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Five Families
The Five Families refers to five major New York City organized crime families of the Italian American Mafia formed in 1931 by Salvatore Maranzano following his victory in the Castellammarese War. Maranzano reorganized the Italian American gangs in New York City into the Maranzano, Profaci, Mangano, Luciano, and Gagliano families, which are now known as the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese families. Each family had a demarcated territory and an organizationally structured hierarchy and reported up to the same overarching governing entity. Initially, Maranzano intended each family's boss to report to him as the '' capo di tutti i capi'' ("boss of all the bosses"). However, this led to his assassination that September, and that role was abolished for The Commission, a ruling committee established by Lucky Luciano to oversee all Mafia activities in the United States and to mediate conflicts between families. It consisted of the bosses of the Five Families as well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucchese Crime Family
The Lucchese crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. Members refer to the organization as the Lucchese borgata; ''borgata'' (or brugard) is Mafia slang for criminal gang, which itself was derived from Sicilian word meaning close-knit community. The members of other crime families sometimes refer to Lucchese family members as "Lukes". The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano Reina serving as boss up until his murder in 1930."The Lucchese Family: Blood and Gravy" by Anthony Bruno TruTV Crime Library It was taken over by [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States, and is more than twice as populous as second-place Los Angeles. New York City lies at the southern tip of New York State, and constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, entertainment, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, research, technology, education, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sixth Family
A Sixth Family is a crime family or criminal organization, usually an Italian-American or Italian-Canadian crime group, that has become powerful or notable enough to rise to a level comparable to that of the Five Families of the New York City Italian-American Mafia. A criminal organization deemed a "Sixth Family" may rival the Five Families or, alternatively, may work closely enough with the Five Families that it appears to be a peer or near coequal of the families. Criminal organizations deemed "Sixth Family" Various criminal organizations have been deemed the "Sixth Family", often by the press or the criminal underworld. One organization to receive the designation is the Rizzuto crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, though the Rizzuto family does not refer to itself as the "Sixth Family". The Rizzuto family has allegedly worked closely with the Bonanno crime family of the New York Five Families. The DeCavalcante crime family, which is based in North Jersey, across the H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don (honorific)
Don (; ; pt, Dom, links=no ; all from Latin ', roughly 'Lord'), abbreviated as D., is an honorific prefix primarily used in Spain and Hispanic America, and with different connotations also in Italy, Portugal and its former colonies, and Croatia. ''Don'' is derived from the Latin ''dominus'': a master of a household, a title with background from the Roman Republic in classical antiquity. With the abbreviated form having emerged as such in the Middle Ages, traditionally it is reserved for Catholic clergy and nobles, in addition to certain educational authorities and persons of distinction. ''Dom'' is the variant used in Portuguese. The female equivalent is Doña (), Donna (), Doamnă (Romanian) and Dona () abbreviated D.ª, Da., or simply D. It is a common honorific reserved for women, especially mature women. In Portuguese "Dona" tends to be less restricted in use to women than "Dom" is to men. In Britain and Ireland, especially at Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, the word is u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Costello
Frank Costello (; born Francesco Castiglia; ; January 26, 1891 – February 18, 1973) was an Italian-American crime boss of the Luciano crime family. In 1957, Costello survived an assassination attempt ordered by Vito Genovese and carried out by Vincent Gigante. However, the altercation persuaded Costello to relinquish power to Genovese and retire. Costello died on February 18, 1973. Early life Costello was born on January 26, 1891, in Lauropoli, a ''frazione'' of the town of Cassano allo Ionio in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region, Italy. In 1895, he boarded a ship to the United States with his mother and his brother Edward to join their father, who had moved to New York City's East Harlem several years earlier and opened a small neighborhood Italian grocery store. While Costello was still a boy, his brother introduced him to gang activities. At 13, he had become a member of a local gang and started using the name Frankie. Costello committed petty crimes and wen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Adonis
Joseph Anthony Doto (born Giuseppe Antonio Doto, ; November 22, 1902 – November 26, 1971), known as Joe Adonis, was an Italian-American mobster who was an important participant in the formation of the modern Cosa Nostra crime families in New York City and the National Crime Syndicate Doto became a powerful caporegime in the Luciano crime family. Early life Adonis was born Giuseppe Antonio Doto on November 22, 1902, in the small town of Montemarano, Province of Avellino, Italy, to Michele Doto and Maria De Vito. He had three brothers, Antonio, Ettore and Genesio Doto. In 1909, Adonis and his family immigrated to the United States, in New York City. As a young man, Adonis supported himself by stealing and picking pockets. While working on the streets, Adonis became friends with future mob boss Charles "Lucky" Luciano and mobster Settimo Accardi, who were involved in illegal gambling. Adonis developed a loyalty to Luciano that lasted for decades. At the beginning of Prohibi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie Moretti
