Salvatore Maranzano (1868 - 1931)
"Little Caesar"
Salvatore Maranzano was the first and only "Boss of Bosses" in the U.S. Originally from the Castellemmare del Gulfo in Sicily, Maranzano was one of the very few well educated mafiosi, studying in the seminary in his home town, but when he came to the U.S. originally in 1918, he had given up his ambitions to become a priest and settled for the world of Organized Crime.
Although Maranzano brought new ideas to organized crime he still carried with him the old ways of settling vendettas with violence as the "Mustache Petes" -- the old guard of mafiosi that Maranzano held in contempt for their lack of forward thinking.
In the early 20's, Maranzano had bounced back and forth between the U.S. and Sicily, but in 1927 he was sent back the U.S. by the most powerful Mafia boss in Sicily, Don Vito Cascio Ferro to begin taking over the for the old guard and "mainlanders" that were already established. Maranzano began to align himself with individuals from his native town of Castellemmare del Gulfo: Joseph Bonnano; Joseph Profaci; and Stefano Magaddino -- all of which had been sent over by Don Vito as well.
One of these "mainlanders" was Joe "The Boss" Masseria., who realized hat Maranzano was a force to reckon with. In 1928, Joe the Boss began an all-out war with the Maranzano faction figuring he would easily suppress the Castellemaresses because of the sheer numbers that he had working for him. This battle for power became known as the Castellemarese Wars and the death total across the country would end up around 50, but this number remains unclear due to the other underworld killings surrounding bootlegging and other crimes.
The war between the two factions lasted until 1931 when a young Charlie "Lucky" Luciano decided to take matters into his own hands. At the time, Luciano had been working for the older Joe Masseria but realized, as did Maranzano, that Masseria was too old and slow to continue to run his family. Maranzano also knew of Luciano's talents and intelligence and wanted to bring Luciano over to his side -- in fact, Maranzano went as far as trying to kill Luciano because he would not join Maranzano's family. But the capo failed to kill Luciano. Beating and cutting him up, leaving him for dead, Maranzano assumed that Luciano would die, but he didn't, and Luciano never forgot it.
Together with other future crime bosses, Luciano began to plot out the end of the Castellemarese War first by having Joe the Boss killed and then Maranzano.
On April 15, 1931, Joe the Boss Masseria was ordered killed by Lucky Luciano who had quickly jumped sides (along with Vito Genovese) after recovering from his beating at the hands of Maranzano and declaring peace with him. Maranzano was very pleased by Luciano's decision to become part of his organization, but was well aware of Luciano's cunning wit and decided to make Luciano his number one man in the organization figuring that this would show his good faith. It did not last for long.
Now that Masseria was dead, it was time for Maranzano to take the helm as Capo di tutti Capi -- or Boss of all Bosses. He called for a meeting with all the crime figures from all over the country and held a huge banquet for them all. The hall that was rented for this party was decorated with religious symbols, and dimly lit to give off an air of seriousness and reverence. Joe Valachi explain during his hearings that it was done so that if anyone should wonder what was going on, they would think it was some holy society meeting.
Maranzano began the meeting by explaining how this new organization would run, that he would be the boss with five specific lieutenants below him (setting up the 5-family structure). These lieutenants would be: Joseph Bonnano; Phil and Vincent Mangano; Charlie Luciano; Joseph Profaci; and Tom Gagliano. There would be no morerandom killings either, even out of vendettas. If a mafioso were to commit such a crime it would be punishable by death. Also, there would be no discussion of "La Cosa Nostra" or, "Our Thing" with anyone but those involved in the new organization. Even if it was discussed with someone's wife, it was punishable by death. And, only those of Sicilian decent would be permitted to be involved in this organization.
Not long after this banquet, though, Maranzano became weary of his subordinates, especially Luciano. It as well publicized that he made up a list of names that were to be killed, many of these names included those Maranzano had just appointed as capos underneath him, including Luciano, Al Capone, Joe Adonis, Dutch Schultz, and Frank Costello. Maranzano called in Vincent "Mad Dog" Coll to kill each person on the list, but when Luciano discovered this plot to exterminate the head capos across the country, he took immediate action.
On September 10, 1931, six months after Joe the Boss Masseria was killed, Maranzano met his fate. On that day, Luciano had found out two things:
Luciano sent in his main spy in the Maranzano office, Thomas Lucchese to finger Maranzano while at the me time sending in four of his own, personally picked, hitmen to pose as IRS agents into Maranzano's office. The four hitmen lined Maranzano's body guards against the wall and disarmed them, then two went into Maranzano's office and stabbed and shot him to death. Along with Maranzano, forty other crime figures that were aligned with Maranzano were executed (some tortured before hand) across the country, wiping out all the Mustache Petes and the old regime. Luciano had his revenge on Maranzano and now was in affect the Boss of all Bosses as well. But when this was brought to his attention, Luciano strongly denounced the position and declared that the structure of the five families set up by Maranzano would remain, but there would not, and should never be, one "Boss". Instead, he, along with Meyer Lansky, drew up the beginning of "The Commission," the governing body of the National Crime Syndicate that is still in affect today.