Giuseppe Masseria was born in Menfi, Agrigento, Sicily on January 17th, 1886 to Giuseppe Masseria Sr. and Vita Marceca. Giuseppe was one of 11 children born to the couple. Possibly in 1901, Masseria would emigrate to the United States, arriving in New York and settling in Manhattan.
It’s very likely that upon his arrival, he became involved in criminal activity. In early 1907, Masseria and his associate Giuseppe Lima were indicted for attempting to break into a house on Elizabeth Street. However, Masseria was given a suspended sentence with it being likely Lima received the same sentence. Later that same year, on August 1st, Masseria and his cousin Calogero Masseria were arrested for attempting to extort money from their uncle, also named Calogero.
The elder Calogero alerted the police and Masseria and his cousin were arrested. However, the two men were discharged after their uncle withdrew his statement. By 1908, Masseria had married his wife Maria Guarino and the two were living on Forsyth Street with them maintaining a saloon across the street from their house.
On November 12th, 1911, Masseria, alongside two of his associates, Charles Clintone and an unidentified man, broke into a New Jersey apartment building located at 41 State Street. The unidentified man was possibly acting as a lookout as when the police were alerted, they caught the man running down an alleyway next to the building. The officers then asked a nearby civilian to keep an eye on the man while they went inside the building to confront Masseria and Clintone.
By the time the officers had arrested the two men and led them out, they saw that the unidentified man was gone and the civilian was still standing where he was. The civilian, who was unarmed, told the officers that as soon as they entered the apartment building, the man pulled a gun on him and fled the scene. Masseria and Clintone were indicted on attempted burglary charges and held without bail.
However, it’s possible that these charges also went away as Masseria was very likely out by the start of 1912. On April 13th, 1913, Masseria, alongside his fellow burglars Pietro Lagattuta and brothers Salvatore and Giuseppe Ruffino, were arrested leaving 150 Elizabeth Street after the police discovered their plot to rob a jewelry store at 164 Bowery, which was right behind the property on Elizabeth Street.
When officers raided 150 Elizabeth Street, they discovered a large hole in the wall that connected the property to the jewelry store on Bowery. Officers also discovered a large amount of tools that had been used to make the hole in the wall. When the four men were arrested and the tools were seized, the officers used fingerprint analysis to connect the tools, Masseria and Lagattuta, to several other burglaries that preceded the attempt on the jewelry store.
Detectives theorized that from January of 1912 to March of 1913, Masseria and his burglary gang were responsible for up to 10 burglaries in the New York City area. On May 23rd, 1913, Masseria and Lagattuta were convicted and sentenced. Masseria was sentenced to serve 4 years and 6 months in Sing Sing Prison, with Lagattuta receiving 2 years and 6 months.
By the time Masseria would have been released in 1917, he likely became a member of the Morello crime family led by Salvatore Lo Iacono. Lo Iacono was the fourth man to lead the family after the 1909 arrest of the original family boss, Giuseppe Morello. Before his arrest and subsequent conviction in 1910, Morello held the title of boss of bosses, a title that now belonged to another New York Mafia boss, Salvatore D’Aquila.
It’s also important to note that the current boss of the Morello family, Salvatore Lo Iacono, was completely loyal to D’Aquila. It’s more than likely Masseria operated within the Morello family peacefully over the next few years. At some point during his time in the Morello family, Masseria possibly found himself growing close to some of Giuseppe Morello’s loyalists.
Although there was no real friction within the family during this time, Morello’s loyalists more than likely opposed Aquila’s influence over the family as he was responsible for killing the Lamonte brothers who were selected by Morello to lead the family after his incarceration. Some of Morello’s most significant loyalists during this time were his half-brothers Vincenzo and Ciro Terranova and his close ally Giovanni Pecoraro.
Although everything was running smoothly within the family during this time, that wouldn’t last long. In January of 1920, Prohibition had officially gone into effect allowing small-time gangsters to become incredibly wealthy through selling illegal alcohol. Masseria would use Prohibition to rise up the ranks of the family eventually growing to become a very powerful capo.
