Salvatore Lucania, better known as Lucky Luciano, was born in Sicily, Italy on November 24, 1897 (Biography). In 1906 his family moved to the U.S. where they settled in New York (Biography); he was 10 years old (History). Within a year he started his criminal career by shoplifting (Varma). By the time Luciano was 14 he was already well known to the police, having been arrested multiple times (History). Luciano’s first known involvement in anti-social behavior began when he would force classmates to pay him for protection or face a beating by him (Biography). In 1914 he dropped out of school and obtained the remainder of his education on the streets of New York (Biography). He tried working legitimately as a clerk for a hat company for a while, …show more content…
Luciano also met and started working for Guiseppe “Joe the Boss” Masseria’s criminal operation running bootleg liquor (Biography). In 1928 conflict between the Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano crime families arose (History). This conflict was known as the Castellammarese War because it was Maranzano’s hometown in Italy (History). Luciano and his boss didn’t get along because Masseria was old-fashioned and prejudiced which got in the way of business (History). Because of this, Luciano chose to side with the Marazano’s (History). In 1931 Luciano arranged the assassination of Masseria, cementing his position as a lieutenant for Marazano, the “boss of bosses” (History). Ironically, they too did not get along and “Lucky”, learning of Marazano’s plot against him, killed him first making him the “boss of bosses” of the New York Mafia …show more content…
He was able to split control of New York between five smaller crime families that ultimately reported back to him as the overall boss. During the period of Prohibition, when he was on his rise to prominence, Luciano’s net worth was 12 million dollars. In addition he had a net income of 4 million dollars yearly after the bribing he had done for police and politicians. He was also able to import various liquors from different countries and distributed the products throughout New York and also parts of Philadelphia. On the other hand, just when his luck was running out, World War II was stroke of good fortune he needed. When the opportunity presented itself he offered himself, along with his underworld connections in Italy, as an accessory to aid the United States government during the war effort. Consequently, he was to be deported to Italy after the war, per the agreement reached with United States, were he continued to engage in organized crime with all of his connections. Later on he continued to be involved in illegal activities by traveling to Cuba. Consequently, he was deported back to Italy by the Cuban government where he died in 1962 of a fatal heart attack on his way to the airport to meet with an American producer for a film on his biography (History). Although after all this years Luciano’s legacy and empire still continues on to this day