Frank Costello

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Frank Costello during a questionnaire in the Kefauver Committee (1951)

Francesco Castiglia , also known as Frank Costello (born January 26, 1891 in Lauropoli , Cosenza Province , Italy ; † February 18, 1973 in New York City , New York ) was an Italian-American mobster of the American Cosa Nostra and head of the Genovese Family (formerly the "Luciano Family") from New York City. Costello was considered one of the most influential Mafia bosses of his time and had extensive contacts with politicians, judges and police officers.

Costello was also called "Prime Minister" because he gained great influence with politicians and police through bribery. Allegedly he made it possible for the FBI boss at the time, J. Edgar Hoover , to regularly win horse races; In return, Hoover then claimed in the media that there was no such thing as a national crime syndicate.

biography

Francesco Castiglia emigrated to New York City in 1895 with his mother and sister and lived in poor conditions in Manhattan . At the age of 13 he became a member of the Five Points Gang in which Lucky Luciano and other future Mafiosi were also members. Between 1908 and 1918, Francesco was charged at least four times with assault, robbery and gun possession and was imprisoned for 10 months in 1915. In 1918 he married his mistress.

His gangster career included, among other things, illegal gambling , alcohol trafficking and extortion . From the early 1920s, Luciano and Frank worked for the Joe Masseria organization and still maintained their business interests with their Jewish and Irish partners. Francesco Castiglia is said to have changed his name to Frank Costello because it sounds more Irish. It was Costello who made contact with Arnold Rothstein , with which in the Broadway mob Italians like Luciano and Joe Adonis came together with Kosher Nostras like Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel on business to supply Manhattan with high-quality whiskey during the alcohol prohibition from 1919 to 1933. Other collaborators of Frank Costello were Vito Genovese , Tommy Lucchese , Bill Dwyer and Dutch Schultz .

Dwyer and Costello were charged on November 19, 1926 with importing liquor into the New York City docks , but charges against Costello were dropped in 1927. However, Dwyer was convicted of bribing a US Coast Guard officer, and Costello took over Dwyer's smuggling business in New York. This caused tension and eventually a war with business associates of Dwyer. While Costello lost some of his business activities in this conflict, his influence as a mafioso continued to grow.

After Lucky Luciano and his partners played off Mafia bosses Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano against each other in the so-called War of Castellammare and Lucky managed to put himself at the head of the most powerful New York mafia family in 1931, Vito Genovese became its underboss and Costello acted as consigliere . Costello helped the Luciano family expand their operations and house slot machines in Louisiana under a deal with Governor Huey Long and New Orleans crime chief Carlos Marcello . Costello invested with Lansky in illegal gambling in Florida and Cuba and began to standardize the system of accepting and distributing bets among bookmakers nationwide. Expanding gambling nationally and internationally was a smart move since Prohibition ended in 1933.

In 1936, Luciano was charged with prostitution and sentenced to decades in prison. Genovese assumed the position of incumbent boss, but was charged a year later on a three-year-old murder charge and fled to Italy; Costello became the acting boss of the Luciano family and from then on headed all operations. In 1945 Genovese was forced to return to the states where he was tried. During the trial, two of the three government witnesses were murdered and the prosecution's charges collapsed. In 1946, Genovese was released from custody and he immediately began work to regain his position as boss of the Costello-controlled family.

In 1951, Costello was summoned to appear before Estes Kefauver's committee. The Democratic politician had succeeded in getting the Senate to set up a committee of inquiry in April 1950 : the Kefauver Hearings . After completing a sensational investigation, Kefauver submitted his report in late April 1951. Several criminals who had escaped unmolested were subsequently arrested. Before the Kefauver Committee, Costello's deputy, Willie Moretti, had testified, who revealed details about the infiltration of legal companies by the Mafia. This public display, as well as the fact that the media learned that Costello had consulted a psychiatrist and that he did not support the drug trade, Genovese used to his advantage to bring Costello into disrepute among the Mafia soldiers .

In 1954, Costello was sentenced to five years in prison for tax evasion . He served several years before the appeal was overturned.

On May 2, 1957, Vincent Gigante carried out an assassination attempt on behalf of Vito Genovese , which Costello survived despite being shot in the forehead with a pistol. Costello then withdrew from the leadership position and all business of the Mafia, lived in his mansion on Long Island and was no longer attacked by other gangsters. He is the only known case of an American Mafia boss who voluntarily resigned, accepted as an Elder Statesman , so to speak , and was no longer bothered until his natural death.

Frank Costello died in a Manhattan hospital after suffering a heart attack.

Films and documentaries

Fiction

In Philip Kerr's thriller "The X Day" from 2001, Costello plays an important role as an opponent of Robert F. Kennedy .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Real Clear - Meet the Real-Life Mafia Boss Who Inspired “Godfather”
  2. ↑ a b c Spiegel Online - US-MAFIA: Decent people
  3. ↑ a b c d The Mob Museum - Frank Costello
  4. ↑ a b c Vice - This unconventional Mafia boss was the inspiration behind Don Corleone from 'The Godfather'
  5. ↑ Philip Kerr : The big day . Wunderlich Verlag, 1st edition 2001. ISBN 978-3805206884

Secondary literature

  • Bennet Jäger: Picturing the Evil. The Kefauver Committee and the Campaign against Organized Crime, 1950-1951 . Dissertation, University of Cologne, 2012.

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Lucky Luciano Head of the " Genovese family " of La Cosa Nostra
1946 - 1957 		Vito Genovese
personal data
SURNAME Costello, Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Castiglia, Francesco (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mobster
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Lauropoli , Province of Cosenza , Italy
DATE OF DEATH 18th February 1973
Place of death New York City , New York