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However, by the end of 1920, the Morello family would find itself faced with a major conflict. Earlier, Giuseppe Morello’s 25-year sentence had been commuted making him eligible for parole in March of 1920. Due to this, soon after his release, Morello ordered Salvatore Lo Iacono to step down as boss of the family. However, Lo Iacono refused with him only willing to step down if he were unanimously voted out by the family’s capos.
With that, Morello, possibly conspiring with Giovanni Pecoraro, decided that Lo Iacono would need to be killed. And on December 10th, 1920, Salvatore Lo Iacono was shot to death inside his restaurant on Elizabeth Street. With the murder of Lo Iacono, the Morello crime family would split off into two separate families. The family loyal to Lo Iacono and Salvatore D’Aquila was led by Gaetano Reina, and the family loyal to Morello was led by Morello’s half-brother Vincenzo Terranova.
Masseria would side with Morello and join the family led by Terranova. Also, after the murder of Lo Iacono, Morello would order the murders of several of his loyalists with him hiring the services of Castellammarese family boss Nicolo Schiro’s enforcement arm known as the Good Killers. On December 30th, 1920, a gunman caught Loiaacano’s closest ally, Salvatore Mauro, walking down Christie Street and fired multiple shots into him.
When Mauro went down, the gunman stood over him and fired another shot into him, killing him. Initially, Masseria was considered a suspect in the murder of Salvatore Mauro, as he was supposedly close by when the murder was carried out. On January 23rd, 1921, Angelo Patricola, who was also a Loiaacano supporter, was shot and killed on Elizabeth Street.
Loiaacano supporters would eventually retaliate with an attempt on the life of Giovanni Pecoraro. On January 26th, Pecoraro’s driver, Giuseppe Terranova, was sitting in a car on East 107th Street in Harlem when a gunman approached and fired into the car, killing Terranova instantly. It’s more than likely that the gunman believed he would catch Pecoraro in the car with Terranova.
Around this time, while the war was in full swing, Salvatore D’Aquila would call a general assembly meeting, with this meeting likely being held in the New York Highlands. The general assembly meetings were attended by bosses or representatives of families all throughout the country. During this meeting, Salvatore D’Aquila would officially condemn Morello to death.
D’Aquila also condemned his former boss and Morello’s brother-in-law, Ignazio Lupo. However, on October 28th, 1921, Morello and his half-brother, Ciro Terranova, left for Sicily, with Ignazio Lupo joining them 2 days later on the 30th. It’s very likely that the three men traveled to Sicily in order to get the death sentences lifted by contacting a powerful Sicilian Mafia boss.
Ultimately, this trip would result in success, as when the three got back to America in early 1922, Salvatore D’Aquila lifted the death sentences of Lupo and Morello. Lupo was allowed back into the D’Aquila family to operate as a capo. Morello, however, was forced to retire from his family. Despite this, Morello continued to operate as underboss to his half-brother, Vincenzo Terranova, who was running his family.
Salvatore D’Aquila was more than likely prepared for the eventuality that Morello would violate the terms of the agreement. Due to this, he would begin working to eliminate Morello’s closest allies. On May 8th, 1922, Vincenzo Terranova was walking down East 116th Street in Harlem when a car pulled up alongside him.
Inside the car were DeQuila’s top enforcer, Umberto Valenti, and several others. When the car slowed down, Valenti and the others fired at Terranova several times with sawed-off shotguns, leaving him dead in the street. With the murder of Vincenzo Terranova, Morello would back Masseria to succeed him as boss with Morello remaining underboss.
Inevitably, Morello’s refusal to back down would result in DeQuila ordering Masseria’s murder. On August the 8th, Masseria was on Second Avenue in the Lower East Side of Manhattan when a car approached. Once again, this car contained Valenti with three others being present in the car, including Valenti’s associate Stefano Reinelli.
The four men opened fire on Masseria. However, he was able to escape, fleeing to his apartment at 82nd Avenue. The only two shots that hit Masseria went through his straw hat. After the failed attempt on Masseria’s life, Umberto Valenti, who feared Salvatore D’Aquila would have him killed for failing to carry out the murder, would agree to a meeting with Masseria and Morello.
