioso, Rocco Valenti, who was regarded by Masseria as a major threat. Once Valenti caught up with Masseria and a couple of bodyguards on Second Avenue. He cut down the unarmed Masseria's protectors, and then calmly reloaded and followed the fleeing Masseria into a millinery shop. Valenti fired several times at Masseria at fairly close range and in what must have looked like a grim Keystone Kops comedy sequence, his rotund target ducked and weaved and all the bullets whizzed by him. It was amazing since Valenti had committed at least 20 murders and was regarded as a cool, accurate shooter. Frustrated and fearing the arrival of the police, Valenti retreated, and thereafter Masseria gained a reputation as "the man who could dodge bullets."
Finally, Joe the Boss let Valenti know he was willing to make peace and a meeting was arranged in a restaurant on East 12th Street. When Valenti showed up with three cohorts, Masseria was not present, but three of his men were. Suspecting a doublecross, he raced for the street. The Masseria gunmen wounded two of Valenti's men and chased after Valenti, who hopped on the running board of a passing taxi and was shooting back, when he was shot dead by one of the gunmen. Valenti's assailant: Charles Luciano, a man destined for big things.
The Morellos shortly thereafter sued for peace. Some were retired while others were absorbed into Masseria's operations. Masseria was now the top Mafia power, and five crime families in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx were subservient to him. For a time his only problem was the rising Luciano, a valuable crime organizer, but an upstart who was too chummy with Jewish gangsters like Meyer Lansky and the young and homici-
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dal Bugsy Siegel. Masseria hated Jews and told Luciano to break off with them and to put his operations with them in the Masseria pot. He was wasting his breath. Luciano wasn't the only headstrong lieutenant. Frank Costello bridled under Masseria's criticism for paying off the politicians. Joe the Boss allowed it was all right to bribe an official once in a while when necessary but his boys should not "sleep with them" all the time because the politicians would eventually corrupt them. Costello marveled at anyone so stupid as not to understand it was the other way around.
By 1927, Masseria faced a new threat. A newly arrived Sicilian mafioso named Salvatore Maranzano sought to push him aside. It was generally believed that Maranzano was the advance representative of Don Vito Cascio Ferro, the most important Mafia leader in Sicily, who was looking to move into American crime. But Don Vito would never come; Mussolini's fascists imprisoned him. Nevertheless, Maranzano decided to advance on Masseria and become the American boss of bosses on his own.
Masseria at first was not worried by the Maranzano threat. He had more gunners and better men. One was his old foe, Peter "the Clutching Hand" Morello. And he had brilliant youngsters headed by Luciano, and including such stalwarts as Joe Adonis, Frank Costello, Willie Moretti, Albert Anastasia and Carlo Gambino. However, these Young Turks were not as loyal as he thought. All of them were working with Lansky and Siegel and with Dutch Schultz whom Masseria particularly disliked.
However, the Young Turks stayed in line for a time. They couldn't switch gangs; they hated Maranzano as much as they hated Masseria. They were waiting instead for a time when they would be able to operate without any of the so-called Mustache Petes and their outmoded, old-country, Mafia-style codes. The only code these young gangsters were interested in was making money. Fighting Mafia wars was a hindrance to that goal, and the Castellammarese War between Maranzano and Masseria was just such a hindrance.
Luciano organized the Young Turks. Their plan: bide their time until Masseria killed Maranzano or vice versa. But by 1931 both were still around and the Castellammarese War was taking a bloody toll. Luciano decided it was time to act. He had thought Maranzano would perish first, but, as the war continued, Maranzano got stronger and Masseria weaker. Since it was easier to murder someone who trusted you than someone who did not, Luciano and his supportersincluding outsiders like Lansky and Siegeldecided to take out Masseria.
On April 15, 1931, Luciano suggested to Masseria that they drive out to Coney Island for lunch. They dined at Nuova Villa Tammaro, owned by Gerardo Scarpato, a friend of a number of mobsters. Joe the Boss stuffed himself and after all the other diners left, he and Luciano played cards while Scarpato went down to the beach for a walk.
About 3:30 P.M. four men came charging through the door to Masseria's table. They were Bugsy Siegel, Joe Adonis, Vito Genovese and Albert Anastasia. All produced guns and blazed away at Masseria. Six bullets struck Joe the Boss and the Castellammarese War was over.
Newspaper accounts of the sensational murder focused on Luciano's statement to the police that he had gone to the bathroom and when he heard the shooting, he dried his hands and came out to see what was happening. It was a bit of self-censorship by the press. Actually Luciano told the police, "I was in the can taking a leak. I always take a long leak."
After the assassination Luciano negotiated a peace with Maranzano and pledged support to him. However, both Maranzano and Luciano were aware that sooner or later one or the other would have to go.
See also:
Castellammarese War; Mustache Petes
.
Matranga, Charles (18571943): Early New Orleans Mafia boss
After the infamous mass lynching of mafioso criminals in New Orleans in 1891an incident clearly accompanied by strong general anti-Italian biasCharles Matranga remained as the sole Mafia chieftain in power in the city. He was in parish prison when the lynch mob of many thousands stormed the establishment, in response to the murder of Chief of Police David Hennessey, and hanged a number of Italians being held there. Matranga evaded the mob. Later he was set free because the case against him was too weak, based on the testimony of only one informer.
