A Mustache Pete is a member of the

Sicilian Mafia The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...

who came to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

(particularly

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) as an adult in the early 20th century.

History

Unlike the younger Sicilian-Americans, known as the "Young Turks," the old-guard Mustache Petes had large mustaches and usually committed their first killings in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Their most prominent members were Joe "the Boss" Masseria (1886–1931) and

Salvatore Maranzano Salvatore Maranzano (; July 31, 1886 – September 10, 1931) was an Italian-American mobster from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, and an early Cosa Nostra boss who led what later would become the Bonanno crime family in New York City. ...

(1886–1931). Many of them maintained connections with the

. The Mustache Petes wanted to maintain Sicilian criminal traditions in their new country and were more interested in working with and exploiting their fellow

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

than the public at large. To that end, they opposed their younger members' desire to work with the powerful

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and Irish gangs, and to sell illegal drugs. This annoyed younger ''

caporegime A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to capo or informally referred to as "captain" or "skipper", is a rank used in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia) for a '' made member'' of an Italian crime family who he ...

s'', such as

Lucky 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 instrumen ...

(1897–1962) and

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 chi ...

(1897–1969). Luciano and other "Young Turks" in the New York Mafia concluded that the Mustache Petes were too set in their ways to see the millions of dollars that working with non-Italian gangsters could bring. During 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 ...

(1930–31), Luciano built a network of younger mafiosi in both the Masseria and Maranzano camps who secretly intended to

assassinate Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...

one of the older bosses, then bide their time before killing the other. They decided to kill Masseria and feigned loyalty to Maranzano until they had a chance to eliminate him as well. Following the death of Maranzano on September 10, 1931, the newer generation of Italian mobsters reorganized the

National Crime Syndicate The National Crime Syndicate was the name given by the press to the multi-ethnic, loosely connected, American confederation of several criminal organizations. It mostly consisted of and was led by the closely interconnected Italian-American Mafia ...

and founded The Commission, becoming closer to the modern

American Mafia The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its memb ...

. Journalists marked this day as a

purge In history, religion and political science, a purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, another organization, their team leaders, or society as a whole. A group undertak ...

of older mafiosi, known as the "Night of the

Sicilian Vespers The Sicilian Vespers ( it, Vespri siciliani; scn, Vespiri siciliani) was a successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out at Easter 1282 against the rule of the French-born king Charles I of Anjou, who had ruled the Kingdom of ...

." Several days later, on September 13, the corpses of two other Maranzano allies, Samuel Monaco and Louis Russo, were retrieved from Newark Bay, showing evidence of torture. Meanwhile, Joseph Siragusa, leader of the

Pittsburgh crime family The Pittsburgh crime family,CapeciChapter 5 "Mafia Families Poison the Northeast"/ref> also known as the LaRocca crime family''Organized Crime in Pennsylvania: Traditional and Non-Traditional''. Pennsylvania Crime Concession. April 15, 1988 or P ...

, was shot to death in his home. The October 15 disappearance of Joe Ardizonne, head of the Los Angeles family, was later regarded as part of this alleged plan to quickly eliminate the old-world Sicilian bosses."Lucky Luciano: Criminal Mastermind," ''Time''
Dec. 7, 1998
/ref> However, the idea of an organized mass purge, directed by Luciano, has been debunked as a myth.''The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia''
p. 283
/ref>

History

References

Further reading