Joe Masseria

Giuseppe "Joe" Masseria - Mugshot

Giuseppe "Joe The Boss" Masseria (* 1879 in Sicily ; † April 15, 1931 in New York City ) alias Joseph Masseria , was an American mobster of the Cosa Nostra and boss of the Genovese family . Because of his extensive control - at least of Italian activities - of organized crime in New York City from 1920 until his assassination in 1931, he was known as the “boss of all bosses” ( Italian : capo di tutti i capi ).

Life

After emigrating to the United States in 1903 to avoid murder charges in Sicily, Masseria became a thug of the Morello Gang , the forerunner of the group later classified as the Genovese family , in the Lower East Side of New York City .

Masseria was sentenced to several months probation for the first time in 1907 for burglary and extortion . In the same year he married Marie Guarino.

As a result of the persecution pressure from the authorities, the imprisonment and conviction of Giuseppe Morello in 1910 and the death of some members, Joe Masseria's position became stronger and stronger from 1920 and from around 1925 he can be regarded as head. Giuseppe "Peter" Morello was released from custody, an important advisor, and his brother Ciro Terranova an important ally and underboss, whom Masseria urgently needed in the later Castellammare war , as Nicholas Morello and Vincent Terranova had been murdered before the conflict broke out .

Apparently there was a power struggle for supremacy in the Morello Terranova clan, which was ended by the murder of Umberto Valenti , who can be regarded as the principal or murderer of Vincent Terranova. The act was probably committed on August 11, 1922 by Lucky Luciano , then Lieutenant under Joe Masseria. The background was a recently carried out assassination attempt by Valenti on Masseria, in which his bodyguards had died.

The clashes for supremacy in New York City continued. Salvatore Maranzano was sent from Sicily with several other men in 1927 to take control of the American La Cosa Nostra for Don Vito Cascio Ferro . Maranzano won the support of the local people from Castellammare del Golfo , which is why the conflict with Masseria became known as the " War of Castellammare ".

On April 15, 1931, Masseria was shot dead in Scarpato's restaurant on Coney Island .

Masseria murder case

According to a version - now known as a legend - it was a meeting between Lucky Luciano and Masseria in Scarpato's Restaurant. Accordingly, Luciano was in the toilet when four men, allegedly Albert Anastasia , Joe Adonis , Bugsy Siegel and Vito Genovese , committed the act. The escape driver is said to have been Ciro Terranova.

An NYPD police report suggests a meeting between Masseria and his underboss Sam Pollaccia . He went to the toilets immediately before the attack. Lucky Luciano, who tended to make legend, may have appropriated the story because the successful assassination was associated with an increase in prestige . Like Luciano, Pollaccia and Giustra had originally been members of the Five Points Gang ; or one of the successor organizations to Frankie Yale .

In his absence, Johnny "Silk Stocking" Giustra entered the restaurant, who then shot Masseria together with Pollaccia. Pollaccia disappeared after the fact and was presumably murdered, Giustra was shot in East Harlem in 1931 .

This ended the war, and Maranzano believed that he would become the “boss of all bosses”. However, he was then at Luciano's request by gangsters from circles around Meyer Lansky , including Samuel "Red" Levine , killed. Ultimately, the entire argument led to the formation of the National Crime Syndicate .

His brother John Masseria was also murdered on June 22, 1937.

In the movie

• In Up to the Last Shot from 1981 by Richard C. Sarafian , Masseria is played by Richard S. Castellano .
• He is portrayed by Anthony Quinn in The Real Bosses: A Devilish Empire (1991) . The film shows his connection to Lucky Luciano and his murder in the restaurant.
• He played Ivo Nandi in the series Boardwalk Empire from 2011 to 2014 .

swell

1. ↑ History of the Mafia on archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ^ Martin A. Gosch, Richard Hammer: Last Testament of Lucky Luciano . Dell Pub Co. Reissue Edition June 1981. ISBN 0440147050

Web links

• Joe Masseria in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• Joe Masseria on rotten.com (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Vincent Terranova	Head of the “ Genovese family ” of the Mafia 1925–1931	Lucky Luciano