Chronicles of Events and Biographies Related to the American Mafia
Vito “Don Vito” Genovese was an early boss and namesake of the Genovese crime family in New York. From Prohibition to Apalachin, he used his wits and reputation for violence to help maintain the organization’s place of infamy among the city’s “five families.” Born in Naples in 1897, Genovese got an early start in crime….
Charles “Lucky” Luciano was born Salvatore Lucania on November 24, 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily. He immigrated to the United States in 1906 where his family settled on the Lower East Side of New York where Lucky promptly integrated himself in the neighborhood as a small time hoodlum. By his 10th birthday, Salvatore Lucania had been…
Gaspar DiGregorio was a New York Mafia boss who led the Bonanno crime family during the so-called “Bannana Wars” of the 1960s. He played a key role in one of the bloodiest periods in mob history and helped transition his family from its original management to a new generation of leaders. DiGregorio was born in…
Born in Calabria, in southern Italy on September 26, 1902, Albert’s birth name was Umberto Anastasio. His parents were Raffaelo Anastasio and Louisa Nomina de Filippi. Raffaelo was a railway worker who died after World War I, leaving behind nine sons and three daughters. Albert’s brothers included Salvatore, Frank, Joseph, Gerardo, and Tony Anastasio who…
In the 1980’s and 90’s two NYPD Police detectives were involved in murder for hire and various other illegal activities on behalf of the Lucchese crime family in New York. After their reign was over, several men were dead, and Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Louis Eppolito…
Born in May 1886 in Corleone Italy, Vincenzo “Vincent” Terranova’s legacy is somewhat overshadowed by his stepbrother Giuseppe Morello who was a successful Italian American mafia boss. Nonetheless Terranova had his own successful run in the mob as the underboss to the Morello family, today known as the Genovese family; the family his stepbrother controlled….
Francesco Raffaele Nitto, better known as Frank Nitti or “The Enforcer”, followed Al Capone as leader of the Chicago Outfit in the years after Prohibition. He was boss more in name than fact, but he left a major stamp on the city’s Mafia organization by the time he killed himself to avoid prison time. Frank…
Early 1962 was the start of a Profaci family battle. Joe Gallo and his brothers battled with ailing Profaci crime boss Joseph Profaci over, among other things, the amount of money Profaci demanded from his family as tribute. In February 1962, the Gallo’s kidnapped Profaci underboss Joseph Magliocco and capo Joe Colombo in an attempt…
Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero, also known as “Lefty Guns” and “Lefty Two Guns,” was born in the Fourth Ward neighborhood of Little Italy, Manhattan, on April 19, 1926. From a young age, Ruggiero became involved with the Bonanno crime family, serving as a street soldier under Michael Sabella. He lived in Knickerbocker Village, an apartment complex…
Giuseppe “the Clutch Hand” Morello was born on May 2, 1867 in Corleone, Sicily. His biological father, Calogero Morello died when Giuseppe was just five years old. One year later his mother Angelina remarried to Bernardo Terranova, a member of the Corelonesi Mafia in Corleone. The two had three additional sons and two daughters during…
William Cutolo was born Guglielmo, in Basilicata, Italy. His family was related to the Italian Camorra mob boss Raffaele Cutolo. His father was involved in loan sharking and illegal gambling that eventually earned him a prison sentence. As an adult living in the United States Cutolo aligned himself with the Colombo crime family based out…
Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato was born in New York City on February 25, 1931. His family name came from Siculiana, Agrigento, Sicily, however he never once visited. Indelicato was the father-in-law to Bonanno associate Salvatore Valenti and the ex-son-in-law of Bonanno capo Charles Ruvolo. He was also related to Gov. of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis’s education…
Ignazio Lupo was born to a middle class family in Province of Palermo, Sicily on March 19, 1877. From an early age he was involved in crimes ranging from simple robbery to theft. In 1889 Lupo is believed to have committed his first murder when a man named Salvatore Morello (unrelated to the Giuseppe Morello…
The Bonanno Family is one of the “Five Families” that controls the east coast with the hub of activity in New York and New Jersey. They are part of the nationwide criminal syndicate known as the mafia or Cosa Nostra. The Bonanno’s have been around since the 1880’s but are most recently known for their…
Giacomo “Big Jim” Colosimo was an Italian immigrant Mafioso who got his start as a pickpocket and went on to build the Chicago Outfit, that city’s version of the American mob. He did it by pulling together a coalition of street thugs, pimps and extortionists to build a racket that has dominated organized crime in…