SALVATORE MARANZANO: THE KILLING AND ERASING OF A MOB BOSS

 

The modern Mafia was born with the assassination of Salvatore Maranzano on September 10, 1931, and yet not a single photo of Maranzano alive has surfaced. There is but one verified photo of Maranzano, after he was stabbed to death by Lucky Luciano’s gang at Maranzano’s office in New York Central Building, a bloodied corpse spread on the floor with his face mutilated beyond recognition. From this photo a face impression was recently stitched together by computer wizards but the limits of technology show. One mystery the technicians, with all their skill, could not crack is the identity of the assailants who brought Maranzano down.  

This lack of record is baffling considering the pivotal role Maranzano played in the history of the Mafia, his rise to power coming at a pivotal time in its transformation. Maranzano saw opportunity playing upon the growing rift between the new generation of mobsters and the old guard but instead became its second victim and kicked off a purge of the remaining “Moustache Petes”, paving the way for a decentralized mob rule.

By the late 1920s the new generation of gangsters was becoming increasingly wary of the antiquated mindset of the old bosses. In particular, the steadfast rule then held by Joe “the Boss” Masseria limiting business to Sicilians and other Italians proved to be a hinderance to young revolutionaries like Luciano who saw value in forming partnerships with Jewish and Irish mobsters. But the real cause for contempt against Masseria was his consolidation of power as a self-appointed “Boss of Bosses”.

Maranzano wanted Masseria knocked off as much as Luciano did and initially this formed a truce between the two. For over a year Masseria had and Maranzano were engaged in a  New York City gang war that saw the restructuring of factions and loyalties. The Castellammarese War, as the bloodbath came to be known when it was named after Maranzano’s hometown in Sicily, ended with the assassination of Joe Masseria in April of 1931 at Coney Island’s Nuova Villa Tammaro restaurant. Lured in on the pretense of a business meeting by Luciano, Masseria was gunned down by Luciano’s men Albert Anastasia, Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis and Bugsy Siegel.

With Masseria out of the picture, Maranzano rose to become “boss of bosses”. In a pretense of democracy, Maranzano established the Five Families of New York while he reigned over the Bonanno Family. It didn’t take long, however, for his agreement with Luciano to sour. The rising gangster noticed Maranzano gradually diminishing the power of the other four families while expanding his own and resented Maranzano’s continuation of Masseria’s antiquated views. The very title, “Boss of Bosses”, which Maranzano self-appointed to himself, was a contradiction of the hope for progress Luciano and his wave had placed on Maranzano. If anything, with his rival out of the way, Maranzano became more authoritarian and draconian than Masseria had been.

Maranzano, on his part, knew he was losing favor with Luciano and decided to have him removed before he became a threat. However, Tommy Lucchese, of the Lucchese Crime Family that saw itself undercut under Maranzano, alerted Luciano that Maranzano had hired Irish gangster Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll to take him out.

When Luciano received a summons from Maranzano to his office on September 10, 1931, he new he was being set up for a trap. In a retaliatory act symbolic of the diverse vision he had for the mob, Luciano instead sent four unidentified Jewish mobsters to Maranzano’s office with the help of Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel. Besides a show of good faith to his promise of collaboration with other ethnic mobs, Luciano’s move also ensured that the men would be unrecognized by Maranzano. The men posed as government agents and were let in the building without question. In a short while they annihilated Maranzano’s men, stabbed Maranzano repeatedly and killed him with a shot to the head.

This began a bloody purge of the old guard in New York which some historians have dubbed the Sicilian Vespers. By the end, Lucky Luciano had restructured and reinvigorated the mob, abolishing the title of “Boss of Bosses”, and diminished hostility and, consequently, turf wars.

Salvatore Maranzano was buried at St. John Cemetery in Queens and left historians without a physical trace. A single photograph, that for many years was thought to have been the only known photography of the last “Boss of Bosses” was later revealed to have been that of Salvatore Messina of the London underworld. The only hint left of Maranzano’s physical appearance besides words by those who knew him (and described him as a dandy who made ladies turn their heads) is a picture of his slashed corpse sprawled on his office floor. Lucky Luciano undoubtedly realized that the assassination of Salvatore Maranzano literally rejuvenated the American Mafia, but even Luciano would have been impressed by how thoroughly he made his enemy disappear. In this regard, Salvatore Maranzano was the most successful hit of his career.