On August 11th, Valenti arrived at a cafe on the corner of East 12th Street and Second Avenue, where he met with Masseria and Morello. After the meeting took place, Valenti left the building. However, two Masseria gunmen were waiting for him. As soon as he left the cafe, Valenti was shot multiple times by two gunmen, Charles Dongara and allegedly Charles Lucky Luciano.
Valenti fell to the ground dead, and the two shooters fled the scene. The day after Valenti was killed, on August 12th, 1922, Masseria would be arrested and charged in connection with his death, as they believed the two men to have been bootlegging rivals. As well as this, it was stated by police that Masseria had five different bank accounts and had accumulated up to $1 million by this point.
Masseria wouldn’t be held for long, however, as there was insufficient evidence to take the case any further. Despite this, that wouldn’t be the end of it, as on August 29th, police arrested Charles Dongara and Joseph Bomby, two men they believed to have directly killed Valenti. However, just like Masseria, the two men would be dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
Although Masseria had been cleared on all charges, that wouldn’t be the end of his problems as the war with the D’Aquila family was still very much ongoing. On March 6th, 1923, Giuseppe close ally Giovanni Pecoraro was cut outside of a grocery store on 1st Avenue by two D’Aquila gunmen riding in a car. One man drove up to Pecoraro while the other hopped out of the car and shot Pecoraro twice with a .
38 caliber revolver, leaving him dead on the scene. Although the murder of Pecoraro was a major blow to the Masseria family, it would be one of the last murders in the war as the Masseria and D’Aquila families would soon after agree on a very fragile truce. As well as this, Salvatore D’Aquila’s power and influence was waning with Masseria and Morello growing more and more powerful.
A major reason for this was Masseria’s willingness to work with other ethnicities. For example, for a short time in late 1921, Masseria partnered up with a Jewish counterfeiter, and the two planned on starting a large-scale counterfeiting operation. This partnership was only broken when Masseria began to worry that his partner would turn informant if he was ever arrested.
As well as this, after the war was over, Masseria and Morello would begin doing business with powerful Jewish gambler and crime boss Arnold Rothstein. Rothstein was a major importer of high-quality alcohol and heroin, with him supplying most of the heroin in New York. By the mid-1920s, the Masseria family had inducted Charles Lucky Luciano, Frank Costello, and Vito Genovese into the family.
Although Luciano was Sicilian, being born in Lercara Friddi, Costello and Genovese weren’t, with the two being born in mainland Italy. This wasn’t a one-time thing as Masseria and Morello more than likely realized how powerful they could become if they began inducting non-Sicilian Italians into their family, something that more conservative families like the D’Aquila family generally opposed doing.
Inducting Charlie Luciano would also prove to be a great decision as Luciano was a major earner controlling several lucrative gambling operations with him also running a bootlegging crew based in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Luciano was also a frequent business collaborator of non-Italian gangsters. Luciano spent some time in the early 1920s working under Arnold Rothstein.
As well as this, and Benjamin Bugsy Siegel. By 1928, Masseria and Morello had started taking entire organizations into their family. By this point, they had formally inducted Calabrian gang leader Frankie Yale into the family making him a capo. Yale had complete control of Brooklyn and led the largest Calabrian gang in New York with guys like Anthony Little Augie Carfano and Giuseppe Joe Adonis Doto working under him.
As well as this, in 1928, the Masseria crime family would formally induct Al Capone with him also being recognized as a capo in the family. By the end of 1928, Masseria and Morello had taken full control of Manhattan, taken full control of Brooklyn through Frankie Yale, and built alliances with families all throughout the country.
Due to this, Masseria and Morello decided to finally make a move on Salvatore D’Aquila in order to secure the title of boss of bosses for Masseria. The two got D’Aquila’s underboss Manfredi Mineo on side with Mineo being given the task of arranging D’Aquila’s murder. On October 10th, 1928, Salvatore D’Aquila was caught by three gunmen on Avenue A in Manhattan.
The gunmen fired nine shots with five hitting him. D’Aquila fell to the ground dead and the three men fled the scene. Upon the murder of D’Aquila, a general assembly meeting was likely held. At this meeting, Manfredi Mineo was backed by Masseria and Morello to take over the D’Aquila family.
