Thomas Lucchese (c. 1900 - 1967)
A.K.A:"Three-Finger Brown""

If there is one mobster whom everyone seemed to like it was Thomas Lucchese. He was considered one of the more peaceful Dons, and those who served under him claimed him to be one of the fairest as well. He was enjoyed by businessmen and politicians alike, some say because not everyone knew of his involvement with the mob.

Thomas Lucchese came to power after serving under Thomas Gagliano for years. After Gagliano died of natural causes, Lucchese took over. His career began like most mobsters, with theft, larceny, and murder. Lucchese happened to be one of the best hitmen available and Charlie Luciano trusted him more than anyone else to get the job done correctly. During the Castellemmarese Wars, Luciano used Lucchese as set up man for Salvatore Maranzano and then continued as one of the chief executioners of Maranzano men to win control over the New York Mafia.

After his appointment to top boss, Lucchese took over the garment district and ran gambling rackets, loansharking, construction and narcotics. He also had great political influence that rivaled the Prime Minister, Frank Costello. Lucchese was very friendly with mayors and other politicians. Through his connections in city hall: U.S. Attorney Thomas Murphy, Mayor Bill O'Dwyer and Mayor Vincent Impellitteri. Many of these figures say they didn't know of Lucchese's involvement with the mob for years until it came out in 1950 when Lucchese was an open supporter of Impellitteri for mayor of New York City.

Lucchese's life was relatively quite and stable until the late 1960's when he developed brain cancer. In 1967 he underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. He died on July 13, 1967. Over 1,000 mourners came to his funeral. The crowd included politicians, judges, policemen, racketeers, drug pushers, pimps and hitmen. Some bosses did not show up out of fear of the FBI surveillance, but others like Carlo Gambino and Aniello Dellacroce did to show respect, possibly, for one of the last individuals who helped to create the organization they were still running.