Guarino "Willie" Moretti (February 24, 1894 – October 4, 1951), also known as Willie Moore, was a notorious underboss of the Genovese crime family and a cousin of the family boss Frank Costello. Criminal career Born Guarino Moretti in Bari, Apulia, southern Italy, Moretti immigrated to the United States with his family to live in New Jersey. On January 12, 1913, after being convicted of robbery in New York City, Moretti was sentenced to one year in state prison in Elmira, New York. He was released after several months. From 1933 to 1951, Moretti, in association with Joe Adonis, Settimo Accardi and Abner Zwillman, ran lucrative gambling dens in New Jersey and upstate New York. His operations were based out of his homes in Hasbrouck Heights (located in Bergen County, New Jersey, just outside New York City) and Deal (located in Monmouth County, New Jersey along the Jersey Shore). Hollywood connections Moretti was the godfather of then-unknown singer Frank Sinatra. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Mineo
Manfredi "Al" or "Alfred" Mineo (; 1880 – November 5, 1930) was a Brooklyn-based New York mobster, who headed a strong American Mafia crime family during the Castellammarese War. Mineo's organization would eventually become the present-day Gambino crime family. Biography Background In the early part of the 20th century, New York had five Sicilian crime families. With the imprisonment of powerful Sicilian Mafia boss Giuseppe Morello in 1910, Salvatore D'Aquila, one of Morello's chief captains, immediately emerged as the new chief Mafia power in New York City, mostly in East Harlem and Little Italy (in southern Manhattan), but he also led a faction in Brooklyn that was headed locally by Mineo. D'Aquila had assumed the title from Morello of Capo di tutti capi or Boss of Bosses. D'Aquila's family, with Mineo's Brooklyn faction included, reigned supreme through the 1910s. However, upon the advent of prohibition other Mafia crime families and also non-mafia operations began to gain po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vito Genovese
Vito Genovese (; November 21, 1897 – February 14, 1969) was an Italian-born American mobster who mainly operated in the United States. Genovese rose to power during Prohibition as an enforcer in the American Mafia. A long-time associate and childhood friend of Lucky Luciano, Genovese took part in the Castellammarese War and helped shape the rise of the Mafia and organized crime in the United States. He would later lead Luciano's crime family, which was renamed the Genovese crime family in his honor. Along with Luciano, Genovese helped the expansion of the heroin trade to an international level. In 1937, he fled to Italy, and for a brief period during World War II, he supported Benito Mussolini's regime in Italy for fear of being deported back to the United States to face murder charges. He returned to the United States in 1945. Genovese served as mentor to Vincent "Chin" Gigante, the future boss of the Genovese crime family. In 1957, Genovese vied for the boss of bosses title ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Anastasia
Umberto "Albert" Anastasia (, ; ; September 26, 1902 – October 25, 1957) was an Italian-American mobster, hitman, and crime boss. One of the founders of the modern American Mafia, and a co-founder and later boss of the Murder, Inc. organization, Anastasia eventually rose to the position of boss in what became the modern Gambino crime family. He also controlled New York City's waterfront for most of his criminal career, including the dockworker unions. Anastasia was murdered on October 25, 1957, on the orders of Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino; Gambino subsequently became boss of the family. Anastasia was one of the most ruthless and feared organized crime figures in American history; his reputation earned him the nicknames "The Earthquake", "The One-Man Army", " Mad Hatter" and "Lord High Executioner". Early life Anastasia was born Umberto Anastasio on September 26, 1902, in Parghelia, Calabria, Italy, to Bartolomeo Anastasio and Marianna Polistena. Anastasia's father wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Luciano
Charles "Lucky" Luciano (, ; born Salvatore Lucania ; November 24, 1897 – January 26, 1962) was an Italian-born gangster who operated mainly in the United States. Luciano started his criminal career in the Five Points gang and was instrumental in the development of the National Crime Syndicate. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for the establishment of The Commission in 1931, after he abolished the boss of bosses title held by Salvatore Maranzano following the Castellammarese War. He was also the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family. In 1936, Luciano was tried and convicted for compulsory prostitution and running a prostitution racket after years of investigation by District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. He was sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison, but during World War II an agreement was struck with the Department of the Navy through his Jewish Mob associate Meyer Lansky to provide naval intelligence. In 194 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Italy
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the people, lands or culture of the historical and cultural region that was once politically under the administration of the former Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily (officially denominated as one entity ''Regnum Siciliae citra Pharum'' and ''ultra Pharum'', i.e. "Kingdom of Sicily on the other side of the Strait" and "across the Strait") and which later shared a common organization into Italy's largest pre-unitarian state, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The island of Sardinia, which had neither been part of said region nor of the aforementioned polity and had been under the rule of the Alpine House of Savoy that would eventually annex the Bourbon-led and Southern Italian Kingdom altogether, is nonetheless often subsumed into the ''Mezzogiorno' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