As well as this, Joe Masseria would be officially elected the new boss of bosses. With Masseria’s appointment to the position of boss of bosses, he would begin to demand tribute from the other families. As well as this, he was known to impose his will upon bosses all throughout the country. This included meddling in their businesses or even implementing leadership changes.
Meanwhile, by this point, Charlie Luciano had been made a capo in the Masseria family. As well as this, with the murder of Arnold Rothstein on November 6th, 1928, Luciano, alongside some of Rothstein’s other proteges, would inherit some of his incredibly lucrative businesses. Luciano more than likely inherited Rothstein’s gambling operations, whereas Louis Lepke Buchalter more than likely inherited Rothstein’s European heroin connections.
By the end of 1929, Luciano had grown even more powerful within the Masseria family, with him almost certainly being the family’s highest earner. However, Luciano would soon endure a near fatal event. On the evening of October 16th, 1929, Luciano was standing on 50th Street in Manhattan when a car pulled alongside him.
Three men emerged from the car and forced Luciano inside. When he was inside the car, the three men taped his mouth shut, handcuffed him, and ordered him to lay down on the floor. Even after complying with the demands of his captors, Luciano was brutally beaten and stabbed multiple times in the back as the car drove away. Luciano lost consciousness and didn’t wake up until he was thrown out of the car in Staten Island.
At around 6:00 a.m. the next morning, Luciano was found by a police officer staggering down Highland Boulevard. The officer took Luciano to a hospital where he was questioned. The only thing Luciano told the police was that he was, quote, taken for a ride. It’s unknown who was behind the attempt on Luciano’s life, although it is often theorized that it was ordered by Salvatore Maranzano.
By the end of 1929, Maranzano had seen that the other families had grown disillusioned with Masseria. As well as this, Maranzano was positioned to take over the Castellammarese family, as as current boss, Nicola Schiro, was getting ready to retire. Due to this, he would begin quietly garnering support from the families to challenge Masseria.
The first family he got on side was the Reina family led by Gaetano Reina. Reina supposedly admired Maranzano due to his fearlessness in challenging Masseria, who by this point was at the peak of his power. However, although Reina was private in his support of Maranzano, it would soon be brought to the attention of the Masseria family.
Masseria and Morello more than likely considered how they could keep the Reina family on side. Ultimately, the two would decide to have Reina murdered. Masseria and Morello gave this task to Luciano, who sent his top enforcer, Vito Genovese, to carry out the murder. On February 26, 1930, Reina was caught by Genovese on Sheridan Avenue in the Bronx.
Genovese fired three shots from a double-barrel shotgun into Reina, dropping him to the ground. Genovese ditched the gun and fled the scene, and Reina was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. With the murder of Gaetano Reina, Masseria and Morello made the decision to appoint Masseria’s friend, Joseph Pinzolo, to the position of boss of Reina’s family.
Meanwhile, in late February of 1930, Joe Masseria, his brother John Masseria, Charlie Luciano, and Bugsy Siegel would go down to Florida on business. On February 28th, the four men, alongside 14 others, were arrested after police raided a gambling event at a Miami Beach hotel. When the 18 men were arrested, officers seized more than $70,000 and a handgun from Luciano.
The next day, everyone arrested would be released, and Luciano would get his money back. Once the charges were dropped, the Masseria brothers, Luciano, and Siegel would return to New York. It’s also important to note that Luciano and Masseria likely arrived in Florida before the 26th, possibly in order to distance themselves from the murder of Reina.
However, despite this, the murder of Reina would still lead to Maranzano fully committing to challenging Masseria. Due to this, before the war became too heated, a meeting was held between Masseria and Maranzano. Masseria was accompanied by Morello, and Maranzano was accompanied by his young protege, Giuseppe Joe Bonanno. During this meeting, Morello told Maranzano that if he were to continue challenging Masseria, it wouldn’t be Masseria he would be fighting, it would be him.