The early history of the Mafia in America is rather hazy. Indeed, even the firm statements of crime historians are contradictory. Yet without dispute is the fact that New York and New Orleans were the most common ports of entry for Italian immigrants in the 19th century and that among these immigrants were a number of Italian criminals with some ties to such organizations as the Mafia in Sicily and the Camorra in Naples.
The members of these societies tended to band together in the new country, not necessarily with the same loyalties as previously. In New Orleans, the mafiosi element clearly won out over the Camorristas. By 1891, the main contenders were two rival groups of mafiosi, one headed by the Provenzano brothers and the other by the Matranga brothersAntonio and Carlo or Charley.
Some historians insist the real leader of the Matranga mafiosi was Joseph Macheca, a prosperous fruit importer
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and shipping company owner who was among those lynched. In any event, after the lynchings Charley Matranga continued his crime rule. One observer who disputes this is Humbert S. Nelli, who, in
The Business of Crime
, insists "if indeed he had ever headed a
mafia
group, he lost this prominent position. Nothing occurring in the remaining fifty-two years of his life connected him with criminal activities ... he led a quiet life as a stevedore for the Standard Fruit Company ... until his retirement after fifty years of service in 1918...."
Actually nothing in Matranga's remaining "life connected him with criminal activities" because the 1891 lynching not surprisingly left a profound impression on him. Matranga was one of the first mafiosi to appreciate the value of using a buffer between him and public awareness of his role. For some years before his retirement from active leadership of the New Orleans Mafia in 1922, Matranga used young Sam Carolla as his front man, issuing all orders through him.
Until Matranga died on October 28, 1943, at the age of 86, he continued to receive tribute from the longshoremen's associations and steamship lines which benefited from his benign approval. He was given a lavish funeral, attended by executives of Lykes, United Fruit, Standard Fruit, and large steamship companiesa remarkable tribute for a lowly stevedore, one who had been arrested for murder and almost lynched. The fact was Charles Matranga was a Man of Tradition and his big-business victims had to honor that tradition right up to the end.
See also:
Carolla, Sylvestro "Sam"; New Orleans Mafia Mass Lynchings
.
Mattresses, Hitting the: Gang war tactic
A long-established custom among mobsters going to war against rival gangs, "hitting the mattresses" means being under seige away from home in bare rooms containing only mattresses on the floor. The mattresses are thrown up at the doors and windows for protection should a shoot-out occur. In recent years a great many mobsters hit the mattresses during the Banana War and the Gallo-Profaci conflict. For some, hitting the mattresses is a terrifying period of tension and boredom; others tend to thrive at it. It was said from the time of the Castellammarese War of 19301931 that Joseph Bonanno (Joe Bananas), as if he had ice water in his veins, could take the mattress life in so-called safe houses much better than most other mobsters. On the other hand, Crazy Joe Gallo went nuts in such an environment, and instead of remaining in the sanctuary of the mattresses, he ventured forth in 1972 and was promptly assassinated.
Mickey Mouse Mafia: California crime families
The Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and San Francisco crime families are known to criminal groups and crimefighters alike as the Mickey Mouse Mafia. When in 1984 police in southern California launched an all-out drive to stop an attempt by organized crime to take over some $50-million-a-year bookmaking operations, they labeled the campaign "Operation Lightweight." Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates explained: "We feel the name is appropriate because organized crime is such a lightweight in Southern California."
All the California crime families have been considered second rateeven Los Angeles when it was bossed by Jack Dragna, considered to have been California's toughest mafioso. The Chicago mob, for instance, extended its influence in Hollywood, especially in movie rackets, regardless of the Los Angeles family's feelings. The New York mobs did the same, sending in Bugsy Siegel and others to extend their gambling empire into the West. This extension was Meyer Lansky's idea and he got Lucky Luciano to warn Dragna not to interfere. Dragna acquiesced to Luciano's orders even though Lucky was at the time in Dannamora prison. Clearly, a Luciano behind bars was more awesome than a Dragna on the loose.
Another who showed contempt for the West Coast Mafia mobs was Jimmy "the Weasel" Fratianno, as near to an efficient killer as ever flourished in those climes. Of James Lanza, boss of the San Francisco family, Fratianno once told an underworld associate: "What has he ever done besides sell olive oil and insurance? Them guys in San Francisco and San Jose wouldn't last two minutes if some real workers moved into their towns. Maybe we ought to move in and take over both towns. Knock off a couple of guys, scare the rest shitless."
Fratianno considered doing just that but instead moved into a power vacuum in Los Angeles where the imprisonment of the then boss and underboss left Louie Tom Dragna, the deceased Jack's nephew, in charge. Dragna was a weakling and Fratianno, brought in as acting boss, tried to put some backbone into L.A., pointing out that the other crime families had no respect for them and the more they failed to resist incursions, the more incursions would follow.
Fratianno's plan never reached fruition. He aroused hostility among several important mobsters, especially in Chicago, and came under suspicion of being an informer. (He started feeding federal investigators bits of information, mainly because that allowed him to operate more freely without FBI interference since the agency did not maintain strict surveillance over those whom they thought were serving them.)

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