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![THE COMMISSION [Empire]](http://www.freewebs.com/the_commission_empire/thecommission.gif)
NAVIGATION
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FROM Joseph (Joe The Boss) Masseria to Vincent (Chin) Gigante, the Genovese Family has probably been the most powerful La Cosa Nostra family of the last hundred years. You could call it the Ivy League of Organized Crime. In the 1920's, Masseria, was recognized by Cosa Nostra leaders as the ultimate arbitrator of all major decisions that cut across family lines. Masseria enjoyed this prestige and didn't hesitate to flex his muscle at the least opportunity. In the early 1920's, Masseria sent one of his soldiers to Chicago to help strongman Johnny Torrio take control of that city. Al Capone would eventually replace Torrio and come into conflict with an LCN Family headed by Joseph Aiello. In an attempt to aid Capone, Masseria tried to end the Detroit family's support of Aiello. These events escalated into the famous Castellammarese War. When the conflict spread to New York, Masseria (left) found himself at war with the forces led by Sal Maranzano, the boss of what eventually became known as the Bonanno Family. Masseria was certainly a formidable foe, but things changed quickly with the killing of his chief strategist, underboss Peter Morello, and the ambush slaying of Al Mineo, a strong supporter and boss of what we now know as the Gambino Family. An ambitious Masseria capo, Lucky Luciano, recognized Masseria's weakened position and plotted with Maranzano to kill off Joe The Boss.
BECOMING boss of the Gambino Crime Family is a mixed blessing. If, like Carlo Gambino, you last long enough, there are untold riches to be had. On the other hand, as Paul Castellano and John Gotti discovered, there is an excellent chance you will end up murdered or in jail. With the fates of Castellano and Gotti so fresh in the minds of Gambino family mobsters, it will not be surprising if less and less of them push for the leadership of the family in the future. With that thought in mind, here is a brief look at the first hundred years of the Gambino Crime Family. Our first real knowledge of this group does not begin until the late 1920's when Al Mineo was the boss. At this time Joe Masseria was the dominant figure in La Cosa Nostra and Mineo was closely allied to him. This partnership would end unhappily for Mineo during the early stages of the Castellammarese War of 1930. The Castellammarese War was the biggest of a seemingly never ending series of conflicts between families in the New York area. This particular upheaval has become famous because it involved all five families in New York and others, especially Chicago and Detroit. Eventually, it lead to the formation of the Commission which dominated La Cosa Nostra on the east coast for the next sixty years.
FROM its beginnings early in this century, the Lucchese Cosa Nostra crime family has maintained a low profile. While the bosses of other families basked in the limelight that only New York can create, whether by design or circumstance, no Lucchese leader became really well known. The first Lucchese boss I am aware of - undoubtedly there were others before him - was Tom Reina. His murder during the Castellammarese War in 1930 brought the team of the two Tommy's to the fore. The Reina hit had been engineered by Joe Masseria, who was trying to prevent the Reina family from teaming up with his mortal enemy, Sal Maranzano. Rather than be intimidated, Tommy Gagliano, Tommy Lucchese and their men joined the Maranzano forces. It was a smart move. With the death of Masseria and the end of the war, Gagliano and Lucchese found themselves in an excellent position. At the series of regional meetings held shortly after Masseria's death, Maranzano formally recognized Gagliano as boss of the family. At La Cosa Nostra's first national meeting, held in Chicago in 1931, Maranzano confirmed Gagliano's role again. Within a few months, sensing that the tide had changed, Gagliano and Lucchese quickly turned against Maranzano, forming a new alliance with Lucky Luciano. Soon after, Maranzano was killed in his office while Lucchese watched. Most likely, Lucchese, as a regular Maranzano visitor, arranged to be there so he could "finger" Maranzano for non-Mafia killers who had been hired to divert suspicion away from Luciano et al. Both Gagliano and Lucchese took part in discussions that led to the creation of the Commission, La Cosa Nostra's board of directors. Once formed, Gagliano became one of its initial members, along with the heads of the four other New York families, as well as the bosses of Buffalo and Chicago.
NEW York's Bonanno crime family has roots going back to the turn of the century. Based in Brooklyn, most of it's early members were from the Castellamarese region of Sicily. Other families of similar Castellamarese composition formed in Buffalo and Detroit. Another in Chicago was led by Joe Aiello. In the late 1920's, the Aiellos were battling Al Capone for control of Chicago's beer industry. By 1930, the conflict had spread to New York, pitting the powerful Capone supporter, Joe Masseria, against the Castellamarese family led by Sal Maranzano. The subsequent series of shootings became known as the Castellamarese War, now recognized as the greatest upheaval in Cosa Nostra history. Eventually, the Maranzano forces began gaining the upper hand and Masseria was murdered by men under the direction of his capo, Lucky Luciano. Maranzano was then the strongest Mafia boss in the nation. But he would not enjoy this status for long. His tendency towards despotism angered many including Luciano, who had Maranzano killed just four months after his victory. A myth that the Maranzano murder was quickly followed by a "purge" of from thirty to ninety old fashion bosses has persisted to this day. It is a ridiculous claim. My research, and that of others, indicates there was only one boss, Pittsburgh's, murdered around the same time as the Maranzano hit. Simply stated - there was no "purge." There was, however, a need for the New York Castellamarese family to elect a new boss. Stefano Magaddino, powerful boss of the Buffalo family, urged his cousin, Joe Bonanno, to seek the position. With this prestigious support Bonanno was easily elected boss by the 300 members of the family. If Magaddino expected Bonanno to show his gratitude by being subservient, he would be sadly mistaken. Early in his reign, Bonanno played a part in the creation of the Commission. Initially composed of seven bosses, this board of directors was to arbitrate disputes between families in the hopes of avoiding bloodshed. It was to be a safer alternative to the former practice of looking to the most powerful mafia leader to make the decision. This method had created despots like Masseria and Maranzano and no one wanted a repeat of that.
THE Colombo Crime Family is the only New York City family to become known by a name other than the one given to law enforcement by Joe Valachi - the first soldier to publicly break the vow of omerta. For many years it was known as the Profaci Family in recognition of the more than thirty year reign of Joe Profaci, who took over the organization in the late twenties. Most likely the family began around the turn of the century by preying on Italian immigrants in Brooklyn. Prohibition would have greatly increased the geographical scope of the group. An indication of this would be Profaci's presence at a 1928 meeting of Sicilian mobsters in Cleveland that was busted by the police. There are a number of erroneous stories that claimed the Profaci and Bonanno families were formed in 1931 as a result of splitting the Sal Maranzano forces into two pieces. It is clear that the two families began much earlier than that date and have always been separate entities. Profaci and underboss Joe Magliocco were the only leaders of the five families who survived the Castellammarese War of the early 1930's still in their positions. According to Joe Bonanno, this was because Profaci played no active part in the hostilities. Interestingly, Joe Valachi claimed just the opposite. He related an account in which Profaci was part of a stakeout for an ambush during the war. It is difficult to know which version is accurate, however, it should be noted that Valachi claimed Bonanno was his sponsor for induction into La Cosa Nostra. For the proud Bonanno, this association with the most infamous Mafia informer has always been a sore point. Discrediting his enemies, including Valachi, was one of the underlying themes of Bonanno's autobiography. In any case, both Valachi and Bonanno agreed that Profaci was a powerful boss.
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