Tommy Lucchese

Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese , also called "Three Finger Brown" (born December 1, 1899 in Palermo , Sicily , † July 13, 1967 in Lido Beach , New York ), was a notorious mobster of the American La Cosa Nostra and was Leader of a gang classified under him as the Lucchese Family and one of the Five Families of New York.

Despite his relatively small height and rather slim stature, Lucchese was considered extremely violent and is said to have been involved in over 30 murders. During his time as a leader, he managed not only to gain respect in criminal circles, but also to build a network that included state officials and politicians. New York Mayors William O'Dwyer and Vincent Impellitteri are also said to have been among his contacts.

Life

Early years

Born as Gaetano Lucchese in Palermo, Lucchese immigrated to the United States during the first decade of the 20th century . In 1915 he lost a finger in an accident at work, which earned him the nickname "Three Finger Brown" based on the then famous baseball player Mordecai Brown . At the age of 18 he founded a window cleaning company, which he used as a cover for extortion of protection money . He was arrested very often in his younger years, including a. because he was a suspect in various murder cases. However, he almost always managed to avoid conviction.

The Castellammare War

When the war in Castellammare broke out in 1930 between Mafia bosses Joseph Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano , Lucchese was Gaetano "Tom" Reina's main assistant , who was responsible for the branch of Masseria's organization from which the Lucchese family would later develop under him.

Reina was presumably murdered in February 1930 by Vito Genovese , who later became head of the Genovese family , and was replaced by Joseph Pinzolo from Masseria . Lucchese could not get used to this personnel decision Masseria because he viewed Pinzolo as an outsider. This ultimately led to the murder of Pinzolo. Since Masseria attributed the act to his adversary Maranzano, Lucchese emerged unscathed from the power struggle.

Lucchese and his friend Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano allowed themselves to be persuaded by Lucky Luciano to leave Masseria's camp secretly as the conflict between Masseria and Maranzano continued . While Maranzano now assumed that he had two spies in the foreign camp, it was actually Luciano, to whom the two felt obliged. They subsequently supported Luciano when he cleverly played off Masseria and Maranzano against each other and, after the murder of both, finally became the most influential mobster of the Cosa Nostra himself. Among other things, Lucchese was probably directly involved in planning the murder of Maranzano, as he informed Luciano that Maranzano had hired Vincent Coll , provided basic information for the disguise of the Maranzano assassins (as a tax investigator) and was also directly present at the actual attack. Lucchese became one of Luciano's favorite hit men.

Leader of the Lucchese family

After the war of Castellammare came to an end on September 10, 1931 with the murder of Maranzano, Gaetano Gagliano was appointed leader of the gang led by Reina at the time. Lucchese became Gagliano's deputy and remained in this position until Gagliano's death in 1951. Afterwards, Lucchese, who had served Gagliano loyally for 22 years, became the leader of the organization himself. As such, he valued the traditional virtues of the Sicilian Mafia ; d. H. Get the maximum amount of illegal profits with a minimum of fuss. Lucchese opened up new sources of income for his organization from illegal activities in the Manhattan's garment industry and associated transportation by bringing under his control key union officials and entrepreneurs. Partner in this activity was Harry Rosen and both of them shipped apparel made in the Garment District of New York City.

Late years

Lucchese's private life was quiet and stable. On July 13, 1967, he died of a brain tumor . More than 1,000 mourners attended his funeral at Calvary Cemetery , Queens . Among them were politicians and police officers as well as gangsters. His successor as the leader of the Lucchese family was initially Carmine Tramunti and later Anthony Corallo .

Luccheses family

• Maria Lucchese - Tommy Lucchese's mother
• Giuseppe Lucchese - Tommy Lucchese's father
• Joseph "Joe Brown" Lucchese - Tommy Lucchese's younger brother. Capo of the Lucchese family. Engaged in illegal gambling business.
• Robert Lucchese - son of Tommy Lucchese. Robert graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served as a lieutenant in the US Air Force . Robert and Thomas Gambino controlled freight forwarding companies in the Garment District.
• Thomas F. Gambino - son of Carlo Gambino and son-in-law Tommy Luccheses through his marriage to daughter Frances. Thomas Gambino was a capo in the Gambino family.
• Joseph "Joe Palisades" Rosato - brother-in-law of Tommy Lucchese through his marriage to sister Rose. He was a capo in the Lucchese family.

Adaptations

In 1981 Lucchese was portrayed in the TV series The Gangster Chronicles and in the film Until the Last Shot (Gangster Wars) by Jon Polito .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Blumenthal, Ralph. "Verdict Is Termed A Blow To The Mafia" (Nov. 20, 1986) New York Times
2. ↑ United States. Congress. Senates. Committee on Government Operations. Permanent subcommittee. "Organized Crime and Illicit Traffic Narcotics, Volume 1". 1965. (pages 284, 291) [1]
3. ↑ Pileggi, Nicholas. "The Decline and Fall of the Mafia". Life (Magazine). March 3, 1972. pg. 42-44
4. ^ ^{A b} McClellan Chart (1963) "The Gaetano Lucchese Family" Gangrule.com
5. ↑ http://archive.org/details/investigationofi32unit
6. ↑ ^{a b} State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation. "The New Jersey Garment Industry". April 1991 (page 27), PDF
7. ↑ Machi, Mario. americanmafia.com
8. ^ McClellan Chart (1963) "Racketeering Relatives" Gangrule.com

literature

• John H. Davis: Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family . New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-016357-7
• Jonathan Kwitny: Vicious Circles: The Mafia in the Marketplace . New York: WW Norton, 1979. ISBN 0-393-01188-7
• Dan E. Moldea: The Hoffa Wars . New York: Charter Books, 1978. ISBN 0-441-34010-5
• Frank Ragano, Selwyn Raab: Mob Lawyer . New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994. ISBN 0-684-19568-2

Web links

• Gangsters Inc. - Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese ( December 8, 2003 memento on the Internet Archive ) by David Amoruso.
• Free Information Society - Gaetano Lucchese "Tommy Brown" .
• Thomas "Three Finger Brown" Luchese on Find A Grave.

predecessor	Office	successor
Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano	Head of the " Lucchese family " of La Cosa Nostra 1951 - 1967	Carmine Tramunti