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Salvatore Luciana, who would later become infamous mobster Charles ‘Lucky’ Luciano, was born in Sicily in 1897. His father was a sulphur miner, who toiled relentlessly to provide for his son. However, Luciano did not repay his father’s sacrifice with good behaviour. From early childhood Luciano had a habit of associating himself with unsavoury characters and being mischievous. This tendency followed him when he came to America with his parents in 1906. Within a year of arriving in New York, Luciano was arrested for shoplifting.

Soon he was running a protection racket for the young Jewish children in his neighbourhood. In 1908, Luciano confirmed his ambitions of becoming a hood, when he was arrested with several kilos of heroin in his possession.

Luciano set about strengthening his credentials. His number of underworld contacts was increasing rapidly, and he forged important relationships with his partners, Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky. Luciano found he was particularly adept at pimping and drug peddling, and he decided to offer his services to Big Joe Masseria. However, their relationship would be a sour one. Luciano was resentful of Masseria’s policy of only doing business with Italians, since this meant passing up money from the Jewish and Irish rackets.

Equally, Masseria was mistrustful of Luciano’s ambition and Luciano found himself pulled off the street, stabbed, brutally beaten and dumped on the beach, with stab wounds to the face. It was a miracle he survived. Luciano kept to the Mafia code of omerta, or silence before the authorities, preferring to take justice into his own hands.

By allying himself with Masseria’s great rival, Sal Maranzano, he was able to kill Messeria (in true Italian fashion: he ambushed him in a pizzeria) in 1931. Luciano was made Maranzano’s deputy as a reward.

That same year Maranzano would go on to fundamentally change the nature of the mob. He was responsible for structuring ‘La Cosa Nostra’ into a cohesive unit, made up of five families. This gave Maranzano great power over the Mafia as a whole, power which Luciano was eager to have. Sensing this, Maranzano plotted to kill his lieutenant but, with the help of the ever vigilant Meyer Lansky, the plot was discovered, and Luciano killed Maranzano before he could strike. This placed Luciano at the very top of the mob hierarchy: by 1934 Lucky was undisputably ‘the boss of bosses’.

One particularly savage institution proved invaluable to Luciano. He founded an organization to take care of contract killings and executions. Murder Inc., as it was to be known, allowed Luciano to brutally and efficiently police the Mafia. Ingeniously, he also forbade the group from killing non-mafia members. This kept Mafia business out of the public eye and allowed for a more safe operation. Luciano decided to celebrate his success with a suitably opulent lifestyle, but his success was short lived.

Thomas Dewey, a New York special prosecutor, managed to compile huge amounts of evidence of Luciano’s pimping. Faced with insurmountable evidence, the court could not but find him guilty. Finally at the mercy of a court, Luciano was sentenced to 15 to 30 years imprisonment. Prison life was not uncomfortable for the mob-boss. He was allowed unregistered visitors, enabling him to carry on with his business, and alcohol, good food and women were always in abundance.

However, he was keen to strike a bargain. During World War II a perfect opportunity presented itself. In exchange for a commuted sentence, Luciano had his contacts in Sicily aid the Allied invasion of the island. Luciano was freed in 1946 and promptly deported.

Living in Naples Luciano was able to kindle old business interests, despite stringent limits placed upon him by the Italian government. He even managed a brief stint running his gambling establishments in Cuba. Always eager for new enterprise, he was meeting with a film producer on 26th January 1962 when he keeled over and died from a heart attack. Lucky to the end, he possessed enough money and respect for his body to be interred in New York, his spiritual home, in a lavish mausoleum.
Charles 'Lucky' Luciano biography



Luciano met his long time friend and partner, Meyer Lansky, in his early teens, when he beat him up for refusing to pay a protection racket. Lucky was impressed by how hard he fought back and the two became fast friends.
Charles 'Lucky' Luciano biography




Charles 'Lucky' Luciano biography

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