Joseph A. "Socks" Lanza (1904 – October 11, 1968) was a New York labor

racketeer Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and ...

and a member of the

Genovese crime family The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American M ...

, who controlled the Fulton Fish Market in Lower Manhattan through the United Seafood Worker's Union local 359 from 1923 to 1968.

Biography

Born in Palermo,

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, Lanza immigrated to the United States and settled in New York working as a handler in Lower Manhattan's

Fulton Fish Market The Fulton Fish Market is a fish market in Hunts Point, a section of the New York City borough of the Bronx, in New York, United States. It was originally a wing of the Fulton Market, established in 1822 to sell a variety of foodstuffs and p ...

. Lanza soon became involved in labor union activity and, by 1923, had become an organizer for the United Seafood Workers union (USW). It was during this time that Lanza had become involved in organized crime, eventually becoming a member of the Luciano (and later the Genovese) crime family. As head of the Local 359 USW, Lanza threatened wholesalers with delays in loading and unloading perishable goods resulting in profits of $20 million from the

alone. He is the father of

Colombo crime family The Colombo crime family (, ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was duri ...

mob associate Harry Lanza born May 4, 1950, who died in 2007 in

Hyde Park, New York Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Fran ...

. Although convicted of labor racketeering in 1938, Lanza became an important figure in safeguarding New York's waterfront during the early 1940s. Lanza personally advised the

Office of Naval Intelligence The Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) is the military intelligence agency of the United States Navy. Established in 1882 primarily to advance the Navy's modernization efforts, it is the oldest member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and serve ...

working with local

stevedore A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number ...

s and fisherman in tracking submarines, resulting in obtaining key strategic positions in waterfront installations and effectively conduct

counter-espionage Counterintelligence is an activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or ot ...

activities for the Third Naval District. Although Lanza had helped secure the New York waterfront, he was convicted of

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

the following year and sentenced from 7½ to 10 years imprisonment. Upon his release in 1950, Lanza resumed his leadership role in the Fulton Fish Market and, despite a 1957 arrest for parole violation; he maintained control of the area until his death on October 11, 1968.

References

*Kelly, Robert J. ''Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. *Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lanza, Joseph 1904 births 1968 deaths Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Queens) Genovese crime family American gangsters of Sicilian descent American trade union officials convicted of crimes American trade unionists of Italian descent

Biography

See also

Further reading

References

External links