The life of American-Italian mobster, Charlie Luciano, is one that covers fame,
fortune, despair and desolation. This historic figure was known in life and death as both a
role model and a demon.
Why was Charlie Luciano never mentioned in history books for his contribution in the capture of Sicily during World War II? Was it because of his past in organized crime? Did the capture of Sicily really lead to the end of World War II?
Charlie Luciano was born in Sicily, Italy and in 1906 came to the United States. The only education he had was taught to him on the streets. He belonged to the street gangs and later joined the Italian Mafia. Before becoming a member of the mob, Luciano had run a gang of his own. He ran his gang with his closest friends including Frank Costello (the muscles), Myer Lanskey (the brains), Ben Siegel (the muscles, too) and with Luciano as the leader. This combination of four would become very successful in organized crime.
As his gang was noticed by the Mafia dons (bosses), Luciano would be mad offers. He helped the Mafia dons, but kept his distance from the entire mob.
Luciano and his gang’s plan to make their first million came when prohibition was passed as the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. By 1925, the profits from Luciano’s bootlegging business amounted to as least twelve million. The gang paid five million to the police, Coast Guard and other law officials. The payroll to Luciano’s men was one million dollars a year. By his twenties, Luciano had already become a millionaire.
Luciano had connections with two of the mob’s most powerful dons - Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. Later his connections would go bad. Luciano knew that in order to live, the dons would have to die. On April 15, 1931, Luciano had Joe Masseria killed while he was eating in a restaurant. Vito Genovese, Joe Adonis, Albert Anastasia and Bugsy Siegel gunned Masseria down. Salvatore Marazano, now the head don or “capi di tutti capi” of New York, divided the state into five families where he put Luciano in charge of one of the families. This provided Marazano with a setup for Luciano to be disposed of or killed. Luciano, however, found out about the plan and on September 10, 1931, Marazano was killed making Luciano now the capi di tutti capi. Luciano then formed a commission which would look over the twenty-four families that existed in the United States. The commission had the six largest family dons as its members and would approve the deaths and membership of the families. Without approval from the commission, a family was forbidden to move forward with anything pertaining to life or death within that specific family. The commission was the lawmaker of the American-Italian Mafioso.
After Luciano formed the commission, he was elected to head it, thanks to the nomination of Al Capone. Luciano was honored, but he did not want to be called capi di tutti capi because it made him look too powerful. He always believed everyone was equal. He was not very keen on the word “Mafia” because of its reputation in the past, so he chose to call it “la cosa nostra” or “ costra nostra” meaning “out thing” or “this thing of ours.”
Luciano made millions in the mob business, but not without the help of his best friends, Lanskey, Siegel and Costello. Their biggest business was the sale of alcohol during prohibition, ration stamps and gas during World War II, the monopolies on businesses such as travel, olive oil, artichokes, cheese, anchovies, and distribution of narcotics. On June 6, 1956, Luciano was had strayed from these businesses, was caught and received a sentence of 30 to 50 years on the charges of organized prostitution.
In December of 1941 came the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Luciano saw an opportunity to aid the war, while helping himself get an early release from prison. He needed a way to get the attention of the U.S. Navy, so he planned to sink the USS Normandy - a French luxury liner. At a pier in Hudson, on February 11, 1942, the Normandy mysteriously caught fire. When the Navy found out that organized crime could be involved, they asked for Luciano’s help. Luciano agreed to help and afterward was transferred to a more “comfortable” facility in Albany, New York. During his stay, he was often seen walking the streets of Albany. He even got two guards to drive him to a roadhouse near the city where he enjoyed privacy with his mistress, Gay Orlova and friend Frank Costello.
On July of 1943, the allied troops invaded Sicily. Stories circulated that Luciano had contacted the local Mafia boss. When a plane flew over Sicily, it dropped a package containing a flag with the letter “L” on it - which was assumed stood for Luciano. It was passed on to the local Mafia boss. When the American troops landed, they were joined by a host of armed civilians eager to rid Sicily of the hated Fascists. The troops also included soldiers with Sicilian or Italian roots. On May 7, 1945, the war had ended.
On January 3, 1946, Luciano was freed, but could not return to the United States. Luciano was nine years old when he came to the States, but had never obtained his U.S. citizenship.
The surrender of Sicily helped the allied forces cross over to Italy. In the end, the fall of Sicily did not help put an end to the war. If not for Sicily’s fall, the war would not have ended as soon as it did.
Luciano stayed in Sicily until his death. He planned to get back to the United States or Cuba so he could still remain the leader of the American-Italian Mafia. When he found out he could not get back, he tried to become legitimate by owning a restaurant in Sicily. During his ownership of the restaurant, lines of eager U.S. soldiers would come in to get his autograph. The Sicilian government did not view him as a hero, however, as they still thought Luciano had not gone legitimate. They raided his warehouse, breaking into his trucks that were shipping bread and olive oil, where they broke all the bottles, only to come up empty-handed. They were not able to uncover the heroine they thought he was trafficking. After this raid, Luciano believed he would not be able to go legitimate, so he resorted back to organized crime.
Luciano continued a life of organized crime until his death in January 1963. His untimely death, while meeting an American film producer in Naples airport, was due to a heart attack.
No one will ever really know if this meeting was Charlie Luciano’s final attempt to
live a legitimate life, but he will undoubtedly be remembered in the American-Italian Mafia
as the Capi di tutti capi.
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