Ciro Terranova (; July 20, 1888 − February 20, 1938) was an Italian-born New York City
gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
and one time
underboss
Underboss ( it, sottocapo) is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian, Greek, and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss. The under ...
of the
Morello crime family.
Early life
Terranova was born in the town of
Corleone, Sicily
Corleone (; scn, Cunigghiuni or ) is an Italian town and '' comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily.
Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack Drag ...
. In 1893, Ciro moved to New York with his father, mother, four sisters, brothers
Vincenzo
Vincenzo is an Italian male given name, derived from the Latin name Vincentius (the verb ''vincere'' means to win or to conquer). Notable people with the name include:
Art
* Vincenzo Amato (born 1966), Italian actor and sculptor
* Vincenzo Bel ...
and
Nicolo to meet half brother
Giuseppe Morello
Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello (; May 2, 1867 – August 15, 1930), also known as "The Old Fox", was the first boss of the Morello crime family and later top adviser to Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria. He was known as ''Piddu'' ( Sicilian ...
, who had arrived six months earlier. Years later, Ciro, Vincenzo, Nicolo, and Giuseppe would found the powerful
Morello crime family.
Due to lack of work in the New York area, Terranova and his family only stayed there for about a year. They eventually traveled to
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...
, where the father planted
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...
, then moved to
Bryan, Texas
Bryan is a city and the county seat of Brazos County, Texas, United States. It is located in the heart of the Brazos Valley ( East and Central Texas). As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 83,980. Bryan borders the city of Colleg ...
, where they worked as cotton pickers. After two years in Texas,
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
struck the family. They moved back to New York in 1896.
Return to New York
Ciro and Vincent went to school and worked at the family business, a plastering store, on evenings and weekends. Ciro later worked as a waiter at a restaurant owned by his stepbrother Giuseppe, at the rear of the Prince Street Saloon. In 1903, Giuseppe was charged with the
barrel murders
A barrel murder was a method for disposing of the bodies of people killed by early American mafiosi since the 1870s, although the earliest recorded barrel murders in New York were reported in 1895 and 1900.
The victims, usually Italian immigrants ...
but released due to lack of evidence. After the trials ended in June 1903, the Morello crime family continued to deal with police searches and harassment. On one such occasion Ciro, Vincent, and his nephews Charlie and Nick Sylvester were arrested and held overnight. Another time, Ciro was arrested while trying to find a doctor for Charlie.
Rise to power
When
Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo and Ciro's brother Giuseppe were sent to prison on
counterfeiting
To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...
charges, Ciro, Vincent, and Nick filled the power vacuum. They soon rose to be the top gangsters of
Italian Harlem, running the Morello family.
Ciro earned his nickname, "the Artichoke King", by purchasing all the artichokes that came into New York and selling them for roughly three times as much.
In 1916, Joe DiMarco, a gambling joint operator, challenged the power of Ciro and the Morellos. The Morellos then conspired with the Navy Street Gang to kill DiMarco and gave the job to Leo Lauritano, the Navy Street leader. Lauritano in turn passed the job on to Mike Fetto.
Accounts differ as to what happened next. In one narrative Fetto went to DiMarco's club to kill him but could not identify DiMarco and returned without finishing the job, which was then given to John "Jonny Left" Esposito, with Fetto as his assistant. Esposito likewise could not find Dimarco, so he killed Charles Lombardi instead. Fetto eventually caught up with DiMarco and murdered him.
In another account of the
Mafia-Camorra War, Fetto shot Lombardi thinking he was DiMarco. A third Morello associate in the room, Giuseppe Verrizano, ended up killing DiMarco.
Change in power
After the DiMarco murder, the police arrested hitman John Esposito. Esposito then implicated Ciro, who was indicted on the two murders. However, the charges against Ciro were soon dropped. The reason was that the testimony against Ciro was given by co-conspirators and accomplices and under New York law outside corroboration was necessary. Two weeks after the DiMarco hit, but before his arrest, Esposito was ordered to kill
Charles Ubriaco
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...
and Ciro's half-brother Nicholas, who were discussing peace terms with rival gang members.
By 1920 the Morello-Terranova-Lupo rule was being challenged by
Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria, an up-and-coming gangster. Vincent Morello was murdered on East 116 St. A powerful ally of the Morello Family,
Umberto "Rocco" Valenti, was killed by
Charles "Lucky" Luciano, then a member of the Masseria family. After Valenti's death, many of Ciro's men switched sides to Masseria. Even Peter Morello switched sides and became one of Masseria's most trusted lieutenants, even though the Masseria gang had killed his brother. When the dust settled, Ciro controlled the
in Upper
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
and Masseria ruled
the Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...
.
Castellammarese War
While the
Castellammarese War
The Castellammarese War () was a bloody power struggle for control of the Italian-American Mafia that took place in New York City, New York, from February 1930 until April 15, 1931, between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and those of Sa ...
was going on,
Joe Valachi
Joseph Michael Valachi (September 22, 1904 – April 3, 1971) was an American mobster in the Genovese crime family who is notable as the first member of the Italian-American Mafia to acknowledge its existence publicly in 1963. He is credited wit ...
tried to patch up his friendship with Ciro and even befriended Ciro's driver.
Tommy Gagliano (who later became boss of the
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 know ...
) then asked Valachi to take his side in the gang war.
Valachi's first assignment was to kill Ciro's driver; instead, Valachi killed Ciro's nephew, Joseph Catania. At Catania's funeral, Terranova swore revenge. Valachi also claimed to have killed Peter Morello, Ciro's half brother, but Lucky Luciano said that
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. organizat ...
and
Frank Scalise
Frank Scalice (; born Francesco Scalisi, ; September 23, 1893 – June 17, 1957), also known as "Don Ciccio" and "Wacky", was an Italian-American mobster active in New York City, who led the future Gambino crime family from 1930 to 1931. He ...
killed Morello.
During the early 1930s, New York mayor
Fiorello LaGuardia led a successful effort to decriminalize the artichoke trade, destroying Terranova's power base. By the time of his death, Terranova was reportedly impoverished.
Death
On February 18, 1938, Ciro Terranova suffered a paralyzing
stroke
A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...
. He died two days later at
Columbus Hospital
Cabrini Medical Center of New York City was created in 1973 by a merger of two Manhattan hospitals. It closed in 2008 due to financial difficulties cited by the Berger Commission, followed by a bankruptcy filing.
In January 2010, the five build ...
, at age 49,
[Dash, epilogue] with his son and wife at his side.
Ciro was the only one of the four Terranova brothers to die in bed.
Ciro and his three brothers lie in bare graves in
Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York, not far from
Joe Petrosino, who investigated them, or other
Morello crime family members, such as
Ignazio "Lupo the Wolf" Lupo.
In popular fiction
*In the television series
''The Untouchables'', Terranova is portrayed by
Jack Weston.
References
Further reading
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Terranova, Ciro
1888 births
1938 deaths
Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Queens)
American gangsters of Sicilian descent
Italian emigrants to the United States
People from Bryan, Texas
Mafia-Camorra war
American crime bosses
Prohibition-era gangsters
Genovese crime family