Luciano

No other New York gangster in the twentieth century matched the capabilities of the sinister, crafty, powerful, and secretive Charles "Lucky" Luciano. Who with the help of his closest friends and allies, even enemies, established the National Crime Syndicate in the early 1930s, which still remains today (Nash 251). Lucky Luciano, the "true" American gangster, rewrote the rules of the Italian Mafia, under control of old-line Sicilian rule, and created an organization open to all ethnic backgrounds (Dewey). He worked his way from being a struggling messenger for a small gang, to eventually becoming the "Capo di Tutti Capi"(the Boss of All Bosses), the highest ranking in the Mafia (Dewey). During his reign, Charles Luciano decided that in order to make the most money possible, he needed to combine all of the crime "families" in the United States. He established this organization, la Cosa Nostra, and appointed a board of directors, including the legendary Al "Scar-face" Capone, with himself as the Chief Executive Officer. Luciano's presence demanded respect from everyone and aided in the creation of the American Mafia, a malignant but far-reaching underworld force that, to this day, continues to flourish (Nash 251).

Born to the name Salvatore Luciana on November 24, 1897 in Lercardia Friddi, Sicily, the third child in the Luciana family, little Charles had a penchant for hanging around older kids that contributed to his mischievous behavior. The Lucianas set out for a better life in the great land of America in 1906, where they soon found it to be not so great. He logged his first arrest just a few months after his arrival for shoplifting in 1907, and started his first racket during that same year. For a penny or two a day, he offered younger and smaller Jewish children his personal protection against beatings on the way to school; if they didn't pay, he beat them up. One runty boy, Meyer Lansky, refused to pay, so he and Luciano fought. It amazed Luciano how hard Lansky fought back, and they became best of friends from that day forward (Nichols). Luciano's genius sense for the business world began to take shape at an early age. Arrested numerous times until the age of 18, Luciano struggled to stay alive by selling narcotics for the notorious Five Points Gang. Charles Luciana soon changed his name to Charles Luciano to protect his family from any embarrassment or shame caused by publicity. When Luciano went to jail for dealing heroin for them, the police set up an offer for him if he identified the members of the dope ring. However, Luciano kept the

code of omerta (silence) and served his jail time (Kohn). Proving his loyalty, the Five Points Gang made him a full-fledged member.

Luciano, a quick witted and pleasurable personality, liked the highlife. He lived by one simple fact; "Money is everything" and he went through anything in order to get that money (Mobsters). Luciano believed in his friends, and later took a face-altering knife wound in the face, that left him with an evil droop in his right eye. This was the aftermath of the "ride", where he was bound, beat up, and left to die, only because he refused to do business with people that refused business with non-Italians. His best friend and business partner, Meyer Lansky, happened to be Jewish. Lansky later helped Luciano win the Castellammarese War by giving him this advise, which Luciano would forever live by: "The winner will be the one who gets his enemy to trust him" (Mobsters).

The strengths of Luciano stood out above everything else, loyalty being just one of them. Luciano showed great compassion towards his friends, and always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else. He possessed the ability to be able to see around the next corner. This helped him tremendously during the Castellammarese War; a war between the two Sicilian bosses of New York, Joe "The Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, that broke out just as the Great Depression hit the United States. By this time, Luciano worked under Joe "The Boss" as his number-two man, the heir to the throne if anything happened to Masseria. As the war went on, Luciano knew that killing Masseria was the only way for him to emerge on top. Using this, Luciano went to Maranzano, his enemy and offered a trade; the death of Masseria and the win of the war for Maranzano, for making Luciano his number-two man (Nash, 252). Maranzano agreed but, as Luciano thought, marked Luciano for death after he eliminated his own crime boss. Luciano's hit men sent out for Joe "The Boss" while Luciano took a bathroom break during lunch between the two, for an unwritten rule states that a Sicilian cannot kill another Sicilian to become a Don, or boss. They were successful and as soon as Maranzano heard word, he sent out a contract for Luciano's death. Using his ability to see around the corners, Luciano caught wind of this and acted first, killing Maranzano and becoming the Boss of All Bosses (Nash 252).

Luciano's mind and way of thought, allowed him to excel at anything he sought out. "He would have been chairman of the board of General Motors is he'd gone into legitimate business." said a FBI agent with a grudging admiration (Nichols). However, Luciano went into a business where the real money was. By 1927, Luciano's income exceeded $1 million a year, and after the Castellammarese War and becoming the Boss of All Bosses, it exceeded one hundred times that amount. Unlike Al Capone (who later went to prison for income tax evasion), Luciano was careful to file tax returns each year for his stated profession as a gambler. His income never varied from year to year, claiming that he made $22,500 on wagers each year and paid taxes on this amount.

The average American in the 1930's went though some tough times. The Depression left numerous people homeless and without jobs. Luciano and other Mafioso took advantage of the nation in need. Luciano knew that people were the same regardless of social status,