Partially due to this, Maranzano came to the realization that Morello was the true power behind Masseria. Masseria and Morello would continue to make moves to secure Masseria’s power. On June 1st, 1930, Masseria allegedly ordered the murder of Detroit family boss Gaspar Milazzo. Milazzo was killed in order to allow Masseria’s ally, Cesare La Mare, to take over as boss of the Detroit family.
As well as this, Milazzo was from Castellammare del Golfo and was a close ally of Maranzano and the New York Castellammarese. After the murder of Milazzo, Masseria and Morello would double down by ordering the murder of Salvatore Maranzano’s close ally, Viola Bonventre. With these murders, it appeared as though Masseria was successfully fighting off Maranzano.
However, something would soon happen that would devastate the Masseria family. On August 15th, 1930, Giuseppe Morello, who felt safe going about his business, would arrive at his office at 3:52 East 116th Street in Harlem to collect cash receipts. Morello was accompanied by his associate, Joseph Peranio.
While the two men were inside, a car quietly pulled up outside the building. As soon as the car stopped, Maranzano hitman, Sebastiano Domingo, hopped out and rushed into the office. When Domingo caught Morello, he fired around 12 bullets with him hitting Morello several times, dropping him to the ground. Domingo rushed out of the office and hopped back into the car with the driver, Joe Valachi, speeding away from the scene.
By the time police arrived at the scene, Giuseppe Morello was dead. With the murder of Giuseppe Morello, Maranzano found himself at a great advantage and things would only get worse for Masseria. By September, a faction of the former Reina family that opposed Joseph Pinzolo, and by extension Masseria were ready to make a move on Pinzolo in order to secure the title of boss of the family for Tommaso Gagliano, Reina’s former underboss and the leader of the rebellious faction.
On September 5th, 1930, Joseph Pinzolo was shot and killed at an office building on Broadway in Midtown, Manhattan. With the murder of Pinzolo, Gagliano would take over as boss and throw his support behind Maranzano. After this, Masseria’s last remaining ally was Manfredi Mineo, who was still in charge of the former D’Aquila family.
On November 5th, Masseria and Charlie Luciano supposedly attended a meeting with Mineo and his underboss, Steve Ferrigno, at Ferrigno’s apartment on Pelham Parkway in the Bronx. However, what the four men didn’t know was that they were being watched by Maranzano gunmen who had rented a ground floor apartment just across from Ferrigno’s apartment.
The gunmen waited to catch all four men. However, when they only saw Mineo and Ferrigno, they decided to make their move. As the two men were walking past the apartment building, they were caught by Maranzano gunmen, Sebastiano Domingo and Girolamo Santuccio, who fired at them multiple times, leaving the two men dead on the scene.
With that, Masseria’s last remaining ally was dead, and Maranzano would appoint one of his own loyalists, Frank Scalise, to succeed Mineo as boss of the family. By 1931, Masseria was in a dire position as he had lost a significant amount of power and influence. And although his demise seemed imminent, it wouldn’t come at the hands of Maranzano.
By April of 1931, Masseria’s now underboss, Charlie Luciano, had decided that Masseria’s obsession with power was not only bad for business, but had turned most of the other families against him. Due to this, he would decide to have Masseria killed, with it being likely he reached out to Maranzano in order to make a deal.
On April 15th, 1931, Masseria was at the Nuova Villa Tammaro Restaurant on Coney Island in Brooklyn. Masseria was likely accompanied by his consigliere, Severio San Pollaccia. While the two men were in the restaurant together, two gunmen walked in and fired multiple shots at Masseria.
Masseria was hit four times in the back with two bullets coming from a .32 caliber revolver and the other two coming from a .38 caliber revolver. The two shooters, as well as Palazzolo, fled the scene before the police arrived. It’s unknown who the shooters were, but it is often speculated that they were Frank Livorsi and Joseph Joe Stretch Stracci, both of whom were Harlem-based members of Joe Masseria’s family.
Upon the murder of Masseria, Luciano met with influential mafioso Nicolo Nick Gentile and a close associate of Maranzano, Vincenzo Troia. Luciano made it clear to Maranzano through Troia that the murder of Masseria was not solely to serve Maranzano and that Luciano had his own reasons for wanting Masseria dead.
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