The History Of The Lucchese Crime Family
Public DomainGaetano Reina with his wife and children.
The history of the Lucchese crime family doesn’t go back quite as far as that of the Genovese and Gambino families. While it was originally formed by members of the Morello gang who had split off, it didn’t begin in earnest until the 1920s. The first boss of the future Lucchese family was Gaetano “Tommy” Reina, who mostly operated in the Bronx and parts of East Harlem and was known for keeping tight control over ice box distribution.
Once Prohibition started, Reina formed a close alliance with Joe Masseria, at least until the start of the Castellammarese War. When Masseria told Reina that he wanted a share of his profits, Reina broke ties and allied himself with Salvatore Maranzano — or at least, he planned to. Unfortunately for him, Masseria caught wind of this ahead of time and asked one of Reina’s lieutenants, Tommy Gagliano, to eliminate him. However, this didn’t work out for Gagliano quite as he expected.
Public DomainTommy Gagliano immigrated to New York from Sicily in 1905 and became embroiled in the criminal underworld.
Gagliano likely thought Masseria would hand control of Reina’s family to him, but that wasn’t the case. Instead, Masseria installed his own man, Joseph “Fat Joe” Pinzolo, immediately making an enemy of Gagliano. Gagliano had a supporter in Tommy Lucchese, however, and the two of them made a plan to kill Pinzolo in September 1930. Then, in April 1931, when Masseria was killed, Gagliano was able to take his rightful spot at the top of the family.
When Maranzano reorganized the New York Mafia and created the Five Families, he kept Gagliano in charge of Reina’s former organization, with Lucchese serving as his underboss. Gagliano likewise retained his position when Luciano had Maranzano killed and established the Commission. In fact, Gagliano managed to survive for quite a while as the boss of his family in contrast to the heads of other families. This was likely due to his quiet nature. He preferred to stay off the streets, instead relaying orders to Lucchese, who effectively became the public face of the family.
Things stayed this way in the Lucchese family for two decades, and little information is known about Gagliano’s activities between 1932 and his death in 1951.
colaimages / Alamy Stock PhotoTommy Lucchese testifying during the Kefauver hearings.
Following Gagliano’s death, it was only natural that Tommy Lucchese take over. Not much else changed, though. Lucchese and Gagliano seemingly had a good working relationship and similar philosophies, as Lucchese kept most of Gagliano’s policies in place — and it worked well for his family. Lucchese also smartly made connections with prominent politicians in New York, including two mayors. Like his predecessor, Lucchese kept a low profile, which kept him out of trouble.
Lucchese also played a key role in helping both Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino seize control of their families, and the three colluded to eliminate Frank Costello and Albert Anastasia to gain control of the Commission. When Genovese eventually became boss in 1957, he organized a conference known as the Apalachin meeting. However, the event that was supposed to seal Genovese’s rise to the top turned into such a disaster that it nearly brought down the New York Mafia.
The meeting was held at the rural estate of Genovese’s friend, Joseph “Joe the Barber” Barbara, but unfortunately for the numerous mob bosses in attendance, the dozens of brand new Cadillacs gathered at the property didn’t go unnoticed. New York State Police Detective Edgar Croswell spied the rows of cars and knew that something suspicious was going on.
Bettmann/Getty ImagesDetective Edgar Croswell’s investigation at the Apalachin meeting nearly destroyed the New York Mafia.
He sneaked up to the cars, noticed that they came from states all across the country, and also caught wind that Barbara had ordered 200 pounds of meat for a party. Croswell called for backup, and state police officers blocked off any roads that led to the property. Then, they all waited.
The 100 mobsters in attendance noticed shortly after and fled in all directions. Some got away, but most of them didn’t, and Genovese was among those caught. Even though the police let him go, it was a major embarrassment and cost him a lot of support within the Five Families and the New York Mafia. So, Lucchese, Luciano, Costello, and Meyer Lansky devised a plan that would lead to Genovese’s arrest on drug charges.
With Genovese out of the picture, Gambino and Lucchese ran the Commission, and their alliance was bolstered by the marriage of their children. For the most part, their positions went unchallenged, except for a brief period when Joseph Bonanno was plotting to kill them.
Bill Bridges/The LIFE Images Collection via Getty ImagesFormer New York Mafia boss Joe Bonanno eventually wrote a book about his life in the New York Mafia.
Bonanno joined forces with Joseph Magliocco, who became the boss of Joe Profaci’s family — the future Colombo family — when Profaci died in 1962. They began to plot the murders of Gambino and Lucchese and hired Joe Colombo for the hit — only for Colombo to betray them and warn Lucchese and Gambino.
The result was Bonanno being stripped of his status and, shockingly, being allowed to walk away from the mob altogether. He promised the Commission that he would retire and never involve himself with the New York Mafia again, and surprisingly, they accepted these terms.
Tommy Lucchese, meanwhile, continued to run things alongside Gambino well into his old age. Near the end, he appointed longtime capo Anthony Corallo as his successor. Lucchese died from a brain tumor on July 13, 1967. Unfortunately, Corallo was imprisoned at the time, and so Carmine Tramunti, another longtime capo, served as the acting boss of the Lucchese family until Corallo was released.
Public DomainAnthony Corallo was serving a three-year sentence in prison when Tommy Lucchese died in 1967.
Tramunti was not like Gagliano or Lucchese, though. He didn’t keep a low profile, and he faced numerous criminal charges. Tramunti was incarcerated in 1974, but by then, Corallo was out of prison and ready to take control.
Corallo was infamous for never discussing business in sit-down meetings and opting instead to use the car phone that had been installed in his Jaguar. This proved to be his downfall, though, as the FBI managed to bug his car and capture hours of conversations in which he discussed racketeering, drug trafficking, and murder. This evidence eventually led to his indictment during the Mafia Commission Trial in 1986, and realizing that he would die in prison, Corallo appointed Vittorio “Vic” Amuso as his successor.
Amuso, in turn, named Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso as his underboss. Casso was known for killing as many as 100 people before he became an informant in 1993. Amuso and Casso ruled their family with iron fists and, at times, even reignited old tensions with other families. In particular, they sought to retaliate against John Gotti and Frank DeCicco for Castellano’s murder, but they only succeeded in killing DeCicco.
Public DomainAnthony Casso was sentenced to 455 years in prison for crimes like racketeering, extortion, and murder.
When the law finally caught up to them in the early 1990s, the two men had vastly different reactions. While Amuso refused to make a plea deal and sell out his fellow mobsters, Casso showed no hesitation. He squealed and even revealed that two highly respected NYPD detectives had worked as hitmen for him during the 1980s.
Remarkably, despite being sentenced to life in prison, Amuso remains the official boss of the Lucchese crime family to this day. Various acting bosses have stepped up to run operations on Amuso’s behalf, but a series of sting operations and arrests throughout the 2010s saw many other Lucchese family members locked up as well.
